Revelatory Experiences

With a family of recent converts from Congo

With Elder Maliko

With Elder Lima

An ampesie dish; this costs the equivalent of about $1

Accra Ghana temple grounds

Accra Ghana temple

February 24, 2020 

Hey! 

I never know how to start my emails every week because I feel like I always start the same way by saying that another week went and that it was good. But I am here to say that it was another good week and it went fast again!! 

Funny thing that happened on Monday night was we were just chilling in the apartment around 10 o’clock when the power went out..... when the power goes out in this particular apartment it gets hot, like really hot. Turns out we just ran out of credit on our power meter so there was no hope of getting light back for the whole night. I was not about to sleep inside sweating the whole night so we took our beds outside and slept on the roof I slept pretty good, at least better than I would have inside sweating. 

Wednesday was a pretty fun day when we went to Swedru zone to drop off some things and also go to district meeting there. I also got to pass through my first area of Odoben and it was cool to see the place where I was first at when I came to Ghana. It brought back some good memories of my first months in Ghana. 

I guess one miracle that happened on Tuesday was that we planned to go see a lady named Mavis who wants to come to the church but her husband is holding her back. The husband has told us before that he really wants to come visit us but something is holding him back and he is really hard to see because he is really busy with work. Anyways when we went to see Mavis, he just happened to be there. I have actually told you about this guy before. When we met him he told us that he was about to leave 15 minutes before we got there but he felt like he should stay and wait for something that he didn’t know why. Then we showed up. The guy told us that since we have been coming to teach him he has seen many changes in his life and that a voice keeps telling him that he needs to come and visit us, but for some reason he is not. I am just praying for him so that he can just take that first step and be converted. I know the first time he comes he will not go back and I think he knows that too. It's just about getting him to act and follow his promptings. 

On Friday we were privileged to meet with Elder Perkins of the Seventy and he came to instruct us at the temple site. He talked a lot about obedience and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One other thing that really stuck out to me as well was when he talked about the word “meetings”. A lot of the time when we hear the word meetings in the church it is something that none of us really get excited about. But he told us that we should change the word meeting to “revelatory experience” so that every time you gather together you are acting instead of being acted upon. As we go to sacrament meeting, are we just going to go or are we going to find an answer to a problem that we are having at that particular moment in our life? If we just go with no intention to learn we are being acted upon. I would invite you all that as you go to any meeting in the church, whether it be sacrament meeting, a youth meeting, general conference or anything, go with some questions in mind and as you search for the answers to those questions your mind will be actively engaged ready to receive revelation that God wants you to hear at that moment. I thought this was something pretty cool and makes things a lot more meaningful as you attend church each week. 

Sunday was great and we had a couple of people come to church with us this week. We have seen some great progress with one of our people that we are teaching named Gifty. She said that she knows the Church is true but said that it would be really hard for her to leave her church. She told us that by next year she will leave and be baptized here. Then a couple weeks ago she said that she will do it in June. Now on Saturday she said that by next month she will be ready. The Spirit is really working on her which is amazing!! This upcoming week is multi-zone conferences so that will be fun as I will be giving my council on how we can make every meeting a revelatory experience. 

Love you so much and have a great week!! 

-Elder Shirley 

I Am Doing Great and Couldn't Be Stronger

A temple sealing for a family that just started coming back to church

My translating friend from Asuom - Moses

Gloria from Asuom

Traffic in Ghana. Also, the woman in the pic is a good example of how Ghanaians go around selling things 

The 11 missionaries transferred from the closed Liberia mission with companions and with the AP's in front

February 17, 2020 

Hey!! 

This week was super super busy with a lot of things happening, but it was also a really good week with some good things happening!! It really does amaze me how fast P-day comes around each week! I don’t know if it feels the same way to you but to me, each week just flies by and I'm talking to you again!! Life is great here! You have nothing to worry about with me; I am doing great and couldn't be stronger. 

Tuesday was our only full day of proselyting this week so of course that day was a good day. Some cool things that happened that day are first, we met this girl who is the friend of a returned sister missionary who I am hoping will be able to progress. The promising part of her is that she has good support and she is pretty smart and likes to read. So if she puts her time to good use and just reads the Book of Mormon, then by all means she will be converted. The thing is she just might not have the intention of changing right now but we are hoping and praying. Her name is Abigail. 

The other really cool thing that happened that day is we are teaching this guy named Okasha. He is a Muslim that we started teaching last week. He is like 22 years old and has a pretty strong Muslim background but he is really open and a really cool guy. We started out by teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and he has had some good questions. When we met him on Tuesday, he was pretty busy with some things. He owns some cows and he was out feeding them but he still really wanted to learn. So he asked us if we could follow him to the field where his cows were going to feed and we said of course we could. We walked a little ways to where the field was and then while the cows were feeding we just stood and talked for about 30-45 minutes about the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon. I have not had many lessons where we just stand on the side of the road for that long amount of time but the Spirit was still there and at the end of the lesson we asked him to pray. He looked at us and said, “I don’t know how to pray.” I told him not to worry and that we would teach him right then how to pray. We taught him and then right before he started his prayer he was just like, well here it goes. Haha. Anyways he prayed and it was a very heartfelt prayer. In his prayer he asked God to show him if he was on the right path by being a Muslim and if he was not then he wanted to change. When he said this it made me so happy. It is a really big thing for that to happen but Okasha is a really cool guy that I could see changing into a great member one day. 

Wednesday was a blessing!! I got to visit my second area!! We had to drop something off in that zone so we stopped at Asuom for district meeting. I got to meet two of my recent converts, Gloria and Samuel and then two of my favorite members, Joel and Moses. Those were some happy times. It was really cool to see the happiness on all of their faces when I met them but I know the happiness on my face was even more. It is really cool to see how you can see their joy that you have truly helped them completely change their life. It has been 11 months since I last started teaching them and wow I was just so happy. 

We also got a random emergency call when the Liberian mission closed down and 11 of the missionaries were reassigned to our mission. It is really sad for their mission and having to change. Some of these missionaries were even zone leaders, one was an AP and now they are just new into a completely different lifestyle. Some have been on their missions for like 20 months. I can’t imagine only having 4 month left and then being reassigned to a new mission, it would be kind of hard. They are all super cool though! With that happening we had some more meetings come up and a lot of driving!! I got to drive all over the mission which was super cool!! 

Another cool thing this week is that I got to attend a family sealing that was reactivated and that love us as missionaries. I give the success to the previous missioniares on that one but I was just able to help them prepare to go into the temple before they went and they were so happy in the temple. 

All in all the week was great and we had a good Sunday yesterday!! I hope all is well back home!! Love you and hope everyone had a great Valentines day!! 

-Elder Shirley

Look For The Miracles That Happen To You Each Day

February 10, 2020 

Hey there goes another week!! 

This week was a good week of learning a new area, learning how to drive in Ghana and meeting new members. For me as I go from one place to another it often feels like I am starting my mission from the beginning because it's like throwing yourself into somewhere new with no one that you know and a new companion. That makes it kind of nice though because it's another fresh start to do more good. But I love the change and new adventures that await. 

This week we were able to have some great things happen for us. One of the biggest blessings of the week is that we were able to find 12 new people to teach this week that we feel like a good amount of them have potential to progress if they choose to. The thing about Ghana is a lot of people really love to hear our message but not a lot of them have what it takes to seriously commit themselves to do something new. That's the sad part. They could believe the message is true, but often just become lazy, not take it serious or struggle leaving their church. We are hoping that some of these people progress towards baptism though. 

We have one person named Helena that we found who is great. She is around 22 years old and lives around members. She has attended church twice and loves the teachings. We just started teaching her this last week and have great hope that she will be baptized in March. 

I think the biggest miracle that happened to us this week was on Friday when we first planned to go see someone in the morning around 10:30am. When we got there....... let's just say she was not ready to learn haha. So we started walking around to see if we could find someone to teach. Well, it turns out that we walked until noon and couldn't find anyone to teach so we went to have lunch. We were supposed to meet a member by 1 at the church to go with to see someone so after we ate, we walked back to get the car and right next to the place we were eating, as we were walking by, the person in the shop called out to us and told us to come........ miracle!!(also I would imagine this doesn't happen to often in the USA or Europe, sorry). Anyways, we went inside to teach the women and she told us that she grew up as a Christian, changed into a Muslim, but now wanted to change back into a Christian. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she liked the lesson and told us she would come to church on Sunday. She couldn't make it on Sunday because of a death in the family but we have great hope that she will progress as we continue to teach her. After the lesson ended as we were walking away my companion looked at me and was like “wow, right before the girl called out to us I was pleading in my heart for a miracle to happen and then she called out”. He then said, “after we walked and walked and then she called out to us as I was praying in my heart. God really does know the prayers of our hearts. And blesses those who push through hard times and never give up.” 

It is really cool how these tender mercies come every week. Almost without fail a miracle happens each week. God is there and He is aware of each of our problems and is willing to help us. Look for the miracles that happen to you each day and you will see God's hand in your life each week. You will start to appreciate Him more in your life and strive to become better. 

Anyways have a great week!! Love you! 

-Elder Shirley 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. In your new area, do you get fed by the members very much or do you guys cook your own meals? 

A. Ya the members are great here but I don’t think any ward will match what we had in Kasoa. We do cook in the apartment sometimes and sometimes just buy food outside. 

Q. Any hot showers yet? 

A. Haha nope, no hot showers in this mission mom. Unless you are blessed to sleep in the mission home. Most of the time though I would prefer a Cold shower anyways though because it's so hot in the apartments. 

Q. What is an inspiring scripture verse that you can share with us this week? 

A. There is a scripture passage from Alma 37:40-43. It talks all about how faith precedes miracles. As you are faithful and not faithful, god will help you both spiritually and physically. Just read the passage it is very straightforward. 

Q. Tell us about your new companion. 

A. My companion is from South Africa and is 21. He is a very good guy, soft spoken but a great missionary. Overall I am happy to be with him. It will be a good time with him. I think you have seen a picture of him. 

Q. What is your new role like now that you have been in it for a week or two? 

A. Basically the role is just to help the mission president with whatever he needs. If there are any problems amongst missionaries in the mission then we are there to help. Things like that. I'll send you a picture of what I am supposed to do. 

New Adventures Await in Alajo

Elder Shirley and his new companion Elder Chemese (on the right)

With a couple of the members in Alajo

The church in Alajo

View of Accra from the church in Alajo

February 3, 2020

Hey hey hey! 

This week has been great and also a change in things because I am in a new area! I have been transferred to an area called Alajo and I am super happy to be here. I am now back in the deep city which stinks (literally) a little bit! Haha. But anyways all is well. 

So last week Monday we went to the beach with our District and it was so much fun!! We just played around on the sand and ate coconuts, everyone had a lot of fun and the ocean breeze felt nice!! After that I had to pack all my things to prepare to leave the next day. 

Tuesday was the day that I left the area and I was super sad to leave that area because I have also grown so close to the members there in that ward and I know that I will have lasting relationships with them. Anyways left the area and my wonderful companion (Elder Manakofua) and headed out for a new experience. 

Thursday we had a full day of proselyting and I thought the day went really, really well. We met with a husband and wife where the wife has wanted to come to the church but has been waiting for the husband’s permission. This was my first time meeting these people, but as we were talking with the husband, he just started telling us things that basically was the way Joseph Smith described his life. He was talking about how is so much confusion in the world and how at every church people are teaching different doctrines and things in a different way and that he is very confused. But he told us that as we have been coming there he sees us like angels that bring him into the light. He praised us and after we had been there for an hour it was time for us to go but he was like “I just don’t want you guys to leave”. He told us that something in his head just keeps on telling him that he needs to come to the church, so we are really hoping that he starts coming! He has had so many questions about the truth but we always turn him back to the Book of Mormon which has been able to answer all of his questions. Man, that book is so powerful. He is being brought into the light little by little but I know they will come to know the whole truth. 

The other experience I will tell you about is an experience with another person that we are teaching here. Her name is Gifry. She is a single mother who lost her husband awhile back and has one son. The two of them have their church that they attend. The church they attend is called The Assemblies of God. As we have been teaching them they were praying to know the truth and on Tuesday Sister Gifty said that she could still feel nothing. We just tried to help her understand the way the Spirit speaks to us. We went again to her on Friday, this time with her son, and asked her if she had received an answer to her prayer. Both of them said that they had felt peace and knew that the church is true while they prayed, but still did not know if it would be possible to leave their church because of their friends there and how much they love their church. The mother told us that they would come to the first hour of church and then leave to her church for the second hour. Sunday came around and they came to sacrament meeting. Gifty has been to church 4 times now but it was her son’s first time coming. After the first hour as they were leaving to their own church, the boy looked at his mother and said I don’t want to go, I want to stay here. So the mother left and her son stayed with us at church. When we went to talk with them after at their house, the boy (Junior) explained to us that it was not going to be as hard as he thought to change churches. This made me so happy as I knew the Spirit had converted him unto the truth after one visit to the church. 

This example shows a great example how if we are completely open to the Spirit and its prompting then it really is not that hard to follow it. The mother who already has an idea in her mind that she cannot leave her church is pushing away the spiritual factor of being in the truth while her son came with an open heart and open mind and felt the love of the Savior throughout the sacrament meeting so much that he did not want to leave what was so good. This makes me ask the question to each of us. Do we already have ideas so much in our mind that we are not open to the Spirit and its prompting of where he wants us to go rather than where we want to go? The Spirit is there to guide us if we let it but if we push it away than we cannot follow it. Let us always be open to the spiritual promptings that are given to us each day. 

It has been a great week and I am excited for the new adventure coming in a new area!! Love you so much!! 

-Elder Shirley

Last Week in Kasoa

January 27, 2020 

Hey!! 

This week was a great last week in Kasoa but I am definitely sad to leave this place and all the members here that have loved and cared for me so much!! I am also very sad to leave those that I have been able to teach and am currently teaching who are/were so prepared to receive the true restored gospel. I have loved every moment of serving in this area and the last 5 and a half months have truly flown by. I will be now serving in an area called Alajo. The area will be back in the city and I am pretty sure that it will be my last area on my mission which is crazy!! 

This week was also a great week of teaching. We have been working closely with 5 different people who are all so prepared and ready to be baptized. They just have a few things to work on before that happens. However I have great faith that they will be baptized in the month of February. Their names are Bernard (60 something), Elizabeth(19), Augustina(33), her daughter Lillian( 14), and Edward(30). Each of these people are wonderful people who have loved the gospel so much. 

This week on Thursday we taught Edward, he knows the church is true, the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. However, he feels like he needs to learn the Book of Mormon all the way before he can get baptized. We told him that his testimony and desire is what will bring him to be baptized and that we feel that he is ready. He said he wanted to wait until April to be baptized but we extended February 16th and told him to pray over it that day and that on Saturday we would come and see what his answer was. Well when we went on Saturday he told us that God confirmed to him that February 16th is the right day so he accepted. We were super happy about that and for him. 

Also, Bro Bernard is the miracle man who I taught in October and then didn’t hear from him for a long time and now he has come full circle. He came to church last week, came to midweek on Wednesday and came again to church on Sunday. He is progressing so well and is set to be baptized on the 9th of February. I will be super sad to miss his baptism as he has been searching for the truth so long and I have seen him come full circle but I am super happy for him and his decision and he will help this ward so much in the future. 

Sister Elizabeth is a 19 year old girl who we started teaching 3 weeks ago. She was also a referral from the members. She came to church 2 times and loved it so much that she was set to baptize yesterday after church but sickness came over her in the morning and she was not able to be baptized. However, we still have great hope for her as we visited her yesterday after church and made sure everything was ok. We know that she will be the example for the rest of her family and that one day she will bring them all to church with her. 

Augustina and her daughter Lillian are some of my favorite people that I have met in this area and I will be so sad to leave them. They were given to us as a referral around the beginning of December. Since day 1, they have loved the teachings and loved the church. Augustina has been constantly thrown challenges all along the way as people verbally abuse her for coming to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, telling her that we drink blood, worship spirits and everything to get her to leave the church. She has been strong all throughout and is such a great woman. She is just dealing with one small problem that will be fixed very soon and so she and her daughter should get baptized together at the end of February of the beginning of March. Lillian her daughter is also very great and it is cool to see them so happy at church every week. Yesterday she asked me " is it really good to get baptized into the church?" I said, "Lillian do you trust me?" She answered, "yes I really do, I always trust in you." I then promised her that If she did get baptized and endured to the end then it would be the best decision of her life. 

It is really cool how many relationships can be made in such short amounts of time. It is probably my favorite thing about my mission, creating relationships and everlasting friendships with the people that I am teaching. All because of the gospel, friendships and trust can be made in just a couple hours of gospel lessons. 

Well I really do love my mission and am having a great time out here!! Love you so much! Til next week! 

-Elder Shirley

We See Many Miracles Each Week

January 20, 2020 

Hey!! 

This week was a pretty nice week that was a little busy with conferences but I learned a lot and felt the spirit throughout the meetings. Tuesday was the day of our multi zone conference where we were able to focus on many different aspects that we can change throughout the mission to continually come better and better. 

From there we had our MLC on Friday where we were able to discuss as leaders in the mission on 4 goals that we want to set for the mission, those 4 goals being: 

1. Never Complain 

2. Use technology intentionally, publicly and righteously 

3. Begin every day by 6:30, include one hour of personal study and be out by 10. 

4. Have one Come Follow Me or PMG lesson with a different member each day. 

We are really excited to apply these goals to the mission so that we can continually become better and better each day. 

As far as the people that we are teaching right now, we have a couple people that are progressing towards baptism. One is named Elizabeth who we found a couple weeks ago and she is progressing so well! From the moment we first met her she hasn't looked back. She is 19 years old and has gone to many, many churches in her life but never felt completely satisfied. Now she has found what she wants! She will be baptized this coming Sunday. Also the miracle that we had a couple weeks ago with the man named Kofi was really shown on Sunday when he came to church for the first time and absolutely loved it. He met with the Bishop after church and they were able to have a good talk. We have great hope for him in the near future as long as he holds fast to the iron rod. It was cool, even after the class on Sunday where we were talking about chapter 8 in the Book of Mormon. When he was talking to Bishop, bishop asked him, “So brother Kofi now that you have come to church and liked it, what do you need to do next?" He responded by saying, "I need to grab and hold on to the iron rod." It was really cool to see how he came and felt the Spirit and learned from the lesson. Kofi is a 60 something year old man and used to be Roman Catholic but he even has said that he was very confused in the past about which church is true and that he really likes the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cool thing is that someone gave him a Book of Mormon in 2008, but he just left it on the shelf. Now after many years he is reading and becoming stronger. We do see many miracles each week!! 

Love you and have a great week this week!!! 

-Elder Shirley

Time Is Precious

Elder Shirley, Elder Manakofua and Elder Ahokovi

Missionaries hanging out on P-day

Elder Shirley's companion, Elder Manakofua

Some food Elder Shirley made for the apartment

Elder Shirley's apartment

Another view of the apartment

Street in front of the apartment

January 13, 2020 

This week was a pretty good week! Honestly not anything too new has happened this week just kind of same thing. 

Tuesday was just a normal proselyting day where we went out and were able to see some people as well as some of our recent converts to strengthen them. 

Our best day this week was definitely on Friday when we had our exchange. I got to go with Elder Bahr from Colorado and we had some great success. He is a great missionary who had a lot of passion for the work that he is doing and so we worked really hard that day. We actually found 4 new friends that we taught and we were also able to help progress a couple other people in their teaching. Overall the experience was great. 

Sunday we had church where we were able to confirm our wonderful sister Queen and also for the member that we reactivated, Bro. John to receive the Aaronic priesthood which was super cool!! It really is cool to see all the tender mercies that go throughout each day as you come into the apartment at the end of a day’s work and look back at the Lord’s hand in all of our work it truly is amazing. 

This week I was just thinking about how important time is and how important it is to use it in the way that God would want us to use it. Are we using our time wisely every day or are we wasting our days away in the bed or on the couch instead of either progressing our lives or helping someone else? The scriptures teach us, "cease to be idle" and that to be idle is of the devil because nothing good can happen while we choose to be lazy!! So I would encourage everyone to use their time the way that God would want them to and go out and do some good!! 

I love you and have a great week!! 

-Elder Shirley 

Questions & Answers 

Q. Theo (Dan’s nephew that was born just before he left for Ghana) is obsessed with cars of any kind. What kind of cars do you see over there? 

A. The cars here are honestly so much worse than back home. They are all small taxi cars that are not correct haha! They just do it “redneck style” and throw things together to get the car to run no joke!! Haha. 

Q. Tell us about a person or situation that happened this week that made a lasting impression on you. 

A. This week we were just walking by someone that I first taught about 20 weeks ago and he got busy and we did not see him very often on Tuesday when we were walking by his book shop he was there so we just went to greet him and see how he was doing. I did not see that he was very busy so I asked him if he had some time for us to share a message and he said sure. As we sat down he said, “Wow! It has been a long time since we last met.” He said "Actually I was thinking about you today and I asked myself, I wonder when I will meet the missionaries again?" It just happened to be that same day we met with him and taught him the restoration again and then 3 days later he told us that he had seen and felt God in his life and that he will be a member of the church. That was a really cool experience of God's timing and his power. 

Q. Can you share with us something funny that happened this week? It's always fun to hear your fun personality. In fact, I have played your New Year's video over so many times because of your laughter and strong accent! It makes me smile every time! 

A. Haha mom you are funny!! I am happy that the video made you happy and that you have been able to enjoy it. I can’t think of anything funny now but ask me again next week and I'll think of something.