There is a member in our branch whose name is Sheila. She is 19 and is going to serve a mission. She is a really awesome member and helps the missionaries out a lot. On Wednesday night she got a call that her mission call had come and was at the area office. Meanwhile her boyfriend, David, who I also know because I helped him with his missionary application and going through the temple and all that stuff, was going to attend our Mission Leadership Conference at the area office to be set apart and then go to the Ghana Missionary Training Center. Anyways long story short, she was going to come to the area office to open her call and say goodbye to David but was unable to because she had to watch over her mom's provision shop. David opened her call for her because she was unable to come and she is going to Jackson, Mississippi; which never happens so it was pretty crazy! She was so happy but also sad because she was missing out on David's setting apart. Elder Anusiem and I went to go get pizza and as we pull back into the area office Sheila is running at us from behind trying to chase us down. I guess she was able to come somehow and took a taxi straight. She made it back to MLC in time for David's setting apart and then the Jones took them out to lunch and then to the MTC. It was just a really great day for them both and I was so happy everything turned out perfect.
Our investigator Sister Rose came to church on Sunday. She probably walked like an hour to get there. She has a small baby as well who is deathly afraid of me but I am winning her over small small. We taught Rose and her husband 4 times this week. Rose has a husband and he is progressing as well. The lessons with them have been coming slowly because they don't hear English very well but it is really enjoyable to teach them.
We had surprise transfers again this week. A Ghanaian missionary that was with us temporarily finally got his Visa to the UK so he will leave for his mission tonight. So some other people were shuffled around a bit. Elder Koronikalou left to go be companions with Elder Falk. Elder George will replace him as AP. Elder Magda who is 5 months on mission will join us here in the office as a trio. President Heid told me that Elder Magda would eventually replace me. I just hope I am here to see sister Rose baptized. It was a really great week.
I love you all.
Elder Shelton
An Email From the Mission President's Wife...
March 7
Hi Sister Shelton,
I am helping my good husband this week by reading the letters from the missionaries addressed to me. It is quite touching and humbling. I just read this one from your son, and my husband advised I forward it to you. You will be so proud of your sweet son. They grow so much. Enjoy, and grab a kleenex...
Dear Sister Heid,
Since being in the office I have learned to appreciate a lot of different things. One of those things that I have learned to appreciate is the value of an individual. Before receiving my mission call my dad explained a lesson he learned on his mission. He told me that when he got his call to serve in the South Dakota, Rapid City Mission he was so disappointed. All of his friends were going to foreign missions and he had wished so much to be blessed with experiencing a different culture and language and way of life. He really struggled accepting his mission call and only accepted because he saw it as a 2 year duty that he had to make it through before he moved on with his life. He told me that by the end of his mission he had realized that it wasn't where you served, it was the people you served. People everywhere are in need of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is who we are representing as we are here. At the start of my own mission is was very much in the honeymoon stages. I was excited by the culture and the language and the food. Soon I went through the normal adjusting process and finally came to be in harmony. Everything around me just seems normal now. As I have been further removed from proselyting regularly the thing I miss most is the people. I have really felt the worth of one soul in the sight of God. We have been teaching this lady named Rose. She has a baby named Princess. As I was sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday I was sitting behind them and I was touching Princess's hand and watching how she would react to it. I started to ponder about the miracle it was that they were here. That they came from Heavenly Father's presence to Ghana. I started thinking about the life that Rose lives. She is in an uncompleted house that she has taken as her home. She is there almost all day and has to struggle to feed herself and her baby. By the same outfit that she wears to church every week you can tell she has almost no earthly possessions. Yet she walks an hour to church each week with a baby on her back to come to a church where she can only understand half of what is going on. How great is the value of this individual to God. How much love God has for her. How much God desires for her to learn and grow. It is the power and worth of the individual that pushes me to do all I can for her, to make even a small difference in her life.
Thank you for all of your help and kind words. Thank you for being my mother out here in Ghana.
Love,
Elder Shelton
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