The Greenest of all STL's

Hey everyone!

The adventures just continued this week, as I did a lot of STL type things and went on many strange adventures with Sister Reddish.  It was a pretty bomb week.

It started off waking up on Tuesday morning at 5:50 to get over to Farragut for MLC.  We got over to the Asheville mansion where we met up with the Zone Leaders and hitched a ride with them.  It was pretty weird driving with them.  It's been about a year since the rule changed that we couldn't drive with elders, but just this one time do STL's and ZL's get to drive together because that is hecka miles.  So, we partied it up by falling asleep in the back seat...  Once we got there, we got a sneak preview to our upcoming zone conferences, and I'm so excited for them!  It's definitely gonna be a good one.

The next day was just a billion meetings, but it was all good!  We started out with district meeting, which was soon followed by some much needed interviews with President, and then we had like an hour to find people, and then we had Stake Correlation.

Stake Correlation  consisted of us, the Zone Leaders, President Griffin, the Stake President, and some other guy, who seemed pretty cool, but I wasn't sure of his purpose in being there... But that's okay!  I felt like the noobest of noobs because at this point I've been a part of the zone for a week, and the Stake President turns to me and says, "Sisters! What have ya got?"  "Well...  There's a guy named Kevin in the Marion Ward who just got baptized, and he's doing good."  "Oh yeah! Kevin!  He's the one with really nice teeth, right?" "I'm not sure. I haven't met the guy...."  So yeah...  That's my life as an STL, but as out of place as I felt, it was kind of mind blowing, too!  I don't think President expected too much from me this time, but I feel so ready for the next time we have stake correlation.

Well, Friday came around, and it was basically the first day of being in Weaverville that I felt like a normal missionary.  Neither of us were sick, we weren't stuck in snow, and we had no meetings, so we were finally good to go out and teach people, and find more people! It was so exciting!  We had a lesson with our awesome investigator, Fernando.  He's so incredible.  He's only been in America a few months, and yet he knows English so well.  We laugh and joke around with him and have spiritual moments with him, and with the help of google translate, no language will get in the way of us teaching him! It's really awesome!  He says he knows he needs to get baptized; it's just a matter of getting him ready for it now. So, no date set yet, but it's gonna happen.  :)

Speaking of baptism,  my dear friend, Emily, got baptized!  I missed her baptism by a week and a half, and I prayed for her the whole time up to her baptism.  I got permission to Skype her after her baptism, and it just felt so good.  I don't feel like I've gone through as much with an investigator as I did for her.  I studied for her like I've never studied for anyone else.  I hurt when she hurt, and I laughed with her through the good times, and now Emily is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  That right there, friends, is an accomplishment, and I'm so proud of her. :)

I went to bed after her baptism and woke up to a much needed Sunday. We didn't get church last week because church was canceled in most places across the mission. I feel like I've been here in Weaverville for so long, and I just barely got to meet the members!  They're so great, too! The whole Relief Society swarmed around me like I was a new toy, and I haven't felt so needed in a long time.

After church we had dinner with Rich and Virginia.  It's been taking forever to meet everyone here, and it's terrible because I've been hearing about everyone for the past three months since Sister Griffiths served here a while back.

I definitely am loving it here.  There's a lot to be learned in each phase of life and each phase of missionary work.  As green as I feel at times as a new STL, or just as a missionary in general even though I've been out a while, I know this is where I'm supposed to be.  I don't know why, yet, but I'll learn that soon.  Trust God.  Trust your priesthood leaders.  Trust yourself.  Because God's got a plan for you, and as long as we go into that plan ready and willing to learn, we will get everything out of it that we need to.


Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

 All of the STL's in the TKM at MLC!

Us knocking doors.

Quote of the week:

Me: Do you ever feel super green while knocking doors even though you've 

been on a mission for quite a while?
Reddish: Yeah.
Me: Let's do this.