10-24-11 letter

Dearest Family,

Wow! I can´t believe another week has flown right by! I am very grateful for the chance to be a missionary, it´s just flying by too fast! haha. (Hopefully you all feel the same).

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I had a good day of hard work, and I still don´t feel like I am 22. HA! Our lunch appointment had a cake on hand, so we even had birthday cake. haha. It was super delish. Thank you for thinking of me :)

So where to start??? I guess I will start with this. I was on the verge of frustration with myself (only on the verge, because feelings of frustration are from Satan...) because I have been here SEVEN weeks and haven´t seen baptisms. What is my problem? Do I not have enough faith? Am I not working hard enough? Am I ever going to be able to understand everything that the people say? If I did, would we see baptisms??? Well... I have repented. We ARE going to see baptisms. We ARE working super hard. I need to have more faith and I need to change how I teach and work to gain more Christlike attributes. Hermana Malhue and I have said things like "well, they will be baptized. I guess it doesn´t matter when as long as the baptism happens since we are worried about souls, not numbers." Well, I want to share one of our studies that teaches us that it DOES matter when... these people are God´s children and He wants them all to return to Him. There is no time to wait. These feelings started when our wonderful zone leaders invited us to work to feel more urgency in the work. So we started praying for urgency and then this morning had the most awesome study. I remembered a scripture that we had used in the council in Alma about ANXIETY and the rest came from there:

• 2Nephi 1:16-19 I need to feel anxiety for the souls of men.

• 2Nephi 6:3 This anxiety leads to DILIGENCE in the work

• Jacob 1:5-6 TRULY caring about souls brings REVELATION on how to help them (verse 7 tells us that we must then ACT on the revelation)

• Mosiah 28:3 Can´t stand the thought that ONE soul should perish

• Alma 13:27 Anxiety unto PAIN because of the love for his brethren

Wow... the Savior will come again very soon! We don´t know when, but we know that we MUST be prepared. What if I didn´t do all I could for an investigator and the Savior came tomorrow? Wow. I started to feel it. Then I read in Moroni 9 where Mormon is talking to Moroni about how they have to work diligently, even though the people are not accepting the truth, because they have to do EVERYTHING in their power to bring souls to Christ. Wow. Now, I was really feeling it, and really wanting it. Not wanting a baptism to have a baptism. Wanting baptisms because these are souls coming unto Christ. Then I had a thought that I am sure came from Heavenly Father: "How would you feel if Mackay of Kadon weren´t in the Celestial Kingdom? It´s the same with these people. They, too are your brothers and sisters and you want them ALL... ´no empty seats´ and no crying eyes." Wow. That was a powerful moment and I just sat and cried for a moment. (ya, ya. Typical, I know). But really, I finally felt this anxiety that I have been wanting to feel. I am striving for more diligence and more faith. People still have their agency, but I must do EVERYTHING in my power to invite them to fully come unto Christ through the ordnance of BAPTISM! We have SEVEN investigators who are on track to be baptized this weekend. PLEASE pray for the Torres Family (3), Elías, Isabel, María and Barbara. I have learned that Satan is real, and he is going to be working hard this week. But I have also had reinforced that he really has no power. Only what we choose to give him. Pray for these wonderful people. 

So along with this, Hermana Malhue told me a story. Three of satan´s angels returned to him with souls they had taken. The first had 1000. Satan told him that he had done well and asked how he had done it. He said that he had led them to break the commandments. The second angel had 2000, and Satan was very impressed and asked how. He said that he had attacked the family. The third arrived with MILLIONS of souls. Satan again asked how he had done it. The angel said that it was easy, he had just taught the doctrine of Christ. Satan was confused and asked how that had worked. The angel said "ah... you see, all I had to do was tell them to do it TOMORROW." Wow. There is danger in "some day" or even in "tomorrow." We do not know what tomorrow will bring. I am reminded of President Eyring´s talk about someday. The day is TODAY! We have to repent every day, read the scriptures, pray, and all those other Sunday School answers that are SOOO important. And... everyone must enter the waters of baptism. It is the gate to the path. We NEED to baptize. I am really glad that we feel this urgency and that we are rededicated in this work. We are going to help our investigators understand that this is their salvation. Of course, with much love and charity.

 

Milagros is progressing as well. She is a very special young woman. We had a scare when she told us that he parents didn´t want her to learn any more. We went and visited with them and their only worry ended up being how she was going to get the the church and what she would do when she was supposed to be watching her siblings. When they realized that we could get her a ride and that the younger kids could come and go to primary, they were more than willing to let her come. PHEW! 

Yelka is a 16 year old that we found up in the barrios, a friend of a member, and she too is progressing with her prayers and reading. She got really sick this week and couldn´t come to church, so we are still lacking that. To be baptized, the investigators need 3 attendances, so we had to push her baptism back a bit, but we are still working with her. 

Really, all the investigators are doing well. We have 10 who are really progressing and we are focusing most of our efforts on and 20 or so others who are going to do great things as well. We are SO blessed with investigators as we work and simply open our mouths to talk with everyone. 

So I don´t know if I told you, but the schedule in the South is different. Instead of 6:30am to 10:30pm, it is 7:00am to 11:00pm because of the people´s schedules here. I am finally starting to get used to it! ha! well... the rule is that we have to be back in the house at 9:30 unless we are in a lesson, then we have until 10. Saturday, we came out of a lesson and were just getting in the house at about 9:50 when the zone leaders called. They said "Hermanas! How soon can you be in the chapel with the baptismal record???" WHAT??? They said "JUST COME!!!" Okay! The leaders said come, so we came, not really knowing why. We had to wait for a taxi for a bit (we were supposed to come to their chapel, which is in the other area) and arrived at the chapel around 10:30. Come to find out, there were having a BAPTISM at that hour! WOAH! We stayed and witnessed the most beautiful baptism that I have ever seen. The Spirit was so strong and I was so grateful to be there. When she came out of the water, I just felt Heavenly Father´s love so strongly. It was amazing! Come to find out, she has been saying no to baptism. The Elders had a lesson with her on Saturday, and she told them that she was moving on Wednesday. They said they had a super spiritual lesson and invited her to be baptized right then. She accepted!!!!! Since she was moving Wednesday and converts have to be confirmed in Sacrament Meeting, they had to do it that night. Thus, the 10:30 baptism. (Of course with permission from President). It was the greatest miracle, and you could just see happiness radiating from her. Wow. I felt the Spirit really strongly and am so grateful that we got to take part in that. 

Ushuaia is so beautiful. I am super bummed because I forgot my camera chord at home, so I can´t send pictures this week. Sorry. Next week. WITH baptism pictures, because I KNOW that they will happen!!! It was super cold this week. Especially last night. We got home, and my skin was red because it was so cold! Ha. But we are happy. So very happy! I thought about how if I had been that cold at home that it would have been terrible, but as a missionary, I am just truly blessed to be able to handle it. It started snowing as we were walking home last night, but nothing stuck. The mountains are totally covered again though. And supposedly this is summer... haha. I am really glad to be here spring/summer. I can´t even imagine what winter will bring! Plus, I am beating the Buenos Aires summer! I hear they are brutal. I feel very very blessed!

There are 4 branches here in Ushuaia and the members are so awesome. It is really amazing how quickly you can come to love people. They are so willing to help in the work as well, so we love that. 

Hermana Malhue is AMAZING. I just love working with her. It is fun that we are both so knew because we really just HAVE to rely on the Spirit to direct us and go forward with faith. She is doing a great job finishing my training and I am so grateful to have been blessed with another great companion. She works so hard and has so much faith and love. I have a lot to learn from her. She is also learning English (the Church really encouraged natives to learn English and has a program for missionaries to learn it) and so we are helping each other with the language. My Spanish is better every day. I understand almost everything that people say as long as they don´t talk TOO fast. HA! The thing that is hard is when people don´t understand me. I really want to help them come unto Christ, but when they don´t understand that is hard. For the most part, people understand me, but I have to make sure that I am speaking clearly... which is good for me! ha. I think that the most difficult thing is when I have such a strong desire to help people and I am not 100% sure about what they said... because I want to help and teach, but what if they are talking about their job and I say something about their kids? This is why I really just have to rely on the Spirit. I am learning to hear His whisperings more every day. And in all honesty, the Spanish isn´t bad. We just have 2 investigators that talk SO fast and that´s hard for me. But I am progressing and I really am so grateful for the gift of tongues so that I can express myself. 

We went and played soccer with the Elders today and it was actually really fun. I think I´ve played soccer twice in my life, but it actually was pretty fun. I even scored 2 goals! Ha. It was good to get to know the Elder´s better and have some fun. We have an amazing district and all of the missionaries are really supportive of each other. I love it! 

Well... I think I better close. I love you all TONS! I pray for you daily and feel your prayers and support as well. Thank you so much for everything you do for me. I am so blessed with the most amazing family. I hope you are all well and that you know how much I love you!!!

All my love,
Hermana Shelley

More pictures from Argentina

Outside of the Captial Building in
Congreso, Argentina

        Sister Pinto (in her ward in Congreso), Sisters Gonzales, Shelley,
and Dunn (From California). They were in a 3 some for a while.



3 month cake! This is the part that didn't
end up on the floor!!

Leaving Buenos Aries


Landing in Ushasia!!! (That's snow-not clouds!)

Bundled up and ready to go. She thinks she looks
like a marshmallow!

PICTURES!!!

Dear sweet Jenny Carpenter taught me how to put pictures on the blog. She was so patient and kind!! I haven't learned how to take pictures off of a cd, so these are ones that were emailed home from Argentina. Enjoy through pictures all of the fun things Kailei had been doing. Thank you Jenny!!!

Kailei and President and Sister Gulbrandsen

Kailei and her first companion in the field-
Sister Gonzales from Utah

Outside on the balcony. City of Buenos Aires
in the background.

10-17-11

FAMILIA!!!!!


WOW! I am literally at the end of the Earth! And it´s cold... haha. But AMAZING! I can´t even begin to express my gratitude to the Lord for how wonderful the work is here and how amazing it is to be in Ushuaia... it´s pretty much fabulous. I will share more details later on, but in this beginning part, I will say this... they baptize almost every week and when they baptize, it´s often FAMILIES!!! Wow... No, we didn´t have any baptisms this week. We were supposed to have 2, but neither of them happened, even though we worked hard. That´s ok... I have learned more about agency in my mission than I have ever understood before. It was hard, but I felt a true peace, I think because I really did feel that I would see them enter the waters of baptism... and that is what matters, that they are baptized... not when. These are Heavenly Father´s children and we just have to invite ALL of them to be baptized. 



Ok... so Ushaia! Leaving Congreso was difficult with so many people that I love and so many impending baptisms, and I did shed quite a few tears. I didn´t know that I could love people so much in only 5 weeks! The most difficult part was Tuesday morning when Saríah, my dear dear friend, the 10 year old daughter of the Bishop, called bawling saying that she didn´t even get to say goodbye, but she wanted me to know that she loved me and would remember me and write to me and that she was going to prepare now to be a missionary! Wow. She´s great!

So I got to the airport and started talking to the people there. I knew that I was in for a weather shock when I saw that EVERYONE had jackets just like mine... I figured that other, normal people would not have trouble since we are supposedly in the middle of spring going in to summer... but when I saw that everyone had big jackets, I knew that I would be forever grateful for mine! The plane was an hour late, but we eventually got going. The man next to me slept for the first hour or so, so I studied and wrote in my journal. He woke up when the brought the bread around and so we started talking. He was super receptive, but then after we had talked for about an hour... him doing most of the talking and me just answering questions and responding to his thoughts on the church, he told me that he could definitely accept it all if he wasn´t so into science. Bummer. But I gave him the opportunity to learn more, so we have a seed planted.

I landed and got my bags and headed out to find the missionaries. My companions, Hermana Malhue (Mall-Way) and González (number 2) were waiting for me with the zone leaders. My companions are both from Chile and wonderful. I have realized that I know much more Spanish than I was giving myself credit for because we aren´t silent all the time, and for the most part, I understand... I don´t understand a lot of "every day talk" but they are helping me... not having the opportunity to speak English really helps you learn! Hermana González is leaving tomorrow. She is going to be a sort of assistant to the Pres (don´t know what to call it... only Elders are assistants, but she is not going to have a set area, but go where President needs her to teach and build up the Sisters. Cool). She is super great and so close to the Spirit. Hermana Malhue also has 3 months in the mish, but since she is a native, has one more transfer more than I do in the field. She is AMAZING and we are so excited to learn and grow together. I knew from the first moment that we would work very hard when we taught our taxi driver the first lesson and committed him to baptism!!!!! Wow. It was a really powerful lesson too!

So we seriously talk with EVERYONE!!! I love it. The people here are so open and willing to listen and accept the gospel. It´s sort of like a ski town meets Manti UT meets San Francisco hills (My legs are going to be tree trunks walking up these streets! ha!). It´s a very small town and then up the mountain are the Barrios (neighborhoods) and that is were most of the people live in..... HOUSES!!! Wow! I haven´t seen a house in ages! haha. But yes, the Barrios are houses but super disorganized... from what I can understand, whenever someone builds a new house (basically plywood and plastic) it gets the next number, so house 30 could be 100 yards from house 31 with a bunch in between! Ha. My first full day, we worked in the barrios all day and set TWELVE baptismal dates! Wow! The people are so open and friendly and PREPARED for the Gospel! Of course, they all have to keep their commitments, come to church, and live according to the standards, but we have a lot of faith and will continue to teach them all that they need to know. After a week of SUPER hard work, we have THIRTY baptismal dates for the next month and a half! WOW! I am so grateful to the Lord for providing these miracles!

WOW!!! I can´t even put into words how wonderful the work is going! I have seen so many miracles and I feel so blessed to be here in UshuaiaHermana Malhue here with me. She is full of love and a desire to serve! We are going to have much success because of who she is and her desire to follow the Lord. I also know that Hermana Gonzalez is going to do amazing things for the Sisters. She is a diligent worker and lives so very close to the Spirit. She is wonderful.

Like I said, we have seen so many miracles.I love that we extend the invitation to be baptized to everyone, even if it is a street lesson! We are living by faith and opening our mouths, talking to everyone, and letting the Spirit be the teacher. We have to give them the invitation to be baptized, because if not, we are not really inviting them to come unto Christ, because you can´t fully invite someone to come unto Christ without Baptism.

We also had 10 investigators in church, 2 of which we found as we were helping investigators get to church that morning. One, Sergio, said that he has been searching for truth and felt that God had sent him angels. Wow. That was a very humbling moment. He came to church, and excitedly accepted a baptismal date. He had tears in his eyes as he talked with Hermana Malhue and I at the end of the meetings and said how grateful he was that The Lord had sent us to him... The coolest part??? We were looking for an investigator to help him get to church and we accidentally knocked on the wrong door, where we found Sergio! WOW. The Lord´s hand is truly in the work. The other of the 2 that we found that morning was Milagros (translation...MIRACLES!!! How cool is that???) who is the sister of an investigator who came to church and said that she felt so much love and wanted to be baptized! Wow... a 13 year old girl. Amazing.

The branch here is AMAZING! The Branch Pres is a convert of 2 years and so wonderful. He helps us so much and every Sunday, we have a 5 minute meeting where he give assignments to the members of Branch council to help the investigators progress... like President Hinckley taught, he is making sure that ALL the converts AND investigators have a friend, an assignment, and the nourishment of the good word of God. The members are amazing and we seriously have someone with us every day in the lessons and their testimonies make all the difference.

Our studies are going well. It is amazing to see how what we study is exactly what we will use. One day, we were studying how the gospel blesses families and practiced the baptismal commitment. We all felt strongly that we were going to find families and men that day, so we prayed with extra fervancy to do so, and we found three married families, one with five children! And... they all excepted baptismal dates! One of the families was in church yesterday, and we are going to go visit the others today to see what happened. Hermana Gonzalez says that the people in the barrios are the most receptive, but need a lot of love and help to get to church. We will work hard though.

The boots I bought in Congreso are the best purchases that I have made in my entire life! haha. In the barrios, the snow is starting to melt and so everything is mud. I am grateful every day for my boots. Plus, they are super warm. My feet have never been cold, and because I have the best jacket EVER I have only been cold once, the day that it was sleeting (is that a word??? Not rain but not snow... you get what I´m saying). I wear 2 pairs of tights, one fleece and one regular, wool socks, my boots, 2 skirts, my blouse and my amazing insulated coat, and my awesome ear bands (THANKS MOM!!!) So I stay warm! Gas here is super cheep, so the houses are always way warm... sometimes TOO warm! It´s like going from 35 degrees into 80 in a second. HOO! It makes it feel colder when we leave. Today is really nice... probably like 60. It´s funny because some days it´s freezing and others it´s warm. Weird. It´s really beautiful here. We go running every morning (LOVE IT) along the coast. Kadon, you would love all the big boats and ships. I will take pictures today and send them next week. It´s amazing to see the snow on the mountains and the ocean and everything. Wow.

So... I had heard that I would eat sea food here since we are on the coast, and I was excited. One of the sisters asked me if I liked something... I didn´t know the word, so I said "No se que es, pero me encanta todo..." (basicallly, I don´t know what it is, but I love everything) and so she brought it out... you will never guess what I ate..... ready?????????????????????????? OCTOPUS!!!! Yep, you read that correctly. OCTOPUS!!! Woah! Luckily, it was in a dish with other stuff like clam and fish and I only had one tentacle. Haha. It didn´t taste terrible, but was super chewing and a really weird texture. Oh the adventure. haha


I am doing great and loving every moment of being a missionary. Pray for our baptisms this week. Elections are this weekend, and here with elections, everything else stops I hear... so pray for us!

Love you all more than I can tell! I am learning so much and growing every day! I really do feel like I am a different person already, and I still have so much time to become better. I love my comp and she and I are going to learn and grow a lot together here as we LITERALLY take the gospel to the END of the EARTH!!!


With all my love and prayers,
Hermana Shelley

Transfered to the end of the earth. Literally!!

We had a great week. Things are starting to pick up. To be honest, I have been a bit bummed that we haven´t had a baptism in a whole transfer, especially since I came out with a goal to baptize EVERY week... but we have been working hard and things are starting to come together with the whole white wash thing. We are seeing the fruits now and all will be well. Still, the most difficult part of a mission is watching people choose not to accept, choose not to keep commitments, and eventually have to be dropped... I don´t like dropping people, because I want so badly for them to start progressing and be able to be baptized. But really, dropping people can be an act of love, I suppose. I am not good at it, but we have to do it some times.


Our deep desire is to have more member present lessons. When the members are involved, the work is SSSSSOOOOOOOOOO much better! Because then, investigators have friends at church, there are people who can call and remind them to come, and they have an instant support system. It´s really the best way to do things! We have some AMAZING members! Hermana Díaz is basically a ROCKSTAR! She is always willing to come with us and she is giving us a whole heap of references, which is absolutely amazing. She came with us to a lesson of a little boy who wants dearly to be baptized, but his parents won´t give permission yet... he is amazing and can basically teach US the lessons! Pray for his parents to be open and accepting. Anyways... Hermana Díaz came and bore such a great testimony and the Spirit was just super strong. She´s great. Also, I´ve mentioned about Hermano Alfredo before,  but seriously, he is just GREAT! He is so busy, but ALWAYS puts the Lord first. A great example to us all! Then there is Familia Valle (Bishop) who are amazing. Their little kids are so great. We had a lunch appointment with them this week and Saríah, who is 10 was telling us about every talk from General Conference and which speaker said what and how she felt about it and how she would apply it... W.O.W! The whole family is amazing. And then again, Familia Pinto. It was Hermano Pinto´s birthday yesterday, so we made him brownies, but then they ended up not even being in church... Bu-Mer! Well... Hermana Pinto, if you are reading the blog, tell Hermano Pinto that his brownies were DELISH! Ha ha! Oh darn... we just HAD to eat them :)


Our investigators are coming along great! We are going with Rudecinda on Tuesday to get her appointment to be married! And we found out that if you tell them that it is for religious purposes that they will get the appointment sooner! She has a baptismal date for the 23rd and we are praying that the marriage appointment will be before then so that we don´t have to push it back. I really am just totally selfish and want a baptism for my BIRTHDAY!!! (Can´t believe I´m so close to 22)! Secretly, I want the wedding to be on the 21st. tee-hee.  I told you about Julio. What an amazing 10 year old. Pray for him and his family! Then there is Sandra. She is awesome, and also just waiting on marriage stuff. She bought me a really pretty purple skirt for the Birthday! So sweet! I wore it yesterday, but forgot to take a picture. Bummer. Javier is a great man with the biggest heart ever. He has a baptismal date for the 30th. Pray that he stops smoking. Jimmy´s dad told him that he can officially meet with us!!! I am SSSOOO happy! We have a lesson with him tonight with a great member family and it will be awesome. David is a man from Africa who is so animated. He is just a lot of fun. He has been reading and is coming along. We need to get him to church. There are others, but like I said, not a ton of time today!


We have seen so many miracles this week. I have learned that we are ALWAYS in a place for a reason. When we go somewhere and our appointment or plan falls through, there is always someone put in our path to hear the gospel. Like when we were stopped by a police officer who wanted to know what we teach and was totally receptive and accepted a Book of Mormon and committed to read and accepted a return visit. Or the time that we didn´t find Sandra at home, but there was a man waiting outside that knows about the church and wants to learn more. Or when we went to a Kiosko and found a man who has attended church for 2 months in Brazil and is now here and ready to come back. Or when we see a man we don´t know walk in to church and find out that he was just passing by when someone invited him in and he felt that he should come. Wow.

 

Our companionship is doing great! We have figured out how to be a trio. Some things are still rough like trying to get 3 girls in and out of the bathroom in an hour, but you know. We adjust. I have embraced my most natural hair... and we all know how scary that can be! ha. But really, Hermanas Gonzalez and Dunn are great and we have really become close in the past week. We don´t know what is going to happen this week. Transfers are on Monday SOOOO much we want to see just in case one of us leaves the area. The new program is a 12 week training program with the same trainer in the same area, but since we are a trio, we don´t know what is going to happen... I REALLY want to stay, but I also know that whatever happens is what the Lord wants.

 

So mail here is really funny. I apologize to all my friends who served foreign missions and I scoffed when they said they didn´t know how to mail things... it really IS tricky... I haven´t mailed anything since I have been here because we don´t actually know what we are doing. 

Wow... I totally just lost my train of thought... President just called and told me that I am being transferred TOMORROW... I am going south... to Ushuaia... I don´t even know how to spell that... wow... I don´t know if I can even write anything more. I am shaking really bad. I´m ok... I kind of had a feeling that it would be me leaving, but I just didn´t want to think about it. All the people I love. All of the seeds that are finally baring fruit. Everything. Wow. I don´t even know what I´m thinking. I just realized that I stopped mid sentence. It is just about summer here, but I think I will still need some sort of coat. I don´t know. And to think about leaving Hermana Gonzalez is really hard. But it´s ok. I know that it´s where the Lord wants me. President has been talking to Hermana Gonzalez and now he just talked to me and told me that even though it´s summer, it often snows all the way to December. I am definitely going to go buy a big coat... and maybe some boots. I think I have enough money, but could you maybe call right now and transfer some money for me... I will wait a few hours to buy them and put a big note down that Dad needs to read this on his phone. Wow. Tierra de Fuego. WOW. I don´t know if it´s actually hit me yet... Wow. I don´t even know where I am going with this email any more. Wow. How many times can I say wow in one sentence. Wow. I feel better now. I just needed to get it all out. Something you should know about the south... sometimes the Internet is down and we can´t email. If you don´t get an email every week, please don´t freak out. I am fine. You know, just dancing with the penguins. And Hermana Gonzalez just told me that Ushuaia is the farthestsouth area in our mission. Wow. And that it´s the farthest south mission area in the WORLD. Woah

I love you all. I am about to head out to literally take the gospel to the END OF THE EARTH!!! That is pretty cool when you think about it. I hear that they are baptizing up a storm down there. Even though it is still freezing, at least it is freezing coming into summer... right??? haha. I will be fine. Pray for me as I always pray for you

Love you all,

Hermana Shelley

10-3-11

Dearest Family,

 

We have VERY little time today, so I will have to keep this super short. Forgive me!

 

News of the week........... We got another companion! Her name is Sister Dunn and she is from California. She had been in the St George mission awaiting her Visa for 2 weeks. President called us on Monday night and asked some questions and then Tuesday called to tell us that we would be getting another companion in about an hour and they would be bringing her. She is a really good missionary and has lots of good goals. To be honest, some things are tricky, like trying to get 3 people ready in the morning in under an hour, trying to make sure everyone is involved in everything, etc, but after a few days, we have pretty much gotten the hang of things. Things are different with 3, but it´s good.

 

Wasn´t conference just amazing! I am convinced that every talk was specifically about missionary work and I love that! I learned a lot of things that my investigators need, learned how I can be more patient with myself, and learned a TON about being a better missionary. It was really wonderful and edifying. We had 3 investigators there. It was kinda sad, because we were expecting 15, and figured at least 8 of those would come, but the 3 that came were really wonderful and very touched by the conference.

 

Other great news! One of our investigators found her papers and is now going to be married! YAY! It takes about 3 to 5 weeks to make that happen, and then she can finally be baptized after 10 years of investigating! Wow. So wonderful.

 

We had a "fake baptism" this Tuesday!!! It wasn´t actually fake, but we say fake because it wasn´t ours. We have been working with a less active family to get them back to church and teaching their son to prepare him for baptism. He is adorable and so very wonderful! We had been planning for him to be baptized on his 9th birthday (Saturday) after conference, but then his family got everything together and he was able to be baptized on Tuesday... since he was still 8, he is considered a ward baptism. We still sort of count him in our minds because we have been working with them this past month and teaching him. It´s cool... we didn´t want to postpone the baptism for sure. It was a great little service though, and he was super cute and his family was all very happy.

The work is moving along. We finally feel that we have a handle on the area and things have picked up. It´s really fun to be in this new sister area and be opening the work of Hermanas here. It´s crazy, because we have 25 Hermanas in the mission... a record... and this next transfer, we are getting something like 5 or 6 more and none are going home!!! Wow! President Gulbrandsen says that he thinks that more Sisters are responding to the call to serve than Elders. ha. But anyways, the work is good. We have 3 with baptismal dates, and a goal for 6 baptism in October. Since we are in the middle of Capitol, lots of people are more worried about going to work, their social lives, and other big city stuff, but MANY are willing to listen.

Love you all!

Hermana Shelley