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

9-26-11 letter

Dearest Family!!!!!!

 

Wow... I´ve been here for 3 weeks! That is crazy! This week was another good one. It´s still a trial for me to see people choose not to come unto Christ, whether it´s people who have been progressing not accept more lessons, less active members, or people not accept baptism. It´s really sad. There was one day where literally EVERY plan (most actually scheduled lessons) AND EVERY backup plan literally fell through. That mixed with one lady who told us that she was inactive because people in church are poor and that she had nothing to talk to missionaries about. What could 19 to 23 year old kids know and why would she want them telling her about religion? Then another inactive sister told us that she didn´t think it was right that girls would ask to come into her home when she had a husband and a son and that she would be calling the Elders. And then I was feeling pretty junky about my Spanish. Yes, I will admit it, I was getting a little bit discouraged, and I was this close to letting satan get me down. Well, I woke up then next morning and told myself that I am WAY stronger than anything that satan can throw at me and that I can get up and get going or I can wallow in self pity and be a failure because I choose to be. So in my studies, I studied President Uchtdorf´s talk from last Priesthood session about the privilege of the Priesthood, and every time he said Priesthood, I said ´missionary´ in my mind (I don´t think he would mind) and it was AMAZING!!! I then went to Alma 26, which he mentions in the talk which talks about glorying in the Lord. And verse 27 says that if we endure our hardships well, that we will be able to find success. All the talk about glorying in the Lord made me think, "I am a SISTER MISSIONARY!! This is what I have wanted to be for a VERY long time and it´s actually happening! I have the chance to get a front row seat to the Lord performing miracles in the lives of His children!" Wow... seriously though, maybe it´s dramatic, but I am a missionary and that is COOL! I felt much better after that study and even when things are less than stellar or plans fall through, I can glory in my Lord. It´s like Ammon... when the robbers came to steal the sheep, he didn´t freak out. He basically said "How great! I am going to show forth the power of God!" I want to be that way.

 

This week we had Zone Conference. The night before, our district leader called and told us that we were all supposed to prepare 3 or 4 minute talks about counseling with the Lord. I didn´t think much of it, and prepared a simple talk the next morning before leaving. Basically just some notes and scriptures. Well, we got there and President started calling people up to speak. I figured I was safe since all the Elders he was calling up had been there for a long while and there were 5 other Sisters there. Well, by the 2nd talk I had a feeling that I would be asked to give my talk. I think the Lord had to tell me early, because I might have passed out otherwise. Ha. Well, President called me up and I was SUPER nervous, because it´s not like in the MTC where all of the missionaries came in with you or after you. There were many missionaries there who are on their last transfer, and most everyone else has mastered Spanish. The other new missionaries that were there were honestly all natives. That´s why I thought I would be safe because I was the only one, totally 100% honestly, who didn´t speak Spanish. Yikes! Well, I did okay. I said 2 English words because I had no idea how to say humbling. Humildad is humility, but humbling is a totally different thing. I can´t remember the other word, but there was another one... it was okay though. I actually think it was good for me to know that I can. People seemed to know what I was saying, so they were either super nice, or something I said made a little bit of sense. Ha! Small Spanish victories.

We have the best ward EVER!!! Our Bishop, Obispo Valle is really super awesome. I am in awe at everything he does for the ward. We had ward council on Sunday and his love and concern for the ward was especially evident. He is a good man. Everyone sacrifices a LOT to serve in their callings. Like the YM Pres. He is 25 and from Haiti!!! He is here studying, working, AND is the YM President. Wow. We took him to a lesson with us yesterday and that was super awesome. More on that lesson later. Also in the ward council is Hno and Hna Pinto. We had lunch with them yesterday and we LOOOOOVE them! They are a SUPER cute young married couple from Brazil who are just adorable together. We had such a good time with them and are so impressed with their service to the ward. Hna Pinto is only 21 too and she is the kind of cute wife I want to be some day. She studied in Utah for a year as a youth and now makes cute little cupcakes, cookies, etc. She made us chocolate chip cookies and it was like tasting home! Their apartment is adorable and super nice. We love meeting the people in our ward and building relationships with them is great because then they trust us and will let us teach their friends and family.

YM President with us so that he could get to know him and that was great. Hermano Alfredo is amazing and was super helpful. Jimmy is 16 and Hermano Alfredo was also 16 when he converted and is still really young, so they connected well. It was really inspired to ask him to come with us.

 

Rudecinda and Sandra are both doing well. They have started their paper work and we are slowing going to be able to get them baptized!!! We just love them so much.

 

Pray for our investigators. We have baptismal dates, so that´s great. There are some who just can´t make a commitment and some who we still need to make some changes. Then of course, there are many to FIND. That is always the first step! Finding. It´s fun to try different ways of finding people. This week, our focus is Conference. We are SSSSSOOOOOOOOO excited about conference and can´t wait to tell EVERYONE that there is a literal Prophet on the earth today! Wow! How amazing is that truth??? Will you all take a challenge?? Will you all invite at least 1 person to watch conference with you? Because really, we have a Prophet of God and he is going to speak to us! How can we keep that a secret??? Conference is a spiritual feast and a great opportunity to share the truth! I can´t wait to hear about all the success you have with this.

My Spanish is progressing. I even talked on the phone, which is huge because I am scared of the phone because if I can´t see mouths, I have even less of a chance of understanding! But it actually was okay and I even set up an appointment. So it´s coming.

In all, things are great. I feel so humbled by this work. I have a very long way to go, but I am so grateful that the Lord is teaching me with every single experience!

 

I love the gospel and I am so happy for the chance to take it to the people of Argentina. It really is the truth in the earth today and we have the authority and power of God. Wow, wow wow!

 

Thank you for all the love and support! I couldn´t do it without you!

 

All my love,

Hermana Shelley

9-19-11 letter

Well, this week was awesome and difficult all at once. Agency is a tough thing sometimes. We were supposed to have a baptism yesterday, and when we went to pick him up he wasn´t home and didn´t answer his phone all day and when we tried to go back that night and teach him and set a new date, he still wasn´t home. Sad. We are hoping all is well. The hard thing is that this is the second time that he has done this, so we have some work to do. Pray for him.

 

The work is progressing and things are easier now that we are starting to get to know the area. The members are wonderful and so very helpful, which makes everything easier. The only problem with members is that they feed us way to much! HA! But seriously, I thought that I would just eat super slow and then I would not have to accept seconds, but no... they won´t take no for an answer. Oh boy!

 

We have 2 "eternal investigators" who both need to be married to their "husbands" before they can be baptized. We had SUPER awesome lessons with both of them this week and they both accepted baptismal dates and both went to get the papers to be married (this is the most difficult part...simply going to get them!) and they are going to be baptized between sessions of GENERAL CONFERENCE on Sunday October 2nd. How cool is that! They are both practically members already who come to church and their children are baptized and now they are finally making this important covenant. WOW! Being a missionary is so amazing because you get to have a front row seat to watch the miracles that God creates. wow wow wow wow wow!

So people here have a really hard time pronouncing Shelley... most of the time, it´s Hermana Shirley! haha. So fun. I really love that.

 

My Spanish is getting better every day. I understand a TON of what is going on, and when it´s about the gospel, I understand almost everything. It´s harder to speak, but Hermana Gonzalez just expects me to speak, and so I do. The gift of tongues is real. Some moments, I think I will never get it, but then the next I express myself really well. It´s all coming. "Open my mouth and it shall be filled!" I really love how animated the Spanish is here. People sound like Italians the way they accentuate their words and all the animation in the sounds. It´s really great!

 

We are finding lots of great new investigators. The area is interesting, because like I said, there are no houses to knock doors and the apartments are all locked inside, so you can ring a bell and talk to them over the intercom, but that is not usually effective... so, we either have to have set appointments, have a member introduce us to their friends, or street contact. We have some really great investigators and I love them all. It´s crazy how full of love your heart can be as a missionary! We are regularly teaching Rudesinda, Sandra, Agosto, Isabel, Dandy, Javier, and Helda, and have had a couple lessons with Monica, Marisol, Julio and Carmen, and Jimmy. We find more every day, so that´s always great!

 

Missionary work is such a blessing! I love being a part of this. Speaking of how much I love this, I figure that I might as well let you all know this now... President Gulbrandsen always has Sisters stay for the later transfer (remember how Sisters don´t hit 18 months even on a transfer) which means that I will get to be here until the end of January 2013! I feel really good about this and it feels right. And you won´t have to worry about signing me up for school since I will miss the semester! I won´t have to worry about rushing home and starting right up. I can just focus on my mission and then come home and get a job and stuff. I know that you were all hoping for before Christmas, but know that I love you TONS and am so happy that we are an eternal family. We will have many Christmases together, and in my time here, I will be able to help OTHER families have that same eternal blessing.

I love you all so much and pray for you daily! Thank you for your prays and support. I really could not do this without you. I hope that all is well and that you are all doing well! 

 

LOVE YOU!!!!

Hermana Shelley