My Two Year Trek.

7-13-15

My own “two year”  trek has been great. Elder Anderson is relaxed and easy to get along with. Good thing too since our apartment contains only the two of us. Anyways the new area is small. Yesterday we had about 10 people total in the congregation. Effiduasi was also small, but this is the smallest I've ever seen. The good news is that I don't have to worry about memorizing too many names and faces all at once, haha. The work is a little slower since it's a smaller town. Many, many people are SDA (Seven Day Adventist) here. For those of you who don't know their main belief is that the Sabbath Day is on Saturday not Sunday. It makes it easier to go to church (since nothing usually gets in the way) but I feel like their testimony isn't strengthened as much as those who sacrifice attending their own service to come to ours. Apparently when the SDAs came to Ghana, Agona (my new area) this is where they established themselves. Wouldn't it be neat if it was the Latter Day-Saints instead? Aw well, I'm just happy their Christian. I'm living in the Zongo again (the Muslim side of town). The early prayers still don't wake me up (I've grown very used to that), but the chickens and people fetching water at 4:30 in the morning still do. The apartment is small, but after some redecorating and moving things around, Elder Anderson and I have a sweet new set-up arranged.  The weather here is very humid, as we are in rainy season, and the heat just sticks to your body. I don't know the actual temperature, but it sure does feel hot. I don't know if I ever told you this but, as you know, I came home late a lot back home and, as you also know, Mom is a night owl. Whenever I came home, Mom was usually awake, or else would wake up, on the couch in the living room. I would usually throw my stuff in my room, grab a glass of juice and just talk with her for awhile. I loved those times and they are some of my favorite memories from back home. Treasure those opportunities with family. Well I think that's all for this week. I wish you all the most wonderful week ever and I do want to see some more pictures. 

With the up-most love and care,

-Elder Silva

New Mission President.

Greetings dear family!

Good to hear that the 4th was fun for you all. I myself am going to celebrate today at the apartment with my "father!" (aka my missionary trainer).  He has been my zone leader for this transfer and now we're both leaving. ...Yes, I'm being transferred.

6 months in Obuasi and 6 in Effiduasi. Now I'm going to Agona. I'll be companions with Elder Anderson. It's his last transfer on mission so I'll see him go home...hopefully he has some junk to get rid of! I've been with Elder Asada for 1 transfer and now with Elder Anderson for 1. Fast companions. I went from a decent branch, to a smaller branch, to even smaller now. It's not easy, but It's special to see the beginnings of what will one day become part of a Stake. Some converts/investigators have a hard time saying goodbye, but they'll get over it soon. They always do. They say, "That's it! I'm not going to be friends with missionaries anymore! I don't want to miss them." But they always do. :)

I played basketball today for the first time since home...my shots must have showed it too. ha. I smell terrible and I hope the people next to me in this cafe aren't too upset. The country and mission are both treating me well. We were low on food this week, but surprise meals saved our lives. Missionaries will eat anything when we're hungry. Don't expect me to be a picky eater when I get home. We have a new Mission President! I’ll miss President and Sister Holmes. Sister Holmes was by far one of my favorite people I’ve ever met.  The new Mission President looks nothing like the newspaper clip. We met both him and Sister Cosgrove at a mission tour and their instruction was good. My health is fine and I appreciate the new medicine and the watch. That package was a surprise for me! Also Elder Hyena loved Brooke's hyena picture. He thinks it's "so cool."

Gotta go fam, but thanks for the e-mail. 

Have a great week. 

-Elder Silva 

 One of my favorites (seriously it is). Banku with pepe and fish.

 Those end of the day blues... 

 My favorite two boys. These guys are really smart and love to learn.

 Offset the sunset with a really bright full moon!

Ah! Those Ghanaian sunsets!

Brooke's drawings (with different headings) for Elder "Hyena" :) 

"That's the last time we knock on that door!" 

"It's just like running with the bulls in Spain!" 

These people are true pioneers.

My feelings towards the mission have changed a lot. It's something that I realized was happening just this week actually. Instead of getting upset about the heat, forgetting to get food, low money or anything about home, I find myself getting more disturbed at investigators not coming to church, failed contacting, or lessons with stubborn people. In other words, I'm more concerned about the work now than other matters. It's a big change and it feels so good! The timing for what happened at church yesterday couldn't have been better. The branch presidency decided to show a video about how the church came to Ghana. It made me realize just how new the church in Ghana is, especially in the areas I've served. These people are true pioneers and it makes me feel good to be a part of it. I've seen incredible people and have had many experiences.

Overall things aren't bad over here. As far as the work is concerned... well I'm not quite sure. New opportunities and new obstacles. This is also the last week of the transfer so news will come Saturday evening. We are planning on having 3 baptisms this upcoming Sunday and I'm so happy! I know that those are more rare in other missions, but it's been a while since we've had one.

I know that you are always praying for me and my investigators and I appreciate that so much. Remember that in missionary work I only ever do about 25% of the work. The rest belongs to the investigators and the Lord. Surely the Lord will do his part, but my investigators need prayers in their behalf. Some have willing hearts but frightened spirits due to family issues etc.. Pray for them please.

Alright let me take a look at your e-mails and see what questions I can answer: 

I never actually know the temperature here but.. well, it's hot. The humidity is high too being how this is still rainy season. I got wet again yesterday. The good part is that if lights are out and there's no running water for bathing, we can always take a rain bath! I also have made progress with my fat belly! I'm so proud of myself. Give it a year and I'll come back with armor made of skin! If you want an idea of weather just go into mom & dad's bathroom, shut the door and windows and turn the shower on as hot as it goes. Just sit on the ground for awhile and do it wearing your church clothes.

-Elder Silva  

A few excepts from Elder Silva’s journal- (A request from his mother)

12-24-14

So Christmas Eve was not all that good for me. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was on fire. I didn't get much sleep. In the morning we went out for proselyting and had a difficult lesson with an investigator. After that I told my companion, Elder Okutu, that I needed to go home. We went back and I layed on my bed feeling terrible. He made me a banana chocolate shake, which I normally love, but I could barely drink it. I've never had one since that day. We went out in the evening for midweek, because we really needed to teach an investigator there. It was a long midweek and the investigator never showed. I had to wait longer for Brother Bright to finish with the young single adults so he could take me to his house to e-mail you guys about the Christmas Skype. There's not much to say since most of the day was spent in bed. Possible Malaria?

12-25-14

This morning was much better. I was still a bit achy, but my fever was gone. I made some kind of french toast and I wolfed it all down. I didn't really eat anything the day before, so I was starving that morning. The day consisted of going out mostly to recent converts and having a lot of food. Mostly fufu. I could barely contain it all. Man everyone wanted to feed us. We chatted with them for awhile and shared stories. It was nice. Towards the evening we saw the same investigator from the day before. We just had a nice chat and she ended up feeding us too...(I nearly died). The deal with food here is that if someone sets the food before you, you MUST eat everything, otherwise they'll feel bad. I ended up getting to Brother Bright's house in the evening and after some technical issues that I solved with my massive brain :/, I was finally able to Skype the family and Chazz. (Austin's cousin) I recorded how awesome it was including how fun it was to see Chazz. I also said that Duke (pet cat) was getting fat and I blame that on the family; particularly Brooke. The thing about Christmas is that it's not celebrated here at all like it is at home. Just a regular day with a special church program,  good food and a few cheap fireworks. It was nice for me though and I'm starting to miss some of my Obuasi converts just thinking about it. 

 No it's not an earthquake, it's soldier ants. These things will tear you apart.

 The Barnies. The medical couple. I love these people. 

 These are what dragonflies look like when they're waiting for wings. Kinda cool eh? 

 Me and "Hyena boy" at the district conference (The Elder is originally from a different part of Africa that has Hyenas).

 The scary bridge to "Zion" (the name of this area). It gets flooded over sometimes so we have to be careful when crossing. 

kung fu fighting, vampires and two prizes at the claw machine...

6-22-15

Hey fam, It's been another week and another opportunity to tell you all about it sooooo, here goes! This week was alright. We did some contacting and found some more investigators. We found a man named Joshua. He is very intelligent and asked some of the most interesting questions I've heard from an investigator. We also met a teacher named Samuel who did the same thing. Abigail is still progressing towards baptism after some rough times she has had lately. Life is never easy is it? Life has a way of suddenly changing too. The new mission president, the Cosgraves, have arrived and I expect to be meeting them soon. The Holmes will be leaving very soon and the mission home is all packed up. I don't know what kind of changes this will bring to the mission, but we're all a little nervous. It is burning outside right now, but the skies are pretty cloudy lately. I have an MT (someone who was in the MTC with me) named Elder Fiu. He grew up in Australia, but his family is Samoan. Big guy. He's trying to lose fat. Speaking of that I'm also attempting the stomach loss competition. I had fufu again today after a very hesitant period following the indigestion incident. I feel fine and I think I'm back on the fufu train. I just rest a bit after eating and make sure to drink water. I had a dream tonight where I was home talking with Mom after my mission. She was asking me about food and I said "oh Mom, all I ever ate was bread!" It's not really that dramatic, but it made me think about food from home ha. I then proceeded to dream about kung fu fighting, turning into a vampire and getting 2 prizes at the claw machine... I'm positive there's no interpretation to be had there. For a couple of months now I've been having pretty vivid dreams. Not sure what contributes to that. I hope that Dad enjoyed his day to rule and that many decrees were made, banquets held and bad jokes cracked (just kidding Dad I still love your jokes. ;) As for our branch we have great news! We have just been organized into a district! There are four branches in the district and the two counselors to our branch presidency have been called as the counselors to the district presidency. I'm not sure who will be called to replace them. Transfer news will come next week Saturday and I'm thinking I might be transferred. With a new mission president though, I doubt that many will be moved this transfer.   It looks like I've spent a good time writing so I'll leave it at that. I'll bring my journal to share an experience or two and maybe a few corny jokes next week. As always I love you and wish you all a sweet week! 

-Elder Silva

"A missionary is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to!"

Hey everyone! 

Just one thing. Remember that I'm not home, so if you tell me news I need more details... Your emails are greatly appreciated!  Mom’s still sounds like Mom. Reminded me of how all of us like to steal Dad's bacon. I still love being a goofball every now and then. The mission is too hard to take too seriously. By the way, I've eaten worse than goat hoof. I'll save those stories for later. I love my investigators and feeling like I'm able to help the Lord make a difference makes it all worth it. I have such a positive feeling when I remember Obuasi. I know I'll have the same when I leave Effiduasi. Elder Asada (my companion) is a workout fanatic and he has me trying it out as well. We'll see what happens. I miss those best Saturdays were Mom or Dad made pancakes, bacon, and that wonderful sausage.  I forgot the 4th of July was coming. Sorry founding fathers. There's not really anything I can do here. I have my American flag bandana I like to wear sometimes around the apartment. (again showing you I'm not too serious yet haha). Well I appreciate all the prayers. I can't include every trial I come upon in these e-mails, nor would I want to. 

I'll have more to say next week! 

-Elder Silva

 Taking the kiddies to church.  Happy Sunday everyone!

 Ghanaian countryside

 Recent flooding on the road

 Giant tree in the distance. One of our areas has a big forest in the middle of it. 

 My investigator told me I was late. "A missionary is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to!"

 This is what will happen if you forget about the lawn dad.

 More of the flooding

Nice view off the side of Kumasi road.

Goat hoof soup.

June 8, 2015

So I promised to talk more about the work so I'll try to begin my e-mails that way. This week we contacted two new areas. That means alot of contacting. We went deep into the far reaches of the area and saw things no ordinary mortal could ever behold. You know they say that when you reach the edge of the map... there be monsters there! Not that I mean to call anyone a monster, I try to love all of the people here. There was one woman named Dorcas who we have started teaching. The rain has been fierce here sometimes and during one storm we took refuge in a random woman's compound. She even fed us. That's one thing that Ghanians do. They cook extra so if people come they will feed them. Anyways we ended up teaching her and she seems pretty promising! I did pour some water she offered us into a cup and saw bugs and other "floaties" in the drink. We poured some into both of our glasses halfway so it looked like we drank some. Talk about quick thinking eh? We had a rather dissapointing Sunday. We have 4 investigators progressing well and none of them came to church, as well as most of our recent converts. ...Just one of those Sundays. Truly sometimes I can testify to Dad's feelings about branches. It seems as if sometimes they're just hanging on the edge of a cliff, but also with all seriousness watching a branch grow is one of the most special experiences I've had on the mission. These people are true pioneers. Alright that covers my week now on to the questions. Yes we actually eat the goat's hoof. As best we can at least. I've also eaten many other strange things I'll tell you about when I get home. Physically I'm well. My legs are slightly sore from a P90X leg workout we did Saturday night. I'm trying to keep up a schedule of doing those workouts weekly. I was teaching the youth this week and pointed out how Satan's plans always are portrayed as the "easy way out". The truth is that easy way outs don't provide any growth. Progression halts and that's a scary thought in both a temporal and eternal perspective. The weather in Ghana has been very rainy as of late. You will see gray clouds on all sides. They will slowly come together and then suddenly..... BAM! The rain comes. I also wish I could tell you I was enjoying some fruit drinks, but juice is very expensive.... although I did finally break down and bought some cranberry juice today, haha. I ate an orange this morning, and cleaned dishes with a little water coming from the tap outside. Also I had a dream I was a pirate captain with cats as my crew mates...... see, the mission life not so boring is it? Well fam, I think that's it for this week. If you ever want to know more I still keep an entry for every day on my mission. Name a date in the next e-mail and I'll tell you all about what happened that day. Should be fun! 

As always I love you all so much. Have a great week guys. 

-Elder Silva


June 1, 2015

Hey fam! This was the transfer week and my new companion and I are getting along pretty well. He's a good teacher and it's always good for our investigators to get new teachers every now and then. I'm already beginning to see a difference in the receptiveness of some of our investigators. I know I told you I would share more spiritual experiences, so I'll try to talk more about the work. As monotonous as it sometimes gets for me, I'm sure you'd still like to hear about it. One thing that happened was a very spiritual lesson with Sister Abigale. We have been teaching her for a long time with Elder Ejodamen. She has come to church once, but her family's beliefs have been holding her back. She enjoys the lessons and is well educated. She is a good friend of ours. Me and Elder Asada came to visit her and I wasn't all that sure what to teach. As we began to ask questions I felt impressed to ask more specifically about her feelings in regard to the Holy Ghost. She seemed a bit confused and we ended up teaching her all about recognizing promptings and having the courage to act upon them. The whole room was practically flooded with the spirit by the time we left. On another previous occasion with Elder Ejodamen, we had just finished a lesson and Ejodamen was conversing with the rest of the family. I turned to Abigale and asked her a prompted question, "Sister Abby? Do you know that God loves you?" That led to a very good discussion that day. That's all I really have time for  today, but it gives you someone to mention in the family prayers. As for me I'm just chugging along.  I haven't posted pictures in a long time so there are too many to post. I'll just post the best ones. As for the temporal aspect, I'm really enjoying those lemonade packets you sent. My new companion Asada has some of the P90X workouts on dvd. Super hard to incorporate those on mission, but I've been working on Ab Ripper X (scary name right?) to distance my figure from that of Santa Clause. I heard about Elder Perry from a member. News travels fast.  I just realized that another school year has gone by. No way that's so weird. I think the fun part of typing is that you don't get to make fun of my accent (ha.) Or does it show in the text??

Branches are a definite struggle. I can't imagine just going to church and enjoying the classes. I've been teaching the youth since the beginning of my mission and I even helped out with the primary this week. I was rewarded with a cup of juice to dull the headache haha.

One of the hardest things to do on for me is to proselyte on Sunday. I've always done it, but church is very stressful, then you walk home in the sun, get back and eat whatever you have, and if you end up falling asleep, you're too soon woken up to go out and work. Just the end of the week blues, haha. Well I hope you're all enjoying the summer. Have a great week everyone. 

Love you. 

-Elder Silva

Most importantly... Benedictel's baptism! ...Note- I am wearing Grandmas tie she sent.

One of my best friends. Lordina! Younger Sister of the Abigale mentioned in the e-mail. 

Goat hoof soup!

Some of the vegetation in Ghana, note the banana trees.

Something lurking outside my window...

Some of the pepper they use. It's hot, but I feel like the American ones are much more flavorful. 

When the Spirit floods the room...

June 1, 2015

Hey fam! This was the transfer week and my new companion and I are getting along pretty well. He's a good teacher and it's always good for our investigators to get new teachers every now and then. I'm already beginning to see a difference in the receptiveness of some of our investigators. I know I told you I would share more spiritual experiences, so I'll try to talk more about the work. As monotonous as it sometimes gets for me, I'm sure you'd still like to hear about it. One thing that happened was a very spiritual lesson with Sister Abigale. We have been teaching her for a long time with Elder Ejodamen. She has come to church once, but her family's beliefs have been holding her back. She enjoys the lessons and is well educated. She is a good friend of ours. Me and Elder Asada came to visit her and I wasn't all that sure what to teach. As we began to ask questions I felt impressed to ask more specifically about her feelings in regard to the Holy Ghost. She seemed a bit confused and we ended up teaching her all about recognizing promptings and having the courage to act upon them. The whole room was practically flooded with the spirit by the time we left. On another previous occasion with Elder Ejodamen, we had just finished a lesson and Ejodamen was conversing with the rest of the family. I turned to Abigale and asked her a prompted question, "Sister Abby? Do you know that God loves you?". That led to a very good discussion that day. That's all I really have time for for today, but it gives you someone to mention in the family prayers. As for me I'm just chugging along. I haven't posted pictures in a long time so there are too many to post. I'll just post the best ones. As for the temporal aspect, I'm really enjoying those lemonade packets. My new companion Asada has some of the P90X workouts on dvd. Super hard to incorporate those on the mission, but I've been working on Ab Ripper X (scary name right?) to distance my figure from that of Santa Clause. I heard about Elder Perry from a member. News travels fast. I just realized that another school year has gone by. No way that's so weird. I think the fun part of typing is that you don't get to make fun of my accent ha. Or does it show in the text?? ;) Branches are a definite struggle. I can't imagine just going to church and enjoying classes. I've been teaching the youth since the beginning of my mission and I even helped out with the primary this week. I was rewarded with a cup of juice to dull the headache haha. One of the hardest things to do on for me is to proselyte on Sunday. I've always done it, but church is very stressful, then you walk home in the sun, get back and eat whatever you have, and then need to find the energy to get back out again.  But it’s all good.  Well I hope you're all enjoying the summer. Have a great week everyone. Love you. 

-Elder Silva