A Week of Opposition

Hey guys!  So this has honestly been one of the craziest weeks of my mission.  And guess what? I'm gonna be awful and not tell you a lot of it for two reasons. 1) I don't have much time to email. And 2) This is a week of post mission stories. ;)

So, first of all, it's the end of the month, so we had no miles for our car, so that made everything extremely stressful.  And everything important that happened this week was way too far away, and we almost didn't go to a lot of it because we didn't think we could, but because we trusted God, we received some incredible blessings.

On Sunday Sister Peck came up to us unexpectedly wanting to do everything with us this week, and we didn't know what to say to her because of miles, and we didn't know how things would go because she wanted to come see our investigator, Emily.  I haven't written much about her, but she's our top investigator right now, but lessons with her are interesting, so I haven't known what to write about her.  We were basically planning on laying down the law with her, and we weren't sure about bringing someone to the lesson, but in the last minute, we decided to take Sister Peck up on her offer.  So we got there, and instantly, the atmosphere was different, partially because we knew she'd read the Book of Mormon a lot recently, and Sister Peck was unexpectedly perfect for her.  She said everything she needed to hear, and then Sister Peck invited us all over for dinner on Sunday.

So, on Sunday after church, we didn't have miles to go home and drive back, so we had our studies at the church, and had a lesson with another lady we were questioning if we should go to, but ended up being perfect.  Then, we went over to the Peck's house, and had dinner with Emily and the the senior missionary couple, the Simes.  It couldn't have been better.  It was the turning point for Emily.  And what made it even better was when she texted us telling us how much she loved us and Sister Peck, and everything else like that! She doesn't ever say things like that, guys!

It was really incredible, too, because even though we weren't sure about taking Sister Peck at first, we saw her when the meal calendar went around, and she looked at it very intently, and we know the spirit told her to come see her especially considering she's moving this week, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is.  Guys, we're probably going to commit her to baptism this coming week.  This is what member missionary work is about. This is what following the spirit is about.  I know this wouldn't have happened without Sister Peck. She was our Godsend.  You don't know what God has in store when the spirit tells you to do something, but I can promise you, it's better than what you have in store for yourself.  I haven't even written half of the opposition of this week, but I'd go through all of it again just for Emily.  :)

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

Guess who hit nine months!

One Hilariously Spiritual Week

Hey guys!

So, this week has been really fun! Just yesterday we had a pretty crazy adventure.... So, a few weeks ago, we knocked some doors, and a girl named Jocie answered who said she was a member of the church but had stopped going recently.  Her records weren't in our ward, so we didn't have any info on her, so we told her we'd come back and see her.

Well, we've come back a few times, and nobody answered, but we thought we'd try again.  This time, some guy who she was with last time answered the door and said she'd moved just down the street, and without us even asking just gave us her address, which was bad that he did that, but good for us so we could track her down.... And she seemed to like us the last time we saw her, so we figured she wouldn't be too terribly upset if we showed up at her doorstep.

So, we went to this apartment complex, and it was pretty hilarious. We knocked on number 18, like the guy told us, and this big black guy from across the complex yelled out, "She don't live there no more! The girl that lived there, she ain't there no more. She's in numba nine!"  So we walked down the stairs over to 9, and he was like, "Wait! She's not in numba  nine, she's in three!"  And then he ran half way down the stairs and leaned over the railing and pointed at another door, saying, "Wait, she's in two!"  So, we finally settled on apartment 2 and knocked on the door and a man answered, and we asked if Jocie lived there, and guess what! She did!  It was seriously a miracle that we were able to track her down, but now she's pretty much our new best friend, and we'll probably see her a couple of times in the coming week.

This week on Tuesday, we had Zone Training Meeting! It was awesome! We focused a lot on how to include members in our missionary work. It was a lot of thinking outside of the box. That's something I really hope I can get better at.  President also gave an incredible training as always.  It was about the why to things.  He said how you don't have to understand the reasoning behind the rules to follow them, but as you do follow the rules or commandments that God has given us, you will find out why, and it will bless you.  I loved what he said.  He said the Telestial Kingdom is full of people who were wicked through disobedience. The Terrestrial Kingdom is full of people who are righteous through rules, and the Celestial Kingdom is full of people who are perfect through principles.  It's okay if you don't understand the principle behind the rule right now, but just be obedient to what God asks of you, and someday you'll know.  I know that all of the commandments God has given are for a reason.  Some of them take a little bit to understand, but they really are for our benefit no matter what. God only wants the best for us.  So when God asks you to do something, just do it. It's worth it in the end.

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

Guess who showed up this week in the TKM! ;)

New Transfer, New Start

Hey everyone!

So, it's official. It's just me and Sister Griffiths now. My little Hampster's left me.  But it's okay. She's gonna go on and do great things!

But a lot of good has happened this week. We started off on Tuesday, before transfers, going over to this rally for the elections coming up, as a whole zone.  We helped feed all of the people that were there. We made around 5000 sloppy joes, and then we handed them out to everyone. It was pretty intense.

Wednesday was the big switcharoo!  I got to see a ton of people I haven't seen in forever, and say good-bye to lil' Hamp.  And then, we came home and died....  This has been such an exhausting week, guys. In case any of you are wondering why I may not be responding to your emails today, it's because I'm napping. I've never wanted to just nap so badly.

Then, Saturday was a pretty great day!  We got to help out our dear friend, Brother Harris, make his yard beautiful, and then we went and had breakfast with him, as he imparted all of his wisdom on us as always, and it was greatly appreciated.

Later on that day, we went to try a less active family, the Fosters. Hamp and I had tried this family almost every week since I've been here, because they used to see them all the time, but for some reason, we couldn't ever catch them.  But since this was Sister Griffiths' first time trying them with me, I figured we'd have no problem seeing them.  And I was right! We came over, and they instantly loved us, and we instantly loved them, and now we're just gonna be best friends. That's just how it's gonna be.  :)

So yeah.... That was my week, and it was wonderful. There really isn't anything I'd trade for the people I've met, experiences I've had, and lessons I've learned since being on my mission.  Well, maybe Celestial Glory, but I'm pretty sure this is helping me with that!  TKM #lifechanging #hisworkhiswaybyhispower #findteachbaptize

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

That one time I killed Sister Hamp.... Oops....

Am I fan-girling over these cute matching elders? Probably. ;) RIP Wadsworth and Evans.

Our new district government! Judge Judy is behind the camera. ;)

Quote of the week:

Random lady in Relief Society: When Abraham was sacrificing Isaac, Abraham was pretty old so Isaac could have just been like, "I SACRIFICE YOU!!!"

Most Exciting Week Ever!

Kay guys,

Here's the deal. This was the most exciting week of my mission, but I have no time to write about it... So, I'll try my best.

Pretty much all you need to know is on Wednesday there was an emergency transfer, so Sister Griffiths showed up on our doorstep, and we let her stay. Then Brian got baptized, and that's the most exciting thing ever, and then we had the transfer call, and after telling president how much we love each other, Sister Griffiths is staying, and we're probably going to be together forever now.

Doing our weekly tradition of going up and down the escalator at the mall. Nbd.

Ice cream at Kay's. #notreplacingtictocs

General Conference for Days!

Hey guys!

So, this week has been really great!  We started it off by going out to dinner with the Elders and Senior couple from our ward (the Simes!). It was so fun! We don't usually get to go out as a big group of missionaries like that, but senior couples just get away with everything. ;)

The next day we went over to help Mary out with sanding the paint off of the framing around her window so she could repaint it.  It was pretty intense. We got the power tools out and everything!  That came to an abrupt end when we realized we were running late for out next appointment. So we drove over to see our new investigator, Derrick.  He seems really interested, and the lesson went a lot better than we were thinking it would.  We'll see how it goes from here!

On Wednesday, we went over to an area to find a less active member in the ward.  He'd moved, but we knocked the doors that were on that street, and after knocking a few doors, we realized something pretty different about the people in these houses. Each house had a few mentally handicapped people in it and at least one person who was straight from Africa, accent and all, who was taking care of them. We didn't have time to knock on all of the doors, but from what happened that night, we had one girl who said we could come back to see her and two guys that said they'd try to come to church, and they all really seemed like they meant it! It was crazy awesome! We're going to go see one of them later today.

On Thursday we went over to see a less active member named Virginia. We went over to mow her lawn,   #firsttimeinmylife   and then we hung around and talked with her and played a board game with her because she was feeling kinda lonely. It was good to just clear someone up with service, and just by being there.

Then, in case you didn't know, we had conference, and it was awesome! We went over to the Bundy's house, and three of the four sessions, we had Virginia, and our two investigators, Emily and Brian, and Brian's wife, Mary, there. It was so cool that all these people were able to be there who are really making an effort to come closer to Christ! And it's even better because we have less than a week until Brian's baptism now!

I think my favorite talk from conference was by Elder Nelson.  It was about always being joyful, no matter what your situation is.  Remember guys, if a group of pioneers who have been kicked out of their house and persecuted can be smiling and laughing in the freezing cold, you can be happy, too! It's not worth it to be unhappy. When things get difficult, just laugh at the situation, because it's either laugh or cry!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton