Dear Fambly,

                    "Ching-chong-ching-chong", as the Ghanaian children would say to an Asian person as they walk by (or us, because I guess sometimes we look Asian :-S). This week was pretty great! We confirmed Florence this Sunday and we're baptizing another woman named Helen next week! (I'll send a picture of Florence). Fun story, there's a crazy man who stands near the main road at our house every day who wears a hat over a long piece of neon fabric over is head. He has a two-foot long stick in his hand which it looks like he's trying to direct traffic with as he points it at the cars that go by. I think he thinks that it's his job to go out there and do what he does. Sometimes we find him around the community standing in the middle of the roads pointing his stick at cars and yelling stuff. If he's in the way of the cars, they just honk at him until he moves while angrily pointing his stick at them as they pass. I told Elder Southwick that he's probably a wizard and is just casting spells. 

            We also taught a man named "Connor" this week. Sorry to say Connor, but the man rejected the Book of Mormon completely. He let us in, but wasn't very open to receive anything we had for him. He was in his 30's and had a house all to himself. By the time we got to the Book of Mormon, he just started shutting us down and telling us that there can't be anything else besides the bible. We begged to ask him why there couldn't, and the just said, "there can't!". We didn't continue to ask. I think he had heard something about the church, and even when we tried to explain the Book of Mormon, he said that he already knew what it was and that Joseph Smith wrote it. So we just stopped pushing, had a closing prayer, and said goodbye! 

                 Well, next week the mission is receiving 28 new missionaries, and then five days later the mission is splitting into two! Trainers will be called tomorrow. I really can't say what will happen this last transfer. I may stay or go, maybe my companion will go, or we'll both stay; who knows! Mom asked whether or not we've been teaching referrals. We're trying, and we wish we could teach all referrals, but there's only a few a referrals right now. It's hard to get someone to church without a member bringing them and being their friend. I would like some taco seasoning or gravy packets! Maybe one or two of those Idahoan instant potatoes! :) 

                  That's my week! I'm still trying to be strong and finish to the end. I know how I end my mission is how I'll be when I come home, and I don't want to come home a lazy junk. I got McCall's letter this week! Thanks 'Call! I'll write back as soon as I can! Happy Father's Day Dad! Love you guys, and talk to ya next week.

Dear Family,

              This week was nice! I'll be singing this next week on Wednesday! I'm the only musical number too. I thought there would be others, but they said I'm the only one! I'll be singing "Be Still My Soul" A Capella, and it's going to go really well I think! I wish I could just sing as my mission, but there's not too many opportunities, and the style of music that people like here is nothing that I would sing. I asked the bishop on Saturday if I could sing in sacrament meeting the next day, and he said that the choir was singing a number, but we're having a ward family home evening at the church tonight and he said I could sing for that. I feel like singing is a contribution I should be making more to do missionary work and support the ward.

           This last week we all went out for pizza again one night this last week with a few other missionaries, and we even found probably the only miniature golf course in Ghana, and we're going to go play this afternoon for a p-day activity!

           We taught a lot of lessons this week, and they were good lessons too! In all we taught 31! Crazy huh?! I don't think I've been able to do this much teaching for like 8 months! It's been nice and the ward had a missionary open-house that turned out to be a lot more successful than I thought. People walked in, they met some members, watched a small video clip, and then we sat down with them and taught them.

           Some more mission news! Transfers will be this Thursday. There were only about 8 missionaries called to train this transfer, but I heard that the next group of missionaries to come in after this will be one sister missionary, one African, and 18 Americans! There are also rumors going around that there will be a change in the way transfers happen now, like maybe the transfer length will be shortened or lengthened. But that's just rumor right now. We do know, however, that because of whatever the change is with transfers, the dates of those going home are being changed, just like you said. I don't know what the dates are going to be changed to, but I imagine it ought to work out for me. If I go home a few weeks early, I"ll make it in time just fine for school. But if it's a few weeks later, I'll just choose to go home some few weeks early to make it in time. Either way, that's still like 8 months away. Elder C. Scott Grow is supposed to expound on it all a little more during our conference with him this Wednesday.

            We're still working with an old man named Tetteh who was the one who was a co-founder of a church. He's afraid to be baptized we think. He's so funny. When he comes to church, he sits down and leans back in his chair and closes his eyes like he just came there to sleep. Then every once and a while he'll speak up in the middle of the lesson and bring up a really good point, and sometimes it stirs quite the argument among members. We'll both (Elder Henderson and I) just kind of look over at Tetteh and think, "Wasn't he just asleep?!". He fed us some potato soup yesterday which tasted more like home than any Ghanaian dish I've ever had here. It was pretty good and he even made it himself. His wife kept calling him "chef" the whole time he was serving us, ha ha.....I should probably write more about things like this huh? There's just so many unusual things that happen every day that it just doesn't hit me that it's unusual anymore. We also went with a recent convert who had come off of smoking marijuana to go and teach some members' 25-year-old son who has been smoking it for some time now. Both the recent convert (William) and the members' son (Mathias) are big guys. William pretty much took over the lesson and we're pretty sure Mathias was high while we were teaching him the whole time, ha, but it still went well. The way of teaching and counseling people here (at least amongst themselves) is so different from how you'd think it should work. They sweet talk each other as if it's a business offer sometimes. William started out by saying things like, "You know, your parents, they love you so much. Every time I see your father he tells me how much he loves his son. He wants you to be a gentleman and to be successful. And can you do that if you've got your hair like it is and you're becoming a Rastaman? No." (A Rastaman is pretty much someone who like to grow their hair out long in dreads, listen to reggae music, act relaxed, and smoke weed. Bob Marley is a perfect example of a "Rastaman") William even convinced Mathias to at least trim up his hair and his big beard promising him that if he did, he would be able to ask his father for 1,000 cedis and his father would surely give it to him, ha ha. It was a good lesson, but it's so different from what we would do. They're very straight forward with each other and they don't take offense at things that we normally would, so they say some pretty bold, sometimes funny, things. Oh, and to dad: I've been keeping a pretty good track of names and areas because I've kept all of my planners from past areas and they have all the people's names I taught and what I taught them. I think I should be able to remember a lot just from those. I've got every day's plan in missionary planners since the beginning of my mission inside my suitcase.

         I haven't been able to receive any mail for the last 2 weeks, but I'll make sure to send McCall's letter off. I did hear though that I have a package waiting for me in the mission home, so I think your Christmas package to me arrived! I'll find out this Wednesday.

        One last thing, I went to the temple this last week with our ward and some recent converts and the temple workers gave us the papers with names on them, showed us how to do it all, and then left us missionaries with the ward members in the confirmation room to do about 120 or more confirmations. So that was fun. I felt pretty official ;)

        Thanks for your e-mails! That sucks that everyone is so sick. I'll be praying for Aunt Linda especially! Tell her I say she should just eat some jelly beans. I think that ought to take care of it :) I'll talk to you guys next week!

                      Lot's of Lutchin' love, Elder Dallin Littlefield

Chad Littlefield

 

Dear Family,

                Another really good week! We had SEVEN investigators at church this Sunday. They all came on their own except for one of them that we picked up, and they're all people we've been teaching and have accepted baptismal dates! It's been so nice. We taught about 30 lessons this last week and I'm loving it. Elder Henderson is so nice to work with. He can hold his own and is humble enough to adapt to me while I adapt to him. We're working really well together. OH! before I forget. I have a funny story to tell. There's a man named Francis that we're teaching. He's a little slow. But we were teaching him about baptism and how we need to do it by immersion, and Elder Henderson said to him, "You, when you you bathe, do you just wash one part of your body and your done, or do you wash your whole body?". He has used this example tons of times, but this time Francis said, "Well, sometimes I just wash part and sometimes I wash all.". Ha Ha! Oh man, it was so funny. We both just laughed and were like, "Wait....what?!". 

          We also taught a man this week that has been really prepared. He's had the influence of members throughout his life and when we went to see him we found out that he owns two houses that he doesn't live in and just rents them out to people. He's extremely smart, even compared to someone back home, and he's so enlightened. He even brought up in our lesson that there must be something true about the church because of all the hatred towards it. He accepted a baptismal date, didn't quite come to church, but has already been once to another ward in the recent past. He was a referral from the elders whose ward he went to. There's a member fireside with Elder Quentin L. Cook next Wednesday and we're going to try and make it a goal to get him there. 

           We baptized a woman yesterday after church who we believe is really converted. Her name is Charlotte. We had been teaching her mother for over a month when one day she happened to be sitting in on the lesson and was very curious about our doctrines and where we go after we die. From that point she's come to church every week for 5 weeks in a row and now is baptized. 

          I think we're the only church with so much detail and certainty about where we actually go after we die and where we were and what happened before we were born. Out here in Ghana, there's a ton of churches and influence of churches everywhere, so you get to learn about a lot of the other churches doctrine. It's really interesting to find out how solid our religion is. A lot of other religions are speculative and presuming. Ours isn't a bunch of guesses, but instead we "know". I'd much rather hope that our church is true than settle for a guess or a "We can only assume" answer. Our church's doctrine is solid. Members teaching lessons or giving talks don't teach what they think, they teach doctrine that has already been established. It's just a matter  of having everyone else understand that doctrine. Because really, Christ's gospel is to be understood by the spirit. Words can only "tell", but the spirit "shows" (2nd Nephi 32:3-5). Together, like it states in D&C 11:21, the spirit and the word are "the power of God unto the convincing of men". 

           Well, chances are I won't be able to send any letters off this week or receive any. Next week I will though. Sorry, no picturers this week, I didn't take any....I did, however, record my "be still my soul" song, so I'll send that with this e-mail. :)

           For all of the things that I'm learning while I'm here on my mission, I keep being reminded that I need to remember these things and make them a habit and part of me especially when I'm finished with my mission. It seems like every time I learn something new, something reminds me to not forget it when I go home and to not go back to how I was before my mission. I plan on being a very different person as far as my commitment to the church and my own standards. I have some huge experiences that have changed how I see things since I've been here and I never want to fall back into any old ruts. This church and these doctrines are incredible! I love them so much! I understand more what people mean when they say they feel blessed to be on the earth during the fullness of times. We really do have a lot of truth, and I don't think nearly as many of us search it out and use it as we could. You can live such a near-perfect life if you're diligent and willing.

            Anyway, thanks for the letters! Everything is going well here and I hope it continues. Thanks for your prayers. I pray for you guys too.

                               Love, Dallin (Elder Littlefield)

Dear Family,

                   Transfers are this Wednesday. More than likely I'll at least get a new companion. Let me answer Mom's questions first this time. Proselyting this week went pretty well. We can't manage to get anyone to come to church to save our lives. Although, we can get them to say they will come to church, ha ha. I think we had about 5 or 6 investigators all tell us Saturday night that they'd be there Sunday morning, and then no one showed up. I've lately been at a loss of what to do, but we're just going to keep trying new things to help. They keep all of their other commitments to read and pray and things like that, but coming to church is apparently a real struggle. We were teaching one man, and when we asked him if he had any questions during one lesson, he just turned to the back of the pamphlet and started reading the "additional study" questions to us as if they were his own. Later in the lesson he got up to go talk to someone, told us he'd come back, and then never did. I went on three splits this week. One with the zone leaders, and then one each with two of the companionships in our district. It was a pretty crazy week of traveling and being all over the place. We taught another man who claimed that we definitely worshiped whatever gold man that was on top of our temples. There are some pretty interesting rumors that go around about the church here. One's like we drink blood or we have secret underground worshiping places that only members who "have gotten so far" in the church can see. Some say that we do chants and call spirits because to most here the word "saints" has to do with calling back from the dead the spirits of people like Peter, Mary, Judas, etc. from the new testament. It's a lot of fun sometimes to hear what they come up with.
         I get my haircut just about every month and a half, I like keeping it pretty short. I'll get it cut again today.
          Oh! I've got a fun story to share about when I was on splits with Elder Russell from my MTC group. He's my zone leader. Anyways, we met this hardcore "Rastafarian" guy. Rastafarians are pretty much like Bob Marley lifestyle type of people. Most smoke marijuana and have dreadlocks. He's probably from Jamaica because he had the accent, but we never know because there's quite the handful of Ghanaians that like to act like they're Jamaican. Anyways, he called us into his shop that was selling all different kinds of Bob Marley and Lucky Dube stuff. He had researched our church on the internet and was baffled to find out that his research was not correct....go figure. The story he had was somehow close, but a lot of the details were exaggerated or not correct. He wouldn't let us talk much but went on to tell us his theory about how Jesus Christ got down from the cross three hours after they tried to crucify him and that he actually never was crucified. It smelled like Marijuana in his shop and although this guy talked like he was pretty intelligent, I think he was a little off his rocker. It was worse because he was starting to brainwash one of the investigators they had that had come with us to his shop. Elder Russell directly told the man that everything he said was false and that nothing he said was in the bible. That started a little contention and we ended up just walking out with the guy saying, "oh come on mon, don't be like that!".  It was quite the exciting time, ha :)
         We finally got to listen to conference yesterday. It was so nice, especially Elder Holland's talk about the account of Peter and Christ saying "Peter, do you love me?". That was pretty darn powerful.
       Well, I don't have much else to say.  I love you guys!  Talk to you guys next week!

                    Love, Dallin (Elder Littlefield)

Oct 22nd 2012

Dear Family,

                   This week went well! We had interviews with President Judd and that was nice to talk with him. Usually he has things to suggest that I should do, but this time around he pretty much just told me I was doing good job and that I should keep it up. I think that's probably what I needed most. It's nice to feel like I'm appreciated. Ha, it was funny because the first thing he said to me when I sat down with him was, "Well Elder, you're an experienced missionary now...". That's the last thing I would think of myself as, so that makes me feel good that he thinks that. I told him about the statistics that Uncle Shane gave about numbers tripling and 250 in every mission, and he just kind of laughed and said, "I don't think I could handle 250 missionaries right now".  But he has mentioned in his last few letters to all of us that a lot of new things will be happening these next few transfers and that new areas will be opened up. He mentioned to me in the interview also that there was a lot more area in the east (Volta Region) and in the North (Eastern Region...Kind of backwards huh?!) that still need to be opened up. I would love to open up a new area. Because that also means a brand new apartment ;).
                  We've been talking about Mitt Romney a bit in our apartment lately. I hope he wins. The people here always talk about Obama, and I'm sure if Mitt Romney became president it would give the church A TON of publicity here in Ghana and throughout the world.
                  Dad, you talked about being grateful for your own testimony. Isn't a testimony the most valuable thing we can have? It's a sense of identity and purpose, and if it's strong, there's no worry even when challenges come. It seems that all challenges are mentally solved, even working physically. If we have a solid testimony, we, in a way, have solid faith. We just have to keep in remembrance. It seems that most people reach a point in their testimony where they "know". After that point, it's mostly a matter of remembrance. Of course we'll strengthen it, but that one time really should be suffice for most challenges that come our way. At least that's the way I see it.
                  I got the package with the ties (I love both of them), candy, rubber band gun, socks (thank goodness, I have like two or three pairs with holes in them) and the armpit farting card. that was great.                  I'll continue the rest of my letter in response to mom's e-mail..............

Questions. We have been teaching at least 15-20 lessons each week, so we're doing fine now. But as for baptisms and people progressing, I have no idea what's happening. It gets frustrating at times, but I feel like we're trying our hardest, and then some. But yes, I feel like I learn huge lessons every week. I write down spiritual impressions in my journal about doctrines and experiences, so hopefully they'll come in handy later. One that I've found lately is about the sacrament. I was reading somewhere in 3rd Nephi and I  was thinking about the sacrament and why it even matters. I feel like I remember Christ and my covenants every day anyway, so why do we have to do it on Sunday by eating a little piece of bread and water, right? But in 3rd Nephi and in the sacrament prayer, it mentions that the sacrament is the way that we "witness" unto God that we will always remember him. Just like we can learn about the church and read the Book of Mormon every day, God has put in place baptism as a commandment to officially witness to Him that we take upon ourselves the name of Christ and keep His commandments. Same with the sacrament. It's a commandment. We do it and God accepts it as our official witness to remember Christ and keep our baptismal covenants. We can do and say all we want during the week to witness to Him that we remember Christ, but God has His way, and he has a purpose in it. Whether nor not we will ever "fully" understand that purpose is beyond me, but God has made his way, and there's no other way that will work once His way is commanded and set in place.
          Another thing I finally understood was about the state of mind Adam and Eve were in before they took of the fruit. Of course we know they were innocent, but it sure boggled my mind how someone can make a choice without having previous experience to base that choice off of. But it makes sense now and I'll explain how I came to know. We were teaching this guy named King. We told him, "So Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and they fell, becoming subject to sin". So he asked, "Subject to sin?! Didn't they just sin when they took of the fruit?" I told him no, and that sin and transgression are different. I said that sin is when we knowingly do wrong, and transgression is when we don't know. Then he rebutted, "But they knew! God told them not to take of the fruit!" ..........That stumped me. I thought, "yeah...he's right? what the heck?!" And then somehow it just all clicked in my mind and I said, "Yes God told them not to take of the fruit, but they didn't know it was wrong." It kind of blew my mind as the words came out of my mouth. I think it did the same for our investigator because he then gave a perfect analogy to correlate with it all. He said, "So for example. God said, don't touch that fire, but then Satan came and told them to touch it so they did. Then they realized what they didn't know before -- that it burned them, and it hurt! And now they knew!" I just said, "YES, PERFECT!!!" Needless to say, that night was great. That actually happened last Monday night.
                       So I'll explain our visit to the mall. Well, I bought shoe polish (the brand name [Kiwi]) peanut butter, and some potato chips. It was all delicious. It felt really awkward in the mall there though. It was like being at home. The mall is just like one back home. They even had an Apple store. We had some french fries in a little fast food restaurant and really, I just wanted to get out of there because it felt so weird. I'm definitely going to feel out of place when I get home. I prefer gutters filled with gray goop with goats and chickens running around on dirt roads.
                      It rained really hard this last Friday. The streets outside our apartment were just covered in two or three inches of rain. The sisters in our district called us and asked us to bring them umbrellas because they were cold and couldn't get back to their apartment. So Elder Bladen and I made a trek there through all the water. I'll send the pictures.
                 Love you guys, I'll talk to you next week. Thanks for the letter again!
                                                  Love, Elder Littlefield

Ok! Family,

              I've only got 11 minutes because I went to buy all new white shirts in Accra. I bought 7 for 43 cedis (20 U.S. Dollars)! Pretty sweet huh?! Well, this week went really well. This missionary work is becoming extra serious now. President Judd's letter to us about the new announcement about 18-year-old elders had him talk to us about the importance of being a very well trusted missionary that is "righteous in the dark". I'm so glad I don't feel guilty when he says that. I didn't really notice too much, but I did make it my goal some several months back to always do the right thing when no one is around and just to have charity and good character at the times when I could definitely do bad. It gives me so much confidence, and I don't feel any guilt. It's the best feeling. Before my mission I never realized how much doing the right thing when no one's looking means so much to your confidence. You can't tell someone else with all your conviction to do something that you feel you could do better at or don't do as well. But if you aren't guilty of being lazy or doing bad things, then you have so much more the power and right to help teach those with love the correct way back onto the right path and it makes all the difference for that person.
            I won't comment much on your e-mails because of time, but know I did read them. I didn't hear about the age change for missionaries until I read President Judd's E-mail today! It sounds pretty awesome though.
           The work is going so great! I made my own philosophy that I'm going to live by for the rest of my mission. I decided that "I don't have to want to try to try". It changes everything when you do what's right even when it doesn't make any sense and you feel so much like doing the easier thing. God blesses you. I've also learned the importance of relying on the savior and literally "building" myself on the atonement. It doesn't fall. Everything else will fail, but Christ will not. He never does, and I've seen it first hand. Sometimes I wonder if I really have much of a testimony. I do, but it's often difficult to really determine where it came from. All I can say most of the time is that "I know" and I'm positive that I know. There really is no doubt! Jesus Christ is the One that we really all need to build ourselves on. If we build on other things, it will destroy our confidence and trust hoping for what is right. But I know that if we build ourselves relying on Christ for everything, we NEVER fail. I've heard this my whole life, but it really changes when I have to do something hard that is impossible without HIS help. I love you guys. I'll write a longer letter next week, but I'm almost out of time.

                                                      Love, Elder Littlefield

This week has been pretty good. It just seemed kind of average. It had it's ups and downs. Being more in the city areas brings a lot of different personalities and ideas. People back in the bush (Nsawam) are all pretty like one another. Some people are really confused when it comes to doctrine and you find more of those "Oh, the Mormons! You drink blood and call spirits!" kind of people. You just have to think sometimes, "What in the world?! Who told you that?" and they always answer back, "Oh, I heard it from my sister or friend, or whoever!" and then when you tell them it's not true they act as if the person they heard the rumor from knows more about the church than a missionary who represents the church. It's silly. I think a strong person is someone who doesn't believe what people tell them, but instead finds out what is true for themselves. I believe that in everything. You can't really take someone's word for anything really. Sometimes we use it to lean on until we find out for ourselves, but to make conclusions based of what someone has said is worth nothing. Even to hear Apostles and Prophets constantly testify that this church is God's true church cannot benefit you anything unless you learn to receive your answers from the spirit. And if someone wants to call that a brainwashing mind game, then they can. We get to choose for ourselves whether or not we're feeling the spirit or whether we're just making things up in our minds. Even in Doctrine and Covenants 50:13-16 it says (now I think this scripture was meant more for the teacher than the learner, but it works just the same) "Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question -- unto what were ye ordained?"
          "To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth."
          "And then received ye spirits which ye could not understand, and received them to be of God; and in this are ye justified?"
          "Behold ye shall answer this question yourselves (this is where our agency comes in); nevertheless, I will be merciful unto you; he that is weak among you hereafter shall be made strong."
          We can, at times, receive spirits we cannot understand. People are so anxious and impatient that sometimes they think those feelings or whatever are the spirit, and so they stop there. But it asks if we are justified or satisfied with those feelings we received as being from God. If we are, then fine, we all have agency. But if we aren't, we shouldn't settle or assume God won't answer us. It comes by faith, and if we don't first "cast it out by our unbelief" (Alma 32:28) and we give it a chance, we'll receive an answer to our prayers. But we can't give up our faith. That is number one. We must always try, even if, at times, we seem to be getting no where. There's always a reason for every challenge and trial, and the impatient receive nothing. Something doesn't come of nothing. And most things worth while don't come from minimal efforts. It seems that our efforts of faith are always at least equally matched with blessings. Anyways, that's my sermon, ha ha. I could go on forever and ever.  Well, I'll talk to you guys next week! Hopefully I'll get one of those packages this week. We have a mission conference this Thursday with Elder Dixon, our area president. It should be good, he's going to call on 3 or 4 people to give 3-4 minute talks on the importance and testimony of tithing, so we all have to be prepared. I love my family, talk to you guys next week!
                                                       Love, Dallin (Elder Littlefield)


 The third one is of some little kids whose family we taught back in Owuraku, Nsawam. The little girl is named Delah, and the boy is named achu (just like you sneeze, ha ha.) I have videos of them, and she's way cute. She reminds me of Oakley when she was little.