Well family, I apologize I think it has been about 8 weeks since
I have sent a good email your way. The village is definitely not an easy
place to be, but it is such a rewarding experience to live in a village in West
Africa for hopefully 8 months. Again since I have been here my gratitude
towards my Heavenly Father has been increased every single day. As you
live in real poverty and deal with real problems here it makes your heart ache,
but then you are constantly feeling Gods love towards his children also and
that is so sweet to feel that every day! Again I can’t write really worth
a........... Yeah but I’ll try my best. It sounded like you all had a
great week. It’s been a while since I have heard from Colby? Did he
get that Lineman Scholarship? Also I loved the stories of Cami. She
literally is a walking testimony of blessings and miracles of missionary
work. Dad happy birthday you old fart haha! I’ll be able to kick
your butt when I get home haha chii it’s been a long time waiting for that day
haha. Happy Birthday Dad, I am always reminded of you out here.
Thank you so much for the great experiences, all our camping trips, motorcycle
rides, crashes, boating chii there are plenty but Dad our family is so blessed
and I know that is from your sacrifice to work hard for the family, Love you
Dad. Mom don’t worry I’ll be home in 6 months! I have got some work
to do outhere first and then I will be home.
Well we are experiencing miracles every single day out here
in Asuom. I have gained such a strong testimony on how truly this is the
Lords work and how we are merely instruments in His hands. Now
saying that as missionaries we have to do what is right, we have to be obedient
and willing to submit ourselves to the Lord and his will for us. Now
trials, hardships, discomfort, and maybe opposition will come, it’s a guarantee
when we are submitting ourselves to the Lords will. Now the natural
man would shake his fist into the heavens and say "God how dare you,"
or "God why me." However we should look at these events in the way
that God trusts us. He is telling us, I’m going to make you work to return to
my presence, I’m going to make you prove yourself. If you do well He will say
"well done thou good and faithful servant. “It’s my prayer that we as a
family are doing this. This church is true, it’s not just a normal church or a
way of life, this is the dang church that JESUS CHRIST himself established a
couple thousand years ago. Family we have to do all we can because we
have to be able to live with each other in Celestial glory with our wives,
children, grandchildren the whole deal. We got to keep our covenants,
there aren’t any ifs ands or buts we got to do it! Serious though this
aint a game this is eternity!
This week we experienced so many great things. First
was a sweet experience Elder Graves had. He is such a stud! We are
working on praying with faith and relying on the Spirit and not relying on logic. Well Elder Graves
said as we were about to begin proselyting Elder Carson I think we need to go
contacting here today. Now me I’m like Graves we have contacted there like
every day man are you sure...he replied with he was. So we went and
contacted there. Well we contacted a woman whose name was C. She
had traveled to Asuom from Accra due to some financial difficulties and she had
just given birth to twins. Well we contacted her like the next day she
got there. C is awesome and we had some powerful lessons with her,
where the spirit day. She opened up some of her concerns and expressed
her interest in knowing the true church. Well we taught her lesson one
and she loved it. Well long story short she came to church on
Sunday. Graves is such a stud I was so happy for him he did a great
job. It was a testimony to him and me on truly relying on the Lord for
direction. Well we have an Investigator I who will be baptized on
Sunday. We are so happy for him. He has such a strong
testimony! The ZL's did the interview for him and they said he is more
than ready. We are working with some other people but we will see if they
will progress. Here in Ghana so many people want to see us, most of the
time it’s for different reasons than salvation so we really have to be close to
the spirit to help us discern who truly has a desire to change. We face a
lot of challenges out here. We can’t speak Twi fluently so we can’t really
teach lessons in it and in the village a majority out here speaks Twi. It
has been hard but the Lord keeps placing people in our path so we are hanging
in there. We are experiencing miracles in the branch out here
though. We had again around 70 people at church again and we had 14
INVESTIGATORS at church! The other companionship Elder Jessee and Elder
Itedjere are doing awesome. We had around 6 investigators at church and
they had 8! It was so dang cool, I was very happy on Sunday. Then
the members went after church to see some people who didn’t come and that is a
huge improvement out here. Also we are doing a literacy class out here and are
teaching people English and that is really helping getting people to
church. The instructor is awesome, he is our old branch president and he
does a great job.
Well family again I know everyone
says this church is true but holy smokes it is. Literally losing yourself
in the service of your Heavenly Father and helping others come unto Him, you
truly find it. I have experienced so much joy since day one of my
mission. Words can’t describe what we see every day out here, but I can
truly feel the Saviors love for his fellow brothers and sisters as I serve in
His name. The Savior loves us so much, as I think of him suffering in
Gethsemane, pleading with God for help but still enduring through the pain,
then carrying a cross all the way to Calvary, helps me understand how much he
loves us! The Saviors hand is never shortened it is always outstretched
towards us; all we have to do is grab on. I love my Redeemer so
much. I don’t think I would have gained this love if it wasn’t for the
Book of Mormon. You know to be honest I had some spiritual
experiences at college which is why I am here but I had never read the Book in
my entire life as member. I’m not proud of that but as I got out here I
realized well I can’t tell these people to read the Book if I haven’t read
it. So I read it and I keep reading it, and I keep reading it. This
book from the first chapters all the way to the end talk about our
Savior. The book of Mormon is truly the word of God and truly draws us
closer to Jesus Christ more than any other book. Don’t ever doubt this
book, don’t listen to the world, don’t listen to haters just get on your knees
and ask God if it is true. I am not the most spiritual person and can’t
write what I truly want to say but I know God loves us. He has promised Angels
on our left and on our right. He won’t ever fail us or forsake us.
He is simply always there. I so testify in the name of our great Redeemer
even Jesus Christ Amen.
Well I can’t share our funny story this week but I will when
I get home it’s so dang funny tho!
I love you all tons!!!
Elder Carson
