All Is Well In Ghana

October 14, 2019

What a great week it was this week!!

This week for sure we were able to see some miracles. The first miracle that I will say happened was when we found a pizza place in our area!! Haha oh how the Lord blessed us on that day! So we immediately ate lunch there haha. That day was on Friday when we had just came back from Accra because we had an exchange with some elders there the day before. Elder Banza from Congo is who I went with. I really enjoyed being with him and he is super funny and a great missionary.

We went out a little earlier than normal that day, which is a miracle in itself because we were already so tired but we just knew we had to push through the feeling and go, because someone had requested for us to come early. While we were waiting to meet the guy where he wanted to meet, I looked across the road and noticed a pizza sign. I looked at my companion and asked him, "Are you seeing what I am seeing" haha he said yes, do you want to eat!! haha so we went inside and asked how much it was. We then told them that we had an appointment to teach so we would go and come back. Little did we know that this appointment that we were about to go to was a miracle in itself. The guy came to meet us and he was a 35 year old man who told us that his parents were members in Holland and that he wanted to completely join the church. He has visited the church in the past when his parents come to visit but does not go by himself. He told us that he wants to be a part of the church now. What a wonderful miracle.

Another blessing happened on Sunday when a less active member came to church!! Her whole family are members and for some reason she has just been feeling lazy on Sundays and stays home in the house. We have been visiting her and reboosting her spirits and she came to church this Sunday for the first time since January!! Another miracle! She is a 16 year old girl who is great! Last miracle I will mention is that on Saturday night we planned to do a come follow me lesson with a member family that is a family of 10 and the whole family has not been to church for some weeks. We went there and the immediate love that we were able to create amongst the family was so wonderful. They have 4 girls and 4 boys from the ages of around 10-23. The oldest daughter is also not a member but is progressing towards baptism right now.

Anyways we had the lesson and the room we were sitting in was probably a quarter of the size of an average church classroom back home, so it was super tight. But on Sunday the whole family came to church and came straight to us and took us in as their family!! What a wonderful fast Sunday we were able to have!! I am doing great and loving the work right now with my companion!!

All is well in Ghana!
~Elder Shirley 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. What is the best thing about being a missionary? 

A. The best part about being a missionary in my opinion is that we get to meet so many wonderful people that are great people just that they are missing something and we get to fill that hole. Also, another one of my favorite parts is coming so close to the members here in Africa, creating lifetime friendships. 

Q. What challenge do you give us this week?

A. The challenge this week is that we are currently teaching 2 girls who are 15 and 17. They both want to join the church so bad but their mother is holding them back not allowing them to. We just found out that their mother said we are not allowed to teach them anymore. That broke my heart. They are so great and the 17 year old girl reminds me of Abrea, so it makes me sad. 

Q. What are the roles of women and men in Ghana?

A. Women are really strong here. You would not believe some of the things that you see women doing, but mostly the roles are the same just that women work physically harder here than they do back home. Sorry to say it but it is true, you can see a 60 year old carrying a 25 pound load on her head and walking for a mile, it is so crazy to me because that work would even be hard for me, a 19 year old boy. 

Q. Do you believe that calling/communicating with your family each week has helped you or been a distraction (other than email)? 

A. I feel like it helps me, it will only distract you if you let it but I love being able to talk to family on P-days and share what is going on here and also hearing what is going on back home!

How I Love General Conference!

Mission leadership conference with President Sanders (mission president)

This is how we get water in Ghana!

October 7, 2019

Questions & Answers:

Q. Do African's celebrate a Halloween holiday or any Fall holidays?

A. No there are no holidays around this time. Just getting ready for the dry season. 

Q. Did you get to listen and watch General Conference? If so, where? 

A. I got to watch the Saturday morning session on a members’ phone. Then on Sunday we watched conference all day starting with the Women’s session, then the Saturday afternoon and then the Sunday morning session. Oh how I love general conference and the inspired revelation from our prophet! 

Q. Who was your favorite speaker and why? 

A. I really loved President Nelsons talk about fasting and service and just the way that we always need to be helping and setting the example. I thought President Oaks in the women’s session talk was interesting did not expect that at all!! 

Q. How was your week sharing the gospel? Who listened to your message? 

A. We had some great success with sharing the gospel this week. We were really busy with some things but there were a couple people that we met that had a lot of questions that I think could really progress we have some high hopes for them. One is actually a song writer, one is a nurse and the other is just an 18 year old girl. It should be interesting to see how things go. 

Q. What do you do each week to prepare yourself to find people to listen to your message? 

A. STUDY STUDY STUDY. Study and pray for sure. The people are great so if you have the Spirit then all will be fine!! The Lord will never leave us astray!

Transfer Week and a New Companion

September 30, 2019 

Sorry about last week and not getting an email out. We got invited to a Family Home Evening by a family in the ward at 4:00pm. Turns out we got there at 5:00pm and we waited for them until 6:30pm to get back home. They then fed us and we had FHE and had some activities, we ended up not leaving until 9:00pm and our time was gone! The FHE was nice though they also fed us my best meal on my mission. Glass plates and cups sitting down at a table inside a house that had AC with jollof rice, a big bowl of chicken, french fries, a salad, juice, soda and a water bottle!! It was super nice but I missed getting to email for sure!! 

Anyways, this week was a great week and all went well. It was the last week of the transfer and now I am getting a new companion!! He is someone that came out on mission the same time as me and now we are companions. Even we were in the same district for my first 3 transfers. His name is Elder Manakofua and he is from Tonga. It will be a really good time together and I know we will get along really well!! We are also having some great success in this area so I think that we should have some more baptisms coming in the next 6 weeks!! 

Anyways love you so much and hope you have a great week!! 

~Elder Shirley 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. What happened with your baptisms and investigators? 

A. We did have our baptisms, but the confirmations will be in a couple weeks. This week is general conference and I am super excited for it!! 

Q. How’s your health? Any stomach issues? 

A. No health issues, I am still being blessed for those things!! 

Q. Any advice for those who are preparing to serve a mission? 

A. As far as advice goes, I would just say to prepare by reading the Book of Mormon every day because that is the basis of everything that you teach. If you do not know the Book of Mormon, you cannot testify powerfully about the truth of the book and the keystone of our religion! 

Seeing the Joy the Gospel Brings

September 16, 2019 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. Who had a big impact on you this week and why? 

A. I would say some people that we are teaching. They are two girls 17 and 14 but the way that they love what we are teaching them and how happy it makes them is priceless. It is really cool to see the joy that the gospel brings to someone’s life 

Q. How many dinner appointments did you have this week? 

A. We had 2 this week, one on Tuesday and one on Sunday. The same mother feeds us every Sunday here and the bishop always has us over on Tuesdays to do Come Follow Me with his family which is a lot of fun. 

Q. Who are you teaching this week? Ages? 

A. This week we are teaching some different families. A mother with her children. The mother is around 40 and her children are 20, 18, 9, 7, 5, and 2. Great family. Another guy who is 25 and came to church this week. His name is Edward. There are some others too but those are the main ones for this week. 

Q. How do you find people to teach? 

A. Go around and talk to everyone. Also, we find a lot through the members and around where the members stay. That is the most effective way to get people ready for baptism. 

Q. What is the biggest convenience you miss in the US or from back home? 

A. The biggest convenience that I miss from back home is fast food for sure!! I miss fast food a lot!

Patience is Key in Everything

September 9, 2019 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. What is the lesson you have learned this week or two about yourself? 

A. This question is hard, but I would say that I have learned patience is key in everything. I have also really learned that it is so important that we as missionaries must really come to love our companions to help us have a better mission and for the work to go better. 

Q. Will you have the chance to see any apostles in the near future? 

A. Not in the near future, I hope that I will sometime next year but not any that we have heard about.

Q. You mentioned last week that you are trying to make connections with ward members. How is that work coming along? 

A. The ward members are pretty good. I felt closer to my last ward but the members here are cool just not as close of a connection but with time I know it will come. It is not that we are not loving each other just not super close yet if that makes sense. 

Q. How has being a Zone Leader taught you to be a better leader? 

A. I think it has taught me how to be patient and to be aware of everything. There is a responsibility but so far it has not felt too big. It is cool because as a zone leader we get to have exchanges with other missionaries often which gives us a time to all learn from each other.

One Year in Ghana!

September 2, 2019 

Wow it has been quite a week! I have now been in Ghana for more than a year and I cannot believe it. The way that I have changed myself for the better in the last year is amazing. On Tuesday, we had an exchange with the AP's and I went with Elder Burnett and had a great day. I learned a lot from him. The next day we rode with them to district meeting where my former companion, Elder Bahiru, is the District leader. I enjoyed the meeting. After district meeting we taught a sister named Elizabeth Adwoa who is an amazing person and is so ready for the gospel. She is 21 and just leaving for college so we were really sad to hear that she is leaving to Cape Coast until December. I hope she finds the church in Cape Coast. On Thursday, we took our recent converts to the temple. Some recent converts who were baptized in the last 2 weeks. Later we went for a session and it was the first time that I have been in a session since January. On Friday, we had interviews with president and we also went a did an interview for a candidate that was being baptized on Saturday. Basically we biked a marathon that day, well at least that is what it felt like!! haha it was super hot and super super tiring!! But it was all for a good cause and the candidate was a great woman who is ready to be baptized. Yesterday on fast Sunday we saw some great miracles and I know that God hears our prayers and blesses others through fasting. I love you guys!! 

~Elder Shirley 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. Tell us how you have grown spiritually over the course of this past year on your mission. 

A. Oh the way that I have grown spiritually in 1 year! It is really remarkable how much I have learned in 1 year and much more the Book of Mormon means to me. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on this earth and that it has answers to all of our questions. It is true and there is no way that it is not true. I know Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and that he was foreordained to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ, and his church. The influence of the adversary is real but those who hold strong to what they know is true will never fall. Missionary work is divine; the joy that I feel as one accepts the gospel is beyond other joy that I have been able to feel before. I know that families are most important in God's eyes and that we should always love those in our families. I know that God hears our prayers and that if we are struggling then we can rely on him and the Atonement of Jesus Christ to receive strength. Jesus Christ has done it all for us, He knows our struggles and He knows the way that we are feeling. There is nothing too "BIG" for us to overcome, if we rely on our Savior. I love God, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. The influence of the Holy Ghost will always be there for us in times of need. If we listen to the still small voice that is whispering to us, we will never fall off the path of righteousness. He is our Comforter, our guider, our leader, our protector, our reminder, and many other things. I am fully converted to this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and it is the only true church on the face of this earth.

Another Week of Learning and Growing

August 26, 2019 

This week was another of learning and growing!! Last week I got transferred to another new area which means that I was only in my last area for 6 weeks!! I enjoyed that area a lot and I made a lot of close relationships with the people there so I was sad to leave but am ready for new things!! 

This area has been great so far and it is a nice in between city and bush, it is quiet and peaceful in the area that we are in but there are also ways to get things that we need. We had a couple baptisms that my new companion had prepared with his last companion and they are wonderful people that will help the ward out. We had a couple great lessons this week as well with some wonderful people that I really think could progress towards baptism. The first lesson was with a woman whose name is Gifty, she started with some concerns that she had with her church that she was currently attending that caused her to leave and to tell herself that she would never go to church again. She has been praying for a miracle to happen to help her in her life and she found us. We were able to testify to her that the miracle she has been praying for has come and that the church can truly bless her and her family so we have high hopes for her. Another one was with a man who had an internet connection with a member that stays on the other side of Ghana and has interest in the church. He told us at the beginning of the lesson that he wants to join the church and so he asked us, "What does it take to be a member of your church" That was super cool so we taught him about the priesthood and baptism. 

I am still doing great and enjoying the work!! Love you!! 

~Elder Shirley 

Questions & Answers: 

Q. What are your responsibilities of a zone leader? 

A. The responsibilities of a Zone leader are just to make sure that everyone in the zone is behaving and to request for things that they need, somehow just like how a young men’s president would be. We instruct sometimes, different things like that. 

Q. How do you like your new area? What is it like? The ward? 

A. The new area is great. It is right in between bush and city so it is a good medium. The ward is pretty good, still learning about the ward but I do miss my last ward. 

Q. Tell us about your new companion? 

A. My new companion is really good, we are doing good together and it is always good to be with another zone leader companion because that means they will also be a good missionary, that is a perk of being a zone leader. He has taught me some new ways of missionary work. 

Q. I love hearing about the tender mercies that happen to each of us each week. What is one of your tender mercies this week? 

A. Yesterday we had a huge miracle when we contacted this man earlier in the week and we set an appointment for yesterday. We went to meet him in the house and he started asking a lot of great questions and he asked us "What does it take to be a member of your church, because I want to be a member" It was really cool and I am super happy for him, I hope that he will continue to progress to be baptized in a month or 2. 

Q. Did you get the rest of your things from your package? Hope you enjoyed the treats! 

A. I have not got them yet but the mission president has them and I enjoy it everyday!! It is super nice!!

Transfer to Kasoa

August 19, 2019 

We didn’t get a formal letter from Elder Shirley this week, but we did get to chat with him online. Here is a selection of things that we talked about. Elder Shirley’s responses are in bold text. 

{Elder Shirley} I am getting transferred again!!!!! I’m going to a place called Kasoa, it is not too far outside of Accra. They called me to be a zone leader for the Kasoa zone so that is why they transferred me. I will leave tomorrow morning. 

Will your companion be a zone leader too or just you? 

{Elder Shirley} They always pair two zone leaders together for the zone in one area, so we together will be the zone leaders 

Who will be your new companion? 

{Elder Shirley} He is from Nigeria, not sure how to spell his name. 

Are you excited to be transferred? 

{Elder Shirley} I am pretty sad to be honest, a lot of success here and wonderful members but it is the Lords’ calling so he will have more in store for me. 

Yes, you have had a TON of success in such a short time in your current area. But, I know that you will do great things as a leader in Kasoa 

Love the pics! That service project where you guys were cleaning the trash out of the gutters looked like some nasty work. 

{Elder Shirley} haha and then we just had the baptism straight after and we did not have our white shirts. 

Yeah, that is a unique baptism pic with you in Levis. Haha! 

{Elder Shirley} haha serious, that does not happen too often..... only in Africa will that happen 

Haha! That is funny that they let you do a baptism that way! 

{Elder Shirley} haha everyone was just in their normal clothes, but it is normal in Ghana. My first time though 

Hey, when you were cleaning up those gutters, did that stink real bad? I see you were all wearing masks which tells me it must have been pretty nasty 

{Elder Shirley} ya it stinks all the time even when you are just walking close to it. It really does stink. 

{Elder Shirley} We just completed our last 2 baptisms together making a total of 9 in this area which is so crazy!! I love the people here so much and this last baptism we had was really special. 

Tell us what was particularly special about this last baptism 

{Elder Shirley} This last lady that we baptized was an investigator for more than 1 year and now she just decided to baptize. So yesterday when I went to visit her one last time before I left she pulled me aside and thanked me for everything that I have done for her and she said "I have been around missionaries for more than 1 year and have not got baptized but when you came the way that you teach me, and the love and respect that you have showed to me changed my heart and that is what made me decide to be baptized.” Those words are what every missionary wants to hear from their recent convert. She started crying and I will be sad to leave her and her family 

Wow! I'm crying! That is the sweetest message you could ever receive! Did you cry too? 

{Elder Shirley} Ya, it was a great and touching moment for me for sure.