Well this week has also gone by quickly! It seems the days are just zooming by, and I think it's because I've been trying to have the mentality that I still have like 5 months left lol! Doesn't feel like I'll be home in a little less than 3 weeks, but at the same time it's just really strange! I am definitely going to miss these Ghanaians alright...Will have to adjust to the "obrouni" world lol...
Anyway Elder Vea and I are getting along so well! It's been cool since we have a lot in common, but I'm just doing my best to help him learn the area, get to know the members very well and just how to work the area. So far so good! During the week we spent a lot of time visiting and teaching Recent Converts, Less Actives and also members. It's been going well and little by little referrals are beginning to come. I just want to leave the area better than when I came, so there is always more to do each day...when the rain is not making things difficult! For 3 out of the 7 days this week it rained for like 4 hours straight, and not just your casual rain...it was pouring like crazy! There were small floods here and there but nothing to serious. It just made things frustrating when we want to teach as people are to busy fetching/collecting rain water and hiding in their houses. All good though. This week should be way awesome though! I am super excited for this Wednesday. One of my recent convert's who was baptized December 2015 is planning to go through for his Endowment and also get Sealed! I was so stoked to find out when I called him during the week to check up on him that he had received his temple recommend and was preparing to go this week! Perfect timing! The joy it brings to witness and be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to help others make and keep covenants. I guess to share a quick thought though from my studies this week, is a scripture I liked so much in Alma 31:5. I know that the word of God has power that will help us to experience a mighty change of heart and mind. As we seek to study the scriptures, listen to and hearken to the councils of our leaders, we will be greatly blessed! I know it to be true as I've served and been able to preach the Word, help others receive it and also study it my self. That's kind of it for this week though! Bro Buckman, one of the RM's has travelled to his home town until he leaves for his mission which was sad. He's going to come back down for my last Sunday though! We proselyted alot with him and he helped us alot with translating! Such an awesome and humble member who wants to do the Lords work! Hope you's have an awesome week though! Love yous! Elder Fesolai
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Well this week has been awesome! Some unexpected things also occurred! Elder Bankole and I didn't expect this to be our last week together as a companionship! Mission is like that I suppose though! Elder Bankole has been transferred really close to Nungua which is cool!
My new companion will be Elder Vea! So I should meet him later today which will be sweet! I have 3 weeks to get to know him and also show him the area. It is definitely going to make the rest of the short time I have left fly by! Bankole and I were able to do some solid teaching this week which was awesome. We've been doing finding too which always is interesting. It's sometimes hard to find motivation after appointments fall through during the day, but once we start it is fun! During one of the evenings this week we went to check on some members and we caught them studying the scriptures together which was awesome! Bro Francis who is the Elders Quorum Pres and Bro Moses who is the YM Quorum Pres usually meetup in the evenings and study the scriptures together which is awesome! We met with them and studies and had a discussion about prayer and faith which was wonderful. It's is really humbling and inspiring to see true and faithful members sacrificing time in their evenings to study the word of God! On Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Harris. He is one of the ZL's who is going home. He actually flies out tomorrow. It was a cool day though and we went and visited a member in their ward, Bro Entwi. He is blind, but is such a solid member with a booming testimony. We had a lesson on the Gospel and had an awesome discussion! I also got to travel to a place called Suhum with Elder Harris as he had to do an interview for the District Leader out there! Pretty cool day though. Saturday Morning we had to shoot out early to do some interviews for the missionaries in Oyoko. That was sweet. One of the guys I interviewed, Jarvis, was just so ready and prepared to be baptized! He had such a strong desire to learn and do as the Lord commands! After heading back from Oyoko we had to fill the font and prepare for our baptism! So Wilhelmina, Ivonna, Rosemond, Samuel and Joseph were all baptized Saturday and it was an awesome service. I think these might be my last baptisms before heading home. They were all so happy though, and it was an awesome service. The spirit was strong! Not as many people were able to turn up though because of the storm...all was well though. The sabbath yesterday was great though. All the confirmations were done and they were all super stoked as were we! Speaking to Joseph afterwards he expressed how he was so happy and how much joy he felt. I know that the Gospel and following the Savior brings great joy to our lives. It brings direction and purpose to our lives and I know it is all true. During my Studies this week I continued to study from the Plan of Salvation. I am always caught in awe and stuck pondering forever the Atonement of Jesus Christ! I know that he makes the Plan possible and that without him we would forever be unable to do anything for our self. I know that because of the Fall we are able to be here, and that because of the Atonement we can have joy and have the opportunity to return back to the presence of our Father in Heaven. Looking forward to another week though. Time is running out and I want to leave it all out in the field! Hope you're all doing well though! Hope you's have an awesome week! Try not to count down the days lol...Love yous! Elder Fesolai Well another week is in the dust and time just keeps on ticking! It was so so wonderful to get to talk to you both this weekend! I heard that Mom was over the moon, but I was super stoked too lol! Was awesome to hear your voices and get to catch up!
Also a late Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful Mothers back home! I wished many Mothers a Happy Mothers Day here too! I've been so blessed in all my areas with wonderful Families who have treated us missionaries like their sons! This week was great! We were unable to proselyte as much as we usually do, but it was for good reasons! On Tuesday we had our Zone Conference and President Heid and Sister Heid came up with the AP's and Office Elders. It was a solid conference and we were given some great council and instruction from our Leaders. Sister Heid talked about Christlike and Leadership qualities! One that I learnt more about though is Integrity! Which is to be completely honest with yourself and others. Even when no one is around! There is so much peace and security in that! Also about complimenting people! Haha, I feel as missionaries we compliment people a lot to make them feel happy. Serving a mission and trying to represent the Lord has opened my eyes and helped me to have a love and desire for the happiness for others! Compliments help with that! Following that we had a super massive feed which was awesome. I did take advantage of the opportunity and ate a tonne of chicken lol...see my life! Last week the Grandchildren (Wilhelmina, Ivonna, Samuel and Rosemond) of Sister Sosori all returned from their home towns. They are all preparing to be baptized this coming Saturday, so last week they were super happy to see us again and be able to learn! They are so brilliant, and just super quick in learning the Gospel! They also love living it, and reading the Book of Mormon! We continued to teach Joseph the Commandments last week as well and still...he is continuing to just humble submit and do what the Lord would have him do! He is doing so great and is super stoked for his baptism this Saturday! It just always brings joy to your heart when other of Heavenly Fathers children experience a mighty change of heart. It's been an awesome experience as a missionary to be an instrument in the Lord's hand to help others be partakers of the blessings of his Gospel! This week I've been studying alot about the Plan of Salvation though. As I was studying Alma Chapter 12, it was made so clear to me the love that Heavenly Father has for us. The same for his Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. As Alma proclaimed to Zeezrom the Great Plan of Redemption it is made so clear how hard our Father in Heaven is working to help us have happiness. We have agency, but he does all he can to persuade and direct us to him! It filled my soul with so much joy and comfort to know this. Some times we maybe feel that God is just 'chilling' in heaven on his throne or enjoying haha...But I know that he is actively engaged in helping us to be partakers on eternal joy and life. Verses 28-35 are just so sweet! Matter of fact I recommend the whole chapter. I am so grateful for the Gospel and the Book of Mormon! The guidance and hope it brings is so so wonderful and I know with all my heart that this sacred record is TRUE. It is the word of God. It will bless our lives and will help us to know of the truthfulness of our faith. Over the weekend we also had our District Conference for Koforidua. Again President and Sister Heid were here as he is in charge of the districts our mission covers. It was such a great weekend though as we attended all the sessions, and the spirit and joy of all the Saints here in Koforidua that were gathered was so so awesome! I'm looking forward to another week though! Praying that everything goes well and we are able to have the baptisms this week! Also keen to just get out and teach some people! All the teachings of the Church are just so sweet, and I love getting to know them, live them, and share them with others! I hope you's have an awesome week though! Lol don't count down the days too much! I'm doing my best to keep my mind busy! Thanks for all you do though Mom and Dad! Love you's! P.S No pics this week...sorry o! Next week though lol! Well this week has been awesome. It's been raining a tonne this week which has been a little annoying but it's made the air cool which is really nice! Our apartment kind of flooded because the rain was just so intense a few of the days this week. But nothing to serious again. All good though. It's nice to get to mop in the morning lol.
Elder Bankole and I have been great though! We are still going around Effiduase trying to talk to and teach all those that are willing to listen to us! Alot of people here just don't speak that much english so it can be pretty interesting at times, but they always crack up when we start speaking Twi. It's fun though. We've been going out teaching with some members during the week which is making things a bit more smooth too! This week we have our district conference so our baptisms have to be postponed to next week! We are planning to have 5 so that should be awesome! 4 of them are the grandchildren of one of the sisters in our ward! We teach them all together and they are super brilliant! The other one is Joseph who we started teaching last month! He has been coming to church every sunday since we met him and the guy is a legend! He is crack up! So sincere though and willing to do whatever is asked from the Lord. Every commanded we talked to him about last week he was willing to keep for the rest of his life. He talked to us how he knew it was all true, and the peace and joy he felt at church. It's amazing how hard Heavenly Father is working to help and prepare so many people to receive the Gospel. I know he hears and answers each and every single one of our prayers! During the week we went and offered service at one of the members farms! Was so crazy hot that day, but we were able to get a tonne of work done and it was cool to just get to work on the farm! We were just harvesting pineapples, planting some plantain trees and doing a TONNE of weeding with cutlasses. So it was a pretty solid service project and we might go again in the coming weeks! Was a tonne of fun though as we were with one of the YSA and also some of the young men. I've been reading a lot from the book Jesus the Christ lately and each time I pick that book up and read I learn something new about the Savior. It continues to increase my love and desire to follow him and be better everyday as I come to learn more about his perfect character and willingness to do whatever Heavenly Fathers will is because of his love for us and the Father. I'm just grateful for his example that I can look to for guidance and courage each and everyday. I know that he has overcome the world, and so can we as we put our trust in him, keep his commandments and offer a broken heart and contrite spirit. I suppose that is it for this week though! I suppose I will wish you a Happy Mothers day for this Sunday Mom! Looking forward to getting to call! I can't believe how fast time is flying though. Felt like yesterday we were skyping around Christmas and you guys were being sad eating donuts in front of us haha. Hope you's have a wonderful week though! Love yous! Elder Fesolai Well another week down! It's official now, I have 6 weeks till I'm back! It's starting to feel really odd that my mission is coming to and end! Keen to just continue trying to do what I do best as a missionary...teach, find, serve and eat lol.
This week we had a lot of appointments fall through which is always disappointing and frustrating. Led us to our usual backup plan of finding and visiting members and less actives though which was sweet. This week 2 of the Less Actives we've been working on reactivating came to church which was awesome. I suppose during the week we've just been stopping by when we pass by their area, try and interact with them, joke, and look for opportunities to serve. It's been cool becoming good friends with them, but it's been amazing re sparking their desire to follow the Savior and do what is right. We are continuing to teach Bro. Joseph. He is just so humble and willing to meet and learn with us. He came to church again this Sunday bright and early which was fetching sweet! He has such a strong desire to learn and do what is right. Little by little we are working on getting him to also bring his whole family to church. It's hard as his wife attends another church at the moment but in time I am sure! The happiness and joy you see in this mans life as he is living what we teach him is so contagious! We also started teaching some really cool guys who play for a paraplegic football team. They all speak not too much english so we always have a translator with us but it is super funny interacting with them and helping them learn and understand the Restored Gospel. It is so awesome when we get to take Bro Buckman one of the branch missionaries out with us to teach as he is usually our translator. He is also preparing to go on a mission very soon and his testimony of the Gospel and of the Savior is just so powerful. It is just amazing to have him with us, and we just have fun and get a tonne of work done too. I suppose that is it for this week though! Continuing to just leave it all out in the field and finish strong. Gotta admit some days are better than others, but the Lord always gives me the strength sufficient to just get done what needs to be done each day. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the strength, comfort and desire it gives me everyday to just do good and choose what is right. I know and testify that this book transforms lives, and assists us in experiencing a mighty change of heart as we study and ponder it's teachings diligently with prayer. It has blessed and changed my life, and also my investigators. I would encourage people to give it a 'fair go'...as aussies would say? Hope you have an awesome week though Mom and Dad! Will be great to get to chat next week for Mother's Day! Lol, will be better to chat in person 4 weeks after that! Love you's though! Thanks for your, love, support and all you do! Elder Fesolai |
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May 2017
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