8-28-17 "Ever Eaten Stomach?"

What an interesting week it has been once again. One of the more streasful and hilarious weeks of my miasion, but that is just how life rolls!

We started out the week going to see one the sweet investigators from last week, sister Lydia. She was the Jehovah Witness who read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. We set a time to come on Wednesday, and when we did, she had gone back to her real home, so that was disappointing, I was really looking forward to that visit too!  We will send her info to some other missionaries so she can continue to be taught!

On our roll too was Teresa. She also happens to be visiting, and told us she will leave for school again next week! Bummer, we have a knack for finding those who are leaving! :)  hahahaa, but she came to church twice while she was here and said she would attend when she got to her home, so we are grateful for that! :)

I retired my shoes from Bro Stewart this week. They have been used their fair share, and they aren't even anymore, so they walk unevenly. The are nicknamed "the Franks" because they look somehow like frankenstein because I got them sewed up because they got a huge hole on both shoes.  Anyays, shout-out to my Franks, they have done me well!

We were seriously beaten by the rain this week.  Holy heck. We were trying to get a car to our next area and it started POURING. We got in a que to take a taxi, but every time one pulled up, the people in the back of the line would shove us out of the way and get in the car. That was rather annoying and testing my patience, so we took the 30 minute walk instead in the rain. Then, later, we tried to get a car back home, and it was a frenzy...like 300 people at the station trying to get in a tro to go home. Said a quick prayer and a few minutes later a tro pulled up near us and the members who had just joined us. Long story short, i stiff-armed someone and got in the  car, so that was fun, but provides for a good experience! :)  hahaha

We had a sweet FM at Sister Precious' house on Sunday. We are teaching on of her husband's apprentices who lives with her, and she told us Sundays work best. We came and she prepared us Fufu with Kontombire soup. And seriously, it was the best soup I have had yet. It tasted somehow like pepperoni, and let me tell ya, it was to die for! No idea how she did it, but it was fantastic. The meat of the soup was liver and stomach... That was interesting. Not sure how to describe it, but if you wanna look up what boiled stomach pieces look like, you will get the idea. It wasn't so bad, more of a mental game though. The liver had the texture of beans, and the stomach wasn't bad, just really really chewy. Guess I can check that off my list of life!

I had the chance to study 2 Nephi 2 this week in preparation to teach Lydia, who had left, and I had some things that really stood out to me. It is like a series, so let me put them in order:

14... for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.
16 Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.
26 And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

First, we are created above the other things of the earth to be agents unto ourselves. Then, we are given the freedom to make our choices, being enticed by good or evil. And finally, knowing good from evil, we are to make our choice knowing the consequences that follow, that should we choose evil, the law has its punishment. The only way that we are able to have mercy from the law is by choosing good and following our Savior. We were created to one day live with our Father, and He has given us the ability to choose for ourselves, to choose righteousness through the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, or to choose "captivity and death according to... the power of the devil ". May we all choose righteousness, and follow in the footsteps of our Savior that we may live with our Father again, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love,

Elder Wawro

PICTURES:

8-21-17 - All-African Service Project Round 2

It's interesting to think that one year ago, I was having my first All-African Service Project and I have completed my second! Time is flying. This year, we went to the Ejisu Government Hospital to do some cleaning and weeding for them. It was so much fun! We had like 70+ members come, and it only took 3 hours to finish cleaning most of the hospital! We got creative at some points trying to get to the high side of the windows, so I ended up carrying Elder White on my shoulders and he cleaned the top ones. It got quite the laugh because I guess they had never seen that before!  hahahaaaa Life is full of fun!

Last week, we went to the Ejisu branch Sacrament meeting with Elder White in our tri-panionship, and we met Sister Elizabeth Sinc-Aboagye, who lives in London. Her 2 sons were featured in the June 2017 Ensign playing soccer or something. We don't get the Ensign here, we only get Liahona, so I don't think we have that article, but it was cool to meet her! She has a powerful testimony and gave us people to teach and a house full of members!  How awesome! :)

I got to go to a powerful meeting with the Stake President this week! It is a meeting where the missionaries, mission president, and the stake president meet together to talk about missionaries in specific branches and how the unit's missionary work is going and what we can do to help! It was so sweet, something I never knew happened, but I am grateful to have been a part of it!:)

We had akpele again at bishop's house, and this time, it was amazing,much better than last time! Akpele is a voltarian (?) food so I have found out, it is a lot softer than fufu, and I might like it better... :)

While at Bishop's house, we taught a powerful lesson to one of the Young Adults, Lydia. She is just visiting for a few weeks, and will leave next week, but I got to chat with her for a minute, and we scheduled a time to meet with her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read 3 Nephi11. We came Saturday, and began the lesson. She had read the first 25 or so verses, and really understood them. How awesome. It is really difficult to get investigators to read, even more so because she is a Jehovah's witness. We asked if she had prayed about it, and she said yes! She felt pretty good about it, but wanted to learn a bit more. Too bad she isn't living here, I will miss teaching her for sure!!!! We will meet her again on Wednesday, so I am pumped! :)

I had a great study time this week about Purifying the heart. just a quick scripture to share that comes from Helaman 3:35.

35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

I love this scripture so much. I was asking myself what I needed to do to have a pure heart, and this scripture answered a lot for me, and it all goes back to Prayer and fasting. As we sincerely pray, we come closer to God's will for us,and aligning oursleves with Him.  Then, as we continue to do so,we are more humble and accepting of God's plan for us.  And as we do this, out hearts are purified because we have yielded our hearts to God.

Elder Wawro

No Pictures This Week

08-14-17 - Zone splits, a set of 3, and lots of business

holy. crazy. busy. week.

You know sometimes you say you have 1,000 things to do? Well, I got to experience that this week, but it is always good to be busy in the work of the Lord!  :) First, we sent Elder Hepworth home Monday, so Elder White tagged up with us for the week. He is so chill and we love the heck out of him. He is a great missionary.  :) We had to split the days between our area and his so that when he gets his companion, they will have some appointments to go to!  Tons of fun, and I am so excited to have him stay this transfer.

I guess I should have led with this, but turns out my companion is not being tranferred and this will be his last area!  I was so relieved to find out he was staying because our area is pretty big and we haven't had a ton of time in it because of all the zone business we do. Also, there were new stakes made a couple months back and they rearranged the stake boundaries. Also this transfer, the mission aligned their zone boundaries with the stake boundaries and made some new zones. The zone we are over was the UST zone, but now is the Kwamo zone. We lost 4 missionaries, and are still one of the biggest zones, but we are blessed for sure, just means a few less missionaries to be over which means more time in our own area! :)

We had the chance to meet this girl Rebecca who lives in our member's house this week. She has been coming to church the past 2 weeks and she is really sweet!  :) She accepted a Baptismal date for the 27th, so we are working towards that! :)

ALSO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE LITTLE SIS, BRITTAN. You are awesome and I love you and miss you and hope your day was friggin' wonderful! :)

With Elder White, we were able to meet this lady, Sister Mary. She had been assigned to read in the Book of Mormon, Jacob 3:1 and Moroni 10:4 talking about prayer and how we receive our answers. So I will attach those scriptures to ponder about how we can receive answers to our prayers, especially the Book of Mormon.

1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. (Jacob 3:1)

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moroni 10:4)

If we pray to our Father with faith in Christ, a firmness of mind or real intent on following our answer, and have a pure and sincere heart, He will answer our prayers and help us to know the truth of the Restored Gospel, and as these scriptures do come from the Book of Mormon, there is no better time than now to pray to know the truth, or to have those prayers re-answered by our Heavenly Father to strengthen our testimonies.

Love you all,

Elder Wawro

No Pictures This Week

8-7-17, Ye ka nyame ase debiaa (We preach the word of God everyday)"

Holy crazy week here. 

We started our week by going to Kumasi town, like 45 minutes drive, to go and look at the culture center (where most people get their souvenirs). I grabbed a few things to bring home, but really, it is a sweet place!  :) 

Then, Tuesday, we had our zone conference combined with Konongo. My MTC group mate, Elder Yates is a zone leader over there, so it was  cool to see him! :) It was a pretty rough start, there was some confusion about the start time, some thought it was 9 and some 10, so that was interesting, but it all went over smoothly. Great spirit there, I learned so much about how to become a better teacher and things that I can do better to become better. Good to see where I lack so I can grow.

We had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) on Thursday. I love that meeting, such an uplifting experience there for sure. We heard some news of the new zones to be created. Scary thought for me, because they could split me and my companion to split our zone in two. We had some great ideas on how to improve the accountability of our zones and how to help them work harder and be a little more obedient so they can have the Spirit to guide them. We learned a whole lot there, and I hope that we can make the best use of what we learned as a companionship! :) On the way home, we had tons of traffic, so what better time to share the gospel than with our taxi driver. I happened to be in the front seat, so I got the conversation rolling about what we do and why. It led to a great discussion on the Restoration and gave my companion and I a chance to share our testimonies with him, help him understand the need for a prophet, and a little about the Book of Mormon. We were able to give him a copy which was so awesome, and we hope that he can get in contact with the missionaries in his area. As we got inside, I just felt like I got a huge hug from my family. I can't really describe it, but it is one of the best feelings in the world!  :) 

We said goodbye to Elder Hepworth this morning too which was sad to see him go, but I know someday we will meet again. We spent most of last night playing games together. Tons of fun and a good way to send off Elder Hepworth! :)

To close out this week, I would just like to share on how much the Book of Mormon and the Bible go together.  In the words of the Book of Mormon (2nd Nephi 29:8-9)

8 ...Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

9 And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

God works the same way yesterday, today and forever. He has spoken to us, He is speaking, and He will continue to speak as long as we will listen and obey. The Lord's work is not finished, it did not finish with the Bible, or the Book of Mormon, yet they go hand in hand to testify of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God for us today, and we will be changed if we will only listen to the Lord's voice and follow the promptings we receive, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you all,

Elder Wawro 

Pictures:

7-31-17, "Me de, Me da, asaa (I eat, I sleep, finish)"

Well, what an interesting week I have had. It was really uneventful because Elder Burdge was sick, but it wasn't all that bad, we made the best of it! :)

To start, on Monday, we had a sweet district activity. It was pretty low key, but we had TONS of fun! We made a fruit drink from mango, pineapple, and watermelon which was great, ate some fried rice, and then just played some small games and got to know each other. Holy fun!!! Our district was pretty quiet most of the time, but now we are all pretty good friends, it was a great activity.  :)

Second, we had a lot of time in the house. Sister Dearing, the mission nurse, said it would be about a week before Elder Burdge had his strength back and could not be in so much pain. So we made the best of it! Since we didn't leave the house for 4 days, we had a competition on who could have the best beards. Elder Burdge had a day on me, but when day 4 came, we took some pictures and also just shaved funny beard styles in for kicks!!  I will attach some if I can! :)

Saturday, Elder Burdge was feeling great, so we went out and did a ton of visiting members and investigators and inviting them to church!  I was beyond joyful to be out and about again, words can't describe. 

We tried something totally new with our zone members. Usually, we think of ideas together that would improve the zone, and my companion and I thought we ought to just call and check in on them every now and then to see how they are. I have never had that and neither has my companion, so we thought it would be a good idea to test out, and it was a hit!! All the members were so excited to hear from us, and a little surprised too! One of them said that this was a first for him, so he wrote in his journal, and others were just amazed that we just called to see how they are and not for just business. I really learned my lesson on Charity this week. It really goes a long way to just call and se how people are. Not to ask for something or to remind them of something, but just to see how they are doing, and tell them that we love them, it was so awesome, and a little humbling to see how much more we can do to show love to our zone members. 

We also had a crazy game of ping pong with Elder White and Elder Burdge. I am absolutely awful at ping pong, but when we were playing, it was so much fun, I would love to get a little better and play some more!  :)

Mom, you asked about seminary and what I'd do differently if I could go back...well, honestly, I wish I would have paid more attention, I wish I would have read more of the scriptures and done some marking. I really love the verse by verse reading of the scriptures and talking about what it means and how it applies, I always loved those lessons! I also wish I did my personal scripture study to prepare for class. It is 100,000x more rewarding if you prepare for it rather than just show up and expect to learn something you never prepared for. 

I had a chance to ponder a little bit about Joseph Smith this week. It has been a reoccurring thought to me this week, that simply, the world is blessed with so much knowledge because of the Restored gospel - because of a humble prayer from a young boy. He had a simple question and a burning desire in his heart to know what God wanted him to do. And as he asked with an open mind and heart to listen for his answer, Heavenly Father did answer him. There are so many people in this world who really don't like what the LDS church teaches, but really, if more people would just kneel down and ask God which church to join with an open mind, so many more would know of the truth of the Restored gospel found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am blessed to be sharing this message every day, and to those who aren't members of the church, please, kneel down and pray to know the truth, and I promise as does James, that God will answer. 

James 1:5

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering...

Elder Wawro

Pictures:

So this is a rubber tree! They smell awful though, but it is cool, they collect the sap into the cup and use it for plastics

Pool in Obuasi. Yeah... that is most of the pools here.  This one used to be nice, but the place closed down so nobody takes care of it anymore.  :(