"It's Good To Have An End To Journey Towards, But It's The Journey That Matters In The End"

Dear Family & Friends,

Well this week has been pretty good. Today is the 1st of November and that means that I will be coming home this month. It’s a little sad to think that, but all the same---all good things must come to an end. There was a saying that Mom included once on my email: "It’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it’s the journey that matters in the end". Now I am really preparing to come home and it does not seem real. It seems just like everyday in my mission but I know that I don't have lots of time. Right now we have 2 investigators that do not want to accept a baptismal date. It’s hard to think about that, even when we were teaching one of them it just hit me---this may be his only chance to be baptized into the true church. Well, we bore our testimonies and the lesson was so sweet, but then a man walked by and out of the blue he said are you Evangelists? Very loudly. Then he said have you been baptized---man this guy was crazy. It smashed the whole lesson and we both felt like he was just getting ready to accept a date. Boy, the devil really works in crazy ways. Well needless to say the guy still came to church. He is really cool, just can’t get him to realize his first baptism was not with the right power.

Well this week we had 8 people come to church, it was a great week! We are really working hard, Elder Nkomo and I. It’s not been easy, last week I was so dead I could not even hardly stay up long enough to cook at night. One night I even burned my beans from Taco Bell. Ya, they have Taco Bell here!!! jk So the people who came to church are lots of people we have been teaching and one that we have never taught. She is French and very cool. Four of them will be baptized on the 13th of November and 4 on the 20th. We don't know how many for the 27th yet---we should have 4 if they come to church enough times. We even went to pick one of them up, which was pretty cool. Every time we go there, (her name is Queen), they feed us and it’s always really good. So we were not worried about going to pick her up. She is one that will be baptized next week. Then we had Kennedy, he came 2 weeks ago and the guy is really cool. He was the guy we contacted once and he came to church. We also found a guy named Godfred---this week he is preparing for baptism now. Then the 2 girls that have a sister who is a member--they are way cool. So in all this week was great! We have to set are new goals on Tuesday. We are thinking of a goal of 5 or 6 but we do not know yet. We really could have up to 12, but some of the people are a little shaky.

I did not even remember that it was Halloween so we missed it all the way, but we are going to now make no bake cookies to make up for it!

So this week we have Zone Meeting, next week is the temple trip, the next week we have nothing and then you will be here. So it’s not long at all now. Here we have been keeping busy with all the people we are teaching and trying to find more. Oh ya, this week also we have had like 4 people stop us. One was a man that has lived in U.S. for a while; he is like a weight lifter. When we met him I was like this guy is going to smash me. He would like us to come by and teach him. He acts just like an American. Then another man that had a broken arm came up to us when we went to buy something that the store did not have. We taught him on Sunday about baptism and he accepted to be baptized. So it was pretty awesome! He has a wife who sat with us for part of the lesson and 2 kids (one girl one boy). They all seem really cool. So we are having a really good time in Achimota and I hope that it will continue.

Elder Nkomo and I have been working together probably the best that I have ever felt here. There have been so many moments where I felt the spirit was there and it really helps. Still people have their agency, but we are helping them to see a better way of life. We are really working to be exactly obedient and it’s fun because he wants to also and the other missionaries want to, too. So it’s sweet. It’s not like I am forcing him to do it. It’s funny how some missionaries have not the drive to help them do the work. I just wonder how they lost it, because when I came out and trained all my greenies they all wanted to work hard, sometimes harder than me. Well, no worries I don't have to deal with that anymore.

These last couple of weeks have been some great weeks. I have loved the work and I am really feeling more happy. These last few weeks will be over, and then I will be wishing I would not have tried to hurry it up.

Guess what? I was thinking of some of the food that I miss the other day like Shellie's! That is going to be some good food because I have been eating spicy food for the last 2 years. And I was thinking about scones, so I decided to make some scones. I don't think it’s going to be really easy but I will do it tonight. I have not thought of what you will be eating when you are here. I think you will like yams, I will make them for sure and some stew and I will make you aba. Those things are easy to make in the house and they are really good. Chop bars are pretty risky, you can get pretty sick from them and I don't think you will like it anyway. Lots of play dough (fu fu). ha ha! Well maybe you have it all planned out--I hope.

Well, have a great day and week. I will see you all soon. Love you tons and tons. Miss you.

Love, Elder Jeremy Reid