RIP chair 😵

This week some of our friends got baptized and I broke a chair.

There really wasn't a lot that happened this week. In the middle of the Week Elder Zile went on exchange so it was just Elder Skasim and I in the area. We had a good time and I finally got a real straw hat. I finally got one Elder Duncan. The shop next to our house started selling Mountain Dew in glass bottles so I bought a bunch of them. It doesn't really taste the same as real Dew but it's close enough.

On Wednesday we were waiting to start a lesson with someone and I was sitting in a 25 cedi plastic chair. For perspective that's $2.50. Elder Zile was joking around with finger guns and when he shot at me I pretended to get hit. When I did that the back leg of the chair broke in half and I fell backwards to the ground. I was on the ground so fast it took me a second to realize what happened. I felt bad about the chair but all is well now.

This Saturday we had a baptismal service for 3 of our friends. One of them is a small boy named Wisdom and his mother is a recent convert. Another is Selena and she was brought to church by her boyfriend. The last was Rachael and her son is actually on a mission in Nigeria right now. All great people with great futures ahead of them.

Scripture of the week

Alma 26:37 - "Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

Another week down. I've been trying a lot more recently to live in the moment. One of the best ways is to spend some time in the day thinking about what you are grateful for. Make yourself happy now. Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Holyoak 

Wisdom, Selena, and Rachael

Alajo Ward

Rowdy Boys

I recken...

🤠

Do the Dew

RIP Chair

Fufu with Palm Nut Soup

Yam Pourage (Nigerian food is delicious!)

Yam fufu pounding 🍛🤤

This week we had a zone activity, pounded fufu, and had our Multi-zone Conference.

Our zone activity went smooth. Kind of smooth. We hung out for a while playing card games and football. We had someone in our ward prepare rice ball and groundnut soup for lunch. It was delicious. After everyone got there we started playing Book of Mormon Jeopardy. While we were playing, it started pouring rain harder than it has all month. Everyone had a good time though, when the rain stopped we played more football and someone kicked the ball over the church building. 

In the middle of the Week, we went to Sister Horrie's house. She is a great member and she helped us pound fufu. Pounding fufu takes a ton of energy! This time we did just yams but it was really good. Elder Zile did a lot of the pounding and his hands were bleeding. Sister Horrie loves hymns so after we ate we sang like 10 hymns. She sings them a lot faster than normal though, so it didn't take too long. 

We had our Multi-zone Conference on Friday. We talked about a lot of stuff but a big part of it was about asking inspired questions. We had a nice lunch and then we did our zone breakouts. I won't bore you on that stuff but in the middle of the conference some lady walked in from the street. They gave her the mic at some point and she talked about being happy. During the lunch break a bunch of people tried to talk with her but she didn't talk much. She laid down on the floor and fell asleep. She was out of the way so it wasn't much of a problem. 

Scripture of the Week 

Matthew 6:21 - "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak 

Keep me updated on your lives. Time is my best friend and worst enemy out here. I can't believe September is almost over. I hope you all have a good week. Each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery! See you all next week.

Elder Holyoak 

Zone Activity

Chop Chop

Rice ball and Groundnut Soup

Zone Breakouts

Multi-Zone

Poundin'

Final Product - Yam FuFu

Bread Oven

🌅

Service

😁

Thanks Monson

We found Michael ! 🥳

This week we had MLC, Zone Council, a boy fell in the gutter, and we found Michael!

MLC was great, we talked about asking inspired questions and President made a few changes to our mission standards. We had jambalaya for lunch and we got another whiteboard for our apartment. 

President is doing away with Zone Council so we had our last one this Wednesday. It was a great time seeing everyone there and we had pizza after. We were able to plan our zone activity which you'll hear more about in next week's email. After Council, we always go to a food place called Mama Dee's and Chop. This time I had a rice ball and groundnut soup. Delicious. 

We were walking in our area this week and we saw a boy sliding down the big gutters. It's not really a gutter but that's what everyone calls it. He got to the bottom and we realized he was there to save his shoe. He had no way to get back out so we came to help. A bunch of kids gathered around and one guy went in to help the kid. While he was helping, his shoe fell too! I actually got the shoe falling in the picture. At the end of the day we got all of the people and shoes out of the gutter safely. 

On Thursday I went on exchange with Elder Murdock in his area. We had a great work day and at the end of the night we had one more appointment. Elder Murdock told me that there was a boy named Michael that we were going to put on date and ask permission from his parents. When we got there I saw Michael and found out he was the same Michael I baptized in my first area! For a little context, Michael was the first person I baptized in Bawjiase, my first area. A few days after he was baptized he moved to Accra and I never thought I'd see him again. When Michael got to church in Accra he told the missionaries that he wasn't baptized because he wanted to be baptized again. They started teaching him and his friends and Michael wasn't missing any days at church. Over one year after his baptism I was on exchange with the missionaries that were teaching him on the exact day they were going to put him on baptismal date!  I'm happy to see Michael again and to know he is going to church, sorry Elder Murdock.  Can you imagine if I came for baptismal interviews and saw Michael there. Haha....

Scripture of the Week

Mormon 9:19 - "And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles."

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

The work is good. I hope you're all enjoying life wherever you are in the world. Have a great week and keep working hard!

Elder Holyoak

MLC

Bawjiase Brethren

Improving our teaching

Four Eyes 🤓

Tesano Zone

Blessed Alajo

👞

Exchange with Elder Murdock

Reunited with Michael

One year ago...Michael's baptism in Bawjiase

Big Pineapple

Rice ball and groundnut soup

🇺🇬Uganda Forever🇺🇬

We are having a great time and the area is doing good. We had emergency transfer news on Monday and we are now in a trio with Elder Skasim. We aren't sure how long we will foster him but he's a super cool guy. He's from Uganda and he's a super good missionary. His birthday was on Sunday so we celebrated Saturday and bought pizza.

Elder Skasim's first day in the area was actually an exchange day. Elder Zile went to Northridge and Elder Rhodes came here. The day was great but we did a lot of walking. For lunch we went to a chop bar and got some good fufu. A good day with a lot of good lessons and we were all pretty tired at the end of the night. 

This Sunday our friends Rita and Akos were confirmed. It didn't rain in the morning so we had more members at church than last week. We also had a surprise visit from President and Sister Jacobsen. It was great having them meet some of our recent converts and ward members. Overall loving the area and the companions. 

Scripture of the Week

Mosiah 3:9 - "And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him."

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

Have a good week everyone! Let me know how your lives are going. 

Elder Holyoak

Companions support each other (Elder Zile and Elder Skasim)

President Jacobsen

Exchanges with Elder Rhodes

Fufu

Ebba

Ga Kenkey

Elder Skasim's Birthday Pizza Party