Chickens and Goats

There are chickens and goats everywhere in Togo!

Shane has had some new experiences this last week. Apparently Togo has some pretty awesome drummers. The only problem, is that the drums are part of voodoo rituals. SCARY!

Shane was walking down the only paved road (actually cobblestone) and a guy in a car was staring him down and wasn't paying attention to the road, and ran into a power pole. Oops.

He has experienced a lockdown on his missions. Togo has this thing called "Dead Togo". The people go on strike, and those that were riding motorcycles, or driving their cars, or if they were white, the people on strike would take the liberty of sending them to the hospital. Not a pleasant experience. So, he was able to stay inside his apartment all day and do lots of studying.

The weather is changing there. It's the start of the hot, dry season. Completely opposite of what he's used to, but he's loving it.

He's been able to exercise the power of the Priesthood by giving a couple of blessings. He didn't quite understand what they were for because the language is still a struggle, but the spirit was very strong, and he knew the people receiving them could feel it too. Him and his companion have more baptisms scheduled for the 30th, that makes 6 total! He was also able to teach an investigator in English! Eva is from Ghana, and only speaks english, and has a member brother in the states. She feels like she needs to be spreading God's word, so pray for her and for Shane and his companion.

Continue praying for Shane, and the people. The church is true!

Interesting Happenings in Togo

Shane was able to assist in some baptisms there already, and the people there don't know what to think about the immersion part. Most of the people there have never been fully immersed in water so it's a new scary thing for them. And, it's probably the only time they will be fully under water. And there are 5 more scheduled baptisms on Oct 30th!

There is no drainage system in the roads where he is, so when they get rain like they have been, it just floods in the streets. The Elders have to carry about flip flops with them so they can hurry and change so they don't get their shoes wet. Sometimes they will have to make detours as much as 3 blocks away to get to their destinations because of the lakes in the streets.

In Togo, the women carry everything on their heads. He even saw one lady carrying a sofa on her head! INSANE huh! The taxis there are motorcycles, and one day, he saw a lady get on one of those taxis motorcycles with a big bowl of something on her head, and a baby strapped to her back!

This isn't a picture from Shane, but it gives you an idea of what he sees all the time.

Elder Shane actually saw a UTA bus on the one paved road in the whole country. Crazy huh! He's picking up the language a little bit better. It's still a struggle for him, but it's coming none the less. Keep praying for him and the people. The gospel is true.

MTC conference song

Here's that other song that the Elders of district 46-G sang together before they left the MTC. They performed this song at their MTC mission conference. I think the Elders sound great! Sorry it's taken so long to get it posted. It was such a large video that it wouldn't upload. So I had to split it up into 3 parts.

part 1 of "I Love the Lord"

part 2

part 3

Where's Elder Kitchen?

Shane is serving in Lome, Togo in the Souza-Netime area. His companion is Elder Kouhe from Abobo Cote D'Ivoire, and they get along great. His companion speaks very little english, and Shane speaks very little french, so they are going to struggle for a while, but I'm sure the African French will come to him soon.

Togo may be one of the poorest countries in the world. The people live in scap metal homes no bigger than a dinning room. Shane's showers consist of filling a buck up with water and then getting a smaller bucket to wash with. He has to do his laundry by hand, which means that his clothes are not going to be the cleanest for the next two years. He does however have electricity in his apartment so he gets to sleep with a fan. He's already eaten some different foods, like eloke with fish heads (brains and eyes too), echeke, and fufu.


He already has 4 baptisms scheduled for saturday (oct 9th). Even though he didn't do any of the teaching, he's excited to be able to be a part of it. He might even get to perform one of the baptisms. They want him to do it cause he's white, and they've never seen a white boy before. They call him yovo, which means white boy. It's also a mission rule that you can't have your hair longer than 2 mm, so he basically has a shaved head.


Shane's excited to finally be serving the people, but he needs your prayers now more than ever. Continue to pray for him, and for the people. Not only will you and Shane be affected by your prayers, but it will bless the African people as well.

Shane's MTC songs

Here are a couple videos of Shane and some other Elders in his district singing some songs that they learned while in the MTC. Thanks to Elder Howden for sending them to us. There will hopefully be another one coming soon. It took too long to upload, but hopefully we'll get it soon.

Singing "Bonjour"

"Amazing Grace"

We recieved notice that Elder Shane and his companion, Elder Lewis arrived in the Ivory Coast safely @ 9:30 pm, Tues Sept 28th, Ivory Coast time, which is 3:30 Utah time. They stayed the night with the AP. As of yet, he didnt know where his first assignment will be. We have learned that his preparation day will be on Mondays. Dad will be posting pics soon.