Grubs and Pigs

Elder Shirley in the streets of Asuom

Classic missionary work

Market in Asuom

Elder Shirley's companion getting ready to eat ampesi

Ampesi and intestines?

No words for this dish.....

Washing dishes Ghana style

Elder Shirley with the 14 year old translator who helps them most every day

Elder Shirley with a recent convert; "she is the cutest"

February 25, 2019

This week was a pretty good week but let me say I definitely ate something that I really wished I would have not had to. It looks just like a larvae, like something that I would have never imagined myself eating. So on Tuesday I went on an exchange with zone leader, Elder Stapley. One of the members offered to feed us ampesi, which is a classic Ghanian dish that I actually really enjoy and it taste really nice. So they gave us this dish with contombre stew and what we think were mushrooms, although when you look at it, it looked more like intestines! So we ate all the food and it was actually really nice and then after all the meal was finished the mommy that fed us came over with a spoonful of bugs, she looked at us and me and Elder Stapley looked at each other with shock on our faces. She saw that we were doubting her a little so she just looked at us and said in the English that she knew, oh it is sweeet!!! Very Sweet!! haha She dumped the bugs into our stew and by that point we had no choice if we were going to eat it or not so we just manned up and ate what she gave us. Funny as it sounds, it did not taste as bad as I thought it was going to taste.

Anyways, the rest of my week went good as well and today we had a zone activity where we ate pig and chicken so of course that is always nice!! I hope all is going well back home!! Love you lots!

~Elder Shirley

Questions and Answers

Q. Who are you teaching right now?
A. Our main focus of teaching right now is with Evonne and Rebecca. They are working towards a baptismal date set for later in the month of March, but we have some work to do before that will be able to happen.

Q. What changes have you seen this week in you?
A. I feel like I’ve come to more fully understand the importance of regular prayer and scripture study.

Q. Do you feel like you’ve picked up on the language any more?
A. Yes, I feel like I’m understanding things a lot more recently.

Q. What’s one thing that you just love about your mission?
A. The chance to learn about a new culture and how to adapt to it.

It's Not Easy But It's Rewarding

Elder Shirley with Elder Landu

Another view of Asuom

Time to wake up to go to the multi-zone conference

Traveling to the multi-zone conference with all of the missionaries in the zone. As you can tell, we are all tired.

February 11, 2019

Abrea is 17 years old now?? I remember just like it was yesterday when she turned 16 and was super happy to start dating!! haha. She is growing up and getting too old!! Can you believe that next month I turn 19?? That is crazy to me! I still feel really young and I am not saying that 19 is old it is just crazy!

I cannot believe that snow is still falling back home!! So I am guessing that there is still a lot of snow outside on the ground then?? Snow snow snow for you guys back home and sun sun sun for me out here in Ghana!! Are you still loving the snow or are you ready for it to move on?? I am sure that mom is totally ready for the sun to come back but I remember that dad loves the snow and always wants more.

Anyway, this week was a pretty good week, nothing too exciting happened out here this week except we had our multi-zone this week and man that day was rough!! In order to get to the place that they were having our conference at on time we had to leave the apartment by 4 in the morning so when my alarm went off at 3:15 in the morning I was a little not happy!! Haha that day was super rough but the conference was super good!! We also found out that Sister Jean B. Bingham, General Relief Society President and Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, General Young Women’s President are coming to speak to us on March 3rd so that will be pretty cool to see and hear from them!

I love you all and I miss you a lot! I hope all is going well back home!!
~Elder Shirley

Questions and Answers

Q. Please tell us about your new area: vegetation, the ward, the members, where you buy groceries, water, food, your living conditions, etc.
A. The new area is just like my last area just bigger and a little more urbanized. It is still nothing like the way things were back home but there are just some more places that I can buy things from. The area is very dusty because the roads are mostly just dirt roads out here. The branch out here is very less active but it gives us work to do. The branch presidency is super awesome and the 1st counselor is actually doing pathway right now through BYU-I and he plans to go to BYU-I like end of next year so you might actually get to meet him someday which would be super cool. Our living conditions are perfectly fine and you do not need to worry about that.

Q. About how many miles do you track a day?
A. Every day we walk a lot!! Some days it depends on how many lessons we have but there is definitely a lot of sweat coming every day because it is so hot and a lot of walking so it is not easy but it is rewarding. It was not easy for our Savior so it should not be easy for us as his servants.

Q. What is your contacting like? Just walking around your new area? Contacts from members? knocking on doors?
A. A lot of our contacting just comes from us walking around the area and talking to people that look like they are not doing anything at that moment in time. Almost never knocking on doors because most people do not sit inside their houses, they find a shady place so it is a little cooler than sitting inside.

Q. Do you work with a lot of other companionship's? Who is one of the elders that you really like to be around?
A. I do work some with other companionships and there are some really cool elders around here, some of them being Elder Villa from my first area, Elder Stapley who is in my apartment right now and he is the zone leader, There are many more that I feel close to as well.

Q. What did you do in the ward this past Sunday to serve?
A. Each Sunday we try to help teach in the classes as well as I gave a talk yesterday and I talked about ministry and how we can minister. I did not write anything down because they told me to only speak for 5 minutes and 5 minutes now is super easy so I shared a couple scriptures and talked, my talk ended up being about 7 to 8 minutes and I think I did a pretty good job.

Q. Do you get very many opportunities to do service projects? If so, what?
A. We do not really do service projects rather just find ways to serve people while we are out. Small examples are we help people fetch their water from wells, or help with their farms during the day, small things like that. Or help them pound fufu.

Q. Please share your growing testimony with us.
A. My testimony to keep it short and simple is just that I know that through my Savior Jesus Christ everything is possible, no matter how hard things may get sometimes if I rely on my Savior then I can make it through any situation!

Another Great Temple Trip

Elder Shirley with companion Elder Landu

Typical transportation in Ghana

In front of the temple in Accra

A couple of pictures of the Savior that Elder Shirley really likes

February 4, 2019

This week for me was super fun and a great week!! First of all this week we got to go to the temple again!! Crazy!! Basically, the branch here in Asuom has been planning for a trip to the temple and I moved here just at the perfect time!! At the temple I got to do all of the confirmations for them and it was just so cool to see all the youth doing baptisms for the dead, a lot of them for the first time. They did over 140 different names which is awesome!!

Also this week we had a big, big rain storm and I got soaked!! It was on the day of our baptism and so we did the baptism out in the rain and then after walked home in the rain and I got so wet it was as if I just got out of the shower!! haha. The baptism was so cool though and we were able to have 4 baptisms. One of the people we baptized was someone that the missionaries have been working with here in this area for a while now and she rejected a baptismal date 4 times before I came. While we were teaching her I just felt inspired to ask her and she accepted right away!! She is 18 years old and I am really hoping that she goes out and serves a mission!! Anyways the rain storm was wild and we just walked through the pouring rain but I loved it because it was still like 80 degrees during the rain storm. People out here are scared of the rain so it is funny, when it rains everyone hides and it is as if no one is around!!

Anyways I love you lots!! I hope this week is a good week for you!
~Elder Shirley

Questions and Answers

Q. How are your white shirts holding up? Are they still white? How do you like doing laundry?
A. My white shirts are doing fine for now!! There is a lot of dust but they are doing good! Wash is OK, we actually pay a lady to come and hand wash our shirts and she gets them really clean plus it is some money for her. We try to help people out in a way that they can get money but not to just give her money if that makes sense.

Q. Are you finding the food situation in your new area a bit better than your last area?
A. I am eating just fine so do not worry too much. We actually got fed on fast Sunday yesterday but man, fasting can be hard in this mission because you walk around sweating but you cannot drink water, but then we got fed a big meal so that was awesome! Also, you guys will not believe this but I ate dog today!! Our district had an activity and we roasted a dog, the meat was actually really good. Sorry to say that dad but it tasted pretty nice.

Q. What did you do for P-day this week?
A. This week we had a bunch of missionaries over in Asuom and we played a really fun game of basketball as well as soccer! Basketball was a lot of fun because we have a lot of people around in our district and zone that know how to play ball so we had a lot of fun today!!

Q. Tell us a spiritual experience that happened to you this week tracking?
A. This week we were able to find someone whose parents had both been members but they just divorced but this boy seems like he is really ready to make progress!!

Q. Please share with us a piece of your talk from church or what you did to help out the ward this week?
A. This week to help out the ward we went to the temple with them and had a super fun time at the temple doing baptisms. They just looked to us for a lot of help with getting the members ready and especially doing the baptisms and confirmations. I felt like I myself got a lot of their things running smoothly, maybe because I worked in the temple before but that was fun!

Q. You've always been a "silent" leader among your friends. They have always looked to your example. Do you find that you lead on your mission? In what ways?
A. Ya in a way I see it, I just try my best to be the missionary that others would want to be with.