First Week With New Companion Elder Vaa

Elder Shirley with new companion Elder Vaa

Elder Shirley & Elder Vaa with mission president and his wife

All of the newly arrived missionaries with their trainers

Elder Vaa samples some fufu

Elder Shirley with Elder Vaa in the streets of Asuom

April 22, 2019

This week we had a family come to church though and it was super cool. There daughter is actually out serving a mission right now but she is the only member in her family. So, we are teaching her mother and sisters and they are all progressing so prayers out to them!! Anyways my week has been good!!

I love having the opportunity to train and I already feel like I have grown so much as a missionary in the first week of training. I do feel prepared to train now that I have started and it is going well so far. My companions name is Elder Vaa from Samoa so I am training a Polynesian!! How cool is that to be trained by a Tongan and then to train a Samoan? I am excited. He did just arrive in Ghana and he likes basketball and rugby so we will have a lot of fun together.

This week I want to share with you my thoughts on some of the ways we can feel the promptings of the Spirit. For me, feeling the promptings of the Holy Ghost has always been something that has been really hard for me and something that I have always had to work at. It is not easy to recognize but if we can recognize it then it can change our lives. I have come to recognize it more and more as I have served my mission. The way that I can feel it the most is really just a burning feeling inside of me that makes me want to do it. My first experience that I had was when I was in my first area here in Ghana and it was on a day that we did not have a translator or anyone to teach so me and my companion just started walking the area. We decided to stop and say a prayer. We both got the impression that we needed to go a certain way and it turned out that we were led right to a place where a less active member stayed that had a 24 year old daughter who was not a member and was someone that was searching for the truth. We taught her and baptized her and now she is the Relief Society president and she is really helping that ward out. Something that I have realized is that the Spirit will tell or warn you more than one time the thing that you need to do; it is just up to you to accept the feeling and act upon it. Never deny a feeling from the Holy Ghost no matter how crazy it may seem. if it is something that will benefit you for the good then act upon it. Also, something that I have realized is that the more we try to put ourselves into righteous situations the more likely that we have the chance to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

~Elder Shirley

Training Opportunity Coming Up Next Week

April 15, 2019

We had a great week this week and it is indeed my last week with my current companion, Elder Landu. He is then going to be transferred to another area and I have been called to train a new missionary. I am not exactly sure who I will be training yet but I am excited for this opportunity and the chance to become even a better, more exact missionary. I am a little nervous to train but not really because I think it will be a fun thing to do and it will help me become stronger in my weaker points of missionary work. So today I will be traveling to Accra and then tomorrow I will get my new companion.

The investigators are doing ok right now, we have some potential good investigators that I am hoping will be baptized, but we will see, by faith all things are possible right?? Anyways I hope you have a great week this coming week!!

~Elder Shirley

Great General Conference Weekend

Enjoying a feast of Filipino food on P-day

April 8, 2019

This week was a nice week but nothing too exciting except I loved General Conference and the inspired messages that we heard this weekend. I know that the prophet and the 12 apostles have been called by God and they lead his restored church this day.

This week we were able to be blessed with meeting a couple of new families that we started teaching and we are really hoping that they will all progress to baptism one day!! Today we had a super fun zone activity where we played basketball and ultimate frisbee!! It was a lot of fun and then after we ate something called chicken Adobo which is a Filipino dish that was made by an elder from the Philippines and it was delicious. I attached a picture of all the food that we had. We had 24 elders come so we had a lot of food!!

Anyway, I hope all your weeks were good back home! Til next week!! Love you guys!
~Elder Shirley