Watermelon is so good!

Time is going by super fast right now. I can't believe it's time for another email. This week was pretty busy so I'll try to make this quick. 

The first few days of the week were normal work wise. We are teaching a lot of fun people right now. Our friend Gyapong is progressing a lot and he has plenty of questions. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he has already read up to 1 Nephi Chapter 20! He has some health problems that make it difficult to read for a long time but he's trying his best. One day when we came to see him he told us something pretty cool. About 15 minutes before we came he went to lay down and rest but he heard a voice. The voice told him that he needed to go read his book of Mormon. He started reading outside in his chair and not even 5 minutes later we passed by. It's amazing how subtle but powerful the Holy Ghost can be.

This week we also attended our Multi-Zone Conference. The two zones that attended were Winneba (Our Zone) and Swedru. It's always great seeing friends from around the mission and even better to hear from President Sanders. He spoke to us about the Restoration and the Apostasy in more depth. It was a great Multi-Zone and we were able to go to the mall after. I bought some pizza. 

On Friday we went to Accra to get Elder McLean's second dose of the COVID Vaccine. On the way back we went to a restaurant and I got Fettuccine Alfredo! It doesn't sound like much and it didn't really  taste like real Alfredo, but it was delicious! We also passed through Kaneshie Market and I got some new sock ties.

Scripture of the Week

Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak 

I had a very good week and I hope you all did too. Don't be afraid to send me an email. I'd love to hear from you all. See you next week.

Elder Holyoak 

Watermelon is so good!

Patience's birthday

Multi-Zone

Multi-Zone Shenanigans

Enjoyment at the mall

Sock Tie Buys

Fettuccini Alfredo

🦟 🌧

Another week has passed and that means it's time for another email. This week was a pretty normal week in our area. We have been working hard trying to sort out the serious people. 

The rainy season has officially come. It rains every other day for hours on end. Sometimes it's light enough to walk in, but sometimes it's too much. Even if you're at a teaching appointment you have to wait because the rain is so loud on the metal roof you can't even hear people speak. With the rainy season also comes more bugs. I have no idea how that works but the mosquitos have been eating me alive. For some reason on my ankles too. 

We are teaching a man right now who is 60+ and his name is Gyapong. He is a very interesting guy. The first time we met him he asked us about temples. We gave him the Restoration pamphlet and by the time we passed by again, he said he had read it twice. He was asking questions about the Aaronic Priesthood and about how the Apostle Paul received the Priesthood. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and that lesson was a lot of fun. When we got there we just sat down and answered the questions he had. He was asking questions about everything. From Hell to Marriage and the next life. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he now has his own copy so I bet our next visit will be very interesting. I'll keep you updated because he's one of my favorite people we are teaching right now.

Scripture of the Week

Ephesians 5:33 - "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."

Happy Mothers Day  

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

That's a few things from my week. Next week is gonna be a lot busier, so expect some good pictures. Bye bye  

Elder Holyoak

Zone Pictures

More Zone Pictures

Scery

Surprise Find - It's the little things that matter

Drunk Magnet

We had a really good week. There hasn't been a ton of success in our area because all of our investigators are sick for some reason. We have been having a lot of fun street contacting lately though...

This week we contacted a bunch of drunk people and all of them came to us. Some of them speak their own language and I kinda just act like I know what they are saying. There's one guy specifically and he was super excited to see us. He knew missionaries before and loves Americans. When we met him he was wearing American flag shorts and a red white and blue Nike shirt. He said his name was Emmanuel Idan. I told him my name is Aidan and he FREAKED out. He was jumping up and down, and I decided to get excited with him. We ended up hugging and then he took us to his house to introduce us to his family. He was a very nice guy and we invited him to come to church.

This week was hot for half and rainy for the other half. It sounds like a good combo but it leads to some crazy humidity. We checked the weather app and one day it was 97% Humidity! We've pretty much been swimming to our appointments. I did finally get a straw hat. You can see it in the picture below. Hopefully it will save my neck from all of the sunburns.

Today we are having a zone activity and we decided to make Fufu. The meat of choice is goat so some of our Elders bought a live goat. They killed it and it's all cooking right now. I have pictures for you to see us preparing the Fufu and of the goat that became our dinner. I also have a picture so you can also see the final product. It was pretty good.

Scripture of the Week
Exodus 32:20 - "And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it"  -   Moses why??

Contacts
Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org
Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

Alright that's everything for this week. See you guys next P Day. 
Elder Holyoak

Companions

Bootiful Sunset

Ghana Pancake

Our friend Morgan

New Hat

Preparing the Fufu

Goat Friend

Finished Product

RIP

Big City Life

Well I actually have some stuff to talk about this week. We did some traveling but the beginning of the week was pretty normal.

We have been trying to build up the two villages we are over. Most of the time we spend there is just contacting and finding new people. Ojobi is one of the villages and we have some of our own members there as well as members from other missionaries' areas. The mapping and ward boundaries here are a nightmare.

On Friday we had the chance to go to the big city Accra. Elder McLean had to get the Covid Vaccine because he will be flying home soon. We went all the way there for a little shot then turned around and headed home. On the way back, we wanted to eat something good for lunch so we decided to go to Pizza Hut. I can't even tell you how amazing that was. Eating there felt like a 5 star restaurant.

On the way home we also passed through the Kaneshie Market, which is one of the biggest in our mission and in Ghana. I bought some sock ties and a cool shirt. After a long ride home, the senior couple in our area invited us over for some Branch business.

What we didn't know is that it was also for a pasta party. Sister Aldous made us pasta with meatballs and chocolate chip cookies. I don't think I'm gonna have another day with food that good again in a long time.

On Sunday I finally got to meet our Branch and go to an actual sacrament meeting(English speaking meeting!). I love all of the members I have met so far and I look forward to serving in this area with them.

No crazy stories really. Elder McLean got sick after taking the Vaccine so it was a pretty chill day after that.

Scripture of the Week

Alma 30:60 - "And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell." 

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

That's the whole week. I hope everyone is doing good. All the missionaries reading this go read your scriptures.

Elder Holyoak

Part of our area

Companionship Unity

Christian Church in Ojobi

Before

After

Part of Kaneshie Market

Kool Shirt

Kool Tiez

Pasta Party at the Aldous'

EDEROLYOAK

🦄 Awutu Breku 💆🏼‍♂️

 Ok so transfers have come and gone. I made it to my new area without too much of a  headache. Miss you Elder Duncan.  Here's a little run down of my new area and companion...

-The area is Awutu Breku and it is in the Winneba Zone.
-We are in a branch so I'll have a better chance to get to know the members.
-The area also covers two villages nearby which are Akoti and Ojobi.
-There is a Group that is under our branch and it is actually inside an orphanage that is called "Ghana Make A Difference".
-My new companion is Elder McLean and he is from Montana.
-He has 1 transfer left until he goes home, but he's not a dead missionary yet, so don't worry.

The whole area is pretty cool. It's a lot more dense so I won't have to walk 45 minutes to get to different people's houses. There are already a lot of progressing people here so I'm excited for this new area. We also had Stake Conference and we had the chance to hear from our mission President, the Ghana Accra Temple President, and Elder Martinez of the Quorum of the 70.

My emails have been suuuuper boring lately so I'm sorry about that. Something funny that our members were trying to tell us is that foreigners aren't allowed to pee in public here in Ghana (even though everyone else does). They were telling us that we have to go in a bag then bring it back to our apartment. We have also been having a lot of fun contacting drunk people. You can tell them you're from any part of the world and they will believe it. I know one Elder said he was from Mars and the guy didn't even question it.

Scripture of the Week

1 Corinthians 15:55-58 —
    55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
    56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
    57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
    58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Happy Easter  

Contacts
Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org
Facebook- Aidan Holyoak

Yeah so from now on I'm not gonna let myself write anymore boring emails. You're lucky that I force my companions to take pictures for me. Everything is great on my end so I hope everything is good for you guys. See you on the other side... Next Week. 

Elder Holyoak

Gang Gang

Big Truck

Woody the Pencil Guy on the outside of a school

Stake Conference

Homemade Indomie pizza

Nana Yaa Chop Bar

Random missionary on an ad. No one in the mission knows who he is.