Recovery and Moving Forward!

Warning: This post contains one picture that could make some of you retch. I think it's cool. 

President and Sister Cook in the hospital with Elder Beadle... AFTER the appendectomy~he was much happier and more comfortable than BEFORE. 

...So many things happened to put him in the best possible situation for this.  The surgeon told him his appendix was close to bursting (the words he told us were "your appendix was really old.")  We were truly blessed all along the way.  I know he was being watched over.

Have a merry Christmas!  It is 80 degrees and sunny here so it just doesn't feel quite right but we are grateful this Christmas for our wonderful missionaries and their hard work and efforts to share the Gospel with others.  Your son was talking to the nurse about the church when we arrived and also to his roommate yesterday so he continues to preach even while in the hospital.  

We will be in touch.

Sister Cook

He turned 20 three weeks before Christmas, but he didn't receive his birthday package until closer to Christmas. Michael filled the number 20 with 20 scriptures about 20. 

He got to spend Christmas in the mission home. Who does the cheesy grin in the middle remind you of? 

We were able to Skype with him on Christmas day. It made the kids nervous, though and they wouldn't say anything. They just wanted to look at him but not be seen. Then when he called us on the phone "to say goodbye," after the internet stopped working there, they wouldn't stop talking. They each wanted to tell them what they got for Christmas and what they did that week and what they were going to eat for breakfast... 

Ok, here's the gross picture. Scroll Down...











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Don't ask me how you get an enlarged appendix out through those holes without rupturing it. Not unlike escaping Mother's womb (sorry. couldn't help myself... name that movie :)

Hoppers, Hoppers everywhere! 

Elder Beadle is no longer companions with Elder Gumbodete. He has had a branch missionary as a companion for a week or two and he will soon get a missionary who has been in Zambia waiting for a visa. He says the work in Zimbabwe is progressing much faster than in Zambia because of strong anti-Mormon sentiment there. 

He isn't ever coming home. Would you? 

as always, my child is the pale one on the the left. 

One of the most rewarding parts of the work is proposing legal marriage to the couples they are teaching. Then they help plan and prepare for the marriage ceremony. 

Elder Beadle with some of the other missionaries in Zimbabwe:

Awake and Alive!

Last night at about 11:00 PM, I received a call from ZIMBABWE! 

It was Sister Cook telling me that because they decided to let Elder Beadle spend the night with the Assistants, he was close enough that when they realized it was time to take him to the hospital, they were close enough to take him to the best hospital in Zimbabwe. She was waiting with him at the hospital for the surgeon to arrive and she would text or call throughout the night to let me know his status. Of course, it was daytime there.  Somewhere in that conversation were the words "we thought he had a stomach virus but it turns out he has acute appendicitis." I guess he had been vomiting for a while. 

Nothing like the helpless feeling you have when you are 9,728 miles away. I felt okay about it, especially since Sister Cook is a mom and she assured me that she was making sure he got the care he needed. I slept pretty soundly, and I slept right through Sister Cook's call the next morning. When she did reach me, though, she assured me that he was being well taken care of. She had met the surgeon and was very impressed by him. They did the surgery laparoscopically so he only has 3 small holes in his tummy instead of a big incision like I have in mine. He should be home (his apartment? the mission home?) by Tuesday and then he will need to take it easy for a week or so. Only then did she tell me that when she asked him if he wanted to call me himself, he said no, that he'd call me on Wednesday. It was also not until now that she told me that he had been in a lot of pain before the surgery. 

Then she sent me this picture of a-cute missionary post-appendectomy: 

Karlee says, "they have a nice hospital there. I thought it would be bricks and mud." 

Merry Christmas 2013

Goodbye Elder Nyagomo

Hello Elder Gumbodete

My new house

dear family.

i sure do miss all of you this christmas season. 

i don't have much to offer and i can't say i know much but i can say i love you all and miss you and what i can offer i say now..

remember who you are and don't kiss girls(Wade) or boys(Megan) and be the best person you can be.. remember to be yourself. do good to everyone that you see. remember the spirit of christmas. be the one that people want to be like. give a good example and share what you have with others.. especially the gospel. 

invite your friends to church. and go with them. be their friend. love everyone. and remember that God loves us that is why he sent his son Jesus.. so that we can return to be with him. i love you all. 

merry christmas. 

love elderbeadle

Glenview

My new comp, Elder Nyagomo and Elder Sakala.

dear mom  

it is so good to hear from you.

i am glad that you are all having some fun. 

without me..

it is okay though. i am loving zim and i am getting fat. 

physically and spiritually. i am dense with the spirit. 

i love it .. i am learning so much about the gospel in just a few days i am able to increase my knowledge about the gospel. i think it comes from teaching.. when the spirit teaches. everyone is edified.

i have some pics.

i was thinking for christmas you could send me that small blender to make smoothies. it would be awesome. 

anyway.
i love you so much i will work on some spiritual experiences to send. 

keep it up. 

ELDER BEADLE

 A family that we helped get married. 

 Family. That's what it's all about. 

Zebra Skin!!

Right after Will got to Africa, Landon was missing him so William bought him a surprise with some zebra skin on it. We didn't know what it was so we just referred to it as "The Zebra Skin." He sent it home right before Mother's Day with a woman who said she would bring it to Landon when she came back to Utah. Almost every day, he asked me when his zebra skin was going to come. Every day for 3 weeks, I said I didn't know and we kind of gave it up for lost because we hadn't heard anything from the sister who brought it back with her. Still, every so often, he would ask me when his zebra skin would get here. 

This last week, I received a phone call from an unknown number and the voice told me that she was a humanitarian missionary who had just returned from Zimbabwe and that she had a package for me. Well she brought it and while Landon was tearing it open, the mail came... with a letter from Will for Landon and a Zimbabwe 10 Dollar Bill and an apology that the zebra skin had never come. 

The Zebra Skin was a leather-covered Book of Mormon with a zebra skin inlay in the shape of the continent of Africa. 

Always remember to read your scriptures, Buddy.

OREOS and PORK JERKY!!

i got the package with oreos and pork jerky. thank you so much. that help me out a lot. however i am now pushing 87kgs for you americans that is 190lbs. aash i am gaining like crazy. i think i am aiming for 195-200lds (lbs hehe) i run every morning and am doing pushups. but the diet here is strange.(maybe we can all send dehydrated diet food?) i am still adjusting but i am fine. 

Thanks for the pictures. i love them so much. they lift me up so often. i love you all so much. i love hearing from the home. i wanted to write my stories. ugh.. i found a dog with his skull smashed in.. ugh. i wanted to die.

i love you all i don't know all what to say,.. i don't need anything. just prayers thank you for your thoughts and prayers already. ..

i love you and am so grateful for this calling to serve. i have such a great view of our battle with the adversary. i can see so much further. don't stress too much about me. keep your family strong. sorry my letter to dad was so short. let him know that i sustain him as the family leader and i love him. he is inspirational.

i need to think of some good stories to send home. ugh.. never mind. i had some good thoughts during the week .
but i forgot. love ELDER BEADLE   

i ate boar's head... gross. i am going to learn how to make sadza and bring some home.

I'm not sure what this is... burning garbage?

oh i threw a party for my district leader Elder Hans. by myself kinda.. haha it was good. we had cake and ice cream and i used megan’s balloons !!! thanks megan

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Family Camp... without Elder Beadle. Weird.

 We don't know that guy in the front of this picture but all the rest of the awesome people here belong to the LeFevre Clan... Mike, Lyndee, Jacob, Ethan, Adam, Alex and Wade. This was taken during our annual family camping trip and published on the front page of The Herald Journal in Cache Valley on June 29. We missed having Will with us. It's strange. Feels like the beginning of the end.


 Why do kids love camping so much? no baths?

 This was a little crevice in one of the wind caves that Wade discovered and climbed up to...

Not so easy to climb down, he discovered. Especially with tread-worn shoes and slippery rock.  Stuck.


  Not sure why this picture makes me want to giggle. It was a little precarious and I wasn't entirely sure we would get him down in one piece.



Logan Canyon

That empty shirt in the front belongs to Will. 

 Uncle Mark catches a snake. Good thing we are going home in about 10 minutes!

 
Logan Canyon looks great i miss those trips. and all the fun we had. i am happy to see the family just moving on so great. i love seeing my prayers being answered. I am so blessed with such a great family. I can feel the power of those who have gone on before and i am gaining strength as i move along.; your prayers are felt. and i love it. here is a little experience that i had:

so we were traveling along this back road one evening the sun had gone down and vision was a little low and we were just minding our business when this dog started chasing us and just barking and growling like crazy and foaming everywhere. 

we just ran. and the dog was chasing us! my comp grabbed my arm we stopped and he picked up a rock and threw it at the dog. he missed but the dog stopped chasing us. my goodness i almost died from a heart attack. so anyway a week passed and we were going one the same road. it was still 3 o clock and plenty of daylight so with no fear we go on minding our own business.. we hear a deep growl and out of the corner of my eye i see the dog jump out of it's curled position and ran at me like it just doesn't like my own business. this time i was determined to hold my ground and kick the dog in the face or in the ribs. (haha i laugh at my courage now.. i am not very quick and that dog would have torn me to shreds). but the dog stopped, still growling and barking but i stared at him and just saw a poor baby abused and hungry, his ears were torn and bloody from fights with other dogs, flies buzzed around his head from the smell of raw flesh (Nyama is flesh in Shona). i almost wanted to help him out but he was Angry and even worse he recognized us as the people throwing rocks . AGH! we didn't run away just backed up slowly eyes locked with the dog. haha what a thrill.

i am trying to remember all the fun things that are happening here. but i can't remember them all. but i love all you and miss you.

Love ELDER BEADLE

hey i forgot.. happy birthday to all my family who is having a birthday. just the other day we invited a sister to be baptized and we committed her to prepare for the 27 of july. she paused and she said a little emotionally, "that's my birthday!" what a wonderful thing to be Reborn and cleansed from sins.