First Week in Asuom

Out in the dusty streets of Asuom

Typical scene in Asuom

Here is the baptismal font they use in Asuom

New apartment in Asuom

Another view of the apartment

The chapel in Asuom

Baptisms this last weekend

January 28, 2019

This week was another good week!! I left my last area Tuesday morning and made the long 6 hour travel to my next area. It was sad to leave that area and all the wonderful people there but I am excited to start the next chapter in my mission.

This last week I got moved to a place called Asuom and it has just been a learning experience for me trying to learn the new area. This new area is a lot bigger than my last area and I am excited for that because my last area was very small so I can see different things every day instead of seeing the same things everyday haha. My new companion is from DR Congo and the apartment is actually super nice. There are 6 of us comfortably right now in the apartment but 2 of the missionaries will be leaving soon, they are just waiting for their apartment to be ready in their area because that area is a brand new area that is just getting opened up. Anyways I walked into 5 baptisms and I was able to do all of the baptisms! This area should be sweet and I am doing great right now!!

One other cool thing is that this branch has been planning a temple trip for awhile now and it is on this Wednesday so I will get to go to the temple again!! haha crazy right?? I am of course super excited to go again!! I did not think that I would be able to go for awhile but since it is the new year this branch is going!!

I love you all back home and miss you all!
~Elder Shirley

Questions and Answers

Q. What is your new companion like? Do you have much in common?
A. My new companion is from DR Congo and he is pretty cool, I will get to know him more as time goes on but he seems to be a hard working missionary and wanting to do the Lord’s work so we should have a good time.

Q. What is your new area like? You say it’s even more “bush-like”. How can it be even more bush?!?! Haha!
A. So the area I am in is actually really awesome, in my opinion it is not more bush now that I am here. I can buy more variety of things here but when I say it is bush it means that there are dirt roads here and it is very dusty and dirty if that makes sense. The zone I am in is called the Abomosu zone which is considered the "bush" zone of the mission because it is the farthest away from the mission home and the city. The people here actually speak English better than they did in my last area and I think It will be a better area because it is way bigger than my last area, probably triple the size of my last area which I am super excited about.

Q. What do you want for your birthday?
A. Haha, No requests for my birthday!! Well maybe the only thing I will request for is chips or goldfish! My birthday is still a month and a half away though

Q. What kind of languages do they speak in your new area?
A. It is the same language, Twi but more English which is nice!

Q. So, three more baptisms?! That’s amazing! Congrats! And it looks like you did the baptizing? What’s your new area looking like for teaching?
A. The three baptisms were awesome but only one of them was in our area and our investigator, the other 2 were from another area but we combined the baptism. This new area should be pretty good, we actually had 5 baptisms on Saturday that I walked into and we are planning for 3 more this coming Saturday. This zone is considered the most fruitful area but a lot of the people that get baptized fall away like a year later, so we will see.

Q. What’s your new ward/branch like? And the bishop? Members? How big?
A. The new area is a branch and I have heard that there are A LOT of less active members, I am still trying to figure this place out a little but there was around 45 members at church this past Sunday. The first counselor is cool and a returned missionary which helps.

Q. Spiritual experience of the week?
A. Spiritual Experience of the week was having the opportunity to give a small talk on Sunday as well as do a confirmation as well as bless the sacrament. It is super cool to help a lot with the wards here.

Last Week in Odoben

Elder Shirley with a recent convert

The threesome preparing for a lesson

Playing bball on P-day

At the temple in Accra

Elder Shirley with Elder Bahiru

Some strange looking food

Elder Shirley preparing to eat strange looking food

Baptisms

January 21, 2019

Wow what a week!! This week has been a pretty exciting one and a special one for many reasons. This week was my last week in this area as I have learned that I am getting transferred from one village to another. This new village that I am going to is even considered more "bushy" than where I am now. I am super excited to go and hopefully learn some more of the language around this place! The new place is called Asuom, Abomoso or something like that. A lot of the people in my district right now say it seems like once a bush boy always a bush boy! haha. No, eventually I will make it to the city but for the start of my mission I am considered a "bush boy". I will leave tomorrow morning and make the long 5 hour trek across our mission traveling by tro tro.

This last week we also got to go to the temple and that was so much fun!! I really enjoyed the session and enjoyed seeing the new changes! At the temple we also got to do baptisms for the dead, confirmations and initiatories so it was a super successful day at the temple!! Lots of temple work and that is the thing that I love most! With me going to my new place I probably will not be able to make it to the temple for a long time now but it has been sweet while it has lasted. Also after the temple we got to go enjoy KFC!! That was so awesome!!

Last thing that happened this week is that we got to baptize our investigator and she is so awesome, she is a 23 year old lady that has a super super strong testimony and I am really hoping that she will go to the temple soon to one day be married and endowed.

Anyways I love you all and I hope all is going well back home!!
~Elder Shirley

Questions and Answers

Q. I believe you got transferred this last week. Please tell us all about it! Companion, what the new area is like, how it is different environment from your last area, what the ward is like, everything you can think of.
A. I have not reached my new area so that info will come to you next week, but my new companions name is Elder Landu from DR Congo.

Q. When you left your last area, did you ever get to baptize the boy you were working with?
A. I did get to baptize that boy 2 weeks ago and then another baptism this week

Q. How is the new home study program, Come Follow Me, working for you guys? At home, we just love it! It’s working really well!
A. Come Follow me is awesome, I just do some of it in our personal study and then at church it is going very well too!!

Doing Good By The Grace of God

January 14, 2019

This upcoming week (my last week in Odoben) will be good. Last week we found 2 very serious people one of their names is Berlinda and she has just been telling us that she has just really felt like she needed a church in her life and that she is ready to be baptized because she feels like she is getting old. She is around 26 years old but she is awesome. We should baptize her this coming Sunday as long as she is keeping all the commandments. It will probably be my best baptism of this area in my opinion. But her testimony has grown so much from the first time I met her and she really enjoys being around the missionaries. She even said that in all the other churches she feels like they just want money but in this church there is something more and so it has been really cool. We have shared some book of Mormon scriptures with her that have helped a lot so I am really all goes well!!

{We told Elder Shirley that we had received some hand-written letters from him} Yay you got the letters!! Did you get the money inside as well? It was just small African money so if you didn't don't worry, I will bring some home when I come! I would love some letters back! Haha handwritten letters can be so fun sometimes!

Have a great week!
~Elder Shirley

Question and Answers:

Q. After being out in Africa now for almost six months, what do you love about the people there or about their culture?
A. The thing I love most about the culture here is the way they all love God and how much they thank him for in their lives. Every time you ask someone how they are doing they answer by saying "I am doing good by the grace of God", they just give all credit to God.

Q. Do you see a lot of poverty amongst the people? You have always been such a giving person, is it hard not to give all the time?
A. There is poverty here but so many people ask for money that I am used to saying no by now, but sometimes it is hard to say no to people that I am close to.

Q. Is the ward growing or did you guys ever ask the stake president to combine the two wards?
A. The ward is doing ok but still can improve, the wards are still split and I think they will stay that way.

Q. We haven’t heard you talk in much detail about District or Zone meetings. What are they like? Do you guys ever get to see an apostle?
A. District meetings are good, my first multi-zone here we had elder Kacher from the seventy but no Quorum of the 12 yet for me. I think they had one come last year, so we will see.

Q. When I sent you Christmas presents, did the other Elder like the shirt and candy we sent him too? Did you enjoy the powered packets of Gatorade and Crystal Light?
A. I loved everything in the package especially the cosmic Brownies and the drink powders! They were amazing!

Witness Comes After Trial of Faith

January 7, 2019

I cannot believe that 2019 has come around!! 2018 flew by!! Everything with my senior year and to end the year with the beginning of my mission! Crazy year and now an even crazier year to come!!

This week was a big struggle week but it is ok, because no witness comes until after the trial of our faith. We had 3 days in a row without a translator. He left for work in Accra and then all the other ones have school and different things. It was lots of walking around and contacting but no way to go back and teach people. It is definitely frustrating because we are trying but it ends up with just a lot of walking when we do not have a translator which gets really tiring.

We did have one baptism this week though, the 11-year-old boy named Ransford. That was probably one of the few positives of the week. I did not baptize him, we let Elder Bahiru (his new Ethiopian companion) do it on his first week. This week will be better for sure, we got 5 referrals this last week that we can teach. Also, we are planning to give all the 11-year-olds the priesthood which is cool because I have baptized 3 11-year-olds in this area. Our bishop didn’t know about that change until I told him last week haha.

This last week we had a really good ward council meeting after church for the first time since I have been in this area and they gave us missionaries some time to talk so I was the mouth for us and I think it will help a lot! 2 hour church is probably a little different for you since you are not a missionary but it feels the same around here!! haha

Love you all so much! Thanks for all of your prayers!
~Elder Shirley

Question and Answers:

Q: What did you do for New Year's?
A: New Year's we did not do anything different than normal and I was actually asleep by 10 so nothing exciting for me at all haha

Q: How's the contacting and discussions going for your investigators?
A: This week was a little rough but the contacting was good and we actually found a less active member that has a daughter that is not a member and both of them came to church as well as the daughters little girl who is 11, so I have high hopes for these 2 and I hope they will progress. The cool thing is that they came without even being taught.

Q: When will you get to go to the temple next?
A: I think we will go January 19th so I am excited.

Q: What did you do for P-day today?
A: We are in Winneba today which is a close by area and we played basketball this morning and then ate french fries and fried chicken which was nice, kind of an american meal!! We also ate ice cream so it has been a good day today.

Q: What are 2-3 of your goals for 2019? We always set goals as a family, but it would be fun to see what some of your goals are in the mission field. We are probably making our lists tonight or tomorrow for FHE.
A: Still working on that one.

Q: Tell us a bit more about your new companion.
A: His name is Elder Bahiru and he is from Ethiopia. I get along with him really well he is super funny. He does not speak super good English because he is brand new into the mission field so we are helping him. He is the only Ethiopian in this mission.

Happy New Year!

Elder Shirley in his new African Christmas shirt

Elder Shirley with his new companion (red sweater) at the mission home 

The new threesome

Elder Shirley on the bball court on P-day

January 1, 2019

Well, the Christmas Day call was my best Christmas present ever!! I really really enjoyed it; it was the best thing ever!! I miss the holiday times back home and being able to spend time with family and having all the family gatherings, but now that one of them has already come and gone there’s only one more of the fun holiday seasons that I will miss! Besides the call, my Christmas Day consisted of a white elephant gift exchange with some of the missionaries and then a small meal of bread and egg. Ya, not quite as good as what you had back home I am sure! I cannot believe that it is 2019!! It makes me happy to see a new year come so it does not seem as far away but I am enjoying this area and the time I am having in the mission field!!

The rest of the week went pretty well, except one of the days was really frustrating because we could not get a translator for the whole day so we spent the entire day walking around not being able to talk to anyone which was a little frustrating for sure!

I will be leaving this area on the 22nd of January, but as for now we are in a trio for 3 weeks and my companion is training this elder from Ethiopia. However, we should have 2 baptisms this week for 1 boy and 1 girl that are both 11 years old. We also found a good referral from a member today when they fed us, it was his wife so hopefully we can teach her and baptize her before I leave this area in 3 weeks.

Anyways I will be excited to hear from you again next week! Love you lots! Happy New year and 1 year closer to seeing you again!

~Elder Shirley