Monday, March 5, 2018
RISE AND SHOUT, Gabe!
Mom: Notifications have been sent out, and Gabe found out today while checking his email, that he was accepted into BYU in Provo, Utah for the Fall 2018 semester. He is excited and we are so proud of him!!!
03-05-18 "1 me ko fie"
Well the day has come at long last. My final email. Whodda thunk?
This week has been a little crazy. We went for an exchange in Bibiani which is in the western region of Ghana, so now I have proselyted in 4 different regions in Ghana, how sweet is that! I was with my MTC guy, Elder Ridell and his companion, and we had a ton of fun! We only walked a few hundred meters and taught like 5 lessons, it was wonderful! :)
We have had rain almost every day this week, and now the mangoes are coming. They are everywhere, and I will totally miss mango season, how sad!!! Maybe I can grab one to take on the plane and bring home to eat, that would be awesome! :)))
Us and the Bantama zone leaders were assigned to teach all the ward mission leaders in the Bantama stake about how best we can work together. It was really, really successful, and we hope that it will continue on, because the meeting was really great. We talked about how best to work together, things we can talk about in our coordination meetings and other things. It was wonderful! I am sad that I won't get to see too much of the result, but I know that training was a great help! It was kinda nerve racking to stand in front of all the ward mission leaders in the stake and talk about how we can all work together, but we had prepared and the Spirit guided the questions and answers, so we are grateful. :)
We also finally were able to get our foot in the door with one of our recent convert's wife. She attends another church, and he has heard some horrible thing about the church which cause her to be not very friendly with us and not very open to listening to what we have to say. Well, we have been nice to her and tried to at least be friends, and yesterday we were able to go to her house and sit with both her and the husband and answer any question she had. She was apprehensive at first, but we felt like we should just start with the Restoration message. We did, and she was really listening by the end. I guess for my final email, I don't have much more to say than Jesus Christ is our Savior. The prophet Joseph Smith really was called of God, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God revealed to us in the last days. We taught those simple truths to Martha (the wife) and the Spirit was there with us to testify of the truth. We have the fullness of the gospel in our times. Here. Today. On the earth, and it can truly lead us back to our Heavenly Father. I have studied this gospel, and I have had questions for myself about this gospel that could not be answered, except it were by a Father in Heaven who loved his son (me) enough to answer him. I have had my doubts, and those doubts have been swept away and replaced with feelings of love and peace in my heart. I know that Jesus lives, that our Heavenly Father is always near us and He loves us, He called a prophet to teach us in this, our own time so that we may know how to live in eternal happiness again with Him.
I love this gospel, and can't wait to be home to continue with the work in another place and in another way. Friends, family, whoever, please read the Book of Mormon and ask your Father if it is true. I know He will answer. He always does.
Love,
Elder Wawro
Mom: Gabe's final sentence of today's email: "Well, I am off until America. Catch ya next week! Love you guys! :)"
This week has been a little crazy. We went for an exchange in Bibiani which is in the western region of Ghana, so now I have proselyted in 4 different regions in Ghana, how sweet is that! I was with my MTC guy, Elder Ridell and his companion, and we had a ton of fun! We only walked a few hundred meters and taught like 5 lessons, it was wonderful! :)
We have had rain almost every day this week, and now the mangoes are coming. They are everywhere, and I will totally miss mango season, how sad!!! Maybe I can grab one to take on the plane and bring home to eat, that would be awesome! :)))
Us and the Bantama zone leaders were assigned to teach all the ward mission leaders in the Bantama stake about how best we can work together. It was really, really successful, and we hope that it will continue on, because the meeting was really great. We talked about how best to work together, things we can talk about in our coordination meetings and other things. It was wonderful! I am sad that I won't get to see too much of the result, but I know that training was a great help! It was kinda nerve racking to stand in front of all the ward mission leaders in the stake and talk about how we can all work together, but we had prepared and the Spirit guided the questions and answers, so we are grateful. :)
We also finally were able to get our foot in the door with one of our recent convert's wife. She attends another church, and he has heard some horrible thing about the church which cause her to be not very friendly with us and not very open to listening to what we have to say. Well, we have been nice to her and tried to at least be friends, and yesterday we were able to go to her house and sit with both her and the husband and answer any question she had. She was apprehensive at first, but we felt like we should just start with the Restoration message. We did, and she was really listening by the end. I guess for my final email, I don't have much more to say than Jesus Christ is our Savior. The prophet Joseph Smith really was called of God, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God revealed to us in the last days. We taught those simple truths to Martha (the wife) and the Spirit was there with us to testify of the truth. We have the fullness of the gospel in our times. Here. Today. On the earth, and it can truly lead us back to our Heavenly Father. I have studied this gospel, and I have had questions for myself about this gospel that could not be answered, except it were by a Father in Heaven who loved his son (me) enough to answer him. I have had my doubts, and those doubts have been swept away and replaced with feelings of love and peace in my heart. I know that Jesus lives, that our Heavenly Father is always near us and He loves us, He called a prophet to teach us in this, our own time so that we may know how to live in eternal happiness again with Him.
I love this gospel, and can't wait to be home to continue with the work in another place and in another way. Friends, family, whoever, please read the Book of Mormon and ask your Father if it is true. I know He will answer. He always does.
Love,
Elder Wawro
Mom: Gabe's final sentence of today's email: "Well, I am off until America. Catch ya next week! Love you guys! :)"
02-26-18 "2 - Nyame Adom, Nsuo aba biem" (By God's grace, the rain has come again)
Hallelujah, the rain has come again! After many months of Harmattan and 'brown-ness', the rain has come to clean up the trees, the gutters, and all the dust! :) We had the first heavy rain this Thursday I think. I left my window open though so my mattress got a little wet! :) hahahaha but I dried it out, so no worries. I am just pumped to have the rain coming again!
I spent last Monday in Kwamo visiting bishop's house before Patrick, Jude, and Timothy go on their missions. It was sad to see them go, but it was soooo good to see them for what might have been my last time. :) We had a lot of fun, and laughed a whole lot, and then we left. Bittersweet, but I have much more 'bitter-sweet-ness' ahead of me, so I gotta get used to it.
We sent off one of our ward members Phillip this week. He is going to Abudjan West Mission in Ivory Coast. He was getting pretty homesick at his party and shed some tears. Hard to see, because it wasn't too long ago that I was in the same position crying before I left. He was ready to rock though when the party was over and was very excited for his adventure ahead of him! :)
Elder White got sick this week. Kinda rough, he had Cata or a cold, and it was killin' him. We stayed in on Saturday so he could rest. I got lots done in the house while we were there, but now he is feeling better which is wonderful! :)
Sunday we had 2 fm's at the same house. Elder White wanted to go home and get some rest after church, but one woman, Sis. Ernestina invited us over right after church. We explained about Elder White's sickness, and she said that she had already prepared the food so it wouldn't take long. Well. We ate the first meal right when we got there, and it was empesi (boiled plantain) and tomato stew. We finished and asked to take our leave, and they said yeah just wait a bit. Thats when the sounds of fufu started and we knew we were dead. An hour alter we ate a massive fufu which was delicious, but man, we felt like dying! :) hahaha God bless that woman's heart though, that was so sweet of her to do that for us! :)
I had a great study this week in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon, and what impacted me this week was the character of the Stripling Warriors and their example of obedience. What stuck out to me was that they were just young men who wanted to defend their families from evil. Here are some scriptures to understand who they are:
20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.
21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him. (Alma 53:20-21)
21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them. (Alma 57:21)
25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.
27 Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually. (Alma 57:25-27)
These young men were preserved by the Hand of God because they were strictly obedient in every command and were trusted to uphold everything that was handed to them. I learned from this that simple obedience is the best protection. They were not mighty warriors physically, but spiritually, they were unmatched. Because of that, they were able to defeat the strongest army of the Lamanites and many more armies, not because of their own strength, but because they were strong in obedience to the commandments. I love the Stripling warriors. :)
Elder Wawro
I spent last Monday in Kwamo visiting bishop's house before Patrick, Jude, and Timothy go on their missions. It was sad to see them go, but it was soooo good to see them for what might have been my last time. :) We had a lot of fun, and laughed a whole lot, and then we left. Bittersweet, but I have much more 'bitter-sweet-ness' ahead of me, so I gotta get used to it.
We sent off one of our ward members Phillip this week. He is going to Abudjan West Mission in Ivory Coast. He was getting pretty homesick at his party and shed some tears. Hard to see, because it wasn't too long ago that I was in the same position crying before I left. He was ready to rock though when the party was over and was very excited for his adventure ahead of him! :)
Elder White got sick this week. Kinda rough, he had Cata or a cold, and it was killin' him. We stayed in on Saturday so he could rest. I got lots done in the house while we were there, but now he is feeling better which is wonderful! :)
Sunday we had 2 fm's at the same house. Elder White wanted to go home and get some rest after church, but one woman, Sis. Ernestina invited us over right after church. We explained about Elder White's sickness, and she said that she had already prepared the food so it wouldn't take long. Well. We ate the first meal right when we got there, and it was empesi (boiled plantain) and tomato stew. We finished and asked to take our leave, and they said yeah just wait a bit. Thats when the sounds of fufu started and we knew we were dead. An hour alter we ate a massive fufu which was delicious, but man, we felt like dying! :) hahaha God bless that woman's heart though, that was so sweet of her to do that for us! :)
I had a great study this week in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon, and what impacted me this week was the character of the Stripling Warriors and their example of obedience. What stuck out to me was that they were just young men who wanted to defend their families from evil. Here are some scriptures to understand who they are:
20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.
21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him. (Alma 53:20-21)
21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them. (Alma 57:21)
25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.
27 Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually. (Alma 57:25-27)
These young men were preserved by the Hand of God because they were strictly obedient in every command and were trusted to uphold everything that was handed to them. I learned from this that simple obedience is the best protection. They were not mighty warriors physically, but spiritually, they were unmatched. Because of that, they were able to defeat the strongest army of the Lamanites and many more armies, not because of their own strength, but because they were strong in obedience to the commandments. I love the Stripling warriors. :)
Elder Wawro
02-19-18 "3"
Well this week, we had some fun!
Monday, we played ping pong with the Elders in our zone just before our zone conference. We had tons of fun, and it was a really great activity despite the lack of much food or drinks, etc... We had a ton of fun, I got to play a bit, but I am not the best at ping pong! :) hahaha
I bore my final testimony at our zone conference as well. Weird to think it is all coming to a close here soon. We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon and finding new investigators. We are working to find ways to use it better in our work because it really can change someone's life!
Afterwards, we went to KFC (the Ghana equivalent of going to a nice restaurant) and turns out, President Cosgrave was there also! He spotted our group 100 cedis and we were so grateful! :))) We met the security guard and gave him a Book of Mormon which he began to read almost immediately after we gave it to him, how cool is that!?
I got to go on an exchange with Elder Yates this week also, we are in the same MTC group, meaning we came to Ghana at the same time, so we had a lot of fun. He is a great example and a great teacher so I was able to learn a lot from him. :)
We met with the stake president this week also to discuss missionary work, and the plan now is to have us as zone leaders to teach a training to the ward mission leaders and ward missionaries on how best we can work together. The stake president is President Appiah and he is a wonderful leader.
We also were able to baptize our investigator Andra this week. She has been learning with us for about 2 months now, and lives with one of our members. So great to have her join that family in her house, but also, this church family as well. :) No better feeling than to be welcome by 50 other member of the church at your baptism! :)
I read a sweet scripture this week from the Book of Mormon in Alma. It is when captain Moroni has just cornered the Lamanite leader. Moroni says something really awesome to him now that he has beaten him. He says first that they don't like to shed blood, but are only fighting for their families and their religion, and because of their faith in Christ they had won. Then he says:
4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
There is a wonderful promise in this scripture. God will support, keep, and preserve us "so long as we are faithful unto him." We have the Lord's promised blessings If we are faithful to Him. Maybe that means by reading our scriptures, praying daily, paying tithes when it is hard, or something as small as acting on those promptings given to us by the Holy Ghost, we are guaranteed the Lord's help in our life.
17 For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers. Alma 37:17
Love you all,
Elder Wawro
Monday, we played ping pong with the Elders in our zone just before our zone conference. We had tons of fun, and it was a really great activity despite the lack of much food or drinks, etc... We had a ton of fun, I got to play a bit, but I am not the best at ping pong! :) hahaha
I bore my final testimony at our zone conference as well. Weird to think it is all coming to a close here soon. We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon and finding new investigators. We are working to find ways to use it better in our work because it really can change someone's life!
Afterwards, we went to KFC (the Ghana equivalent of going to a nice restaurant) and turns out, President Cosgrave was there also! He spotted our group 100 cedis and we were so grateful! :))) We met the security guard and gave him a Book of Mormon which he began to read almost immediately after we gave it to him, how cool is that!?
I got to go on an exchange with Elder Yates this week also, we are in the same MTC group, meaning we came to Ghana at the same time, so we had a lot of fun. He is a great example and a great teacher so I was able to learn a lot from him. :)
We met with the stake president this week also to discuss missionary work, and the plan now is to have us as zone leaders to teach a training to the ward mission leaders and ward missionaries on how best we can work together. The stake president is President Appiah and he is a wonderful leader.
We also were able to baptize our investigator Andra this week. She has been learning with us for about 2 months now, and lives with one of our members. So great to have her join that family in her house, but also, this church family as well. :) No better feeling than to be welcome by 50 other member of the church at your baptism! :)
I read a sweet scripture this week from the Book of Mormon in Alma. It is when captain Moroni has just cornered the Lamanite leader. Moroni says something really awesome to him now that he has beaten him. He says first that they don't like to shed blood, but are only fighting for their families and their religion, and because of their faith in Christ they had won. Then he says:
4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
There is a wonderful promise in this scripture. God will support, keep, and preserve us "so long as we are faithful unto him." We have the Lord's promised blessings If we are faithful to Him. Maybe that means by reading our scriptures, praying daily, paying tithes when it is hard, or something as small as acting on those promptings given to us by the Holy Ghost, we are guaranteed the Lord's help in our life.
17 For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers. Alma 37:17
Love you all,
Elder Wawro
02-12-18 "4-fufuo kesee be ku me (big fufu will kill me!)"
Wow, what a busy week!
This famous singer here named Ebony died this week which was sad, she has a few good songs that are super popular that we hear all the time. The censorship here in Ghana is a bit different than the US, so we got to see the detailed pictures of what happened. She was in a car wreck because somebody put a pile of sand that blocked part of the road, driver swerved and hit a big VIP bus. They died instantly so that is good. Really sad though, it is the big news around here.
I bought a bottled Sprite here, and got a sweet surprise of someone's chewed gum in the bottom. Of course, I found that after I drank all of it, no wonder it tasted a little funny! :) hahahahahahaha! I love it!
This man Emmanuel was recently baptized here, and he got hold of some false doctrine about the Latter-Day Saints. Anyways, it made him pretty angry, so he has told us that he will go to the President of Kumasi here and speak to him about getting the correct idea about the LDS to the people here. He is so wonderful and has such a passion for the truth!
We had MLC this week too, it was a little different this time, we sat in a council the whole time kinda like the new church curriculum, and it was pretty great to talk about the mission and things we can do to improve. Always spiritual.
On Friday, we met a prophet from the church "True Faith" which was interesting, but he was so curious about the Book of Mormon, so he was fairly receptive to us. At the end of our lesson, his prophet showed up and asked to speak to him, so we will see how it all goes this week when we meet again! :) hahahaha! :)
We visited our clerk this week, his house is dang nice, like crazy nice. Tall ceilings, somehow American style. Anyways, we saw them, and their 2 younger sisters are Chanelle and Shantay. They are so cute, and we had tons of fun getting to know them! :)
Well my thought of the week is about God's plan for us. I was reading in Alma 42:16-24 which talks about the harmony of God's plan. The Law, Justice, and Mercy, and how one part cannot be without the other in the plan, for example:
Law and justice (no mercy) = nobody lives with God, all are imperfect. Impossible.
Law and mercy (no justice) = Everybody goes to heaven, regardless of their deeds. Easy. No learning.
Justice and mercy (no law) = Doesn't make sense, no rules. No plan. No progress.
This is explained here in the Book of Mormon:
17 Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was no law? How could there be a law save there was a punishment?
18 Now, there was a punishment affixed, and a just law given, which brought remorse of conscience unto man.
19 Now, if there was no law given—if a man murdered he should die—would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?
20 And also, if there was no law given against sin men would not be afraid to sin.
21 And if there was no law given, if men sinned what could justice do, or mercy either, for they would have no claim upon the creature?
So, the two parts must be there in the plan. It can't just be that everybody goes regardless of their good or evil deeds, as that wouldn't be just and then God wouldn't be just. It also means that there has to be a way for mercy to be provided for us despite our weakness. That mercy comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without Him, God's plan is useless because all His children would be lost, but with Him, we are able to be saved on conditions of repentance and good works:
22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.
24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.
We must learn of the Lord's plan for us, and we must understand what He requires of us so that we may be able to repent sufficiently. Only those who are truly humble and really repent of their sins can be saved. We are so blessed to have this knowledge from the Book of Mormon so that we may be instructed sufficiently to know the Lord so that at the last day, He will say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant" because of all the good works we have done and all the evil we have repented from.
Love you all,
Elder Wawro 😇
This famous singer here named Ebony died this week which was sad, she has a few good songs that are super popular that we hear all the time. The censorship here in Ghana is a bit different than the US, so we got to see the detailed pictures of what happened. She was in a car wreck because somebody put a pile of sand that blocked part of the road, driver swerved and hit a big VIP bus. They died instantly so that is good. Really sad though, it is the big news around here.
I bought a bottled Sprite here, and got a sweet surprise of someone's chewed gum in the bottom. Of course, I found that after I drank all of it, no wonder it tasted a little funny! :) hahahahahahaha! I love it!
This man Emmanuel was recently baptized here, and he got hold of some false doctrine about the Latter-Day Saints. Anyways, it made him pretty angry, so he has told us that he will go to the President of Kumasi here and speak to him about getting the correct idea about the LDS to the people here. He is so wonderful and has such a passion for the truth!
We had MLC this week too, it was a little different this time, we sat in a council the whole time kinda like the new church curriculum, and it was pretty great to talk about the mission and things we can do to improve. Always spiritual.
On Friday, we met a prophet from the church "True Faith" which was interesting, but he was so curious about the Book of Mormon, so he was fairly receptive to us. At the end of our lesson, his prophet showed up and asked to speak to him, so we will see how it all goes this week when we meet again! :) hahahaha! :)
We visited our clerk this week, his house is dang nice, like crazy nice. Tall ceilings, somehow American style. Anyways, we saw them, and their 2 younger sisters are Chanelle and Shantay. They are so cute, and we had tons of fun getting to know them! :)
Well my thought of the week is about God's plan for us. I was reading in Alma 42:16-24 which talks about the harmony of God's plan. The Law, Justice, and Mercy, and how one part cannot be without the other in the plan, for example:
Law and justice (no mercy) = nobody lives with God, all are imperfect. Impossible.
Law and mercy (no justice) = Everybody goes to heaven, regardless of their deeds. Easy. No learning.
Justice and mercy (no law) = Doesn't make sense, no rules. No plan. No progress.
This is explained here in the Book of Mormon:
17 Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was no law? How could there be a law save there was a punishment?
18 Now, there was a punishment affixed, and a just law given, which brought remorse of conscience unto man.
19 Now, if there was no law given—if a man murdered he should die—would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?
20 And also, if there was no law given against sin men would not be afraid to sin.
21 And if there was no law given, if men sinned what could justice do, or mercy either, for they would have no claim upon the creature?
So, the two parts must be there in the plan. It can't just be that everybody goes regardless of their good or evil deeds, as that wouldn't be just and then God wouldn't be just. It also means that there has to be a way for mercy to be provided for us despite our weakness. That mercy comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without Him, God's plan is useless because all His children would be lost, but with Him, we are able to be saved on conditions of repentance and good works:
22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.
24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.
We must learn of the Lord's plan for us, and we must understand what He requires of us so that we may be able to repent sufficiently. Only those who are truly humble and really repent of their sins can be saved. We are so blessed to have this knowledge from the Book of Mormon so that we may be instructed sufficiently to know the Lord so that at the last day, He will say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant" because of all the good works we have done and all the evil we have repented from.
Love you all,
Elder Wawro 😇
02-05-18 "5 0sorry aout the keyboard in advace"
Mom: I decided to copy and paste Gabe's letter this week and not clean it up, so you can see how crazy the keyboard he uses is and how different his access to good technology is...missing/broken parts surely show up in his emails. Be grateful for our U.S. equipment. :) Happy deciphering - I'll add the cleaned up version below it! LOL
wow, time is running.
this eek was my last week of Kwamo and my first week in abuakwa wth elder white. we are enjoying! to close out my time in kwamo, vida at bshops place asked if i could make soecakes for them, so we made some dang good cake, and it turned out really really great!
wednesda was transfer day, adn it went smoothy, no issuie there, haelujah.
thursday to sunday was retty goo dthoughm, i got to meet most of the investigators heer in abuakwa, so that is sweet! they have smo powerful peopl we can ork ith, so i am excited for that!! :) THere is a man here who was recently baptized named emanuel who lived in Teaxs afor 17 years in oyhuston. how sweet is hat??
SUnday was sad, it wasnt a inviting as kwamo was but then again it is my first week here, and i had sent almost 8 month in kwamo, so i guess that was xpected. we have a few embers whio hae invited us over in the eek o viit them, so i am glad we have some who want us to visit them :)
we fetched water this morning for a woman who has trouble with her legs, wha a sweet oportunity, felt aesome to do so. Ton sof the locals were laughing at u because they never see white eople fethcing wter, glasd we could make their day! :)
it i normal here for people to get xonfused abotu the church becaue o the ord saints. in ti , it means calling dead souls and worshippin tghem, so i have ebeen looking for a scriture that about sums u the true maning of the word saint and i found an awesome scriture s with the help of ELDSer White!:
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. (2 Nephi 9:18)
i love how imple the scriptue explains the saints, thos who believed in Christ, enduerd the crosses of the world, and were not ashamed iof it. These are they who will hae truer happiness and thier joy shall be fu foreer! :) i love it. catch ya next week.
***************
Wow, time is running.
This eek was my last week of Kwamo and my first week in Abuakwa with Elder White. We are enjoying! To close out my time in Kwamo, Vida at Bishop's place asked if I could make some cakes for them, so we made some dang good cake, and it turned out really really great!
Wednesday was transfer day, and it went smoothy, no issues there, hallelujah.
Thursday to Sunday was pretty good though, I got to meet most of the investigators here in Abuakwa, so that is sweet! They have some powerful people we can work with, so I am excited for that!! :) There is a man here who was recently baptized named Emanuel who lived in Texas for 17 years in Houston. How sweet is that??
Sunday was sad, it wasn't as inviting as Kwamo was but then again it is my first week here, and I had spent almost 8 months in Kwamo, so I guess that was expected. We have a few members who have invited us over in the week to visit them, so I am glad we have some who want us to visit them. :)
We fetched water this morning for a woman who has trouble with her legs, what a sweet opportunity, felt awesome to do so. Tons of the locals were laughing at us because they never see white people fetching water! Glad we could make their day! :)
It is normal here for people to get confused about the church because of the word Saints. In Twi, means calling dead souls and worshiping them, so I have been looking for a scripture that about sums up the true meaning of the word saint and I found an awesome scripture with the help of Elder White:
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. (2 Nephi 9:18)
I love how simple the scripture explains the saints, those who believed in Christ, endured the crosses of the world, and were not ashamed of it. These are they who will have truer happiness and their joy shall be full forever! :) I love it. Catch ya next week.
Elder Wawro
wow, time is running.
this eek was my last week of Kwamo and my first week in abuakwa wth elder white. we are enjoying! to close out my time in kwamo, vida at bshops place asked if i could make soecakes for them, so we made some dang good cake, and it turned out really really great!
wednesda was transfer day, adn it went smoothy, no issuie there, haelujah.
thursday to sunday was retty goo dthoughm, i got to meet most of the investigators heer in abuakwa, so that is sweet! they have smo powerful peopl we can ork ith, so i am excited for that!! :) THere is a man here who was recently baptized named emanuel who lived in Teaxs afor 17 years in oyhuston. how sweet is hat??
SUnday was sad, it wasnt a inviting as kwamo was but then again it is my first week here, and i had sent almost 8 month in kwamo, so i guess that was xpected. we have a few embers whio hae invited us over in the eek o viit them, so i am glad we have some who want us to visit them :)
we fetched water this morning for a woman who has trouble with her legs, wha a sweet oportunity, felt aesome to do so. Ton sof the locals were laughing at u because they never see white eople fethcing wter, glasd we could make their day! :)
it i normal here for people to get xonfused abotu the church becaue o the ord saints. in ti , it means calling dead souls and worshippin tghem, so i have ebeen looking for a scriture that about sums u the true maning of the word saint and i found an awesome scriture s with the help of ELDSer White!:
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. (2 Nephi 9:18)
i love how imple the scriptue explains the saints, thos who believed in Christ, enduerd the crosses of the world, and were not ashamed iof it. These are they who will hae truer happiness and thier joy shall be fu foreer! :) i love it. catch ya next week.
***************
Wow, time is running.
This eek was my last week of Kwamo and my first week in Abuakwa with Elder White. We are enjoying! To close out my time in Kwamo, Vida at Bishop's place asked if I could make some cakes for them, so we made some dang good cake, and it turned out really really great!
Wednesday was transfer day, and it went smoothy, no issues there, hallelujah.
Thursday to Sunday was pretty good though, I got to meet most of the investigators here in Abuakwa, so that is sweet! They have some powerful people we can work with, so I am excited for that!! :) There is a man here who was recently baptized named Emanuel who lived in Texas for 17 years in Houston. How sweet is that??
Sunday was sad, it wasn't as inviting as Kwamo was but then again it is my first week here, and I had spent almost 8 months in Kwamo, so I guess that was expected. We have a few members who have invited us over in the week to visit them, so I am glad we have some who want us to visit them. :)
We fetched water this morning for a woman who has trouble with her legs, what a sweet opportunity, felt awesome to do so. Tons of the locals were laughing at us because they never see white people fetching water! Glad we could make their day! :)
It is normal here for people to get confused about the church because of the word Saints. In Twi, means calling dead souls and worshiping them, so I have been looking for a scripture that about sums up the true meaning of the word saint and I found an awesome scripture with the help of Elder White:
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. (2 Nephi 9:18)
I love how simple the scripture explains the saints, those who believed in Christ, endured the crosses of the world, and were not ashamed of it. These are they who will have truer happiness and their joy shall be full forever! :) I love it. Catch ya next week.
Elder Wawro
01-29-18 "Abusuaafoo - my family"
Another sweet week here in Kwamo, but looks like the last! I will be transferred to Abuakwa, Asuo Yeboah Zone to be with my guy, ELDER WHITE. How sweet is that?! We lived in the same apartment for 6 months, spent 6 weeks apart, and now will serve 6 weeks together before I go home! :) I am beyond excited!
We taught a man named Abednigo this week. He came to church with one of our families, and he happened to be one of their nephews. We visited him after church and he was so grateful for us taking time to go and visit him. He took the message so well, and as he escorted us out, he said he was grateful that we had finally brought the truth to him, because he has been searching for a very long time for the truth and he finally felt like God answered his prayer when he visited us. It is such a blessing to serve as a missionary, seriously.
Our recent convert, Emmanuel got us some leather bags made this week. It was such a wonderful thing, my bag is getting a little bit old, so I was looking for a new one and he said he would get it for me. Elder Erickson also got one, but they are really good, and very strong. I love it. :)
A while back, I mentioned some things about Beatrice and her little brother Sammy. Well this week, he asked his mother again if he could be baptized, and she said yes and signed the form! That was a miracle, and he will be baptized in February.
Well, I had my last Sunday as well, and I didn't even cry, how about that! :) hahaaa
I took like 100 pictures though with a bunch of my closest friends. We got fed twice on Sunday and will get fed twice today as well, and tomorrow is my last day in Kwamo. Luckily, I will be able to visit Kwamo before I go because it is in Kumasi and not too far away, hallelujah! :)
We got a great question this week from one of our deacons named Seth, "how can I be my best self?" This question prompted a lot of deep thinking. My first thought came from Matthew 10:39:
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
My other thought came from the story of Nephi. When he was young, he was a good kid, but after he prayed (1 Nephi 2:16), he became a powerful example of faith and trusting in the Lord, no matter the challenge or trial. We tied that to ourselves, if we are able to give up our lives to the Lord and do all he asks with faith, then we are able to become "our best self", or better yet, who the Lord wants us to become. Simply, if we are humble and obedient, then we can become instruments in God's hands.
I think of the account of Alma the Younger. He had a very successful life, not really the Lord's way though. He had much success in the way he spoke and had close friends, he might have thought he was at his best. But, later in Mosiah we see that he had a mighty change of heart after an angel called him to repentance. He then spent the rest of his days preaching the word of God and repairing all the wrongs he had done to the church, and by doing so, he became who the Lord needed him to become. There is a lesson in these stories for each of us and how we can become our best selves, we can only learn them if we are reading the Book of Mormon! :)
Love, Elder Wawro
We taught a man named Abednigo this week. He came to church with one of our families, and he happened to be one of their nephews. We visited him after church and he was so grateful for us taking time to go and visit him. He took the message so well, and as he escorted us out, he said he was grateful that we had finally brought the truth to him, because he has been searching for a very long time for the truth and he finally felt like God answered his prayer when he visited us. It is such a blessing to serve as a missionary, seriously.
Our recent convert, Emmanuel got us some leather bags made this week. It was such a wonderful thing, my bag is getting a little bit old, so I was looking for a new one and he said he would get it for me. Elder Erickson also got one, but they are really good, and very strong. I love it. :)
A while back, I mentioned some things about Beatrice and her little brother Sammy. Well this week, he asked his mother again if he could be baptized, and she said yes and signed the form! That was a miracle, and he will be baptized in February.
Well, I had my last Sunday as well, and I didn't even cry, how about that! :) hahaaa
I took like 100 pictures though with a bunch of my closest friends. We got fed twice on Sunday and will get fed twice today as well, and tomorrow is my last day in Kwamo. Luckily, I will be able to visit Kwamo before I go because it is in Kumasi and not too far away, hallelujah! :)
We got a great question this week from one of our deacons named Seth, "how can I be my best self?" This question prompted a lot of deep thinking. My first thought came from Matthew 10:39:
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
My other thought came from the story of Nephi. When he was young, he was a good kid, but after he prayed (1 Nephi 2:16), he became a powerful example of faith and trusting in the Lord, no matter the challenge or trial. We tied that to ourselves, if we are able to give up our lives to the Lord and do all he asks with faith, then we are able to become "our best self", or better yet, who the Lord wants us to become. Simply, if we are humble and obedient, then we can become instruments in God's hands.
I think of the account of Alma the Younger. He had a very successful life, not really the Lord's way though. He had much success in the way he spoke and had close friends, he might have thought he was at his best. But, later in Mosiah we see that he had a mighty change of heart after an angel called him to repentance. He then spent the rest of his days preaching the word of God and repairing all the wrongs he had done to the church, and by doing so, he became who the Lord needed him to become. There is a lesson in these stories for each of us and how we can become our best selves, we can only learn them if we are reading the Book of Mormon! :)
Love, Elder Wawro
01-22-18 Broadcast for President Nelson
Well, this week has been a little more relaxed and we have had a lot more time to visit our own investigators instead of always traveling which is awesome. :)
To start the week, we had an exchange with the Ejisu elders, I went with Elder Okechukwu in Kwamo, and Elder Ericson went to Ejisu with Elder Zoh. We had a pretty good day, but we got fed like crazy!!!! We had 3 FM's (free meals), I can't believe we ate so much. They weren't planned either, we were visiting and they said, "wait elders, eat before you go". Well, not sure what else you can say to that other than " yes ma'am, we are coming" hahaaaa.
I had an interview with President Cosgrave, and he said I will probably be leaving Kwamo due to some plans he has for the future, so that was pretty sad to hear. Not sure how I feel about going to new people and a new place for 6 weeks, but I am sure the Lore has something good for me to get done elsewhere. :) Also, since then a few members have found out, and so we have had 2-3 meals every day since then, which is a blessing. :)
Finally our recent convert Omar returned this week from Central region, he has been gone for about 1.5 months now, and we have missed him. We got him his own triple combination to read from, and went over receiving the priesthood with him, and all the blessings that come from that special service to the Lord. He seems pretty excited, so this Sunday, we will get him some time with the bishop to meet with him. :)
We watched the broadcast of President Nelson and the press conference afterwards, that was sweet. We ate fresh mango to enjoy as we watched. I am curious to see how the church will grow and improve! Still the words ring in my ear, "the best is yet to come" so I am excited :) Mango is actually really growing on me. Is it legal to pack a mango in my luggage and send it home to eat my last mango in the USA??
We had a powerful lesson this week with our guy Daniel. He is a member of the Assemblies of God, and he has been studying with us for the past month or so. He came to church last week, but didn't seem to have any kind of change in his heart. Anyways, we went to visit him on Saturday, and he welcomed us in. We planned to teach about the importance of the Book of Mormon, but as we went there I felt impressed to change the plan and talk about the Sacrament, specifically from the Book of Mormon. So we did. It was one of the sweetest lessons I have had yet. We started in Moroni 6 about the church meeting together to take the Sacrament (400 years A.D.) then jumped back to where Jesus taught His disciples about the Sacrament in 3 Nephi 18, and as we read, I again felt impressed to focus on the importance of ordination and the fact that not just anyone could bless the Sacrament and administer it.
5 And when the multitude had eaten and were filled, [Jesus] said unto the disciples: Behold there shall one be ordained among you, and to him will I give power that he shall break bread and bless it and give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name.
From there we went to Alma 13 about ordination to the priesthood followed up with another jump to Moroni 2-4 about how we receive the Holy Ghost, how we are ordained to the priesthood, and about how we should administer the Sacrament. If you are interested to know, these topics are not clearly specified in the Bible about the proper form of ordination, as well as a confirming of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, or about who is authorized to administer the Sacrament. Well, good thing we have the Book of Mormon to give us back those simple truths.
The Book of Mormon really is true, and the Lord is using it as His instrument in bringing back His lost sheep to His fold. If you haven't read it before, please read it and see what it is teaching. I promise you will see the divine message that is inside, and it can change your life.
Elder Wawro
To start the week, we had an exchange with the Ejisu elders, I went with Elder Okechukwu in Kwamo, and Elder Ericson went to Ejisu with Elder Zoh. We had a pretty good day, but we got fed like crazy!!!! We had 3 FM's (free meals), I can't believe we ate so much. They weren't planned either, we were visiting and they said, "wait elders, eat before you go". Well, not sure what else you can say to that other than " yes ma'am, we are coming" hahaaaa.
I had an interview with President Cosgrave, and he said I will probably be leaving Kwamo due to some plans he has for the future, so that was pretty sad to hear. Not sure how I feel about going to new people and a new place for 6 weeks, but I am sure the Lore has something good for me to get done elsewhere. :) Also, since then a few members have found out, and so we have had 2-3 meals every day since then, which is a blessing. :)
Finally our recent convert Omar returned this week from Central region, he has been gone for about 1.5 months now, and we have missed him. We got him his own triple combination to read from, and went over receiving the priesthood with him, and all the blessings that come from that special service to the Lord. He seems pretty excited, so this Sunday, we will get him some time with the bishop to meet with him. :)
We watched the broadcast of President Nelson and the press conference afterwards, that was sweet. We ate fresh mango to enjoy as we watched. I am curious to see how the church will grow and improve! Still the words ring in my ear, "the best is yet to come" so I am excited :) Mango is actually really growing on me. Is it legal to pack a mango in my luggage and send it home to eat my last mango in the USA??
We had a powerful lesson this week with our guy Daniel. He is a member of the Assemblies of God, and he has been studying with us for the past month or so. He came to church last week, but didn't seem to have any kind of change in his heart. Anyways, we went to visit him on Saturday, and he welcomed us in. We planned to teach about the importance of the Book of Mormon, but as we went there I felt impressed to change the plan and talk about the Sacrament, specifically from the Book of Mormon. So we did. It was one of the sweetest lessons I have had yet. We started in Moroni 6 about the church meeting together to take the Sacrament (400 years A.D.) then jumped back to where Jesus taught His disciples about the Sacrament in 3 Nephi 18, and as we read, I again felt impressed to focus on the importance of ordination and the fact that not just anyone could bless the Sacrament and administer it.
5 And when the multitude had eaten and were filled, [Jesus] said unto the disciples: Behold there shall one be ordained among you, and to him will I give power that he shall break bread and bless it and give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name.
From there we went to Alma 13 about ordination to the priesthood followed up with another jump to Moroni 2-4 about how we receive the Holy Ghost, how we are ordained to the priesthood, and about how we should administer the Sacrament. If you are interested to know, these topics are not clearly specified in the Bible about the proper form of ordination, as well as a confirming of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, or about who is authorized to administer the Sacrament. Well, good thing we have the Book of Mormon to give us back those simple truths.
The Book of Mormon really is true, and the Lord is using it as His instrument in bringing back His lost sheep to His fold. If you haven't read it before, please read it and see what it is teaching. I promise you will see the divine message that is inside, and it can change your life.
Elder Wawro
01-15-18 "Odifoo Fufuro - Another Prophet"
Well, this week has literally been the busiest week ever. We had a ton of things to do this week. I will just name a few and write a little about them.
First, we started off the week traveling to Agona, about an hour or so away, and had a multi-district council. We focused on the use of the Book of Mormon and how we can improve on using it in our teaching and in our daily lives. The Spirit was so strong as we talked about the divinity of the Book of Mormon. Simply put, the Book of Mormon is true and it is a blessing to each of our lives, as long as we use it and read from it.
We also had A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY this week to participate in the opening of some of our YSA's mission calls! We were in a lesson and got the call that they were about to to open them at the chapel, so we literally ran from our lesson to the chapel! Here's the scoop:
1. Josephine -Abujan, Cote D'iovire
2. Jude - Nigeria, Benin City
3. Patrick- Nigeria, Calabar
It was a wonderful night :)
We also had to say goodbye to Sister Comfort, the one who normally calls us to eat in the evenings, bless her soul. she left on Thursday morning to go to the MTC for 6 weeks. So sad, but so good for her to go and grow in the Gospel :')
WE got to watch the funeral fro President Thomas S. Monson as well. It was really sad to watch, but the gospel really helps to cope with loss of loved ones. I really was touched by President Monson's life of love and service, and I hope I can be like him someday. I have watched a few minutes of his movie, and wow, he really was a great servant of the Lord.
We went on splits this week to cover all our Twi speakers. We grabbed a few boys from bishops to help us, so I took Patrick, and Elder Erickson took Johnson. We had a great day together, as they are both preparing to go on missions. We were able to teach most of the ones we needed to, but I think this is the first time I have been separated from my actual companion for a split with members. It was so helpful! :)
On Sunday, we had like 1,000 things to do! After church, we created some baptismal records for those who we baptized last week. In the process, we also were asked to help the bishop input his tithing since the clerk and his counselors were all not around, we printed some Patriarchal blessing recommends, made some LDS accounts, adjusted some family households in MLS. Wow it was crazy, but I got to learn so so much about the church and its programs and things. Seriously, this church was not made by any one man, everything is so simple and works together so well. The Lord is wonderful.
This week also was a great week of study for me. I was able to Study Alma 24-29 about Lamoni and his people, their conversion and their trials of faith. It was a moving passage of scripture, maybe I will recount their story.
These people were among the worst of sinners, but after having Ammon share the Word with them, they had a mighty change of heart. They had no more desire to break the commandments of God, especially after all the murders and wickedness they had committed towards their brethren. Their conversion was so strong that they covenanted with the Lord that they would not take up arms again against their brethren. Even when their Lamanite brethren came into the land to slay them, they stood without weapons and prayed that the Lord would be with them. Many were slain, but after so many were killed, those who came upon them to slay them were converted as well, and made the same covenant. They then joined the Nephites as more of the wicked Lamanites came to slay them, and humbly presented themselves to the Nephites, and asked to be their slaves in return for all the previous murders they had committed toward them. They were accepted as free men and women:
27 And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.
30 And thus they were a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord.
Love,
Elder Wawro
First, we started off the week traveling to Agona, about an hour or so away, and had a multi-district council. We focused on the use of the Book of Mormon and how we can improve on using it in our teaching and in our daily lives. The Spirit was so strong as we talked about the divinity of the Book of Mormon. Simply put, the Book of Mormon is true and it is a blessing to each of our lives, as long as we use it and read from it.
We also had A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY this week to participate in the opening of some of our YSA's mission calls! We were in a lesson and got the call that they were about to to open them at the chapel, so we literally ran from our lesson to the chapel! Here's the scoop:
1. Josephine -Abujan, Cote D'iovire
2. Jude - Nigeria, Benin City
3. Patrick- Nigeria, Calabar
It was a wonderful night :)
We also had to say goodbye to Sister Comfort, the one who normally calls us to eat in the evenings, bless her soul. she left on Thursday morning to go to the MTC for 6 weeks. So sad, but so good for her to go and grow in the Gospel :')
WE got to watch the funeral fro President Thomas S. Monson as well. It was really sad to watch, but the gospel really helps to cope with loss of loved ones. I really was touched by President Monson's life of love and service, and I hope I can be like him someday. I have watched a few minutes of his movie, and wow, he really was a great servant of the Lord.
We went on splits this week to cover all our Twi speakers. We grabbed a few boys from bishops to help us, so I took Patrick, and Elder Erickson took Johnson. We had a great day together, as they are both preparing to go on missions. We were able to teach most of the ones we needed to, but I think this is the first time I have been separated from my actual companion for a split with members. It was so helpful! :)
On Sunday, we had like 1,000 things to do! After church, we created some baptismal records for those who we baptized last week. In the process, we also were asked to help the bishop input his tithing since the clerk and his counselors were all not around, we printed some Patriarchal blessing recommends, made some LDS accounts, adjusted some family households in MLS. Wow it was crazy, but I got to learn so so much about the church and its programs and things. Seriously, this church was not made by any one man, everything is so simple and works together so well. The Lord is wonderful.
This week also was a great week of study for me. I was able to Study Alma 24-29 about Lamoni and his people, their conversion and their trials of faith. It was a moving passage of scripture, maybe I will recount their story.
These people were among the worst of sinners, but after having Ammon share the Word with them, they had a mighty change of heart. They had no more desire to break the commandments of God, especially after all the murders and wickedness they had committed towards their brethren. Their conversion was so strong that they covenanted with the Lord that they would not take up arms again against their brethren. Even when their Lamanite brethren came into the land to slay them, they stood without weapons and prayed that the Lord would be with them. Many were slain, but after so many were killed, those who came upon them to slay them were converted as well, and made the same covenant. They then joined the Nephites as more of the wicked Lamanites came to slay them, and humbly presented themselves to the Nephites, and asked to be their slaves in return for all the previous murders they had committed toward them. They were accepted as free men and women:
27 And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.
30 And thus they were a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord.
Love,
Elder Wawro
01-08-18 "Hwe eye - Look well (be careful)"
Well this week has been pretty normal, nothing too crazy. We just finished up playing sports at the mission home today and it was a blast! We played soccer, basketball and volleyball. It was tons of fun, and makes me excited for all the YSA activities at home when I will get to play a bunch!
We had MLC this week, and it was awesome as usual. We focused a lot on our teaching skills and how we can improve. The spirit is always so strong at MLC, it is by far my favorite meeting as a missionary. We also had a great presentation about the life of President Monson, our prophet who recently passed away. He truly was a great man, and I wish that I could be a little more loving and caring like he was.
We had a few baptisms this week also, one for Emmanuel about 45 years old, then 2 brothers, Clifford and Cletus 10 and 8 years, and Nana Ama who is a member's daughter who has some health problems. It was such a great service, and always brings joy to me as we bring people to know the truth and see the changes in their lives. How wonderful is the Gospel.
I was sick again this week as well, it has been about the whole week I have had a cold. Sheesh it is annoying to be sick all the time. I used all my hankies blowing my nose for the week, so I had plenty to wash this week! :) hahahaha But it is getting better, Elder Erickson spotted me some Nyquil and I got some much needed rest last night hallelujah.
I was able to read through President Monson's last few talks he gave in the past general conferences, especially the one about our choices. He says, “the door of history often hangs on small hinges” and related that to our lives and who we are to become. It is the little things that we do now that determine our destiny. Even the smallest of choices can make all the difference in our lives. In another talk, he made mention of the same idea that even the smallest act of obedience can make all the difference in our lives. Our choice of righteousness or disobedience really does determine our destiny. That poses the question, ‘am I obedient to even the smallest of commands?’ ‘Where would I be if I did, and how would I be different?’ Our ability to choose is a gift and we are blessed to have the chance to choose eternal happiness, or misery, depending on our choices. “May we always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong."
Love,
Elder Wawro
We had MLC this week, and it was awesome as usual. We focused a lot on our teaching skills and how we can improve. The spirit is always so strong at MLC, it is by far my favorite meeting as a missionary. We also had a great presentation about the life of President Monson, our prophet who recently passed away. He truly was a great man, and I wish that I could be a little more loving and caring like he was.
We had a few baptisms this week also, one for Emmanuel about 45 years old, then 2 brothers, Clifford and Cletus 10 and 8 years, and Nana Ama who is a member's daughter who has some health problems. It was such a great service, and always brings joy to me as we bring people to know the truth and see the changes in their lives. How wonderful is the Gospel.
I was sick again this week as well, it has been about the whole week I have had a cold. Sheesh it is annoying to be sick all the time. I used all my hankies blowing my nose for the week, so I had plenty to wash this week! :) hahahaha But it is getting better, Elder Erickson spotted me some Nyquil and I got some much needed rest last night hallelujah.
I was able to read through President Monson's last few talks he gave in the past general conferences, especially the one about our choices. He says, “the door of history often hangs on small hinges” and related that to our lives and who we are to become. It is the little things that we do now that determine our destiny. Even the smallest of choices can make all the difference in our lives. In another talk, he made mention of the same idea that even the smallest act of obedience can make all the difference in our lives. Our choice of righteousness or disobedience really does determine our destiny. That poses the question, ‘am I obedient to even the smallest of commands?’ ‘Where would I be if I did, and how would I be different?’ Our ability to choose is a gift and we are blessed to have the chance to choose eternal happiness, or misery, depending on our choices. “May we always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong."
Love,
Elder Wawro
Monday, February 19, 2018
01-01-18 "2018 Baby!"
Well, Christmas wasn't too eventful, nothing crazy after our family phone call, we were fed rice by a member, and then went home to sleep! New Year's is so crazy tough, they do huge parties and things, seems more crazy than I remember the US being. Sounds like you had a great night, we went to our ward party, which was approved by the stake I guess, and there was food and some skits, but we were told not to be out past 9pm, so we missed the majority of the party. And nobody is out today, like seriously, 98% of shops are closed today! It is so weird, but everybody was out partying last night, so I guess that is expected. :)
Well, time to recount the last 3 weeks of my life because I have been busy doing college applications and Skyping home and other wonderful things! :)
I am staying in Kwamo for another 6 weeks which is a miracle because I have been here for 6 months already, so this will make 7.5 months in one area, but if there is any area too stay this long, it would be Kwamo. I love it. After this transfer I have 6 weeks, so maybe I would get to stay a little longer and finish out here. How crazy to think about that!
A few weeks back we were rejected by one of our investigators who seemed so promising. That was rough, but we are still on good terms I guess. It is really odd for people to just send you away after so long of visiting them, she blames it on her mother, but I am not terribly sure about that. Her mom is a leader in another church, but there were some other red flags that were not from her mother. Well, it was sad, but that is missionary work. Some days are good, and others not so good! But we learn from them all the same. :)
For Christmas, we were invited to the Dearing's (a senior couple missionary) for lunch. Wow. It was wonderful! We had lasagna and garlic bread with cookies that were almost like American cookies. Oh how I have missed American food, that was so delicious! :) We went with the assistants and the office elders there to eat, so we were blessed to be with good company!
I also went on exchanges with elder Dudley, the new assistant. He is a great missionary, I really love him, he is awesome. He is also in my MTC group and we will go home together, so that is equally as cool. He is really loving and listens really well to his investigators which I think I can do a little better at. All in all, it was wonderful exchange to get to know him and learn from him.
We got to fix our beds this week with real power tools, that was different. Elder Dearing showed up because I haven't been getting great sleep since I came to Kwamo, so they decided to get me a new mattress which was needed. Well, they brought it and sacked the cheapy mattress I was on, but then, he said we ought to strengthen the bed frames, and whipped out some power tools from the US. Interesting that power tools made me a littlr homesick. It was so fun to get to use a screw gun and a drillbit, and had wood glue too? What a great day! :)
I also got to ride a bike for my first time in Ghana. We went up to Mampong to visit Elder Oshilaja (my 'son') and Elder Cunningham to do a baptismal interview. We had to grab some things from their apartment, and I got to ride their bike to go to their apartment. It was awesome and I felt like a true missionary as I rode, it was awesome! :)
We were asked to prepare talks this Sunday as some did not show up to talk. Well, I spaced for a few minutes thinking about what to share and this is the scripture that came to my head:
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
I was really enlightened by this scripture. This is the time of year where we all make resolutions to be better than we were and to do more than we did. There is no better way to start of the year, than by lighting up another's life through our actions. We can bless so many by doing simple things to let our light shine. Smiling, doing a small act, or even just reaching out to someone who looks sad can change their life, and ours as well.
Love you, Elder Wawro
Well, time to recount the last 3 weeks of my life because I have been busy doing college applications and Skyping home and other wonderful things! :)
I am staying in Kwamo for another 6 weeks which is a miracle because I have been here for 6 months already, so this will make 7.5 months in one area, but if there is any area too stay this long, it would be Kwamo. I love it. After this transfer I have 6 weeks, so maybe I would get to stay a little longer and finish out here. How crazy to think about that!
A few weeks back we were rejected by one of our investigators who seemed so promising. That was rough, but we are still on good terms I guess. It is really odd for people to just send you away after so long of visiting them, she blames it on her mother, but I am not terribly sure about that. Her mom is a leader in another church, but there were some other red flags that were not from her mother. Well, it was sad, but that is missionary work. Some days are good, and others not so good! But we learn from them all the same. :)
For Christmas, we were invited to the Dearing's (a senior couple missionary) for lunch. Wow. It was wonderful! We had lasagna and garlic bread with cookies that were almost like American cookies. Oh how I have missed American food, that was so delicious! :) We went with the assistants and the office elders there to eat, so we were blessed to be with good company!
I also went on exchanges with elder Dudley, the new assistant. He is a great missionary, I really love him, he is awesome. He is also in my MTC group and we will go home together, so that is equally as cool. He is really loving and listens really well to his investigators which I think I can do a little better at. All in all, it was wonderful exchange to get to know him and learn from him.
We got to fix our beds this week with real power tools, that was different. Elder Dearing showed up because I haven't been getting great sleep since I came to Kwamo, so they decided to get me a new mattress which was needed. Well, they brought it and sacked the cheapy mattress I was on, but then, he said we ought to strengthen the bed frames, and whipped out some power tools from the US. Interesting that power tools made me a littlr homesick. It was so fun to get to use a screw gun and a drillbit, and had wood glue too? What a great day! :)
I also got to ride a bike for my first time in Ghana. We went up to Mampong to visit Elder Oshilaja (my 'son') and Elder Cunningham to do a baptismal interview. We had to grab some things from their apartment, and I got to ride their bike to go to their apartment. It was awesome and I felt like a true missionary as I rode, it was awesome! :)
We were asked to prepare talks this Sunday as some did not show up to talk. Well, I spaced for a few minutes thinking about what to share and this is the scripture that came to my head:
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
I was really enlightened by this scripture. This is the time of year where we all make resolutions to be better than we were and to do more than we did. There is no better way to start of the year, than by lighting up another's life through our actions. We can bless so many by doing simple things to let our light shine. Smiling, doing a small act, or even just reaching out to someone who looks sad can change their life, and ours as well.
Love you, Elder Wawro
12-18-17 No Big Email Today
Mom: No big email came through today - I believe there were some technical issues on Gabe's end. However, we did get to chat about his phone call home for Christmas. Missionaries have time to email every Monday, and get to call or Skype home on Christmas and Mother's Day each year, so those two holidays become even more special than ever before.
Gabe has been given some time to work on his college applications and essays, as he's coming home in a few months and deadlines will pass before he gets here, so we've been proofing the essays he sends and cleaning them up to submit, since the keyboards and technology he has access to are sometimes lacking in Ghana. :) The final deadline is February 1st but we're going to have them in before the end of the year.
Gabe will be calling us at 6pm his time on Christmas, so we'll get to talk with him that morning and there won't be a weekly email that day. WONDERFUL!!!
Gabe has been given some time to work on his college applications and essays, as he's coming home in a few months and deadlines will pass before he gets here, so we've been proofing the essays he sends and cleaning them up to submit, since the keyboards and technology he has access to are sometimes lacking in Ghana. :) The final deadline is February 1st but we're going to have them in before the end of the year.
Gabe will be calling us at 6pm his time on Christmas, so we'll get to talk with him that morning and there won't be a weekly email that day. WONDERFUL!!!
12-11-17 "Harmattan aba biem - Harmattan has come again!"
Wow, this week was really, really crazy. Wonderful, and crazy!
To start the week, we had our Christmas Zone Conference with the Kwamo, UST, Dichemso, and Konongo zones. It was a wonderful conference, my favorite part was when they invited all of us to write on a slip of paper what we would give to the Savior this year. As I thought about what I could give, I knew that anything that was temporal, I couldn't give. It really caused me to think about what I would give to the Savior, and really all that I can give to Him is my heart and my determination to follow Him. Really a tender moment to stop and think about what I would give to the Savior this time of year. Most Christmas', I never really focused on the true meaning of Christmas, but this year has really touched my heart as I continually come to know the Savior.
We ran up to Efidaue to do an interview in the bush. I loved it - it totally reminded me of Mpraeso walking on dirt paths in the jungle almost. I love it! I interviewed a young boy named Wisdom, and it was so wonderful to hear about his testimony and all that he believes in. Little children have a sweet spot in my heart and I was grateful to get to know him on a personal and spiritual level. :)
Wednesday, we had our interview with the mission President for our investigator Omar. He was formerly a Muslim, but chose to be a Christian. He is a really cool story, I mentioned a little bit last 2 weeks, but this week, he passed his interview and was baptized on Sunday. As we completed the baptism, he had a huge grin in his face, and truly the Spirit was present as we performed that sacred saving ordinance for Omar. :)
HARMATTAN has officially begun. We had some huge rain in Thursday, and then Friday, the dust from the Sahara came. It almost looks like fog, can't see more than 300-400 yards in the distance. The bonuses are that it is a lot cooler, a little dryer, but it does make your clothes a bit more dirty, and makes you sneeze a ton! :) hahahahaaa! Oh, how I love my Ghana! :)
I bought my first Christmas tie, cost me the equivalent of 50 cents, and is in good shape! It has the 3 wise men on it, so it has a good message for Christmas. :) I love it! :)
My thought this week comes from the story of Alma the Younger. He has a wonderful conversion story I think. He went from being super wicked to being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I will attach some of the highlights from the chapter in case you have never heard his story before, and then talk about what is special to me in this story.
8 Now the sons of Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers; and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became a very wicked and an idolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he ledmany of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities.
9 And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.
11 And as I said unto you, as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood;
13 Nevertheless he cried again, saying: Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God?
14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heardthe prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.
19 And now the astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands;
23 And it came to pass after they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights, the limbs of Alma received their strength, and he stood up and began to speak unto them, bidding them to be of good comfort:
24 For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.
28 Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.
29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was rackedwith eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.
32 And now it came to pass that Alma began from this time forward to teach the people, and those who were with Alma at the time the angel appeared unto them, traveling round about through all the land, publishing to all the people the things which they had heard and seen,
35 And they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church, confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them.
36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.
37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.
Isn't the Atonement of Jesus Christ wonderful? Alma, who was once so wicked and idolatrous, could become a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord. This has great meaning to me because although I was not so much a wicked and idolatrous man, I didn't always make great decisions, but through our Savior, I have been made clean, and am free from those heavy burdens of sin, and I am able to be used as an instrument in the Lord's hands to preach His gospel, with His power, and His authority. No matter how bad we have become or what we have done in the past, as we follow the counsel of Jesus Christ, to have faith and repent, and make covenants with Him, than we too can become instruments in the hands of the Lord. The Atonement of Jesus Christ really can strengthen us and make us better than we could become on our own, as I have seen it in my life and have felt its cleansing power. This I know to be true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love you all, have a great week.
Elder Wawro
To start the week, we had our Christmas Zone Conference with the Kwamo, UST, Dichemso, and Konongo zones. It was a wonderful conference, my favorite part was when they invited all of us to write on a slip of paper what we would give to the Savior this year. As I thought about what I could give, I knew that anything that was temporal, I couldn't give. It really caused me to think about what I would give to the Savior, and really all that I can give to Him is my heart and my determination to follow Him. Really a tender moment to stop and think about what I would give to the Savior this time of year. Most Christmas', I never really focused on the true meaning of Christmas, but this year has really touched my heart as I continually come to know the Savior.
We ran up to Efidaue to do an interview in the bush. I loved it - it totally reminded me of Mpraeso walking on dirt paths in the jungle almost. I love it! I interviewed a young boy named Wisdom, and it was so wonderful to hear about his testimony and all that he believes in. Little children have a sweet spot in my heart and I was grateful to get to know him on a personal and spiritual level. :)
Wednesday, we had our interview with the mission President for our investigator Omar. He was formerly a Muslim, but chose to be a Christian. He is a really cool story, I mentioned a little bit last 2 weeks, but this week, he passed his interview and was baptized on Sunday. As we completed the baptism, he had a huge grin in his face, and truly the Spirit was present as we performed that sacred saving ordinance for Omar. :)
HARMATTAN has officially begun. We had some huge rain in Thursday, and then Friday, the dust from the Sahara came. It almost looks like fog, can't see more than 300-400 yards in the distance. The bonuses are that it is a lot cooler, a little dryer, but it does make your clothes a bit more dirty, and makes you sneeze a ton! :) hahahahaaa! Oh, how I love my Ghana! :)
I bought my first Christmas tie, cost me the equivalent of 50 cents, and is in good shape! It has the 3 wise men on it, so it has a good message for Christmas. :) I love it! :)
My thought this week comes from the story of Alma the Younger. He has a wonderful conversion story I think. He went from being super wicked to being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I will attach some of the highlights from the chapter in case you have never heard his story before, and then talk about what is special to me in this story.
8 Now the sons of Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers; and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became a very wicked and an idolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he ledmany of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities.
9 And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.
11 And as I said unto you, as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood;
13 Nevertheless he cried again, saying: Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God?
14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heardthe prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.
19 And now the astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands;
23 And it came to pass after they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights, the limbs of Alma received their strength, and he stood up and began to speak unto them, bidding them to be of good comfort:
24 For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.
28 Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.
29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was rackedwith eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.
32 And now it came to pass that Alma began from this time forward to teach the people, and those who were with Alma at the time the angel appeared unto them, traveling round about through all the land, publishing to all the people the things which they had heard and seen,
35 And they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church, confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them.
36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.
37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.
Isn't the Atonement of Jesus Christ wonderful? Alma, who was once so wicked and idolatrous, could become a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord. This has great meaning to me because although I was not so much a wicked and idolatrous man, I didn't always make great decisions, but through our Savior, I have been made clean, and am free from those heavy burdens of sin, and I am able to be used as an instrument in the Lord's hands to preach His gospel, with His power, and His authority. No matter how bad we have become or what we have done in the past, as we follow the counsel of Jesus Christ, to have faith and repent, and make covenants with Him, than we too can become instruments in the hands of the Lord. The Atonement of Jesus Christ really can strengthen us and make us better than we could become on our own, as I have seen it in my life and have felt its cleansing power. This I know to be true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love you all, have a great week.
Elder Wawro
12-04-17 "Bibiaa bocco - eveything is good"
Well, nothing too crazy this week, relatively normal for us.
We started the week on exchanges in Mampong with Elder Cunningham and Elder Okananwa. I went with Elder Okananwa, and it was really great! Mampong is up in the mountains and it reminds me a little bit of Mpraeso. Windy, a little cooler, the sun not being as hot, it was wonderful. We found a few people as we proselyted, one being a one-man-church pastor. He like arguing, so we bore our testimony and hit the road! :)
Then, on Wednesday, I went on another exchange with Elder Zoh from Cote Divoire. We got to talk, and he has been on his mission for about 7 months or so, and his English is getting pretty good! It was wonderful to talk with him and learn from him as well. :)
We planned a family history activity this Friday as well which was awesome. We helped a few members find their family names as they prepare to go to the temple next week on Wednesday. I am so jealous of them!!! It is so wonderful to see members get so excited about finding their ancestors and wanting to help them receive the ordinances of the gospel. Love it!
They repainted our chapel this week also, and now it looks so fresh and so beautiful. Smells a little like home too, remind me of doing trim jobs and having the painters there. :)
Last, we are planning to have the baptism of Bro. Omar this week Saturday. He is so sweet, and has had a lot of challenges in his life, and he has latched onto the Restored Gospel and it has done so much for him :) He is so excited to be baptized and become a member, it is wonderful.
Transfers are in 2 weeks, the week before Christmas, which will definitely be sad for me to leave after being here for 6 months and to leave 4 days before Christmas. Guess that is what I signed up for, although it will be really rough. :/
My though this week comes from the Book of Mormon about becoming stronger in Christ through His grace:
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God (Moroni 10:32).
I love this scripture so much, it is one of my favorites, and has had a special meaning to my life. We are not always perfect, and we sin every day. Sometimes, those sins pile up on our shoulders and we feel burdened because of what we have done. But as we come unto Christ and try our best to be perfect in Him, meaning that we must be giving our all to be obedient, then His grace is sufficient for us so that we can be made clean and pure before our Heavenly Father. What a wonderful gift that we can partake of, that because of the love of our Savior, we can be strengthened so that we might overcome all those sins that so easily beset us.
Love, Elder Wawro
We started the week on exchanges in Mampong with Elder Cunningham and Elder Okananwa. I went with Elder Okananwa, and it was really great! Mampong is up in the mountains and it reminds me a little bit of Mpraeso. Windy, a little cooler, the sun not being as hot, it was wonderful. We found a few people as we proselyted, one being a one-man-church pastor. He like arguing, so we bore our testimony and hit the road! :)
Then, on Wednesday, I went on another exchange with Elder Zoh from Cote Divoire. We got to talk, and he has been on his mission for about 7 months or so, and his English is getting pretty good! It was wonderful to talk with him and learn from him as well. :)
We planned a family history activity this Friday as well which was awesome. We helped a few members find their family names as they prepare to go to the temple next week on Wednesday. I am so jealous of them!!! It is so wonderful to see members get so excited about finding their ancestors and wanting to help them receive the ordinances of the gospel. Love it!
They repainted our chapel this week also, and now it looks so fresh and so beautiful. Smells a little like home too, remind me of doing trim jobs and having the painters there. :)
Last, we are planning to have the baptism of Bro. Omar this week Saturday. He is so sweet, and has had a lot of challenges in his life, and he has latched onto the Restored Gospel and it has done so much for him :) He is so excited to be baptized and become a member, it is wonderful.
Transfers are in 2 weeks, the week before Christmas, which will definitely be sad for me to leave after being here for 6 months and to leave 4 days before Christmas. Guess that is what I signed up for, although it will be really rough. :/
My though this week comes from the Book of Mormon about becoming stronger in Christ through His grace:
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God (Moroni 10:32).
I love this scripture so much, it is one of my favorites, and has had a special meaning to my life. We are not always perfect, and we sin every day. Sometimes, those sins pile up on our shoulders and we feel burdened because of what we have done. But as we come unto Christ and try our best to be perfect in Him, meaning that we must be giving our all to be obedient, then His grace is sufficient for us so that we can be made clean and pure before our Heavenly Father. What a wonderful gift that we can partake of, that because of the love of our Savior, we can be strengthened so that we might overcome all those sins that so easily beset us.
Love, Elder Wawro
11-27-17 "Medawaase Paa - I thank you very much"
Happy thanksgiving to all! :) Thank you for reading this and for putting up with my interesting grammar and english for all these emails! :)
This week had some good and had some not so good. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast! We bought, killed and cleande a turkey ourseleves (thank oyu Elder Erickson for te knowlede about cleaning animals). We ran it over to our members bakery on Wednesday morning and cooke it for about 5 hours. Bought it home, cut it up, stred the meat for the next day. Then Thursday, we made mashed potatoes and fried ripe plantain (that's te Ghana twist of our Thanksgiving) and wow, it was delicious. Cant believe i missed the smeel of turkey so much util we brouht it home from the bakery. Wow. Thanksgiving is wonderful :)
We got to watch the Face2Face with ELder Oaks and Elder Ballard on SUnday, and wow, it was so wonderful. The Spirit is so strong in those meetings, and i love hearing the experiences of the Apostles, because seriously they are so wise. :)
We played soccer against the Ejisu branch on Saturday, and they even let me play for the beginning! It was a ton of fun, but wow, i am out of shape running wise, and thew sun here is so hot, i thoihgt i was going to cook!!! XD ahhahaa It wasa ton of fun, and we ened eup winning 6-3 to take back the vicotry from them from last year. IT was a ton of fun! :)
I got to do a baptismal interview this week too in Asamang, about 45 minutes away from us. Always love doing those interviews, love getting to know how people came to know what we share is true and how thy are practicing it in their lives, and the blessings that they see! :)
Well, we had 2 baptisms this week also, they were both part-member families, TWI speaking also. We had a little bit of stress trying to meet with them and coordinate members to help us translate, but it all worked out! Both were baptized, and we have another baptism service coming up on the 9th, so we are pumped for that! :)
Anyways, my thought this week comes from John 21:15-17 which reads :
15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
I take away 2 lessons that work together from this passage. The first, are we so preoccupied with our own lives that we forget to do our part in the Lord's work? Are we too busy to reach out and to lift another? We can all do our part to reach out and lift another, to share with them something as simple as a smile or a small act of service. As a missionary, we look for any and every opportunity to serve or help wherever we can, but I know that I can definitely be more spirtually sensitive to those opportunities as they come.
The next lesson is directed toward home teaching. Home teaching is a struggle here, but this passage really hit me this week of how important home teaching is. The Lord's authorized servants have prayed for and selected families for each of us to visit, to lift and to bless. The Lord pleaded with Peter to "Feed my sheep" and He too asks us to do the same. He has trusted us with His work, even to help our fellow brothers and sisters. All of us go through tough times of distress, failure, disappointment, worry, and need someone to talk to about it and to help us. Those would be our home teachers or visiting teachers. There are many miracles to be had as we feed His sheep. For those who are not yet home teachers or visiting teachers, or are not members of the church, any act of service to another is an act of service to the Lord. Please, if you have not watched this video about Christlike service and looking for opportunities to lift and bless, please go and watch this video produced by the Church.
Video: A Good Samaritan
Love,
Elder Wawro
This week had some good and had some not so good. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast! We bought, killed and cleande a turkey ourseleves (thank oyu Elder Erickson for te knowlede about cleaning animals). We ran it over to our members bakery on Wednesday morning and cooke it for about 5 hours. Bought it home, cut it up, stred the meat for the next day. Then Thursday, we made mashed potatoes and fried ripe plantain (that's te Ghana twist of our Thanksgiving) and wow, it was delicious. Cant believe i missed the smeel of turkey so much util we brouht it home from the bakery. Wow. Thanksgiving is wonderful :)
We got to watch the Face2Face with ELder Oaks and Elder Ballard on SUnday, and wow, it was so wonderful. The Spirit is so strong in those meetings, and i love hearing the experiences of the Apostles, because seriously they are so wise. :)
We played soccer against the Ejisu branch on Saturday, and they even let me play for the beginning! It was a ton of fun, but wow, i am out of shape running wise, and thew sun here is so hot, i thoihgt i was going to cook!!! XD ahhahaa It wasa ton of fun, and we ened eup winning 6-3 to take back the vicotry from them from last year. IT was a ton of fun! :)
I got to do a baptismal interview this week too in Asamang, about 45 minutes away from us. Always love doing those interviews, love getting to know how people came to know what we share is true and how thy are practicing it in their lives, and the blessings that they see! :)
Well, we had 2 baptisms this week also, they were both part-member families, TWI speaking also. We had a little bit of stress trying to meet with them and coordinate members to help us translate, but it all worked out! Both were baptized, and we have another baptism service coming up on the 9th, so we are pumped for that! :)
Anyways, my thought this week comes from John 21:15-17 which reads :
15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
I take away 2 lessons that work together from this passage. The first, are we so preoccupied with our own lives that we forget to do our part in the Lord's work? Are we too busy to reach out and to lift another? We can all do our part to reach out and lift another, to share with them something as simple as a smile or a small act of service. As a missionary, we look for any and every opportunity to serve or help wherever we can, but I know that I can definitely be more spirtually sensitive to those opportunities as they come.
The next lesson is directed toward home teaching. Home teaching is a struggle here, but this passage really hit me this week of how important home teaching is. The Lord's authorized servants have prayed for and selected families for each of us to visit, to lift and to bless. The Lord pleaded with Peter to "Feed my sheep" and He too asks us to do the same. He has trusted us with His work, even to help our fellow brothers and sisters. All of us go through tough times of distress, failure, disappointment, worry, and need someone to talk to about it and to help us. Those would be our home teachers or visiting teachers. There are many miracles to be had as we feed His sheep. For those who are not yet home teachers or visiting teachers, or are not members of the church, any act of service to another is an act of service to the Lord. Please, if you have not watched this video about Christlike service and looking for opportunities to lift and bless, please go and watch this video produced by the Church.
Video: A Good Samaritan
Love,
Elder Wawro
11-20-17 "Osofodee tumi - the Priesthood"
Well, not a lot to write about this week, a pretty normal week for us.
Our guy Emmanuel who was baptized last week ended up staying another week, so that has been awesome for us, he is a great missionary in his house and helps us a lot! He will be going soon, so that will be sad, we're just waiting for his mom to call him to go to Accra and then he will go. :/
I was able to meet some of the new missionaries in our zone, Elder Mbambu from DR-Congo, Elder Carlson from California, and Elder Andreasen from Texas (like an hour away from Denton or so - Mesquite area?- HECK YES). We visited them after they had someone break into their house, they had a rough week, but they were all in good spirits! Great missionaries.
Found someone this week who had a Book of Mormon signed by Elder Brown and Elder Nathan, that was sweet! What are the odds!
We have been getting to know Elder Zoh this past week and he is so cool! A lot less stressful than the other missionaries who have come and gone from our apartment, he has a great desire to work and we are seriously blessed to have him with us. HE is a French man from the Ivory Coast, so he is adjusting to the English, and he is doing really well!!
There as some crazy rain this week also, we didn’t get beat by it too bad, so we are grateful! Reminds me of Texas or sure!
We are hoping to have 4 baptisms this coming week. One is Sammy, and his parents aren’t very on board with him following his sister to be baptized, so we have some work to do there. Then we have Maakwia who has come to church tons, and Nana Ama and Junior who are a member's children. We should have another, but his landlord also is not happy with him attending church with us. Life is good and the work is going great! :)
We had a powerful experience this week. We were going to an appointment and on the way, a man stopped us. We talked a bit and he said he had a friend that lived in Euless, Texas and invited us over on Sunday. We came to see him, and he warmly welcomed us in. We had a great lesson to start, he was really understanding what we had to share. Then, he got a call from his brother who is a pastor here, and then his brother popped into the lesson. Well, that was where it got interesting. He was not a fan of Joseph Smith and believed that he saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but not in the words that Jesus Christ said about none of the churches being correct. We began to explain about the apostasy and he wasn’t letting us get our message across. I said a quick prayer so that I could be in tune with the Spirit, and began. As I explained the priesthood and the loss thereof because of the death of the Apostles, I felt the Spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony of its loss and Restoration many hundreds of years later. This is where we read to help explain (Acts 8:14-20):
14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Simply, the Apostles had authority given them directly from the Savior to do His work, His way. That authority was lost after the death of the Apostles and has been restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our time. As I bore my testimony of the priesthood being restored, I was filled with the Spirit and truly felt the strength of the Lord as we left his house. His brother never accepted our message, but we left on a good note and have another appointment to see him this week. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth today because God has chosen His prophet and given him the priesthood authority to act in His name.
Elder Wawro
Our guy Emmanuel who was baptized last week ended up staying another week, so that has been awesome for us, he is a great missionary in his house and helps us a lot! He will be going soon, so that will be sad, we're just waiting for his mom to call him to go to Accra and then he will go. :/
I was able to meet some of the new missionaries in our zone, Elder Mbambu from DR-Congo, Elder Carlson from California, and Elder Andreasen from Texas (like an hour away from Denton or so - Mesquite area?- HECK YES). We visited them after they had someone break into their house, they had a rough week, but they were all in good spirits! Great missionaries.
Found someone this week who had a Book of Mormon signed by Elder Brown and Elder Nathan, that was sweet! What are the odds!
We have been getting to know Elder Zoh this past week and he is so cool! A lot less stressful than the other missionaries who have come and gone from our apartment, he has a great desire to work and we are seriously blessed to have him with us. HE is a French man from the Ivory Coast, so he is adjusting to the English, and he is doing really well!!
There as some crazy rain this week also, we didn’t get beat by it too bad, so we are grateful! Reminds me of Texas or sure!
We are hoping to have 4 baptisms this coming week. One is Sammy, and his parents aren’t very on board with him following his sister to be baptized, so we have some work to do there. Then we have Maakwia who has come to church tons, and Nana Ama and Junior who are a member's children. We should have another, but his landlord also is not happy with him attending church with us. Life is good and the work is going great! :)
We had a powerful experience this week. We were going to an appointment and on the way, a man stopped us. We talked a bit and he said he had a friend that lived in Euless, Texas and invited us over on Sunday. We came to see him, and he warmly welcomed us in. We had a great lesson to start, he was really understanding what we had to share. Then, he got a call from his brother who is a pastor here, and then his brother popped into the lesson. Well, that was where it got interesting. He was not a fan of Joseph Smith and believed that he saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but not in the words that Jesus Christ said about none of the churches being correct. We began to explain about the apostasy and he wasn’t letting us get our message across. I said a quick prayer so that I could be in tune with the Spirit, and began. As I explained the priesthood and the loss thereof because of the death of the Apostles, I felt the Spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony of its loss and Restoration many hundreds of years later. This is where we read to help explain (Acts 8:14-20):
14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Simply, the Apostles had authority given them directly from the Savior to do His work, His way. That authority was lost after the death of the Apostles and has been restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our time. As I bore my testimony of the priesthood being restored, I was filled with the Spirit and truly felt the strength of the Lord as we left his house. His brother never accepted our message, but we left on a good note and have another appointment to see him this week. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth today because God has chosen His prophet and given him the priesthood authority to act in His name.
Elder Wawro
11-13-17 "Re: cata kye me rof - the cold has catch me serious"
Alrighty. This week has its ups and downs. I had CATA again this week, it seems like I get it every few months, but man, it is annoying! It is like a cold back home, but a little different, body chills, a massive headache, tons of blowing the nose and sneezing. Yikes.
Ma Blessings place caught fire this week also. She has had some serious miracles in her life. Last month, 3 of the rooms in her compound caught fire but not hers. Then this week, the other 3 caught fire, but not hers again! Her room is safe and sound, not a single thing burned at all. Nobody was hurt, but really a miracle that her room wasn't burned.
I WATCHED A DRAGONFLY EAT A HOUSEFLY! I thought dragon flies were peaceful insects always hovering by the water, but dang, that dragonfly was hungry! I have the video, maybe someday I will get to send it.
We had a ton of investigators at Sacrament this week. among them was our miracle man from Liberia, Emmanuel. He was baptized this week which was awesome, and he wants to stay another week to receive the priesthood before he goes to Accra. Truly a miraculous experience! :) We also had our Muslim guy Omar come this week. He has been so nervous to come to church with us even though he really likes the teachings. His family is half Muslim half Christian, and he has chosen to be a Christian. What a miracle there too. :)
Also, paved roads are coming to Kwamo! :) Blessings seriously, walking on dirt a lot is fun, but paved roads are so sweet to walk on! :D We are upgrading for sure. :)
I studied in the book of Mormon in Jacob this week about the death of Nephi. So sad to read because he is one of my all-time favorites in the Book of Mormon. What I read taught me about the example that we set as leaders and as people in general. This is chapter 1 verse 10-11:
10 The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defense, and having labored in all his days for their welfare—
11 Wherefore, the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name. And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth, according to the reigns of the kings; and thus they were called by the people, let them be of whatever name they would.
These people of Nephi loved him so much that they named their ruler after Nephi. He loved his people and served them all the days of his life, and this service had such an impact on them that even after his death, the people still wanted to remember him. We are all examples, and our example can bless those around us. Service and good works to others also show our love for others, and can truly change someone's life as we do these things for them. I am amazed at the love the people had for Nephi and it came because of his love and service on their behalf. Nephi is a great example to us and how we should love ans serve others, and i hope to be like him someday.
Elder Wawro
Ma Blessings place caught fire this week also. She has had some serious miracles in her life. Last month, 3 of the rooms in her compound caught fire but not hers. Then this week, the other 3 caught fire, but not hers again! Her room is safe and sound, not a single thing burned at all. Nobody was hurt, but really a miracle that her room wasn't burned.
I WATCHED A DRAGONFLY EAT A HOUSEFLY! I thought dragon flies were peaceful insects always hovering by the water, but dang, that dragonfly was hungry! I have the video, maybe someday I will get to send it.
We had a ton of investigators at Sacrament this week. among them was our miracle man from Liberia, Emmanuel. He was baptized this week which was awesome, and he wants to stay another week to receive the priesthood before he goes to Accra. Truly a miraculous experience! :) We also had our Muslim guy Omar come this week. He has been so nervous to come to church with us even though he really likes the teachings. His family is half Muslim half Christian, and he has chosen to be a Christian. What a miracle there too. :)
Also, paved roads are coming to Kwamo! :) Blessings seriously, walking on dirt a lot is fun, but paved roads are so sweet to walk on! :D We are upgrading for sure. :)
I studied in the book of Mormon in Jacob this week about the death of Nephi. So sad to read because he is one of my all-time favorites in the Book of Mormon. What I read taught me about the example that we set as leaders and as people in general. This is chapter 1 verse 10-11:
10 The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defense, and having labored in all his days for their welfare—
11 Wherefore, the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name. And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth, according to the reigns of the kings; and thus they were called by the people, let them be of whatever name they would.
These people of Nephi loved him so much that they named their ruler after Nephi. He loved his people and served them all the days of his life, and this service had such an impact on them that even after his death, the people still wanted to remember him. We are all examples, and our example can bless those around us. Service and good works to others also show our love for others, and can truly change someone's life as we do these things for them. I am amazed at the love the people had for Nephi and it came because of his love and service on their behalf. Nephi is a great example to us and how we should love ans serve others, and i hope to be like him someday.
Elder Wawro
Picture with Elder Erickson
11-06-17 "Elder Kacher, Akwabaa!"
This week was SUPER BUSY. WE spent 1 full day in our area this week which was rough, I miss proselyting to see our people. Anyways, we had a ton of meetings this week to go to, and some traveling too.
To start the week, we had our mission tour with Elder Kacher, and it was wonderful. We learned so much, some of those things I will share later in the email, but it was awesome. I got to sing hymn 100, 'Nearer my God to Thee' with 7 other missionaries which was pretty sweet! We met with him before the meeting started as zone leaders to talk about what the meeting needed to be focused on to help our missionaries. So cool to get to talk to him in such a small group and to see the trust he had in us. Awesome. The mission tour lasted from 9am to 4pm, and it was so worth it.
We then had MLC the next day, which Elder Kacher attended as well. It was very relaxed actually, we went through our accountability as a mission, and then had the chance to ask him any question we wanted and he would try to answer for us. It was really sweet, the Spirit was so strong as he spoke to us, and I learned a whole lot.
We met this guy Emmanuel this week. We thought he was a member, he just showed up at church and told us this was his church and he was from Liberia, never mentioning the fact that he had not been baptized. Anyways, this week, we met him and he asked if we could come and see him. When we got there we found out that he had not been baptized. He has been attending the church for 4 years, and every time he wanted to be baptized, something would come up or he would travel. So we went through the lessons with him briefly, he knew pretty much everything, and set his baptism for this Saturday. How awesome.
We will have transfers this Wednesday, my companion and I are staying together which is great because now we will enjoy Thanksgiving together! Only downside is the transfer ends the week before Christmas, so if I leave (which I probably will) then I will miss Christmas with the Kwamo members. That will be a rough week, I am trying not to think about it too much, it makes me sad. Sis. Comfort said she doesn’t want me to get transferred until she at least goes on her mission in January. Well, guess I will get to rip that band-aid off when I get there.
We also had our Stake Conference this Saturday and Sunday. We had an amazing turnout on Sunday for our investigators. I guess they never really see how big the church is in the small branches and wards until they schedule a stake conference and see the 2000 members gathered together. It was so big, oh my goodness. We had to set up TV’s in separate rooms for others to watch, it was serious!
We sent my 'father' home today , good ‘ole Elder Vuakatagane is going home! How time is flying, I wish I could keep track… I can't believe it, only a handful of months to go, I can count them on my hands. That is a terrifying thought. Anyways, I also got to meet an Elder Schmidt from California this week! He is pretty cool, we like a lot of the same things back home. He also is a little homesick, and I know how that feels, so it was good to talk to him a little bit, he is really sweet.
At the mission tour, something that really struck me was about giving up the little things, and how big of a difference simple obedience makes. He shared some experiences in his mission about how some missionaries said it was impossible to do this and that, and so he sent new missionaries to the area who truly consecrated their lives to missionary work, and the miracles they performed. Simple obedience is the key. It is a simple principle on paper to just do what you are asked, but as we actually appy the principle of obedience in our lives, and commit to do all that God asks of us, then we can be blessed! I wish I had more time to talk about the mission tour, but overall, what I took away was how important it is to be obedient, and the miracles that can happen in a missionary's life, or in our case, a whole zone if they will all commit to be exactly obedient.
Elder Wawro
To start the week, we had our mission tour with Elder Kacher, and it was wonderful. We learned so much, some of those things I will share later in the email, but it was awesome. I got to sing hymn 100, 'Nearer my God to Thee' with 7 other missionaries which was pretty sweet! We met with him before the meeting started as zone leaders to talk about what the meeting needed to be focused on to help our missionaries. So cool to get to talk to him in such a small group and to see the trust he had in us. Awesome. The mission tour lasted from 9am to 4pm, and it was so worth it.
We then had MLC the next day, which Elder Kacher attended as well. It was very relaxed actually, we went through our accountability as a mission, and then had the chance to ask him any question we wanted and he would try to answer for us. It was really sweet, the Spirit was so strong as he spoke to us, and I learned a whole lot.
We met this guy Emmanuel this week. We thought he was a member, he just showed up at church and told us this was his church and he was from Liberia, never mentioning the fact that he had not been baptized. Anyways, this week, we met him and he asked if we could come and see him. When we got there we found out that he had not been baptized. He has been attending the church for 4 years, and every time he wanted to be baptized, something would come up or he would travel. So we went through the lessons with him briefly, he knew pretty much everything, and set his baptism for this Saturday. How awesome.
We will have transfers this Wednesday, my companion and I are staying together which is great because now we will enjoy Thanksgiving together! Only downside is the transfer ends the week before Christmas, so if I leave (which I probably will) then I will miss Christmas with the Kwamo members. That will be a rough week, I am trying not to think about it too much, it makes me sad. Sis. Comfort said she doesn’t want me to get transferred until she at least goes on her mission in January. Well, guess I will get to rip that band-aid off when I get there.
We also had our Stake Conference this Saturday and Sunday. We had an amazing turnout on Sunday for our investigators. I guess they never really see how big the church is in the small branches and wards until they schedule a stake conference and see the 2000 members gathered together. It was so big, oh my goodness. We had to set up TV’s in separate rooms for others to watch, it was serious!
We sent my 'father' home today , good ‘ole Elder Vuakatagane is going home! How time is flying, I wish I could keep track… I can't believe it, only a handful of months to go, I can count them on my hands. That is a terrifying thought. Anyways, I also got to meet an Elder Schmidt from California this week! He is pretty cool, we like a lot of the same things back home. He also is a little homesick, and I know how that feels, so it was good to talk to him a little bit, he is really sweet.
At the mission tour, something that really struck me was about giving up the little things, and how big of a difference simple obedience makes. He shared some experiences in his mission about how some missionaries said it was impossible to do this and that, and so he sent new missionaries to the area who truly consecrated their lives to missionary work, and the miracles they performed. Simple obedience is the key. It is a simple principle on paper to just do what you are asked, but as we actually appy the principle of obedience in our lives, and commit to do all that God asks of us, then we can be blessed! I wish I had more time to talk about the mission tour, but overall, what I took away was how important it is to be obedient, and the miracles that can happen in a missionary's life, or in our case, a whole zone if they will all commit to be exactly obedient.
Elder Wawro
10-30-17 "Asubo - Baptism"
This week has been crazy busy, and the week ahead of me is even more busy! This week we had some exchanges in Ejisu with Elder White and Elder Aye. I was privileged to go with Elder White and to learn from him as my district leader. We had so much fun on exchanges and we taught some seriously powerful people. Ejisu is sweet! We were able to contact someone who was very curious about the gospel though some simple service. There was an old woman rushing to get her clothes off the drying line as the rain was coming, and we felt prompted to go over and help her so her clothes didn't get wet. She was so grateful for our help and invited us in to talk with her family! Her grandson was the most interested, about 17 years old or more, and he had a lot of questions that we were able to answer for him through the Restored gospel. Wow, this message is true.
We have a mission tour next week with Elder Kacher of the Seventy. We have tons of things to study and they are all so wonderful. There are so many things I have learned, and definitely a booster for me spiritually. There is a great message from Elder Oaks titled "Our Message to Missionaries" and it is so wonderful. If you are a missionary or preparing to become one, this talk is for you! :)
We ate at this place called Summerfield's last Monday as a district, and turns out the owner lived in the USA for 25 years and has his doctorate in Hospital Management. He now has moved back to Ghana, but still has his accent, which was so funny to listen to! Wow, Americans talk weird, let me tell ya! :)
We had 2 baptisms on Sunday of Spendlove and Beatrice. Beatrice was interviewed by the Mission President because she is a minor. President had a great interview, and she even expressed her desire to one day serve a mission! We are so blessed here, seriously. :)
Last, as we grabbed a taxi to Daaban, there was some divine design in our travel plans as Elder Rasband would say. We flagged down the first taxi, and he gave us a reasonable price to Daaban, so we took him. Turns out, he is an endowed member of the church, and has since gone less active due to someone's poor choice. We talked for a while about his past and why he has stopped coming to church. He explained about what the 'someone' did to him and how it hurt him and his family and dishonored his name. It was such a sad story, and he seemed pretty sad as he was telling it. I was getting the vibe of "my life is horrible" from him. As we talked, I was able to share my testimony of the Sacrament and going to church with him, and he committed to go to church on Sunday in Accra where he works. All this because we decided to get into a tax to go to Daaban. Truly the Lord is involved in the details of our lives, both mine and yours.
Sorry for the short letter, just doing like 1000 things at the moment, but have a great week! :)
Elder Wawro
We have a mission tour next week with Elder Kacher of the Seventy. We have tons of things to study and they are all so wonderful. There are so many things I have learned, and definitely a booster for me spiritually. There is a great message from Elder Oaks titled "Our Message to Missionaries" and it is so wonderful. If you are a missionary or preparing to become one, this talk is for you! :)
We ate at this place called Summerfield's last Monday as a district, and turns out the owner lived in the USA for 25 years and has his doctorate in Hospital Management. He now has moved back to Ghana, but still has his accent, which was so funny to listen to! Wow, Americans talk weird, let me tell ya! :)
We had 2 baptisms on Sunday of Spendlove and Beatrice. Beatrice was interviewed by the Mission President because she is a minor. President had a great interview, and she even expressed her desire to one day serve a mission! We are so blessed here, seriously. :)
Last, as we grabbed a taxi to Daaban, there was some divine design in our travel plans as Elder Rasband would say. We flagged down the first taxi, and he gave us a reasonable price to Daaban, so we took him. Turns out, he is an endowed member of the church, and has since gone less active due to someone's poor choice. We talked for a while about his past and why he has stopped coming to church. He explained about what the 'someone' did to him and how it hurt him and his family and dishonored his name. It was such a sad story, and he seemed pretty sad as he was telling it. I was getting the vibe of "my life is horrible" from him. As we talked, I was able to share my testimony of the Sacrament and going to church with him, and he committed to go to church on Sunday in Accra where he works. All this because we decided to get into a tax to go to Daaban. Truly the Lord is involved in the details of our lives, both mine and yours.
Sorry for the short letter, just doing like 1000 things at the moment, but have a great week! :)
Elder Wawro
10-23-17 "Ye Nante Paa - we walk a lot!"
This week was great! We had a lot of hours out and about, and tons of hard work. Elder Erickson and I have been bustin' it out here in Kwamo, and are hoping for some success soon! We will be having 2 baptisms this coming Saturday of Sister Beatrice and Sister Spendlove. Sister Beatrice is a referral from one of our members, and she is so powerful. Every time we leave, she calls the referral over to help her learn something or explain something more to her that we said and she didn't understand or a question she had when she was reading. She is great, and uses all the pagers in the back of her Book of Mormon to take notes about what we share. She is wonderful. Next is Spendlove. She has been coming to church for the past few years now, she is about 17, and nobody ever really taught her. She just started coming back to church a few weeks ago, and someone pointed her out to us saying she wasn't a member. We have been teaching her, and she has been progressing really well thus far! :)
We also had an interesting opportunity at bishop's house this week. We were passing by as we were off to teach someone, and so we dropped in to greet them and lo and behold there were 2 Obroni families there! One family is the Rogers family who recently moved here from Utah, and the other was just visiting! It was a little odd actually, I had no idea what was going on. They invited us back for lunch later that day, and we went and got to catch up with them a little which was super cool!
We got to teach Mission Prep this week because the teacher didn't come. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and had them do a role play with us on how we can hand out the Book of Mormon to others. We sat down and they answered most every question that we get asked on a daily basis. They are so sweet, and we are excited to teach again this week! :)
Also, last night, we got to watch a kid literally clothesline himself on an actual clothesline. The girl in front of him ducked when she jumped, but the big kid after her, didn't make note of her movement of ducking and he ATE IT HARD. Oh my goodness, it was hilarious, he ended up breaking the clothesline which thank goodness nobody was too angry about, and he was fine, just a little shocked at what he did, but man, it was hilarious! :) hahahaha
My thought this week comes from Elder Rasband's talk at conference about "Divine Design". He says:
"Our lives are like a chessboard, and the Lord moves us from one place to another—if we are responsive to spiritual promptings. Looking back, we can see His hand in our lives."
'When we are righteous, willing, and able, when we are striving to be worthy and qualified, we progress to places we never imagined and become part of Heavenly Father’s “divine design.” '
When we are worthy and looking to do that which is right before God, w can be led. Just as the example of the chessboard, if we are eager to do the Lord's will in our lives, of course, He will use us! If we are stubborn, and not really listening to Him, we take ourselves "out of play" so to speak and are not able to be used as the Lord's piece in His plan. I know that if we show the Lord we are willing to follow His every command with exactness, that He will use us to bless the lives of others in the great work of salvation.
Elder Wawro
We also had an interesting opportunity at bishop's house this week. We were passing by as we were off to teach someone, and so we dropped in to greet them and lo and behold there were 2 Obroni families there! One family is the Rogers family who recently moved here from Utah, and the other was just visiting! It was a little odd actually, I had no idea what was going on. They invited us back for lunch later that day, and we went and got to catch up with them a little which was super cool!
We got to teach Mission Prep this week because the teacher didn't come. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and had them do a role play with us on how we can hand out the Book of Mormon to others. We sat down and they answered most every question that we get asked on a daily basis. They are so sweet, and we are excited to teach again this week! :)
Also, last night, we got to watch a kid literally clothesline himself on an actual clothesline. The girl in front of him ducked when she jumped, but the big kid after her, didn't make note of her movement of ducking and he ATE IT HARD. Oh my goodness, it was hilarious, he ended up breaking the clothesline which thank goodness nobody was too angry about, and he was fine, just a little shocked at what he did, but man, it was hilarious! :) hahahaha
My thought this week comes from Elder Rasband's talk at conference about "Divine Design". He says:
"Our lives are like a chessboard, and the Lord moves us from one place to another—if we are responsive to spiritual promptings. Looking back, we can see His hand in our lives."
'When we are righteous, willing, and able, when we are striving to be worthy and qualified, we progress to places we never imagined and become part of Heavenly Father’s “divine design.” '
When we are worthy and looking to do that which is right before God, w can be led. Just as the example of the chessboard, if we are eager to do the Lord's will in our lives, of course, He will use us! If we are stubborn, and not really listening to Him, we take ourselves "out of play" so to speak and are not able to be used as the Lord's piece in His plan. I know that if we show the Lord we are willing to follow His every command with exactness, that He will use us to bless the lives of others in the great work of salvation.
Elder Wawro
Friday, January 26, 2018
10-16-17 "Another Week in the Promised Land"
Mom: I'm WAY behind and leaving town for a week, but am determined to add the rest of Gabe's emails to catch the blog up when I return.
This week has been great, but not much to write about, it has been about the same same work we do every week, nothing huge that happened!
We started the week off by making some s'mores! Elder Erickson bought some stuff to roast marshmallows and roast hot dogs. So we did that Tuesday night, and wow it was wonderful! Never thought i would get to eat s'mores in Ghana, but the Kumasi mall is a lifesaver and had some marshmallows! :)
We had a Zone Conference on Tuesday also, which was pretty good. The schedule of it was quite odd, but it was a really great conference. We talked about following up on us as missionaries and a little rep for the Mission Tour that was going to happen with Elder Kacher, but now has been moved to next year sadly, but i hope i am there for it. I had to say my last goodbye to my trainer too, his conference was right before ours, so i caught him at the start of our and the close of his as well and his Companion, Elder Zurek who is from Houston. Sad to see them go, and seriously, i think i know like 25 people aside from those who will leave in the next 2-3 weeks. Wow, time is going by so fast.
We had some members really help us this week which was amazing. We had first, Brother Jude who is almost done with his mission papers. HE is our piano player at church, nand he is a great teacher. HE also teaches our Gospel Principles class at church. Then we had Sister Juliet, who is a returned Missionary, and she came home in May. Then we had Brother Patrick who also loves to help, and he will send in his papers in the next few weeks, so we are excited for him! :)
We celebrated YaaYaa's birthday on the 12th this week, we did the traditional Ghanaian birthday: First, they choose what they wan to eat, then they are exempt from house chores, and we buy "champagne" (sparkling drinks of sorts) and we had tons of fun! I made sure to take a lot of pictures this week! Dropbox is being stubborn, i want to upload some new pictures, but it is rejecting me on all fronts, so i will attach maybe a picture of or 2 if i can! :/
Last week i also was working on building my testimony of Jesus Christ, and this week i continued on that note. I read the Book of Mormon with the question in my mind of "how can i come to know the Savior?" Let me tell you, the Book of Mormon brings peace that no other book does. Anyways, i read from Alma 32, when Alma is talking to those who are poor inspirit and helping them to understand faith and worshiping God, and a scripture i have read a 1000 times hit me this week.
21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
First, to have faith, is not perfect know;edge, but to have hope for something that you cannot see. Then, once you have this hope, you work on it by experimenting on it and trying it out. We are promised that if we give place in our hearts for this faith and hope, and act upon it, then we will eventually come to a perfect knowledge as we see that it is a good seed in us and as we see it swell in us. As i read these scriptures, i was filled with peace in my heart concerning the matter of me not knowing Jesus Christ 100%. Truly coming to know the Savior is a life-long pursuit, and if i don't know everything now, it is okay because i am heading in the right direction. The Book of Mormon does answer the questions of te soul if we just give it a little place in our life by reading from it and praying about it.
Patrick is the other guy in this picture by the way :)
Elder Wawro
This week has been great, but not much to write about, it has been about the same same work we do every week, nothing huge that happened!
We started the week off by making some s'mores! Elder Erickson bought some stuff to roast marshmallows and roast hot dogs. So we did that Tuesday night, and wow it was wonderful! Never thought i would get to eat s'mores in Ghana, but the Kumasi mall is a lifesaver and had some marshmallows! :)
We had a Zone Conference on Tuesday also, which was pretty good. The schedule of it was quite odd, but it was a really great conference. We talked about following up on us as missionaries and a little rep for the Mission Tour that was going to happen with Elder Kacher, but now has been moved to next year sadly, but i hope i am there for it. I had to say my last goodbye to my trainer too, his conference was right before ours, so i caught him at the start of our and the close of his as well and his Companion, Elder Zurek who is from Houston. Sad to see them go, and seriously, i think i know like 25 people aside from those who will leave in the next 2-3 weeks. Wow, time is going by so fast.
We had some members really help us this week which was amazing. We had first, Brother Jude who is almost done with his mission papers. HE is our piano player at church, nand he is a great teacher. HE also teaches our Gospel Principles class at church. Then we had Sister Juliet, who is a returned Missionary, and she came home in May. Then we had Brother Patrick who also loves to help, and he will send in his papers in the next few weeks, so we are excited for him! :)
We celebrated YaaYaa's birthday on the 12th this week, we did the traditional Ghanaian birthday: First, they choose what they wan to eat, then they are exempt from house chores, and we buy "champagne" (sparkling drinks of sorts) and we had tons of fun! I made sure to take a lot of pictures this week! Dropbox is being stubborn, i want to upload some new pictures, but it is rejecting me on all fronts, so i will attach maybe a picture of or 2 if i can! :/
Last week i also was working on building my testimony of Jesus Christ, and this week i continued on that note. I read the Book of Mormon with the question in my mind of "how can i come to know the Savior?" Let me tell you, the Book of Mormon brings peace that no other book does. Anyways, i read from Alma 32, when Alma is talking to those who are poor inspirit and helping them to understand faith and worshiping God, and a scripture i have read a 1000 times hit me this week.
21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
First, to have faith, is not perfect know;edge, but to have hope for something that you cannot see. Then, once you have this hope, you work on it by experimenting on it and trying it out. We are promised that if we give place in our hearts for this faith and hope, and act upon it, then we will eventually come to a perfect knowledge as we see that it is a good seed in us and as we see it swell in us. As i read these scriptures, i was filled with peace in my heart concerning the matter of me not knowing Jesus Christ 100%. Truly coming to know the Savior is a life-long pursuit, and if i don't know everything now, it is okay because i am heading in the right direction. The Book of Mormon does answer the questions of te soul if we just give it a little place in our life by reading from it and praying about it.
Patrick is the other guy in this picture by the way :)
Elder Wawro
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