Thanksgiving and Transfers

Fam,

Ashaiman Stake Cultural Festival

  We got transfer news this week. Elder Falk is leaving the office. I will be really sad to have him gone. He has been a good companion. Plus he knows everything around here. I will receive Elder Anusiem-Nzenwa as my new companion. He is a Nigerian. He was called from a zone leader to be in the office. I have served around him in Koforidua. It will be interesting to have an African in the office. It will be a good opportunity for him to see the church from a ministerial point of view. I am excited to have him. Although he is older than me on mission and this might seem like a demotion to him, I just hope he is willing to learn.

This week was cool. I helped Elder Bullie out with getting all of his forms and medical stuff for his passport. I also did a lot of office work this week. I am creating a reference sheet with all of the supplies and how we get them and how much they cost. So that's been time consuming. I am also making another reference sheet for when future Elders need to order food or find a caterer because there is no record of that and every time someone new comes in they just have to start from scratch and find someone that can cater for events and such.

On Thursday the senior couples had us over for a Thanksgiving meal. It was the best meal I have had in Ghana, even though there wasn't any turkey. I love the senior couples. We have Elder and Sister Pace and Elder and Sister Jones. The Pace's are just smart and loving. I will sometimes just come into the office and talk to them for hours. The Jones do the apartment maintenance and medical for our mission. Elder Jones is from Canada and he is so humorous. He just throws in random comments at the funniest times. Sister Jones is like a sweet Grandma. She is from Scotland and has this thick accent. She is the best. Anyways it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we were invited to the Heid's for pumpkin pie. It was really good.

On Saturday we made a big supply run and it was very tiring but we were in Ashaiman and the Ashaiman Stake was having a cultural festival. It was so much fun to go to. There were all kinds of dancing and skits and stuff. Every unit represented a different region and displayed there culture. It was really great.

That Saturday we had another cool experience. We went to this tailor's place because he was fitting some clothes for Elder Falk. We had been there a couple times but we just started talking about worship and the point of worship. I told him I thought the best way to worship God was to obey his commandments. He agreed and asked how I viewed him. We chatted a little more and he just broke down and told us that he is breaking the law of chastity. He knows it is bad and he has fought hard to stop before but he keeps falling back into it. He talked about the guilt that was weighing down on him. It was very spiritual and we just bore our testimonies about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what that means to us and what it can mean to him. It was really cool. He said he will start sewing white shirts and trousers so he can come to church and be baptized. It was really cool.

Comment on teaching the Word of Wisdom. It is actually super easy here. Lots of people don't drink tea and coffee because it is hot. And mostly those who do when you teach it to them say, "I knew it was bad, I just hadn't had anyone tell me before." and they stop. I have had countless people just pull out their coffee or tea and hand it to us saying they are done.

Comment on Ghanaians and the Word of Wisdom. Ghanaians have a unique ability to obey whether they understand or not. They don't understand or know the reasons for a lot of teachings or doctrines but they just follow it because they have that kind of faith. Its really humbling to see.

I love you all.

Elder Shelton

Ashaiman Stake Cultural Festival

A Busy Week

Fam,

This week was crazy busy and tiring. On Monday night we were trying to prepare for the conference and we realized that we needed to print this talk for all the missionaries but it was like 6:30 and we were afriad the printing place we normally go to would be closed. We decided to go there anyways and surprisingly it was open. They printed our stuff and we started to staple everything there. We asked them what time they normally close and they said five. So it was a miracle that they were even open. And then we started talking to one of the employees there named Vida. We started asking about her life and such. Somehow to conversation kinda evolved to how as young adults we can tackle the challenges of the future. She just opened up to us and told us what she wanted to improve with praying and scripture study. The talk we were printing was perfect for her. It was "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence" We read a little to her and it really touched her. The whole thing was just a miracle; that the place was open, the talk we had was perfect for her, and it was later so customers weren't bothering us. It was just real life missionary work and a miracle.

We had a multi-zone conference on Tuesday and another one on Thursday. They were so crazy and exhausting. Like we don't really plan for them, we just kinda show up and all of a sudden we've got to be everywhere at once and if anything goes wrong or if someone has a problem it magically becomes our problem. It was really cool though. There were some really powerful instructions given.

Our Multi-zone conference on Thursday was up in Kpong. The drive there was so beautiful. We saw baboons on the road and there was this baby one that was so cute. That Thursday night a missionary from Sierra Leone named Elder Bullie flew in. He was called to the Cape Town South Africa mission and was going to leave on Dec. 29th but they just called him on Tuesday and told him he would be leaving to Ghana on Thursday so that they could get him a visa while he is here. So he will be serving here for a bit. I felt really bad for him. He's been a convert for just over 1 year. He's a really cool guy, he used to be this really rough guy and then he just turned his life around, found the church, and is now serving a mission. I feel bad because he has just been hanging around the mission home with us the last couple days and he has kinda been neglected by everyone else. I have enjoyed getting to know him though. It is one of the blessings of the office to meet lots of people and make a small influence in their lives.

Saturday I got to go with Elder Koronikalou and Elder Bullie to Madina market to buy him some more stuff he would need. Afterwards we went to the AP's area which is the University of Ghana. It was really cool. A beautiful college campus with college kids doing college stuff. It made me want to be part of them. Anyways, a great week.

Love,
Elder Shelton