1-30-12

Dearest Family,


So... this week... I´ll be honest. It was rough. But weeks like this make us stronger. And it´s only up from here. I am doing better now and everything goes on. I am a missionary! What better thing is there to be? I love the work and I love being part of the Lord´s army to bring the truth to the world. Something that really helped me this week was reading something that Hermana Gonzalez gave me:

The Fellowship of the Unashamed
President Henry B. Eyring

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won´t look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am done with low living, small talking, colorless dreams, tamed visions, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, position, promotions, or popularity. I don´t have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gate is fast, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, divided, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won´t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go ´til I drop, preach ´til all know, and work ´til He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.
My banner will be clear. 

Isn´t that just so great? It really helped a lot this week. I know that we are going to pick things back up here. People are slowly coming back from vacation, we are meeting new people every day, and things are moving along. It will all come together.

I forgot to tell you! Last week, we BOTH got bit by a dogs... sort of... Hermana Gonzalez´s experience happened one day, and mine the next, but they were almost identical.  We were walking normally, when all of a sudden a dog jumped out at me... I felt the teeth, just above my knee, but didn´t have any pain. When I looked down, there was nothing but slobber! It was truly a miracle and it came to my mind right away that we had physical protection for keeping our COVENANTS! What a blessing that was!

The weather has been REALLY weird. One day hot. Next we DIE from the cold, the next rain, the next a mixture of all three. WEIRD! And we are never prepared for what is to come. Rude.

Our investigators are chugging along. Walter wasn´t baptized this week. He is a wonderful man with a great heart and a HUGE desire to be baptized. His thing is that he doesn´t want to give money as tithing. He knows that tithing is a law of Heaven, but he wants to know where the money is going and that it is where he wants it. He accepted a new baptismal date for this coming Sunday, and said that he is going to pray really hard to be able to accept the law of tithing. I know that he will receive his answer and we are going to be with him every day to help him in the process. We feel that we just need to help him strengthen his testimony in the restoration... if the church is true, and we have prophets of God, all of the rest is true as well.

We met a great couple the other day, Gabriela and Lucas. They are really young and cute and just had their first baby! They are both the nicest people. The hard thing is that they work on Sundays, but we are working with them to get some time to come to church. They were a reference from a brother in the other branch that drives a remis (oh... sorry, Grandma... never answered that question... remis is like a taxi but slower and therefore CHEAPER... a missionary´s 2nd favorite word next to FREE!)

Daniel is still really great, but his wife doesn´t absolutely love us... her sister is a preacher, so she´s trying to convince him to be baptized in her church. We know that if they will both read, pray, and attend church, that they will receive their testimonies.

Life as a missionary is still great! I can´t believe that Mackay is heading out this week! I want to share this scripture...

Alma 17:13-14
...and they separated themselves, and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work that they had undertaken, and assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God...

Isn´t that so great!? I am so grateful to be sharing this experience with you! And I keep hearing great things about the Philippines... like whole families being baptized, super high numbers, and other great successes! Thank you for your example. Get out there and enjoy it. If you don´t understand a word, it doesn´t even matter. Love the people. You can love them even when you don´t understand a word that comes out of their mouth. And the ONLY universal language is the Spirit. Work with the Spirit and the people seriously don´t even care when we say such silly things. 

I love you all so much! Keep up the good work with the scripture study! So proud!

All my love,
Hermana Shelley

PS-  tell Mackay that I love him for me! He is going to be so great. Tell him I pray for him. I am excited to hear all about his miracles in the Philippines. 

PICTURES: 1. Boat dock-Ushuaia, Argentina

                     2. Kailei hasn't changed!! Do they look like twins?

                     3-4. View of the ocean-Ushuaia, Argentina

                     5. Ushuaia, Argentina

1-23-12- Like a woman

Dearest Family,

 

Hola from south-land!!! Yes, it is getting SO cold... I think we´re leaving "summer"

This week was good! We found a ton of new investigators, which is really great because we really need them. I know that the Lord will provide and we will keep working and we know we will see the baptisms. We have 3 solid baptismal dates...

 

Walter is a former investigator with a bunch of attendance who we found in the area book. We went to visit him and after 4 different visits, finally found him... AND, the first thing out of his mouth was that he knows everything is true and that he wants to come back and GET BAPTIZED!!! He accepted a baptismal date for this coming Sunday! He is really great, and will make an awesome priesthood holder... seriously, future missionaries... USE THE AREA BOOK! Their are so many great people in the area book who weren´t ready, but now are so ready and willing to accept the gospel. Do it! Visit them!

 

Lidia is also a former investigator who we found by mistake looking for Walter. After the first lesson, we found her old teaching record in the area book and it really helped us understand her doubts and in the second lesson, she accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of February. Super great! We had a really powerful lesson with her and it really was very special.

 

Daniel is GREAT!!! He walked into the church about a month ago during a zone conference and we quickly took down his info and tried searching for him forever, but he was never at home when we went and so we eventually had to drop him (at the time, he also didn´t have a cell phone cuz he had just moved here). Well, Saturday we found him walking in the street and stopped and invited him to church. To our great surprise, he came!!!!!! (Oh me of little faith...) and he LOVED it and said that he felt so good and so much peace. We invited him to be baptized and before we could even finish the invitation, he was saying YES and how soon!!!!!! We set the baptismal date for the 5th!

 

So we have seen lots of tender mercies and we know that we are going to have a lot of success this transfer... we may be off to a slow start, but everything will come along just fine. And the people are slowly coming back from vacation.. school starts the first week of March so in the next 3 weeks, pretty much everyone will be coming back... we only had 53 people in church yesterday, so most of our members are still gone, but they will be getting back soon.

 

I forgot to share something from the conference last week that I wanted to share... I think that Dad will especially like it!

How do we fully share a vision (talking about ward council)?

1. Form the vision

2. Share the vision

3. Counsel and agree on the outcome

4. Make specific plans

5. Motivate and inspire others

6. Report back

 

I thought that was so neat! I wish I would have had that idea in my head during my council time... I think a few council members read the blog... maybe it will help.

Also, he told us that Vision determines direction, goals distance indicators. That was really great! Our branch council this week was really a lot better with this in mind (this vision thing was shared at our Sunday night meeting with all of the district leaders).

So a quick note of apology... I REALLY, REALLY hope that the envelope of Christmas letters gets to you!  I´m afraid that it got lost somewhere or didn´t have enough postage of something... hopefully it´s just behind with the holidays or something... Also, dearest friends, thank you SO MUCH for your love and support and letters and everything... I wrote you back, but put them in with the big envelop to be sent out by my family, and now you may not get them... I´m SO sorry... I really do love and appreciate you all... still hoping that they get there... things ARE slower to and from the end of the earth... it takes a good month and a half or more for things to get here to me, so hopefully you will get your things too... Love you all!

 

So now that you are all trying to figure out WHY in the world the topic of this email is "like a woman," I will explain...

The other day, we were walking and Hermana Gonzalez said that her legs were killing her... I asked why they were hurting so bad, because mine hadn´t hurt as bad when I got here... she said "probably because I walk like a woman!" hahahaha. Meaning that I walk like a man??? haha. So she loving taught me to walk like a woman by putting one foot directly in front of the other like walking over a straight line. Well, let me tell you... my legs were ON FIRE at the end of the day... I thought they were going to fall off! haha... But after that, we had lots of good laughs about how I walk like a man... good times.

I am so proud of all of you to hear about your success with the daily scripture study! I love, love, love it! Thank you for taking that challenge to heart. This morning, my study was focused on how to use the Book of Mormon more effectively in my teaching, and I was just so happy to think about how much I LOVE the Book of Mormon. Though I´ve read it many times, it´s different every time, and every time I have a witness of it´s truth. Also, I have been reading it in Spanish and it is like a completely new book. My goal is to finish it in Spanish by the April conference... I am determined to do it! I´m only in Alma, but I really want to do it, so I will make it happen. Thank you for all reading the scriptures and going to the Temple like Mackay invited. That´s really so great!

 

I love you all! Thank you for your examples and dedication in the gospel. I know that the church is true and I am so grateful for this chance to eat, sleep, and breath the gospel! There is really nothing like it. I can´t put into words how great it is to be completely focused on the work of the Lord. Never again will I have this chance. I will one day have to go back to school, get a job, etc... but for now, I can just serve the Lord. I have made some new goals. I really want to say at the end of my mission that I have been transformed. That I have BECOME a true servant of the Lord. That I have gained talents thanks to the Lord that I will then use the rest of my days in serving Him. I want to be changed. I want to be a disciple of Christ. I want to do like Elder Holland says... forever. 100%. He said that when he called the Apostles to leave their ships he meant FOREVER. He meant to have them give EVERYTHING. When we think about it, really EVERYTHING we do IS for the going forth of the gospel. We work so that we can support our eternal families. We go to school so that we can learn all that the Lord already knows. We study the gospel to have a better understanding. We serve because we love the Lord and we love His children. What a marvelous work. I love one sentence in the mission handbook the most:

HOW GREAT IS YOUR CALL!!!!!

 

This is the Lord´s work. May we all do it together!

 

Love,

Hermana Shelley

pictures: 1.  Hermana Gutierez, me, Hermana Milmont, Hermana Gonzalez 

                                            (Sisters from Rio Grande) 

                2. Hermanas Gonzalez and Shelley (Hermana Gonzalez bday)

                 

1-17-12

Dearest Family,

So sorry that I didn´t give you then heads up that we had a conference yesterday and Pday today... we didn´t find out in time to email you last week about the change. Elder Foster, a council in our area 70 and Sister Foster are doing a mission tour and they started out here in Ushuaia. I learned SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much and it was such an amazing conference! I want to share a few things that I learned from the conference. 

The whole theme was "crecimiento real" or real growth in the church. We are baptizing, but then some go inactive, other previously active members go inactive, etc. He told us that in one stake in 2005 their were 755 active members, in 2010 there were only 661. But the thing even crazier is that that stake had had 482 baptisms in these 5 years. WOW... so we really need to help these people stay active and help those we have to stay in the church. We talked about how we REALLY need the help of the members to do it... we as missionaries will eventually leave, and really our duty is to find, teach, and baptize. Yes, we love working with recent converts and less active members, but we also have to find more people who are ready to come unto Christ through baptism. That´s why it´s so important that every member has a friend, and assignment, and nurishment by the good word of God. I especially want to mention the importance of Home Teachers and Visiting Teachers... SO essential. 

Hermana Foster talked alot about having faith in yourself. I really needed to hear that this week. She said that we have to get down to our knees but look up to heaven. I really loved that. 

President Foster had us start out by all thinking what we would want to say in our final prayer as a missionary. Who we would want to have become, how we felt, how we learned, etc. It was a really powerful moment for me. I just kept thinking that I want it to be a prayer of total gratitude. For the people, for my comps, for the converts and baptisms, the members, the areas, President and Hermana Gulbrandsen, the language, for the culture, for the things that I have learned and experienced, for my amazing family and EVERYTHING they do so that I can be here, for my friends and their support, etc. etc. Then I want to do what we learned from the missionary talk from priesthood session (Mom... thank you so much for recommending reading it last week. Changed. My. Life!) and talk about the things that I´ve learned and how I am going to use them in future service in the kingdom. I want to have really and truly become and instrument in the Lord´s hands. I want to be transformed. I want to be His. 

President Foster showed us a diagram that I´ve seen before, but is just so true... there are three ways to do missionary work:
1. Missionaries do everything (study, plan, teach, obedience, etc) and this makes for about 100 baptisms per month in a mission
2. Members help the missionaries (go to lessons, pray for, etc.) and this makes for 200 per month per mission
3. Missionaries help the members (THEY give us the references, bring their friends to church and activities, and we just teach) and this make for 400 baptisms per month per mission. 

WOW... This is such a key! We are talking about SALVATION here... we can baptize WAY more when the members really understand that this is missionary work, not the missionary´s work... that we are hear as full time teachers. We need the MEMBERS to be the full time finders. We need a vision that missionary work is the work of the CHURCH... the work of the MEMBERS... 



Yes, it was super great! I loved, loved, loved the conference. I learned so much from the speakers and more importantly from the Spirit. I am grateful for all that we learned and we´re super excited to put it in practice. 

I also got to sing the special musical number with Hermana Milmont who is serving in Rio Grande (about 3 hours from here and they come for conference) and it was sucha great experience. I loved doing it with Hermana Milmont. She´s one of my favorite Hermanas and we really get along great! 


So.........................

Mom got here!!!!!! I love being with Hermana Gonzalez again! She is just the cutest thing. I really wish that I could have had way more to offer her. I know that she had a hard time with 4 months in super difficult Congreso, and I wish that she could have got here to like 100 baptisms.... but ya... that didn´t happen. I was super down to be honest and feeling like "really???!!!??? Why is it that everyone that was progressing so well had to go on vacation?? What did I do wrong? Where did our baptisms go?" and then I realized that I was being like Laman and Lemuel and murmuring a whole ton and my problem was that I just needed to GO and DO. Hermana Gonzalez was super awesome about it too and just said, "hey... sometimes that happens. Let´s get out there and find new people!" She´s super great! We´re really looking forward to the success that we KNOW we will find... we might have a few tough weeks, but we aren´t worried. It will come! 

Hermana Gonzalez is super funny, just like always. My favorite is when we have to hike up to the barrios and she always says "I just don´t like it at all when you say that!" hahahaha. 

So to explain, yes Hermana Gonzalez was in the south... and yes it was her that we looked at the penguins when I was blog stalking... but she was in Rio Gallegos, which is more north from here. She was SO surprised to be coming back to the south... but the funny thing is that she was SUPPOSED to come here from Rio Gallegos and then a volcano erupted and she couldn´t get a flight so she went back north, and a transfer later trained me... we figure that there is DEFINITELY someone here that needs HER. 

Speaking of blog stalking... I found out that Herman Pinto in Congreso still reads my blog!!! YAY!!! Shout out to Familia Pinto. I love you both and hope that all is well. It was so fun to see pictures of you both from Hermana Gonzalez. You are both so great! Thanks for all you do for the work! 

Also, Brother and Sister Gonzalez read my blog! I love that! I am so excited to meet you both some day. I love hearing all about your lives! Also, thank you for having such an AMAZING daughter. I just love her! 

So Hermana Malhue´s last day here (SAD!) we decided that we DID have righteous desires to ring the doorbell on the big house... they are children of our Heavenly Father just like everyone else... so we did it!!!!! haha. Oh man! The man actually came out and talked with us about his family and everything!!! We gave him a folleto... um... I think it´s flier... no... pamphlet??? Oh English... anyways, we gave him one and tried to set up a return appointment, but he told us that he had everything that he needed in his life and didn´t need anything else. Bummer. I think we´ll stick with working in the more humble areas. At least we planted a seed and he has a Folleto. 

Yes, it was hard when Hermana Malhue left. Cried? Of course. But it´s ok. I know that she is needed in Capitol and I am really excited for the adventure to continue on here and be working with Hermana Gonzalez again. We didn´t even have to have the awkward getting to know you phase. It was great. She already know´s that I´m super awkward, super clumsy, etc. 

Hermana Gonzalez´s first full day here was her Bday! It was super fun! I didn´t want it to be a big bummer, so I had already told like the whole world that it was her bday before she got here. So I made a cake and we ate it with the Elders and district meeting that day, our lunch appointment had ice cream with candles and everything, everyone wished her a happy birthday, and that night, Veronica brought us a half kilo of ice cream! Sweet! It was a fun day. 

I forgot my camera chord again... sorry, no pics this week!


Well, another week down! I can´t believe how fast time flies. I love being a missionary. I have a strong testimony of the gospel that grows every day. I know that this is the Lord´s work and that we are just His servants. I know that the church is true. I know that Jesus lives. I know that we are lead by a prophet of God. I know that the scriptures are true.

I love you all!
Hermana Shelley

1-9-12

The big call came last night... Transfer time!


Hermana Malhue has been called to serve in CAPITOL... her area is Caballito and she is going to be serving with Hermana Smith (don´t know her, but picture looks super cute!) And yes, that means that as for me, I will be staying here in USHUAIA!!!! woo hoo!!! I am really super sad to be loosing Hermana Malhue but................................................(are you all sitting down???)............................................. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................

My new comp will be:


Wait for it...

(drum roll...)

(guesses??)



HERMANA GONZALEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, you all read that correctly... Hermana Gonzalez, my TRAINER will be joining me here in Ushuaia! Crazy, huh??? I guess that I need to get whipped into shape or something to have my mission mom again! haha. I don´t know what happened up north because she was training again and in the middle of the training, so I am not sure what happened... I know that she was in a trio (still with Hermana Dunn) and so maybe Hermana Dunn is going to finish the training of the new Hermana and Hermana Gonzalez is headed down south to me! haha. I guess that I didn´t learn everything that I needed to! haha. But seriously, I am way excited to be working with her again. She is a super duper missionary and I know that I am going to learn a TON. Hermana Malhue heads out tomorrow night at 7, I will be working with a member who is preparing for her own mission in a month (she will sleep in our apartment and work with me all day Wednesday) and Hermana Gonzalez comes in at 9 Wednesday night. Wow. Didn´t see that one coming, huh? I am excited and nervous all at once... it´s like moving out of the house and your parents are coming to visit you and you want to show them that you have used what they taught you and made something out of the work..........


So ya... that´s the big news!


Other big news......................

Cesar Diaz was baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday!!! Woo hoo!!! We ended up with 5 baptisms this transfer... we are so grateful to the Lord for this huge miracle! The baptism was really beautiful and Cesar is so happy. He is going to come to play soccer with the other kids in the branch today and he couldn´t be happier. He is really neat and said that he finally feels that he has a place in the world and that he is in God´s path! wow. He is a great young man (16 years old) and is really growing and progressing and learning. He was an old investigator who came back to church all on his own! Many of their family problems had passed and it was definitely his time. 


I am still loving the mission. I love that we give up the things of the world to get out and serve the Lord. It´s cool, because it´s really how things should be. Yesterday in testimony meeting (we had it this week for the new year) practically everyone in their testimonies said something about how they wished that everyone could have the gospel in their lives... well, what are we doing as members to help our brothers and sisters have this gift? I know that I am just full of challenges recently, but I do want to challenge you to think of a friend that you can share the gospel with. Something simple... invite them to an FHE or something. Start simple. People really are looking for truth. Something that I love to think about is that we are really not teaching anything new... we are helping people remember the plan that the ALREADY accepted in the premortal life. We are proclaiming the everlasting gospel. We are helping our brothers and sisters return to live with our Father in Heaven. I promise you all that if you will pray not only for missionary opportunities, but pray for a name to come to your mind of who you can share the gospel with that the name will come. Then, pray for how you can share the gospel with them and the strength to do so. We were having lunch with a recent convert in our branch when she got a phone call from a friend that she hadn´t talked to in a long while. At the end of the conversation, she invited him to church and told him simply that it was really important in her life and because she loves him, she wants to share. Wow... it was powerful and full of REAL love for this person, and he accepted the invitation!

You are all so great and seriously examples to me! I love you all dearly and you are in my prayers. I am so grateful to have an eternal family and I know that the things that you are doing will qualify you for the Celestial Kingdom... I need to prepare myself to make it there with you all!!!


Love you all, family!!!
Hermana Shelley


Pictures: 1- Hermana Malhue's first EVER pb&j!!
               2- Ceasar Diaz baptism
               3 -A house Kailei says they wish they were brave enough to knock!!
               4 & 5-Ships in Ushuaia
               6-Ushuaia zone

1-2-12

FAMILIA!!!

Wow! Where did 2011 go? I seriously cannot believe that the year is gone and 2012 has started! I am really so very excited for this year... and entire year in the mission field! WOOT! So excited! I can´t believe that this week I am going to complete 6 months! En serio... where does the time go?????? 

So we started 2012 off with a BANG!!! Facundo was baptized!!! I learned that Satan is real and that he does NOT want these baptisms to happen! We started out the morning looking for our investigators when we got a call from the family that Facundo was going to attend with that he wasn´t there or answering his phone. No biggie, because we still had an hour, we we headed off for his house. Well, he wasn´t there!!!! We looked EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Friends houses, the streets, etc. We must have called him 500 times... NOT exaggerating! haha. The thing is that an investigator has to come to church 3 times before he can be baptized and Facundo only had 2 asistences. Well, we eventually had to go to church, first of all because we have to take the Sacrament (and obviously want to) and second of all because I had to give my talk (more on that later). The minute my talk was done (I was the first speaker, luckily) we headed out to search for Facundo so that he could attend the other branch that started at 11 (it was 10:45). With much prayer and faith we tried a friend´s house for the second time and FACUNDO ANSWERED!!!! Halalujah! Since it was the 1st, there weren´t any taxi or remis and we had no idea what to do. (the other building is really far). We prayed again and a member showed up with a car and she had felt to follow us!!! We got to the chapel at 11:05 and it was perfect! So after, Facundo headed off and we went to our lunch appointment. After, we went to look for him for the baptism and he was all ready. The sad thing was that everyone he had invited chose to go al campo instead of the baptism, but he said that he understood that the baptism is what matters and not the people. So we headed off to the baptism. The baptisms are also in the other chapel because our font is broken... we don´t have keys to that chapel. When we got there, the Elders weren´t there... we called them and found out that our zone leader was SUPER sick and they were waiting for other Elders to show up so that they could do divisions. We had to literally run to their house (we left Facundo with some members waiting outside the chapel) to get the keys because the water in the font had been on really long and would be overflowing. we got back and turned the water off (only a LITTLE mess) and got everything prepared. The Elders got there and Elder Smith quickly changed to do the baptism and we had a beautiful baptism. Everything turned out great, but we were super duper exhausted. haha. Good times. Facundo said that it wasn´t easy, but it was the best decision ever! Woo hoo!! He is really great. And another really awesome thing is that all 4 companionships in our zone had baptisms this week!!!!!! So awesome! 

Our investigators are doing well. We are especially working with Raul and his daughter Marcia, Sandra, Cesar, Gustavo, Gisel, Monica, and Ezekiel. To meet our goal of 6 baptisms this transfer, we need 2 more, and we have great plans to meet that goal. Raul and Marcia could be baptized, but he is a bit reluctant. Gustavo could also be baptized...he was an old investigator that we found recently and he doesn´t feel ready after such a long time away from the church, but we are going to help him. We also have plans to pass by some old investigators and invite them to return. We know that we are going to be especially exhausted at the end of the week, but we are going to do everything possible to complete our goal. 

So I mentioned that I had to give a talk in church. I really love to speak, but I was nervous about 15 minutes of Spanish in a microphone. My talk was on a talk from Elder Oaks about three things that we know thanks to the restoration... 1. The naturaleza (I can´t remember for the life of me what the word is in English... sorry) of God, 2. The purpose of life, and 3. That we have revelation in these days.

I learned a lot, and actually it went pretty well. The only thing was that my mind was in Facundo and I felt a little scattered, but Hermana Malhue said that it made sense. After, at our lunch appointment, Hermano Orellano told me that my accent was way better than when I arrived and that he understood every word. Then he said "yep, I loved hearing all about the importance of prayer!" I seriously thought for a moment that no body understood a word I said, but then he started laughing really hard. haha. He said that he only jokes with "las gringas" when he knows that they really do know Spanish. haha. It was really funny. 

My understanding of the subjuntive is much better. Thank you all for your prayers! And thank you to Brad for sending me the WEIRDOS trick. That helped a ton and I am really grateful. Thank you for the tip! 

Other funny thing... Hermana Malhue is learning English and she is SUPER good. I love helping her during companionship language study and she has really improved. This week, we have been focused on the language of prayer (using Thee and Thou instead of you and your, stuff like that) and she really caught on right away. Well, the other day, we were working and after she said "Oh Hermana Shelley! Thank thee for thy help!" HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. We laughed so hard for so long. She realized right after she said it, but it was just so stinking funny. We had a really good laugh. 

I am growing and learning every day. I have so much more to learn, but I learn from my mistakes and I am working to be better every day. I am so far from becoming the missionary that I want to be, but I am striving and learning every day. I am grateful for the mistakes that I make because they really do make me a better missionary in the end. I love love love the work and am humbled by the opportunity to be here. I love the Lord and the Atonement. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that He sent His son, Jesus Christ to live, atone, and die for us and that He lives again. I know that we have THE only true church on the earth today and that we are lead by a prophet of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love reading from it´s pages every day. 

Please remember the challenge to read! I loved hearing that the church magazines are all about scripture study and I am so proud of you all for taking the challenge every day. I want to share a quick thought about WHY it is important. 

In Spanish, "wave" is "ola." President Gulbrandsen taught us that in order for a surfer to arrive at the shore, they need a bigger OLA. 
O-orar (pray)
L-leer (read)
A-asister (attend church)
The things that the Lord asks are really simple, but if we will do these three simple things, pray, read the scriptures, and attend church, we will arrive in our heavenly home one day. And the bigger the wave, the more likely that the surfer will arrive on the shore. Similarly, if we are doing these things EVERY day (and church once a week) we will have a bigger OLA and we WILL arrive as a family in the Celestial Kingdom. Remember, "No empty seats." 

I love you all and want to hear all about your experiences with reading from the scriptures every day. Thank you for taking the challenge! 

I love you all and pray for you.



Thank you dearest family for everything!!!

All my love,
Hermana Shelley 


Pictures are of Facundo's baptism