Week 2/3 Entering the Field - September 28, 2015

Hi everyone!

So, I wasn't able to write last week because I was traveling, so if you
were wondering what happened to me, don't worry. I'm alive and well.
Honestly, at this point, the last week of the MTC is a blur. I just
remember waking up Tuesday morning at 2 AM and flying on a plane for
the first time ever! Flying is so fun! In my journal while I was on
the plane I wrote a whole page all about how cool flying is. We went
from SLC to Atlanta, Georgia, and Atlanta to Knoxville. I got a window
seat on the way to Knoxville, so I had a perfect view of downtown
Atlanta. As soon as I saw it, I had the Walking Dead theme song start
playing in my head, and ever since, I keep thinking about it because my
mission just reminds me of that show. Is that horrible as a
missionary? Probably.... I'll learn some day....

Anyway.... Here are the details of the area I'm serving in. I am in
Rogersville, Tennessee! It is in North East Tennessee, bordering Virginia. In fact, I got to go to Virginia for a district meeting the other day. Okay, now for my companion.... s..... Yeah that's right. I'm in a trio! So, there is Sister W*, and Sister B*. They're both pretty great. :) Anyway, I'm going to go back to how my area is. It's tiny. It's green. It's adorable. It has many winding roads that make me carsick, but that's okay because I love seeing the random unique things Rogersville has. Like shacks. So many worn down shacks. And there's more graveyards than people here, so that's all sorts of creepy, but a fun creepy....  Rogersville is one of the biggest areas in our mission, and we're the only set of missionaries there.  It's also a pretty "mountainy" area. Jk... Some of their mountains really are mountains, just a lot of them are larger hill things. But beautiful larger hill things. I found out the reason the mountains are called "The Great Smokey Mountains." It's because fog will settle on them, and it looks like the mountains are on fire. It's pretty cool.

So the work here is going really well. We have quite a few
investigators and two baptisms in the next two weeks! How cool is that? There's S* and D*.  They're both so strong!    The branch over here is so great! It was a bit of a culture shock coming from Utah. On Saturday when we had the General Women's
Conference, I was so excited because I thought we were going to go to a huge dinner, and I'd meet the whole branch, and it'd be so much fun. I was wrong... So wrong. We had dinner at our apartment and then went to the church. It was us and one member. On top of that, something was wrong with the satellite, so we ended up watching it on my companion's iPad.  It was awesome though! If you didn't see it, go watch it.  And everyone go watch General Conference this weekend!

For a while I was getting a bit discouraged with how few members I'd seen, and then Sunday happened, and I couldn't hold in how much love I felt from everyone. There may not be many members here, but those who are here are some of the most loving people I have met. It's weird being away from my whole life. But it's so comforting that the only thing I'm not away from is the most important thing. The church. It's
the same everywhere you go.

So one lesson I've learned is when to focus on yourself and when to focus on your investigator. I've heard some people to do
one and some to do the other.  I figured out the formula.  If you are
simply laying around feeling sad for yourself and getting homesick,
get up and go to work and stop thinking about yourself.  But if when
you go to work you could be doing better, even after preparing so hard
to help someone else, go focus on yourself, and invite the Lord to come
along. God wants to help you with your problems and he knows better
than you do how to fix them. And don't feel guilty for focusing on
yourself.  If you're not in a good position, you can't teach others to
be in a good position.  I'm happy I learned this lesson so early on.

I hope that last part made as much sense written out as it does in my
head, because I know that it's the right way to deal with it.... If it
doesn't.... Write me!  I love letters! I don't get enough!

Anyway, I love you, the book is true, and Jesus was a Mormon, too! Or
you know..... a Jew.....

Sincerely,

Sister Erin Shelton

September 15, 2015

Hello everyone!

This week has been crazy.  As soon as I got here, I was rushed all around and then to my class where I met my district and my companion.  My companion's name is Sister D*.  She's so cute!  I'm a fan of her.  There are four sisters in my district, and we're all going to Knoxville, and one Elder who is going, too.  The other five Elders in the district are going to Little Rock, Arkansas.  The first day was mostly a blur, but hey!  I'm a missionary now!

The spirit here is insane!  I'm drinking from a fire hose!  I think I've probably cried every day, and not because I'm missing anyone, but because the spirit is so strong.  Honestly, I don't have time to miss anyone.  Our schedule is that packed!

So, on the second day we met with the Branch President.  I already have used my piano skills.  I played the opening hymn for that meeting.  After being interviewed we all got our callings.  Sister D* and I got called as Greeters.  That basically means that we're cute enough to make people feel welcomed when they come in for Sacrament meeting, but that won't happen until next Sunday.  I'm good at being cute. :D

We have a few investigators.  One is named S*.  He's Catholic, but he doesn't like the idea that families aren't eternal in his religion.  We're trying to focus on God's love for him, and him feeling the spirit.  Our other investigator is C*.  We meet with her on skype and will continue to for all of our meetings but one.  She's also Catholic.  We just met her yesterday, so we haven't discussed exactly what we want to help her with, yet, but we'll figure it out.  She's so sweet!  We asked her if she wanted a Book of Mormon when she comes to the MTC, and she was happy to have one!  I love both of them so much!  They're both such great people.  I just hope they can find God's love for them.

I just wanted to share a really cool story that happened when we were preparing to teach S*.  So, our awesome teacher, Brother W*, was going back and forth between our class and the one next to us, because for some reason their teacher didn't show up.  So, I was reading D&C 11:12-14, and as I was reading that, I thought about this little three-part clip that Elder Bednar put together about ways the spirit works called, "Patterns of Light."  At the time I couldn't think of what it was called, so I wanted to ask Brother W*.  He wasn't in the classroom, so I peaked my head out of the room to find him, and he was in the other classroom showing "Patterns of Light" to them.  I freaked out and got Sister D* over to see it, and we knew that we had to show that to him!  It made us tear up!  I can't wait to show it to S* and see what he has to say about it.  I would highly suggest to everyone to go watch it.  It's so beautiful.

So, before I came here I promised myself that I was going to be obedient.  I pretty quickly found out that's a lot easier said than done. But something that my Branch President said is that you only need to decide once what kind of missionary you're going to be - an obedient missionary, or an exactly obedient missionary.  He told us to write it down on a paper which one we were going to be, and then sign it.  I'm happy to say that I'm going to be an exactly obedient missionary!  I definitely still have work to do on that, but I'm really trying.  Don't worry, I haven't done anything too against the rules....

Sunday was great, but at the same time, our schedule wasn't nearly as packed as what it was the other days, so I did start missing everyone back home that day.  But there were so many good things about it, too.  We got the sacrament!  Yay!  I'm trying to figure out ways to make Sunday different than other days, because our normal days feel like Sundays now.  There were a few things that were great about Sunday.  One was that we got to go be in the choir.  We sang a song called "Hurrah for Israel."  You should be able to watch us sing it on BYU-TV, but I don't know when that will be, so just keep your eyes open!  The best thing about the choir is that our conductor will stop and explain cool things about the song.  He explained what exactly Israel was and the whole story behind it.  I was so happy about that because I was so curious about that subject, but I never seemed to find time to figure it out. 

Another thing that was so great about Sunday is that we got to watch a devotional from Elder Bednar called "Characteristics of Christ." It's so good.  I was crying so much... They only show it in the MTC.  One thing I remember from it was that the Savior was always turning outward to help people. In the scriptures when it talks about Jesus fasting 40 days, and all the temptations he struggled with, when you first read it, it seems like he sent angels to help him when he was done, but he didn't.  If you look at the JST, it clarifies that he sent angels to John while he was in prison to comfort him.  He didn't even think about helping himself!  Like, who is this guy?!  Oh yeah... He's my Savior. :)  I love him!  I know that as I focus on others instead of myself, I will, without even realizing it, become so much closer to Christ than I could imagine.  

Today we got to go to the temple!  It was my last time that I get to go for a year and a half (unless I get special permission from my Mission President, but I doubt that will happen since we don't even have a temple in my mission).  It makes me sad thinking that I can't go any more.... I teared up thinking about it.  I love it there so much!  What is life without temples?!  What is life without my family?!  Oh yeah... A missionary's life.  I'm so cool.  I'm a missionary!

In my one week of being here, I feel like such a different person.  A good different.  I'm becoming that awkward missionary.  It makes me so happy, and then I remember just how awkward I must be, and then I cringe slightly, but that's okay, because God's people are a peculiar people.  Besides, it's not like I wasn't awkward before....  It's weird because I feel so much like a missionary, but then I think about it, and it still seems so strange.

I have so much more that I want to write about!  But I don't have much time.  That seems to be the life of a missionary.  I hope you're all doing well! Pictures should be coming soon.... Hopefully....

Sister Erin Shelton