Christmas #2 in Ghana

December 26, 2019 

Hey!! 

This last week or so has been great!! But I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas time where we get to reflect on the most important person in the whole world, that being our Savior Jesus Christ!! Wow so where do I even begin, we have had a lot happen since the last time that I emailed!! There still continues to be great success in the area and time still continues to work its way faster and faster as I enter into the last 3rd of my mission(8 months). As I look back on my mission I look back with complete joy and no regrets of what I have done so far. My mission has and will continue to shape me into the person that I hope to become for my future family! 

Last week we had a great week with our people that we are teaching and we were also able to find a good amount of new people to teach, some of which we think could progress. Our wonderful little family of a mother and her two daughters are still progressing towards baptism on January 5th, 2020 and are loving the church. It truly is wonderful how they are progressing because throughout their lives they have never really attended church and you can just see the pure joy of the Savior entering into them as we go to see them throughout the week and as they continue to come to church. We also have another wonderful sister that was baptized last Sunday and she is great. Most of her siblings are already members but now she is being baptized and joining them. She is 16 and her name is Queen. I did get the opportunity to baptize her on her request so I was very happy to do it for her!! 

We also have another man named James who was supposed to be baptized this last Sunday but we found out that he is not properly married and so he cannot be baptized. He then did not come to church on Sunday but we still have high hopes for him because he is a great man and loves the teachings and the church. 

There also is another man who is also progressing towards baptism on the 5th of January whose name is Edward. Edward was a great miracle because he actually contacted us on the road about 3 months ago, he has taken some time because of transitioning from one church to another but we feel like he has finally made the transition. Now he just needs to show the dedication. He also came to church this last Sunday and loves it. He told us that he will be coming again and also coming to the ward party on Saturday! 

This week has also been a great week where we had a mission devotional/party where we read the Christmas story, ate, had a talent show and watched Toy Story 4! We have also been blessed to be invited to member’s houses on Tuesday, Wednesday and today for Christmas activities that have made this Christmas season a lot of fun for us!! 

Last thing I will say is that the Savior is Christmas. Put everything else aside. Without Jesus Christ we don’t even celebrate Christmas. Remember the reason and always honor it because he is the reason that we have these family gatherings and have so much joy at this time of year. Our mission president put it best. We are celebrating his birthday, but yet we are all receiving gifts. Shouldn't we be giving the gifts back to him? So I would just like for all of you to ask yourself, what gift can I give back to the Savior this Christmas and then do it. Maybe that means to serve others more or to learn His gospel more. Whatever it may be find a way to give a gift back to Jesus Christ because it is his birthday!! 

Anyways I am doing great and always will be!! Love you!! 

~Elder Shirley