White Sunday

Hey everyone,

remember Emile? The one that contacted us a few weeks ago? He got baptized yesterday, so we had a white Sunday on Easter. I am amazed at how much he has changed and how prepared he was for the gospel. I felt like i didn't even need to teach him. We would just give him things to read, and he would teach us in detail the next day. Didn't feel like I did much, and that is because I didn't! It was all the Lord. This is His work.

We had MLC this week, and it was great. Each transfer we have a focus that we maintain throughout the transfer. This transfer our focus is on the Doctrine of Christ. There is so much beauty in the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This week we have just been studying so much about the Doctrine of Christ, which was perfect for preparing for Easter. It brought a lot more meaning to me, and I cant even explain how grateful I am for the Savior and His atonement. He lives!

Sister Rosemond also came to church! yesterday was her first time to come, but she loved it so much. She is doing great. Hopefully she will be ready for baptism in a few weeks.

We are still trying to find more people, and this week we met some great new friends. The Lord continues to help us out so much.

Overall, we had a great week, and a great Easter!

Have a good week!

He lives!

Love,

Elder Ben Eldredge

Staying Put

Hey everyone,

Sweet graffiti and a happy happy boy 

this week was pretty difficult to stay focused, but we were really guided and helped a lot. We went on exchange with Tesano, and I got to proselyte with a good friend for the day. The rest of the week was pretty normal. We are working hard to find more people, because the ones we have aren't really progressing. Emile came to church though! His baptism will be this week we hope.

This week, the Spirit taught me a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My mind reflected over it again and again, and i can say that there is no greater peace that comes to us than when we have an understanding of the Atonement. Obviously, we can never comprehend the Atonement in its fullness, but when you learn and apply to your own circumstances, it really changes things. The Savior really loves us all. God has a perfect plan for you and me.

The exchange this week was great! I went with elder Fryar. He and I were trained in the same apartment, and it was fun to proselyte with him. We went on an exchange when we were both new on mission and had no idea what we were doing, so it was fun to see how much we have grown. I learned a lot from working with him. 

Like i said, we are still trying to find people, and the Lord has done most of the work i can say haha. We were so blessed to be able to find people. I felt like i was just following sometimes, with my mind struggling to stay focused, and before i knew it, we sat down and began talking to people. 

Our investigators we have now are struggling a bit, and the rain we had on Sunday morning didn't help us get them to sacrament. But we will try our best to help them. 

There is a talk that I listened to this week by President Nelson. He talked about how we can have joy through any circumstance. He talked about how our happiness has little to do with the circumstances of our lives, and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When we focus our lives on Jesus Christ, and His gospel, we can have joy no matter what trial we have. This is true. Jesus Christs gospel and His church give us such a great blessing to always be able to remember Him as we go to church and partake of the Sacrament. 

I am super grateful for my Heavenly Father, and His Son. I don't know what we would do without them. I am so grateful to be here and share their message of hope. 

Thank you for all your prayers, and emails. Have a good week!! 

love,

Elder Ben Eldredge 

Elder Fryar and me, with their investigator that got baptized this week

This is what most of our area looks like

My companion, Elder Udo

So Little Light, Made Up For

Hey everyone,

this week was cool. I think it was one of the most different weeks i have had on mission though. We didn't have a normal proselyting day until Thursday, and we were really busy doing other stuff. It was nice on Thursday to finally get out there and teach and help people. The beginning of our week was pretty dark, but by the end of the week, it was pretty bright. 

Got some pizza to celebrate 18 months in Ghana

Our light went out on Monday, so that day we tried to put more money on our card (it is pre-paid here) but when we got to the vendor, they told us that there was a fault in our card, and we needed to go to the main office to get it reprogrammed. Unfortunately, by that time, the main office was closed, so Monday night we slept in the dark and our apartment suddenly turned into a sauna.. So Tuesday morning, we had to go with the ap's to the doctor for my companion, and on the way back they dropped us off at the electricity place so we could reprogram our card, but they told us we needed our meter number. Finally after going back to our apartment, getting the meter number and reprogramming the card, we went to buy more credit, and... right when we got there they turned off the lights and said they were closing... So, we had no choice but to go back to our dark, hot apartment. We tried sleeping outside, but that didn't work, because our neighbors were up till 3 am making noise. Plus, my body is covered in mosquito bites lol.

Thank goodness we got our light back on Wednesday.

Emile is progressing so well! I haven't met anyone so prepared to change their life and accept the gospel. Things just make sense to him. He wasn't able to come to conference on Sunday because he had to pick up a friend coming from Liberia, but he did come to mid-week and he brought one of his friends! We watched a video about how the church came to Ghana and it was great. We are hoping to baptize him in a couple weeks on Easter weekend.

Someone drove their car into the gutter.. don't drink and drive.

We were super blessed to watch some sessions of conference yesterday. We watched one of the Saturday sessions, the priesthood session, and the Sunday morning session. They were all great. We have some great leaders to follow. We are so blessed to be able to listen to living prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ. I loved Elder Sabin's talk about standing up on the inside. I thought that was a cool analogy. Even though we may have tough times, or things around us may be deteriorating, we can still stand for what is right, and be an example. 

I also loved Elder Holland's talk about how everyone belongs in God's choir. Everyone has a place and a duty. I love when he said, "Come as you are, but don't plan on staying that way." If we allow Him to, God can change us into something better than we are now. I know this is true. 

So the light we received at conference made up for the light we didn't have at the apartment ;)

This gospel is true. It is the only way to a better world. I am so happy to be here and to be able to share the message that will bring us home. 

I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Ben Eldredge  

New Town Week 4

Hey everyone,

Me and Pwee. He raps

this week was good! i wasn't feeling that well, so each night i was just struggling to make it to the end, but we had some huge blessings as well. I think i saw president Simpson more this week than i ever have in a single week and it was great. I feel like every time we are around him, something funny happens. For example, at church during Elders quorum, they talked about voodoo for like 20 minutes. Then they somehow related it to repentance and forgiving others... hmm. hahah i just looked at president and laughed. but we also get to learn something when he is around. He is a great man.

We had multi-zone conferences this week and also interviews with president. The zone conference was good. We continued talking about the power of the Holy Ghost in conversion. We talked about the importance of being worthy of the Spirit so we can teach with power and authority. 

On Saturday, we were just leaving our apartment to go to have our interview with president, and someone from the top floor told us that he wanted to talk to us. We contacted him and invited him to church, and he came! His name is Emile and he is from Liberia. After church, he came to me and asked me what he needed to do in order to be baptized... haha i was speechless, and just kind of starred at him, and then finally told him that we would help him. Talk about a tender mercy.

I am loving it here. This zone is great. We had a zone activity today at it was fun. We just played different sports at the chapel, and then we also bought a ton of pure water, and basically used them as water balloons and played dodge ball.. No one was seriously injured, but we all experienced a little pain ;) A poor sister from Nigeria got hit in the eye with my baseball.. she is okay tho. Nothing like the sign of a good time than a black eye right? Mission is great. Ghana is a great place. I feel so happy serving my Savior. If you put Him as the focus of your life, you can always find joy. 

Have a great week! 

Love, 

ELDER ELDREDGE 

Paa Kwesi with style

Cooking banku for someone

Poor girl is afraid of white people 

President and Sister Simpson came to church

Sup Ya'll

Hey everyone,

Temple selfie. Elders Wiscombe and Perry,
 and me and my companion.

This week was good. we weren't as fortunate last week with new investigators, but we were still able to spend time with our investigators. We have some great new investigators, who i have a lot of hope for. i have felt such a love for the people here. my desire to teach them has grown a lot here, and they are such great people. There are some investigators we have that, the first time we met them, they just always seemed down and unhappy. I have seen them, and their countenance change as we have come to teach them. They seem happier, and in a better mood than before. This gospel changes lives for the better, as long as we let it. I love sharing that with people. 

Swedru came to the temple on Saturday, and we got permission to go and see them, and some recent converts! It was such a blessing to me to see my old ward, and some of my recent converts at the temple. I felt like i was with my family again, and it was great. Some of the members came a gave me hugs, and it made me so happy to see them going into the temple. I am so grateful for the blessing i had to serve there, and a part of me will always be there. 

I am also loving the ward here. we have such great members and recent converts. One member, Bro Morttey, loves missionary work, and we can count on him to give us a referral regularly. He is awesome. Our bishop is also super cool. he used to be a Muslim, and the missionaries used him to translate for them, and from there he heard about the gospel. After that he moved to new town, and started coming to church and the rest is history. It was a really big lesson to me, to always talk to anyone who is willing to listen to you, no matter who they are or what they believe. They are still God's children, no matter what and He loves them. 

We went on an exchange with the Northridge elders. I spent the day with elder Bambrough. He is from Salem, and his family is in the same ward as Mick and Mel.  he is a super nice, loving missionary and we had a good day. We were able to do some contacting, even though we didn't have the time to sit down with them. But we hope to continue to find and also help our zone continue to find new people. 

Overall this was a great week, and we got a lot done. Elder Udo and i are good. We get along great. 

I am grateful to be here. My mission is becoming more and more important to me each day. Heavenly Father has been so good to me. Have a great week! 

ELDER ELDREDGE

Peace

The Big City

Exchange at Northride. Elder Bambrough is a GIANT

My apartment. super small and super HOT! w

W don't have any air flow so it gets pretty steamy.

New Town 2

Hey, everyone

we had an awesome week here, and were super blessed to be able to find some new people to teach. The Lord is here in this area helping us out so much. While we are working hard to get new people and teach them the best we can, they are taking their sweet time to progress. They will come around though. Slowly. 

My area. The temple is straight ahead in the distance. 

You can see it from the place we were, 

but i don't think you will be able to pick it up in this picture.

This week we were pretty busy at the beginning, getting ready for our zone training. The training went well. We talked about the importance of the Spirit, in teaching, and also helping others recognize for themselves that they are feeling the Spirit. Sometimes we expect too much, or to have a big answer to our prayers, but God still wants us to work, and to trust in Him. I think that is why it is a still small voice, because if you don't listen, you will never hear it. A lot of times our investigators feel the Spirit, but they don't recognize it to be the Spirit. So we all learned a lot about how to recognize the Spirit, and how to help others do the same. It was great.

This week, we were trying our best to find as much as possible. We were able to find a lot of new investigators which is great. It is always nice to have people to teach. We are super blessed here in Ghana to be able to have so many people all around us who are willing to listen. For example, on Saturday we went to visit an investigator who is having a hard time keeping commitments. When we got there, he was asleep so we just went down a couple doors and knocked. A man opened the door, and without us saying anything, he pulled out two chairs for us, and one for him and sat down and said, "who is going to pray?" lolol That was the easiest new investigator i think ever.. 

Sunday was a little disappointing, no one showed up for church. I mean no investigators came at least. We didn't even know what to do at investigator's class haha. They will come around tho. Just unlucky that everyone wasn't able to come the same week. 

After church on Sunday, we were going to a member's house who lives in Nima. One the way we passed by this house with a big wall around it, and it was really loud, people were playing music inside, and there were a ton of police guarding outside and what not. Turns out it was the president of Ghana's house.. Yep, he lives in our area. I hope he wants to learn about the Restored gospel, because i am going to knock on his door one day. I hear one of the guards is a member too, so maybe he can get us in ;) 

Sometimes we get to talk to muslims. They are really nice and usually have good questions. But most of the time, they are just not interested. We aren't supposed to teach them either, unless we have written consent from their guardian or parent. This is for a lot of reasons. But usually if missionaries have a chance to teach them, they just do it, but we are currently not teaching any muslims.  

I'm loving it here so much. Each day is fun. I am getting along with my companion really well, and we have a good time together. He is super funny. This work is true. Jesus is the Christ and He lives today. He loves you too. 

Have a great week! 

love,

ELDER BEN ELDREDGE

Another view of my area

Can you spot the temple? Just the top though

A Whole New World

Hello everyone,

Mission is such a great place where you get to be tossed around Ghana in a tro tro and expected to just figure things out. Thank goodness the Holy Ghost is here to guide or else i think i might die. So far i am loving my new area, i just don't know it very well. Things will get better as time goes on. Our ward is great tho! they are helping a lot with missionary work. Elder Udo is a great missionary, and i am super grateful to be able to work with him. 

Small Children

My new area is very different from Swedru. If i could make a comparison, i would say it is like going from Beaver Utah, to Salt Lake City... My head is still spinning a little. Sometimes throughout the day i wonder how this area has two wards in it, because of all the Muslims everywhere. You have to look pretty hard to find someone who believes in Jesus Christ. The Spirit has helped us so much this week to find new investigators. 

Some cool things about my area: Every evening around 6:00 the sky gets covered with bats flying through the air. You can also see the Flagstaff House (the presidents house) from parts of our area. And we have AC in our chapel. Tender mercy right there. 

This week we had a great MLC, which was all based on the Holy Ghost. We talked about how we have been called to teach by the Comforter. When we have the Spirit with us we will be able to teach with power and authority. Over my mission, i have realized the importance of always being worthy to have the Spirit with me. I truly need Him every hour. We have to work hard and do the small and simple things in order to qualify for the Spirit. It is by small and simple things, that great things are brought to pass. The promptings from the Spirit are so small and so simple, but so significant. They also lead us to do great things.

I am so grateful for this new area and companion. I am excited to learn from him. This work is true. The Lord is in the details of our lives. 

Have a great week! thank you for the prayers. 

Love,

Elder Ben Eldredge

we went to the temple site this morning to play some good ole basketball

I guess there is an oil you can buy that will make you have visions like J-Smith

from when i was in the bush (blurry)

bye bye elder wiscombe :(