Still not feeling great

This is Moda.  She is 3 and darling!

 

Dear Mom, 

 

Another pretty good week! We are doing well in the work right now. Elder Ngwenya and I taught the members how to teach the gospel to people.  We also established a ward mission with ward missionaries. Tomorrow we are going to see a member's referrals, so it is already paying off! All is well on the work front. 

 

My aches and fatigue are still happening.  I am working through it, though on Saturday I was woken up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps.  We stayed in that day. I am hoping it passes soon. I will take care of myself. I believe it is just that my body is weary. I will be ok :)

I love you guys so very much. I will work my hardest. 

 

Love, Elder Seanshine Keddington

Trying to get a 20-year-old guy to listen to his mom is tough.  I told him that he HAD to get checked out to make sure all is well.  Hopefully the next time I hear from him, he will have answers.  Sounds like the work is moving forward and he is doing well.  Transfers are Saturday and he is really hoping he gets to stay, but we'll see.  We're so proud of his dedication.  He is becoming quite a man!

They had quite the little photo shoot! ;)

 

6 Months to go

He loved snuggling with this sweet 2-week-old boy!

 

 Dear Mom,

 

Another pretty good week.  Lately my body has been aching like crazy.  It might just be that I am tired, but I will keep going.  I will keep getting stronger.  We should be having a baptism soon, so we are excited for another fruit of the labour to come forth.

I am so happy we got a dog! She is so cute. when I go to college I plan on getting a German shepherd or something. I am so glad we have one now.

I will continue to serve the lord with all my heart! I love you guys so very much!

Love Elder Seanshine Keddington

 

A man of very few words this week.  He has been instructed to check with the mission nurse concerning his aching body since he has now complained about being tired and hurting for a couple weeks now.  Hoping all is well!  

 

After years of asking on the part of our children, we did get a dog.  We got a sweet Westie named Maia.  He is really excited to meet her.

 

I look forward to hearing from him and hoping the word is good on his health.  We are sure proud of him!  6 months to go!

 

He made dinner for the apartment

On the day of the big Jazz vs. Clippers game

 

A couple slow weeks

A carved ebony Elephant Head.  Quite a souvenir!

From last week:
 
Dear Mom, 

Another great week! Some new changes have taken place. The church announced that we will have just 4 key indicators to measure our work. It will be baptisms and confirmations, new investigators, investigators at church, and baptismal dates. Its a pretty big change, Also, they are changing our schedule so we have more sleep - keeping us healthy. 

Also, I met with President this week.  He said he is very happy with our work in Bawjiase and says to keep up the good work! We will do just that!

 

Besides that, not much else to report on. I am excited to see how these change will affect the mission.

I love you guys so much!

 

Love Elder Seanshine Keddington 

 

 

From today:

Dear Mom, 

 

Another pretty good week. Not a lot to report. We are contacting like crazy to try and get our teaching pool full again. I had a bit of frustration yesterday. We had all of our contacts and some who are less active say they were coming to church, but none of them did. I had to remind myself that it takes time. I'm good now.

Boo, the Patriots won. Oh well. the Jazz are doing really good I hear.

All is well out here and I am doing good!  I love you so very much!

Love Elder Seanshine Keddington

 

He said in his FB message to me last week that he was just tired.  He was kind of glad to have not much going on because he feels like he has been so busy lately.  Busy is good, but I'm glad he can recognize when it's time to step back just a bit and recover.  He sounds great!  6 months 8 days until he comes home!  

 

I keep bugging him about sending me pictures!  Seriously - I hope he is at least taking them!   

Learning in Kasoa

Another wonderful baptism!

Dear Mom, 

Another great week. It had some bumps, but ended great. We taught another good number of lessons, but one of them was one of the toughest lessons to get through. He was a self anointed pastor who contacted us on the street. We gave him a Book of Mormon and when we came the next day, he said he threw it away. It turns out all he wanted to do was "Bible bash" where all they want to do is show off their knowledge of scriptures. We tried everything, but he wouldn't listen. We were there for 2 1/2 hours and didn't achieve a thing. Oh well.  Learn by experience.  But on the bright side, we had our baptism! Her name is Elizabeth. We are now gonna have a little break before our next candidate gets baptized, hopefully in 3 weeks or so.

Another week gone! Lets keep this going! Happy Birthday Kinslee!

 

I love you guys forever!

 

Love,
Elder Seanshine Keddington

 

He was a bit down about this encounter, but we can't grow if everything is always perfect.  Tough days make the good days that much sweeter.  He is doing great and we are so proud of him!  6 1/2 months until he comes home!  We're getting there!

Week 76 - Enjoying Kasoa

Seeing a buddy on P-day

 

 

 

Dear Mom, 

 

Another fantastic week! We confirmed our recent convert yesterday. Now their next step is getting sealed in the temple! So excited and blessed to be in this area for another transfer. Lets do it again!

 

So, some crazy stuff this week. My Zone Leader, Elder Jolley, was riding his bike and a motorcycle hit him.  Fortunately, the only injury he received was a gash on his forehead. I went with him to Accra to the mission doctor to get stitches. The Lord saved him, no doubt.

 

Today we went to a nature resort.  Unfortunately, the only animals there were tortoises and peacocks. There was a crocodile pond, but in order to see them, we need to bring bloody meat to coax them out. So we didn't see any. Still a fun trip.

Tell the twins I love them so very much! Happy Birthday Buddies!

Nothing Much else, Mom! I love you guys so much!

Love ,
 
Elder Seanshine Keddington

Lots of catching up to do!

After the latest baptism

Oh my - I have been a terrible caretaker for the blog the last few weeks!  We were able to Skype with Sean a couple of times on Christmas Day.  First, early in the morning, my phone started ringing at 5am.  It was Elder Ngwenya telling me that Elder Keddington was trying to Skype me.  We all got up to see what Santa brought so he could watch.  It was a fun short visit with the promise that we would talk to him again that afternoon.  We didn't realize how good we had it that morning.  It took a good hour or so to establish a good connection with him that afternoon.  The internet kept freezing and Ghana was feeling very far away.  Eventually we got a somewhat good connection and were able to have a great chat.  He sang and played ukelele for us.  He is in such a great mindset right now!  It was wonderful to see.  We didn't email the next day, since we had just chatted. 

Our next letter came from him when we were in Disney's California Adventure (we had given the kids a Disney and Universal Studios trip for Christmas).  Here is his letter from Monday, January 2nd:

Dear Mom, 

Another Amazing week! We had a lot of parties because of the new year. 2017!! I can't believe it. 

We had our baptism yesterday! It was an awesome service. I performed the baptism. His name was Brother Appiah. He and his family are so eager to be members of the church! Its amazing how close this branch is to each other. They treat each other like family. I'm so glad i get to be a part of it!

So from the package from the teacher,  I got a tie, a big bag of mint M&Ms and toiletries. It was so nice!

Here are the Scriptures I want Connor, Zack, and Seth to memorize.

First our purpose:

We invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.

3 Nephi 5:13

D&C 4

D&C 20:37

And the Standard of truth: The Standard of truth has been erected, no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God shall go forth boldly, nobly, and independent. Till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country, and sounded in every ear. Till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say "The work is done". -Joseph Smith

I love you guys so very much! Have so much fun!

 

Love Elder Seanshine Keddington

 

A sweet primary teacher had put together stockings for all the missionaries in his mission for Christmas and every time he tried to tell us what was in it, we would have a freeze in the Skype conversation, so he let us know here what was in t.  What a wonderful act of service that was.  He also had a charge for our next missionaries to do some memorization, so he put it in writing. He's been a great example.

 

Now we are to this week's letter:

 

 Dear Mom, 

 

We had a fantastic week! We taught a ton of lessons! We also met 3 new investigators, each of them are super enthusiastic to learn the gospel. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the spirit of these people. I am feeling really good right now Momma! :) Also we are having a baptism in 2 weeks, and then another the following week!

I am so glad you guys had all the fun you had. I am looking forward to the day that I will be there with you guys. Eventually, I got a mission to complete first! ;)

Not much else to report. Today we played capture the flag as a zone. It was a ton of fun! Unfortunately I forgot to take photos. Sorry! I promise more on Monday!

I love you guys so much!

Love, Elder Seanshine Keddington

Well - we have the biggest blog post we've ever had.  Three week's worth!  Here are a few more pictures he sent.

Christmas Skype

Christmas Week!

After a zone on zone football game.  Always the stand out - wearing yellow when everyone else is in blue!

Hi Mom! 

Christmas is here! I am so excited to talk to you guys! This week was awesome in some aspects, not in others. It was awesome because we went to the temple with our recent converts! Everyone was so happy to go to the temple and everyone is looking forward to our next trip! Hopefully soon! The teaching this week was not that great. All of the members who usually go out with us were busy all week, so we had to get by on our own. Bawjiase is not an English first town, so our options were limited. Fortunately everyone will be home for the holidays this week so we will be able to take a member everyday.

I will be able to Skype at noon. I can't wait for it! We are going to Accra tomorrow for a mission conference. It will be great to see everyone. 

I love you guys to the Moon and back! Can't wait for Christmas!

 

Love,

 

Elder Seanshine Keddington

 

P.S. Sorry for the beard in the pic. I'll shave :)

Haha!  The kid is such a hairy beast, I'm always bugging him because he has a beard shadow in his pictures.  I love that he jumped on with the PS before I commented on it.  He makes me laugh. 

 

 I can't believe we get to talk to him on Sunday!  It's the only Christmas present I want!  It's absolutely amazing how precious those visits are.  Especially since I haven't gotten a Sean hug for almost 16 months!  I am very much looking forward to talking to him.  This is his last Christmas away, but we get to look forward to Connor being gone for next Christmas.  Gigantic sigh!!!  It's totally worth it, though.  

 

We hope that his Christmas is wonderful and that he is able to make a few other people's Christmases great!