Afehyiapa!!!

Afehyiapa!!! That means Merry Christmas.

I'll be completely honest nothing that cool really happened this week besides Christmas so this email will be a little bit shorter.

Christmas

Christmas in Ghana isn't celebrated as crazy as it is in America so there wasn't much we could really do. It was more of a good hang-out day for us. We got to sleep in and that doesn't sound like a lot but as a missionary waking up at 6:30 every day it was really nice. We didn't get fed by any members on Christmas day but 2 days before, we went to one of the sisters' houses. She fed us kokoente and that was my first time actually trying it. It's like fufu but it's brown. It is also known in Ghana as Face the Wall or Chris Brown. It was... Good. On actual Christmas day, we had some vanilla French toast for breakfast, egg noodles for lunch, and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. The mac and cheese was a Christmas present from another missionary in my district, Thanks Elder Smith. Since it's a new area for us we don't know the members very well, so the rest of the day was hanging out with other missionaries. 

Christmas Miracle

It rained! It's been really hot so that felt great.

Elder Muhaga's Chicken

Today we went shopping for P-day and one of the Elders that we share our apartment with wanted to buy a live chicken. The process pretty much went like this. We walked over to a guy standing next to a chicken coop and asked him how much his chickens were. He told us they were 30 Cedis each or around 6 USD. Elder Muhaga picked out his favorite one and the guy packed the chicken up for him. He pretty much just tied it's legs and put it in a plastic bag. We rode in a taxi back to our apartment and when we got back Elder Muhaga went straight to sharpening a knife. I'll spare you the details, but it's still crazy to me how much chickens can move around with their head cut off. He cleaned it up and I'm pretty sure he's just gonna cook it tomorrow. Elder Muhaga is actually a really nice guy. He's from Zimbabwe. He said he wants an American girlfriend when he gets back so if you're single and willing to wait 17 months let me know. 

Scripture of the week

Mormon 8:22 - "For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled"

And there's nothing you can do about it Satan.

Contact me:

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org 

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

That's the whole week. Nothing too crazy going on but the work has been progressing. Have a good rest of your year everyone and I'll see you in 2022!

Elder Holyoak

Santa's Little Helper

Kokoente or Chris Brown

Christmas Breakfast

Stand Off

Christmas Dinner - Kraft Mac and Cheese

Elder Muhaga and his prize

Elder Duncan misses snowboarding

The Rice, The Witch, and The Buzz Broz

The Rice

We had multizone this week and it was all Christmas-themed. There were a bunch of activities and I got to see a lot of friends from around the mission. We watched the movie "A Christmas Carol", the one with Patrick Stewart, and they gave us popcorn. It was really nice to watch an actual movie and not just the 5-minute gospel library videos. After the movie, we ate and they gave us a ton of rice, chicken, and brownies. Then we had a missionary talent show. A few of the talents were singing, piano, guitar, stand-up comedy, and ballroom dancing. It was a very interesting show. One zone even made a human pyramid. At the end of everything, they gave us Christmas packages from home and a little present from our senior couples. That's probably the most Christmas we are gonna get for the rest of the month, so it was pretty nice.

The Witch

This Wednesday, one of the members in another missionary's ward invited our whole District over for dinner. The whole dinner was great! She made us noodles, rice, and stew. When we finished it was dark so we said our thanks and started walking home. It was fully dark because the sun goes down around 6 pm here. When we were walking on the side of the road we saw an old lady standing in the middle of the street. As we got closer we saw that she wasn't moving. Not even an inch. If you put her next to a statue I'm pretty sure the statue would be moving more. As we walked past I looked at her face. Her eyes were opened wide and so was her mouth. Cars kept stopping in front of her, but she wouldn't move. It was a pretty cool way to end the night. The funniest thing is some other Elders actually saw here about 30 minutes later on a different street doing the same thing. There's a ton of possibilities. She could've been crazy, on drugs, a witch, or just trying to start a flash mob. We just call her a witch because that's what someone shouted at her while we were walking past. I'm just glad I'm on the winning team with Jesus to back me up.

The Buzz Broz

Elder Duncan and I have been doing companionship bonding exercises. We rode bikes for the first time in our area and it was a ton of fun. Our area is mostly hills so you're either coasting or pedaling hard uphill. If you go anywhere off the main road it's pretty much just a mountain biking trail. Elder Duncan also thought that his hair was getting a little long so we went and bought hair clippers. He started slow and was cutting the top himself. I left the room for maybe 5 minutes and when I came back he was fully buzzed. I thought it was funny so I told him to give me one too. We have been asked if we are brothers a couple times in the street and one time a lady asked if we were twins.

It was a really good week and I'm excited to see what we can do to celebrate Christmas. I hope you can all do your part in sharing Christ's life this week because that makes God happy.

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

Scripture of the week
Exodus 22:18 "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"
I'm sure she is a nice lady, but still a witch. 

Enjoy your Christmas everyone, I hope you all get what you asked for and help someone get what they asked for. See you next week!
Elder Holyoak

Buzz Broz

Bike Broz

Christmas Feast

Mission Family Tree

Family Dinner

The Witch

2 Utah Boys in Ghana

 Aba, Father, Papa

Alright everyone this week has been full of new stuff. As you know transfers hit and I was called to train and to whitewash an area. On Tuesday I picked my new son up at the mission home. His name is Elder Duncan. He's a Utah boy from West Jordan, so that is a huge blessing. Being able to show another American around Ghana has been a lot of fun. Teaching all of the cultural stuff like waving with your right hand, saying "fine" instead of "good", saying "small small" instead of "a little bit" and a ton of other things. I think he's pretty used to all of the naked people and trash by now but I haven't asked him. He has been adjusting super well and our houses in Utah are like 20 minutes from each other so we have a lot in common. We've been working hard but also having tons of fun.

Asamanketewa

Asamanketewa is the name of our new area. I'll try to sound it out for you. (Ah suh mon keh twa) The name of our area is almost as big as our area boundaries. When we checked the map to see our area boundaries I thought it was our zone. I'll have a picture down below but I'm almost sure it is the biggest area in our mission. Luckily most of it is just the jungle so we just stay on the main roads to find people there. The whitewash has been going really well though. The last missionaries in our area haven't taught anyone in 2 months so it was pretty much a fresh start. We have had to find new people so we just talk to everyone. It has been pretty successful so far and we have met some great members in the area by doing so. I don't want to bore you with the missionary stuff let's get into the fun stuff.

Food

Having an American companion has its perks. The biggest perk by far though is food. Our new area has a little grocery store with a bunch of imported goods. One of the best things we found this week was pancake mix and maple syrup. The syrup was huge because that meant we could make French toast. In the past couple of days, we have found a ton of new stuff to make. Here is a shortlist.

-Pancakes
-Banana Pancakes
-French Toast
-Peach Shakes
-Ice Cream Floats
-Fruit Smoothies

It might not look like much but everything on that list is very hard to find in Ghana. We are trying to save supplies so these will be more like once-a-week things. We are trying to find more things to make so if you have simple recipes send them our way.

Me ti twi paa

I have had to learn a lot of Twi lately so I figured I would teach you guys some words and short phrases.

Twi - Pronounced (Tchwi)
Brofu - English
Eti sen - How are you?
Eye - I'm good/fine
Obroni- White Man (Oh Bro knee)
Basa Basa - Naughty Naughty
Ewurade - God (Ay woo rah day)
Yesu Christo - Jesus Christ

That's the whole week! I hope the Holiday Season is treating you all well. It's a little bit different in Ghana but the Christmas spirit never dies.

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

Scripture of the week
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

See you all next week!
Elder Holyoak

Elder Duncan

Gifty and Co.

The one picture every missionary here gets 

Photo Cred: Elder Duncan 

Shout out Goomp Gang (You know who you are)

Our friend Pablo

Swag

Ask and ye shall receive

-pancake mix, syrup, and ice cream-

Mission map in red, new area boundaries in blue

I'm Gonna Be A Dad!

Hello everyone, this week I have big news. You might already know from the title but I'm going to be training! We got news on Wednesday night that I am getting transferred to a new area and I will be training there. This means that I will also be whitewashing. Whitewashing just means that both of the missionaries are new to the area and don't know what they are doing. I'll be doing a lot of street contacting and working with members. I'll know who I am training tomorrow when am go to pick him up so you will all see him in next week's email.

Some Random things that happened this week

Snake Smashing

We were walking back to our apartment to eat lunch when we heard a bunch of shouting. We walked over and saw two guys running in circles with sticks trying to hit a snake. They kept hitting it but the snake didn't die until the 5th or 6th hit. It was actually the first time that I have seen a snake here. They said that the one that they killed was poisonous but I'm gonna try to avoid any snake I see.

Nutrisnax

Nutrisnax is a cookie biscuit type thing and I eat them every day. It's an easy thing to eat in the morning and sometimes I bring them with me during the day. A long time ago I decided to start collecting the boxes and now that I'm leaving my area I had to throw them all away. Trust me when I say, it is A LOT of boxes.

I'm writing this email right before I leave everyone. Next week's email will be a lot more interesting.

Scripture of the week

Alma 32:37 - "And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit."

Contacts

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Holyoak

The Stripling Warriors

Dead Snake 

Last night of Mega Bed

Nutrisnax Stax

Box Man

Our last day together😢

Merry Christmas

Ghanaian Bench Press 

The Drought and The Flood

This week was actually pretty eventful. First off, the problems with our water pump aren't over. There was a problem with the power going into the pump so we had to have an electrician come and fix it. We called and he said he was on his way but he didn't show up until a good 3 hours later. My companion and I had to stay in the apartment until he fixed the pump. While we were waiting for him something really weird happened. We both fell asleep. Now we are very responsible missionaries so we obviously didn't do it on purpose. When I woke up the electrician still wasn't there but I heard the sound of dripping water. I walked out of our room and stepped in water. This meant two things. Our water was working and our apartment was flooded. Someone left the faucet running for the one sink in the whole apartment that was clogged. The pump wasn't working but the water was still flowing for about an hour and a half. I still don't understand how it was flowing with a broken pump but that doesn't really matter. Our entire apartment was flooded with about a half an inch of water. It took a couple hours to clean up the water and the guy eventually came and fixed our pump, so all is well. Or I guess was well, because our pump broke again 2 days later and we haven't had water since.

The same day our apartment flooded, we went on an exchange with some elders in our district. On exchanges, we usually sleep on mattresses without sheets, a pillow, or a blanket. After a rough night we went out in their area and we did a lot of contacting. The guys in the area have been low on new people so we spent pretty much the whole day just finding and contacting. Exchanges are always fun because you get to hang out with new people and see how they work.

That night we made it back to the apartment and it was Thanksgiving! I tried my best to find some potatoes so I could at least have one Thanksgiving food, but in Ghana, they only grow sweet potatoes. :/ I decided instead to just make some fried rice. It wasn't really that good but I also don't think it was that bad. Maybe I'll find potatoes next year.

We also had Stake Conference this week. It wasn't that crazy. We couldn't invite any of our interested people because our Stake Center is super far away from our area. We ended up just welcoming people at the doors and watching the conference on a TV in a room with AC. I learned nothing, but the AC felt really good.

That's the whole week. We get transfer news next Saturday so I'll let you all know if anything changes for me or my companion.

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

I forgot a scripture last week so this week you get two. :)

Last week - Proverbs 26:11 "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly"
This week - Job 24:19 "Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned."

See you next week!
Elder Holyoak

Teaching the next generation

Elder Kabba (Military)

Where's white boy?

Bathroom Boys

Hungary Man

New Tag

Bonus Footage 

RIP PPP

Alright alright, another week here in Bawjiase. This week wasn't too crazy but my companion did kill a bird. I'll give a little back story first. In my companion's last area they had a bunch of rats running around in and near their apartment. All of the missionaries got fed up with it and they all bought their own slingshots. He told me that it pretty much solved their rat problem. They were also a lot of crows in the area and they were killing people's chickens. Whenever they were bored they would just shoot crows out of trees and he got pretty good at it. Now bring it back to this week when my companion got bored again... I was just sitting in bed reading a book when he ran into my room holding a dead bird. Well, we thought it was dead. He went to show all of the other missionaries and the bird started freaking out and trying to get away. We put it in a box because we didn't know what else to do with it. We tried to find a way to save the bird but he died shortly afterward. We held a funeral for him and even gave him a full name. I didn't take any pictures out of respect for the bird.  <- Roughly what he looked like.

Rest In Peace - Phelix Phoenix Phillips

The rest of the week was just normal missionary work. It's been getting really hot here. I have to carry around a handkerchief just to wipe the sweat off my forehead. I've been drinking a lot of water too because I don't want to have a heat stroke.

Fun Fact - Being in a building without AC or a fan is hotter than just being outside. A lot hotter! Our power has been going out a lot lately so sometimes we have the privilege of sleeping without a fan at night. Nice and Toasty...

We also walked some of the kids we have been teaching to church this Sunday. I've kinda just realized no matter how many times someone promises you they are going to come to church, they don't come. So we just have to bring them to church ourselves. The kids live pretty far away so it's a long walk. One of them is in primary and the other four are youth. My favorite is the 8-year-old kid named Godson. He's a future apostle for sure.

That's my whole week! I hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving in America with all of the food and football.

Email Me @ - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org

Message Me on Facebook @ - Aidan Holyoak

See you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

Moses and the children of Israel on the way home from church.

Shleep

Ampesi

Mean Muggin'

Kasoa is getting a KFC!!!

Golden Dealership

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

Alright, everyone, I'm sorry for not emailing last week but don't worry I'm about to explain why. This email is going to be longer than the Book of Alma so strap in. It's going to cover all that happened in the last two weeks. I'll try my best to keep it entertaining. If you get bored, just skip to the pictures. I don't blame you.

In the Dark

So the main reason I missed last week's email was because of a blackout. In Ghana, the power is not very reliable. A small rainstorm can put the power out in your area for a couple of hours. Last Monday, the power went out around 7 PM and came back on Wednesday at 1 AM. That means the power was out for around 30 hours. Last email I talked about having no water for a few days. Our water pump has to have power to work so we got the same treatment for a few days this week. Also, our phone died about an hour after the power went out so we went a day and a half without being able to call any of our interested people. (That's also why I couldn't email.) Even though the power came back on it would go out randomly for about an hour each day for the rest of the week. I figured it would just be better to do a double email this week and save our phone battery. My companion and I share a phone so our phone battery is very valuable.

Last Week

Multizone

The only significant thing that happened last week was our Multizone Conference. We met with two other zones and I got to talk with some of my friends from the MTC. I also met a lot of the new Americans that came in during the last transfer. They are all super chill and I'm excited to serve around them. We played some Jeopardy-like scripture games. By far my favorite part about Multizone is the tie salesman. At the end of every Multizone, a guy comes with a bunch of Kente ties. They are pretty cheap so this time I bought a few. Kente is a type of fabric in West Africa where they make super intricate and colorful designs. 

The Rest of the week

The rest of the week was pretty much just finding new people and sorting out who is actually serious. Most of the people in Ghana are too nice to tell you no so a lot of the people you teach don't even tell you when they aren't interested anymore.

This Week

Segura's Birthday

Elder Segura (One of my friends from the MTC who lives in the same apartment as me now) had his birthday on Tuesday. We celebrated on Monday by going to the Mall and eating at the same chicken place as we did last time. It was so worth it. It's by far the best food I've tasted in weeks. On his actual birthday, the power was out the whole day but we still did our best to celebrate. We bought bootleg cupcakes from the mall and blue (non-alcoholic) champagne. He made some Kraft Mac and Cheese that he brought from America. I really wanted some but I didn't ask for a bite because it was his birthday. We cut up a pineapple and ate everything with headlamps on. It was still a really fun night.

Green Flake

This week we had a stake activity to watch a movie called Green Flake. It's about one of the slaves that was converted to the church during the Saint's journey to Utah. We didn't know until the day of the movie but the director actually showed up at our Stake Center. It gets even weirder. The director is also part of the singing group "The Bonner Family". The Bonner Family sings church songs, Christmas music, and plenty of other stuff on their YouTube channel. Not only did the director show up (who is the oldest brother in the family) but half of the family was there too. We weren't able to see the whole movie because of mission curfew but we got to talk with some of the family and take some pictures. They were super nice and it was weird talking to someone with an American accent who wasn't a missionary.

The House of Learning

On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the Accra Ghana temple with our ward. It was a long ride there but it was definitely worth it. The Accra temple isn't as huge as the ones in Utah but it is still a super cool building and the temple grounds are very nice. I was able to do some Baptisms for the Dead with my companion. I love seeing the inside of different temples. The architecture and artwork are always amazing to look at and the quietness inside is super calming. The Accra temple is the only one in Ghana right now but they are currently building one in Kumasi which is farther North in Ghana.

Baptismal Disaster

Yesterday was one heck of a Sunday. First of all, we planned for 4 of the people we have been teaching to show up at church but we got a grand total of 0. The Papaase Elders had a baptism planned for the day and since they are in our group, they use the same baptismal font as us. Before church, my companion and I had to clean out the font and start filling it. We didn't realize until 2 hours later that there was something wrong with the drain and that it doesn't close all the way. While we were trying to figure out how to fix it a member asked us for a Priesthood blessing. After the blessing, we decided that we were going to have to plug the drain with something ourselves. We went around finding plastic bags and shoved them all in the drain. It blocked the water but the hose was still filling the font too slow for it to finish before the baptism. My companion jumped up on top of the water tank next to the font and told me to hand him a bucket. We then spent the next 25 minutes passing buckets of water and dumping them into the font. The sun was blazing hot and we kept spilling water so we were all soaked. In the middle of all that they told me I was going to be giving a talk at the baptism. I prepared something small and kept dumping buckets of water. Finally, when we filled the font enough, we all went back inside the church and had the service. They didn't tell me but someone else stepped up and gave a talk for me. It was a very confusing and stressful day but the whole service went great and then we went and got fed at a member's house after, so that was cool.

Aaand... that was (almost) everything in the last few weeks. 

I'd love to hear from you all and see what's going on in your lives, here's how you can reach me.

Email - aidan.holyoak@missionary.org

Facebook - Aidan Holyoak

If you have any questions about Ghana send me an email and I can answer them in my next email.

Scripture of the Week

Titus 3:9

"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."

Just kidding, any question is fine. 

I'll see you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

The House of Learning

Group of kids we are teaching

Baptism Font - Elder Mvoula saves the day

Brethren at Multi-Zone

New Kente Ties

Elder Segura's Birthday Feast

The Bonner Family (Utah Singing Family)

Diamond in the Rough

Speaks for itself

Fried Plantains I cooked myself - Pretty tasty

The meal that I literally eat every night. 

(Indomie, garlic toast with a fried egg on top, and crackers)

The same meal, but blue to shake things up