12-30-13

Dear Family and Friends,

First off I just need to make sure that everyone knows that next weeks Monday, will be my last "real" P-day. The next Monday I will be having my exit interview with President Meredith, and will be in Oakland for a few hours of the days. I will still email at some point, so you can, and should =P still email me, but I will probably only have time to email a quick one home. I'll see you guys a few days after that anyways, so it will all work out. 

This week was an interesting one for us. We had a lot of cancellations due to the holidays, but actually were still able to see a lot of miracles so that was a huge blessing to us. We had been struggling to get lessons with the people, and so it was starting to get pretty taxing, but at the end of the week, we were surprised to see how the week had ended. It was not by any means a record setting week for us, but it still didn't turn out too bad! The one thing that we struggled the most with, was the fact that we didn't get to open our mouths to as many people as we do walking down the street. President Meredith has us starting a new key indicator that we are going to be turning in next week of "OYM" as open your mouth. Basically that means that we are going to be required to speak to 20 random people each day per companionship. Now that could be through tracting, or street contacting, or anyway that we can talk to people. It is going to be pretty tough though, cause it is really crazy to think about how many people that we pass on a normal day! We have a ton of people that we see around the college, but for some reason, we still struggle to talk to the 20 people that President would like us to. It is super weird to me. I have no fear anymore about talking to random people, but at the same time it's different.. I have been working on it super hard. I have a HUGE goal of making sure that as a companionship to talk to 140 people in a week. I really am going to push for that. The most we have gotten, is 85 and that seemed like it was super tough. It will all work out though. We will make it happen some how! 

So the tough news of the week, is that Tyler was not baptized this past Saturday because of all the family opposition that he had been getting.. The good news though, is that he has set the expectation with them that he IS getting baptized this coming Saturday whether they support him or not. I am really proud of him! He has been keeping it from them for so long, and he finally came out that he was getting baptized. His parents were more mad then I have ever seen parents, and threatened to kick him out of the house if he went through with it... Thankfully miracles do happen, and they came to him and told him that if he pushed it back one week that that would give them an opportunity to discuss it as a family, and that they would be ok with it. So our prayers have finally been answered, and it has been a huge blessing to see the Lord do his magic! It is so great. I am excited! He has asked me to baptize him, and we have invited President to come to it also! We don't know what his schedule looks like, but at the same point, we are hoping that he will be able to make it. Tyler has been through so much, and we thought that it would be really special for him if the Mission President and his wife showed up to support him. It would be great if it happened! 

Love you all so much. I am kinda out of things to say, cause I just spoke to you on Christmas! But I do have a testimony of the Gospel, and am very thankful for all that it has done to change my life! I am really pleased with the person that it is helping me to become! I am no where near where I should be, but I am starting to be proud of myself! I love this Gospel, and love this church! Thanks again for all that you do, and for the love that you have shown me over the past few months/years! 

Much Love,

Elder Mackay Shelley

12-23-13

Dear Family, 

Sorry that my Christmas Card was so lame.. We were trying to get it all figured out to get one printed out at CVS or something, but it was a little expensive, and we needed to save some money for food and all that stuff. Hope that you enjoyed it, and that you will be able to know just how much we love you and think about you! 

We went to dinner with Tyler and Courtney his girlfriend. We went to Applebees, and it was a great dinner. We talked a lot about his baptismal date this Saturday, and it's looking a lot better. His parents have been giving him a ton of flack for it, and so he was going to go and talk to his parents that night, and see what they were thinking about his date. He is really getting to the point though that he would rather just move out and get baptized then keep going through all this heart ache and struggles with his parents.. It has been tough for us also, cause we have to keep him following the Ten Commandments of honoring his parents, but at the same time his parents are holding him back from making the biggest decision of his life!! We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, cause he NEEDS to be baptized so that he can have the spirit to help him through all of this, but at the same time, he wants to make his family happy! It's been a tough week with him.. Please just keep him in your prayers, and ask the Lord to soften the heart of his mom. His dad is at the point where he just doesn't care anymore, but his mom is livid that he is even thinking about it. So we will need ALL the help that he can get! Keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and we have the faith that it will happen! 

Well I am struggling to type much more! I broke my left pointer finger this past week playing dodge ball, and so it is really tough and has taken a while to type out this email. It's hurting quite a bit so I'm going to wrap this up! I sure hope that this week you will all remember the true meaning of Christmas, and think more about the Savior then anything else. He is what the Holiday is supposed to be about anyways right? So here is the challenge for the family, and for anyone else that wants to do it also. On Christmas Eve when everything is crazy and everyone is excited about the next day, I want everyone to settle down for a few minutes and have a small testimony meeting for anyone who would like to participate. Bear testimony of the power that the Savior brings into our lives! Bear testimony of how much you love the Savior! We have an amazing family, but fast and testimony is only a month, and we don't always stand up and bear testimony. I have learned one thing on my mission, and that is to never pass up an opportunity to bear testimony to those who need it most! Mom, Dad, Jason, and Lissa, Grandma, don't pass up the opportunity to bear testimony to your kids and grandkids. Especially on the day that is set aside every year to be about Christ!  One of my favorite memories of Grandpa, was that every time we skyped, he would take time to tell me that he supported me in the work that I was doing, and that he knew that I would have success and that he loved me! That small but powerful testimony will stay in my heart for the rest of my life! You don't have to be at church, or in a missionary lesson to bear your testimony. We should be baring testimony to our kids every day and helping them to know how we feel about the Gospel! My parents were good at that! They may not have said it in words persay, but they said it in their actions! Every time my dad went to bless an older lady in the ward, or to put in long hours on Saturday night, so that his Sabbath could be a day of rest like it's supposed to be! My mom putting in a few time jobs worth of calling hours, on top of cleaning the house and running around with me as I competed with band and sports all my life! Every foot pain I ever felt I know that she felt them with me! Every surgery she was right there with me making sure that I was as comfortable as possible! My parents were right there the day that I found out the hardest news of my life.. Coming home from my mission that I had worked so hard to go on had come to an end. I still remember the words of comfort that came my way as I was in a recovery center still losing pound after pound. They were there at the airport to releave me of my 20 pound shoulder bag that I couldn't even hold up on my own. I will be eternally grateful for the parents and family that I have! One day I will figure out a way to pay them back for all of the things that they deserve from me! 

My Testimony for this Christmas season is that He lives! Our Savior Jesus Christ lives! He knows and loves each and every one of us! He stands at the head of this great work, and gives us the strength to continue. Elder Packer our area 70 spoke to us a week ago and said, "the missionary work of just being an example to our neighbors is over! It's time to go out and invite. To commit, and to save!'' That is such a true statement! Everyone knows who were are, and knows our standards, but are not going to act upon it until they are given the opportunity to do so! I am so proud of my brother and all the hard work that he gave this past week to help the missionaries out. I love the Book of Mormon! I am pleased to say that I entered the Philippines with a blank copy of it, and have used it and tested it many many times! I am pleased to say that the pages are browning, the words are fading, the inside pages are inked up and written on! I have used this book in every phase of missionary work, and I LOVE it!!! I have a great testimony of this work. I hope and pray that everyone can see change that has occurred in me! I am by no means that kid that left for the Philippines, or the boy that left for California. I hope that you will see a man get off that plane in a few weeks. I have worked my tail off this past 6 months so that I can say that I ran it all into the ground and didn't leave anything behind me! I want the Lord to be able to know that I did everything I could! It hasn't been a perfect two years. I can say that honestly that I made a lot of mistakes, but at the given time I was doing the best that I could, so I am proud of myself! I am super tired though. I think that that is a good sign of hard work. Elder Hill said that he has never worked this hard on his mission. We work like dogs, and leave nothing back! I love the Lord, and I love you all. Please have a great Christmas and remember who you are! 

Much Love,

Elder Mackay Shelley

12-16-13

Dear Family,

This week has been one that has sure made me sleep well at nights! haha We have had a ton of things happen that are way out of the norm, so it has been a little bit of a struggle. But, it has been a blast to be able to serve, and to make sure that we continue to help the elders and sisters that need it. We had an elder get emergency transferred to the Hayward zone to help a set of elders drive, cause they lost their wallets, and they both had their licences in them. So we had to drive to Oakland and borrow one of the mission trucks, and then come back out to Walnut Creek and load up his stuff, take him out there, and then unload, go back to Oakland to drop off the truck, and then come all the way back in our car to make it to a super last minute lesson that we set up! All in all I'm not even sure how long it took, but I felt like I was loosing hair the entire time! We got it all figured out, and were able to make it in time for our lesson. 

Elder Hill has been doing pretty good. I am struggling a little bit, just because he isn't as fluid with the teaching as I felt like elder Fajardo was, but at the same time he has a lot of power that he brings with him from time to time. The investigators seem to really like him, so that is all that matters. We have been having a lot of success lately. We dropped one of our dates for the 11th, but had a miracle happen the next day that replaced it! We got a call from a set of sisters that serve in a part of our area, that has been teaching a young lady for about a month now. She has a date for the 11th set, but has been wanting to go to the YSA Ward lately, so they are going to be switching her over to us this next week. It's crazy how much the lord blesses us with people to teach, so that we can continue to bless others the way that we have been able to bless a few others at this point. 

 

I wish that we could get Tyler's parents to support him! They have been a super big hindrance, and it is starting to get to him lately... We almost lost him this week, because of the pressure that they have been sending his way! He is one that we have been trying to get to recognize that even if they don't support him, that he still needs this in his life. We want them to support him, and to be there next to him, but if they are going to hold him back from it, he is going to have to make a decision for himself what will be the best. His girlfriend Courtney has really been working hard on him too and sending him daily quotes and scriptures for him to read. We found out a few nights ago that he hadn't been reading his scriptures for the past few weeks, and we helped him to recognize that that could be a huge reason for why he hadn't been receiving answers to his prayers! You have got to be reading your scriptures daily along side of prayer, or you are not going to be able to feel the spirit as well as you could if you had been reading! It was a good thing for him to recognized, cause he was able to see the difference in the way that he had been feeling. He was starting to get angry again, and just not wanting to meet with us, but once he did, he felt the spirit again, and so he was able to recognize just how real satan is! He will get at you if you don't put Heavenly Father first! It has been a good last day or two to be able to teach him, and be able to see the difference in his life. He came to church, and is still preparing for the 28th. Just trying to get his parents to support him a little more. It will all work out! 

Deniella is really trying to work towards her date too. She is just still struggling to get an answer! I kinda wonder if she is still worried about it, or if she is just worried about telling everyone that she got one! We shall see. I am really hoping that she is going to be able to come out with the fact that she has received a spiritual witness, and that she is going to keep working towards the date of the 28th also. It may be the 29th, cause she doesn't want to share a day with Tyler haha. We will just keep praying for her, and see how it all goes! 

Well it officially is under a month till I come home.. I am really getting to the point where I am starting to get excited about it. I am stoked to be able to come and see everyone and spend time with you again, but it's just so hard to even think about not being here with these people that I have grown to love. I honestly never though that I would say that I love California, but I love it here. Don't think I could live here, but man has this last year and a half been amazing! I have met so many people that have just changed who I am, and changed the way that I see the world! I don't think I will ever be able to forget these times. Part of my heart will always reside here in the bay area! This will be the place where my testimony was formed, and transfigured into what it is today! I wish I could truly put into words the way that I am feeling, but it just isn't happening.. My journal has turned into the large plates of Nephi, because I just have never felt this happy in life, and so I have no idea how to write it, to make it even come close to the way that it really is! I have changed in ways that I didn't think I would ever change! I feel closer to the spirit then I have ever felt in life before also. One of the best parts of my mission, has been the fact that I have learned how to much better follow the spirit! I feel it almost all the time, as long as I don't do something that drives it away. That is probably the thing that I get the most frustrated with, is the fact that I still struggle with even the smallest things that make the spirit leave for small amounts of time. I know that we all do that, but it has just got so frustrating to struggle with it, and not be able to ALWAYS have the spirit with you! We have it most of the time, but judgmental thoughts come into your mind, or you aren't exactly obedient, and the spirit by command can't be there! It has been a good lesson to learn! I love being a full time missionary! I can't believe that it is about to come to an end. I will miss it for the rest of my life! Thankfully missionary work is always right around us, and that is going to be the thing that will keep me going strong! I look forward to still being a missionary at all times when I am home. 

Well it's time to end this one. I feel like it is larger then usual. Haha the sister missionaries that are usually here emailing haven't gotten here yet, so we have been able to focus and get a good email out quickly before we get distracted with talking! haha Guys I love doing what I am doing! I am so thankful for all that you have done for me! For those who helped mom write letters for my 12 days of Christmas, thank you sooo much! I have gotten through a few of them, and they are treasures to me! I am so thankful to everyone that has helped me over the years to become the person that I am. You all deserve a personal spot in the Celestial Kingdom for putting up with me in High School! Thanks for never giving up on me! I will be forever grateful to you all! I love this Gospel! I love the Lord! The Scriptures will change all of our lives if we will just allow them . Don't forget what the true meaning of Christmas is, and remember to pray for those who don't have what we have! Love you all! Talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Shelley

12-9-13

Dear Family,

What a great change! My new companion's name is Elder Hill, and he is great! He is from West Jordan Utah, and he has only been out for about 9 months. He is a great missionary and is really powerful and strives to always follow the spirit. The best part is that he understands his imperfections, and is always striving to fix them! We are both trying to dignify our language, cause we have picked up some slang on the mission that isn't very good. I am fine outside the apartment, but need to work on it all together!  It will be good to have someone that is willing to work on it together! I am pretty excited about this next transfer! We work pretty well together, and have 4 dates at the moment! Anastasia is doing sooo well, and is going to be baptized on the 21st of this month! We just need to keep in constant contact with her, and things will all work out. We are still working with Tyler too. He hasn't been in contact with us the past week, and so we have been a little nervous about it! We have a lesson with him today, and so hopefully we can talk to him and see how things are going and why he has been ignoring us for a while! Hopefully his family hasn't gone too crazy on him! They are not loving the fact that he wants to get baptized to say the least! They are going to all extents to prevent him, so we have been fasting and praying like crazy to try to help him get through it! I am just hoping that he is able to keep his testimony through all of this! 

So I have to tell you about the best Christmas gift I have received on my mission. I went up to the mission home this past week to exchange a car for one of the sisters. Being Christmas time, as zone leaders we get all the packages and take them back to all of the district leaders to distribute to all of their missionaries. Well as we were getting the gifts, Elder Hill said that I had something. It was just a plastic bag tied in a knot so that I couldn't see inside. I didn't think much about it, and so I just tossed it into the pile of everything else. I had gotten a box from Grandma Shelley also, so it was very nice. We got everything in the car, and Elder Hill asked who had sent the plastic bag to me. It didn't have anything other then just my name on it, so I was a little curious. When we got back to the apartment I pulled it out, and opened it up. Inside was a note, that said, "I know it's not much, but It's all I had to thank you." It was signed by Elder Makaya, and inside were 2 T-shirts with his Island's name on them, one just plane green, and the other red with a picture of the beach and the island's name. Also inside were 2 pairs of flip flops that also had the Island name on them. I couldn't help but cry, as I remembered that I had told Elder Makaya that I wanted a pair of flip flops from his island back when we were in Brentwood together! He told me that it was to much to ship them, and so I just never really talked about it again. I don't think the shirts had ever been worn, and the flip flops were brand new! I have no idea where or how he got the money to get these things to me, but the note that he put in the bag was the greatest Christmas Gift I had ever received! What a humble and truly Christlike young man he was! When I get on email this week, the first person that had sent me an email was him! He had to have sent it the first day he got home and was asking if I had gotten my stuff from him. There were three emails asking me if I had received them. He doesn't have a computer at his house, and I know that he had to have traveled quite some distance to email me those three different emails! I had no idea that he was that thankful to me! I knew that we had become great friends in the mission, but this was a huge deal to me. I am so thankful for him and for the hard work that he put forward to finally become a senior companion for the last three transfers of him mission. He really was a great guy, just had lost focus for a little bit. He ended his mission strong, and he will forever be remember for his loving heart, and his great big laugh and hugs. I miss him already, and hope that he is enjoying his home life! 

Guys I feel like I just need to end with that! That is what the true meaning of Christmas is! Not to give HUGE gifts so that you can been seen as the person that is able to spend a lot, but the person that gives more then he has, just because he has that kind of love! Elder Makaya was a great example to me! I was able to bare my testimony in front of the entire Walnut Creek stake missionaries last night, and it was a joy to me! I love to testify that our savior lives! I know that he does! He has paid the price for my sins, and he is my hero! I'm so thankful that through the Atonement that he performed, I can be made whole and be free of the things that were a challenge to me before! I'm thankful for my Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith! He truly was a revelatory man, and without him, we would not be where we are today! I'm thankful that I am able to be a missionary during the time that the Lord has decided to hasten his work! I have been blessed to be able to stand boldly and testify that I KNOW the savior lives! I KNOW that he is the son of God, and that through him we can be saved and receive our exaltation in his fathers kingdom! I'm thankful that my purpose as a missionary is to save the souls of those who know not where to find the truth. To bring salvation to the broken hearted, and to being peace to those who have lost their way! This is my simple testimony that I bear in the name of Christ our savior, Amen.

May we all continue to live the season the way that Christ would want us to live it. Thank you all for all that you have done for us out here in the field, but remember to do even more for the missionaries that are out there in the field! Remember to lift where we stand, and we will do wonders in the work! I love you all so very much!

Love,
Elder Mackay Shelley

Picture: Mackay and Elder Hill

12-2-13

Dear Family,

Well I guess the Lord has seen fit for three transfers to be the limit for me and Elder Fajardo. Elder Fajardo has been called else where. He will be transferred as a zone leader out in San Leandro which is next to Oakland. He will be the Senior Zone Leader, and will be speaking Spanish. I am really excited for him, because that is exactly what he wanted. Well he wanted to train in Spanish, but he is still excited about the call. It's going to be crazy to serve with a completely new missionary for the last transfer of my mission. I was hoping that Elder Fajardo would stay for just one more so that we could keep working like we are together, but I guess the Lord has seen fit to call him another way! We will be life long friends, and will see each other soon after, cause we have a recent convert that will be going through the temple right before his mission soon after we get home, and we have promised that we would come back to be there with him!

This week has been a really good one. Probably the biggest news, is that Deniella finally has a baptismal date again! She has started reading the Book of Mormon on her own, and says that she is starting to feel/see the difference. She has picked the date of the 21st of December for herself. We didn't even have to set it for her, she picked it on her own. It was a really cool lesson to see her start to take it seriously and to start to see her make the needed changes to make this happen. I am really praying hard that it will go through, cause that is all she needed to be able to just do great things. She really needs the spirit because Satan hits her hard, and it's hard for her to determine what is ok and not and the spirit will help that! So please keep her in your prayers! She is really starting to do well! 

Thanksgiving was really good. With us being in the YSA ward, we didn't have a ton of options for dinner. But to be completely honest, I liked it. When I was in Brentwood, I think we had four full dinners and like 4 desserts! The members were so loving and kind, that they just wanted to feed us the whole day. Out here we had a nice dinner with the bishop and his family, and then the first counselor and his family invited us over for a little second round of pie which I really enjoyed! The rest of the day we spent with Peter Pu and Harry. We hung out at the institute and played pool and ping pong. Neither of them are Thanksgiving people, so they just enjoyed playing the games with us, and that made it so that we didn't gain a ton of weight hahaha. It was just a very simple Thanksgiving that I was able to take time to ponder on all the things that I am thankful for! One of the biggest things, is my health that I have been blessed with the past few months. Last Thanksgiving half way through the first dinner, I was already having issues and was in pretty bad pain. That was the beginning of all the tests that I went through out there, and so the health that I have this year has been just a blessing to me. I still have the occasional week long flare up, but I will probably have those for the rest of my life. They don't happen as often anymore, and I still pray that one day they will stop completely.  If not though, I can at least look back and say"look at where I was way back then" and know that it has improved! 

Tyler has been doing soooo well. He had a little slip up on Thanksgiving that caused us to have to push his date back to the 28th.. His parents have really been giving him a hard time about it all, and they pressured him to have a small drink that he didn't want to do, but he did fall into that. He has repented, and is really striving to continue to prepare for baptism. We took him to the lighting of the Temple lights, and he really enjoyed it! There was a music and dance recital that same evening that lead in the lighting, and it was very touching and powerful! The spirit was so strong and he felt it- which is great! He is determined to be baptized in December, and so it was great that he is starting to pick up on the spirit so well. 

We found this great new investigator names Anastasia and she is super solid! She called us last week and told us that she wanted to start meeting with us, and she wanted to come to church. Within the first lesson, we had a baptismal date for the 28th of December, and a commitment to come to church! She came with us yesterday, and said that she felt safe and calm there! It was a great experience to have her there, and the ward really did a good job at helping her feel comfortable and have a good time. 

So here is the big news that made my mission feel like it could have been compete at that point! I hope that I have mentioned, but Peter Pu is back full force in the church and has been doing SOOO good!!! Well last night, we were going over there to surprise him, and to have Elder Fajardo say goodbye to him. We actually caught him right as he was pulling into his parking spot. He came out and was super confused why we were there, cause he has told us not to just drop in on him unless we really need him. He asked what was going on, and Elder Fajardo told him that he was leaving. He was a little confused on how things happen, cause he thought that meant that it would just be me in the area now, and that I would be working alone. He wasn't super excited when he found out that there would be a completely new Elder that was here and would be working with him. But as we talked about it he felt much better. We took a few pictures with him, and he was so funny! He wanted to hold up the Book of Mormon and the bible and show that he is a Christian again! He then got really serious, and told us that he had figured out his priorities lately, and it is as follows; God, Studies, Money! This was a huge deal to me and Elder Fajardo, because that has been our goal the entire time teaching him, is to have him put God before money! It finally has happened, and that was such a great opportunity to hear that. But the best thing that happened, was as we were walking him back to his apartment. Right before he walked up the stairs, he pulled us both into a hug, and said, "Thanks, you guys bring God into my life!" I don't know if you will ever fully understand just how that made me feel. There were tears in all three of our eyes as we went our separate ways! Out of all of my days as a missionary, I don't think I have ever truly been thanked for what we do. Members always tell us that we are doing good things, and that they are thankful, but for a convert to hug us, and to say thanks for bringing God into his life changed my mission completely! I could have gone home that night, and felt like my mission was a success! Peter was someone that had no belief in God, and that has struggled with excepting everything that we teach and believe. So to have him tell us that he was thankful for bringing God into his life, it meant the world to us both. It was a great way to end the Sabbath! 

There is always so much that I could type in these Emails, but I need to do a few more things online before we sign off for good today. It still blows my mind that I am now within my last six week transfer of my mission... I am super excited to be able to get to see everyone again, but all the miracles that we have seen the past few days, has just made me realize how addicted I am to being a missionary! I have never been this happy in my life, and I know how hard it is to continue to do missionary work when you go back home. I have set some pretty high goals for myself though, and am really looking forward to being able to share the gospel with those that I come in contact with. It should be a good time! Thank you all for continuing to keep me posted on everything that is happening! It has been a huge blessing to have all the support that I do. I feel like I am one of the most spoiled missionaries in this mission because of the emails and conversations that I have with all of you on Mondays! It has made my mission a very enjoyable one. I am looking forward to the Christmas Skype that will be coming up soon. It's crazy to think that a year ago Kailei was on a mission! I remember all the cousins had a countdown going for her, and I think she came home about the same point in January that I did! That's pretty cool to me!
I am so blessed to be a missionary at this point in the world. I have made a few mistakes the past week with comments that I have made to missionaries that have been pretty offensive.. I still have a lot to learn, and a lot of leadership traits that I need to master. Everything has been cleared up and feelings have been put back together, but it was a really good lesson to me that the things that we say to others can change their lives in either a good way, or a horrible way. It was a good lessons for me to learn, and I am thankful that I learned it early in life! The mission has changed my life completely, and I am thankful for that! I have such a testimony of the Christlike Attributes that we are asked to study, and am striving with all my heart to be able to learn and apply them to my life! I know that the more like Christ I can become, the better off I will be! I am so thankful for the things that I have learned, and know that I will be a much better person because of it all! Thanks again for everything! I have said this every week, but I do truly mean it! 

Much Love,

Elder Shelley

11-25-13

Dear Family!

Well this week has just been crazy! I honestly don't know if I have felt the spirit this strong for a long time, or if ever! I was on bike the other day early this week, and it was just pouring rain! It was dumping down like never before on my mission! I was with an elder that was struggling with some diligence issues, and so I knew that I couldn't just say ok lets go back to the apartment and do some studies. Or let's just get the umbrellas, and walk for today. Nope we hopped on bike, and peddled through the rain! We tracted like two hours in the rain without an umbrella, and just grinned and bore it. We found a few good potentials, probably because they just felt so bad that we were soaked to the bone! I thought that my pants were ruined, but thankfully I was able to hang them up outside, and let them dry out and go back to almost normal. My shoes are goners though haha. They were suede, and I had no idea that it was going to rain. Haha no worries though. It was all worth it to really work hard and be an example. Elder Fajardo just laughed when he came into the apartment and saw both of us just passed out on the floor dripping wet. I stood up and there was a water outline of my body on the carpet! That's how wet we were! It was crazy!

We also had a big area blitz for two of the areas in the zone! They are areas that have struggled in the past, and hadn't found in over a month. Both of the senior companions have kinda given up on the areas and have said that they think that they are dead... President has always said that areas are only as dead as your faith, and so we really wanted to help those companionships out and help them to see and understand that their areas still had some fire left, and that all it would take is a little hard work and faith! We had 4 sets of missionaries in each area for a little over an hour and all we did was find! We saw soooo many miracles in each of the areas, and we were super blessed to be able to find one new investigator in each area in our companionship. It was neat to be able to help out, and to be able to help them see that if they have faith, and work as diligently as possible, that they can find people too. It just takes the plain and simple things that president is always telling us! You have to be obedient, diligent, and have faith! I know that that is not always the easiest thing in the world, but hey, it really does work when you learn to apply it. I have really enjoyed being able to be a leader in this part of the mission. We have some great missionaries, and they are all so willing to work hard and are very mold-able and willing to change to improve. I have just loved being able to go on exchanges with them and help train them. 

We were super blessed in our own area finally too! The weeks have just been super crazy with tons of meetings and things that we are required to attend, and so it has been super nice to have a few full days in our own area! We were super blessed to find 4 new investigators and set 3 new dates! It was just super crazy! But amazing to watch the Lord just place people in our paths time and time again! I read the other day in Jesus the Christ, that it's not about the quantity of your faith, but the quality of it! That was a statement that blew my mind let me tell you! I always pictured it as gaining as much faith as you possibly can, and then just keep on gaining the rest of your life! But the whole seed the size of a mustard seed makes so much more sense now!!! It doesn't have to be the size of a basketball, it can be super small, as long as it is a super solid quality of faith. That has been what I am working on now! It's been so cool to work on making my faith super strong and not trying to just get a ton of low quality faith. Something to think about huh? Try it out! It will change the way that you think about things! 

Tyler is still doing as well as ever! He is still working towards the 14th of December, but he has a concern that I have never faced before! He was raised in kinda Jewish background, and so his main concern is accepting Christ as his savior and not just a Prophet! This is something that I have never been faced with before! Everyone I have taught has either loved christ or had no idea who he was. Interesting trying to help someone bump him up from a prophet to the savior! We could use help if anyone has any ideas!

Deniella is doing better. The lady that was driving had just looked down at the wrong second and didn't see that the light was red! She hit her doing about 25 mph... She was sent up on top of the car and broke the wind shield, and then rolled down, and actually was hit again by the same car cause the lady was so shocked she didn't stop right away.... it was nuts! She is totally ok though. The Lord has stepped in right away, and she is just bruised and bumped up a bit. It was a huge blessing!!! Love the miracles! 

Well I know that this isn't super info filled, but I have a few letters that I need to write! Thank you all so much for letting me write to you every week. I do look forward to it! Please have a great Thanksgiving, and don't forget to say a Prayer of only things your are thankful for! Those are my favorite prayers anyways! They bring the spirit so much! I am thankful that you are all safe and going to have a good weekend. Please remember what you are thankful for and for the blessing that this gospel is to our lives! I know that this work is a revelatory work, and that the Lord stands at the head! He is my Savior, and is my joy! I find no more joy then to be able to communicate with my heavenly father, and to ask him to apply the Atonement of his son to my life! I use it every day, and that is what I am thankful for this Year! I am thankful for this past year, and the progression that the Lord has helped me to obtain! I love this gospel so much and can't believe that I am going into the last week before my last transfer... It will be a sad sad day when the tag has to be taken off my suit coat.... I love you all so much! Please remember that! 

11-18-13

Dear Family,

I am so thankful for all of the prayers and thoughts that have been sent out for the people in the Philippines. I have been in very close contact with members that have family out there, and have been on and reading the daily updates on lds.org on their news feed describing the situations. I am so thankful that the 21 missionaries that were lost have now been accounted for, and that their families have been notified and comforted. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be there, and to be faced with that big of a difficulty! I have such respect for the elders and sisters who gave of their time and stretched themselves to be able to save lives and families. I have been thanking the Lord daily for saving as many lives as he did. I know that this will be life changing in the life of everyone who experienced it, but it will also be something that they will never forget. 

So we just got back from ice skating as a zone, and we have like NO time!!! I am sorry that I have not been emailing anyone today, but it has just been one of those days. Ice skating was such a blast!! We have a bunch of Missionaries that aren't from the U.S., and have never been ice skating! One of the sisters just stayed glued to the wall and would not let go! It was so cute. haha all the sisters were trying to get her to skate with them holding hands or something, but she would not leave. It was so funny, but she still had a really good time, and said that she enjoyed it. It was a really good time. I am thankful that all of the missionaries are so willing to enjoy the zone and each other. It makes the times so much funner on pday! 

Sorry that this is going to be so short, but I have got to hurry so that we can go give a blessing here in an hour or so. Deniella Parker randomly last night I guess got hit by a car, and wants a blessing. We really don't have any info other then the fact that she was hit, and that nothing is broken and that she is home and resting but wants a blessing. We have a 6 o'clock appointment with her so we need to get over there. 

Tyler Falls is doing sooooo well! He just had ACL surgery, and has been sitting around all week just bored out of his mind. He finally was able to go and meet with us at Courtney's house, and we had just an amazing lesson. We taught the plan of salvation, and it really touched him. He had just lost a really good friend, and had lost his grandpa to an accident when he was like 5. So when we started teaching about the spirit world and how important the temple was for all of that point, he was very touched, and we set a baptismal date with him for the 14th of December. He is working on getting his mom to be ok with it all, but we have faith that it will all work out. It was such a great blessing to be able to share with him the way that I was able to find peace with grandpa's passing, and how it all works into the Plan of Salvation! It was powerful. 

Zhen Guo has a baptismal date for the same day, and it was a good time being able to help him through all of the concerns that he had and helping him recognize the blessings that can come from being in the lords paths! He struggles with the idea of having to come to church every single week, and so we have to really make that a focus this week to get him to church so that he can see just how much fun he will have and the friends that come from being apart of the YSA Ward. It has been fun watching our members step up and trying to get him to feel the spirit, and receive a spiritual witness. That is the thing that is holding him back big time. 

Well I am sorry that I have to cut this one short, but the work of the Lord calls. I am so thankful to be able to email each week and share a few experiences that I have had in the past week. I love this work with all my heart. I am so proud of you all for who you are, and for how much you have helped me in my growing process! Please know just how much I love this gospel, and that I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith truly did translate it by the power of God! I love being able to receive personal revelation for myself and for the area that I serve in! Thanks again everyone for the love and support you give me! I will be on much longer next week, so if you would like to email back and forth just let me know! You re all my heros! 

11-12-13

Look what we just got! He really is coming home-seems like he's been gone 5 years!

SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

US AIRWAYS            15JAN OAKLAND CA     PHOENIX AZ     955A    1243P

US 2712           WEDNESDAY OAKLAND INTL   SKY HARBOR INT

T ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 1     TERMINAL 4

                                                          NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         1:48 DURATION

                            FLIGHT OPERATED BY US AIRWAYS EXPRESS-MES

                  AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET 900

                            SEAT 10F NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

 

RESERVATION NUMBER(S)  US/DEB5C9    

 

SHELLEY/MACKAY DALE  268824-R

     ETKT:US/037 7351319187

11-11-13

Dear Family!

Holy Cow I am EXHAUSTED!!! hahaha I love this mission so much. I didn't think that I could ever get much more tired, but this week has proved me wrong. I don't think we had a day this past week that we didn't have some kind of a meeting that we had to go to, or an exchange with missionaries that we had to go on. It has been a week to remember though, and next week is actually going to be even more busy. We have this big training that we are going to be giving in Oakland this next week on going on exchanges with missionaries, so that should be a good time. I love to give trainings, cause it takes a lot of effort, but the product is always so spiritual and amazing! I love to do them with Elder Fajardo too, cause we seem to have a lot of the same ideas, so it usually comes out pretty unified, and fun. We gave a big zone training this past Saturday, and it was good to be with all of the missionaries in the zone in one room. Great experiences. 

This past week was a really neat week for me though. While I was on an exchange a little over a month ago, we found an investigator in the San Ramon and were able to set a baptismal date with her! She was this cute little 10 year old girl that was a part member family and had just started to go to church with her aunt and uncle. A few weeks ago I was on another exchange in that area and we were able to meet with her again and finalize all of the baptismal plans. So this past week on Saturday she was baptized! Her name is Ella, and she was sooo happy! Her cousin who is prepping for a mission was able to baptize her, and it was just an all around great experience! It was really fun to see an investigator that we found on an exchange go all the way through the process and then be baptized by her cousin! It was great! 

This past week Xian spoke for a big fireside in Oakland that is called why I believe! He lit up the crowd too! He was sooo nervous about it, but just did such a good job! He spoke about how he was completely against Christianity and was scared of it, but has since found the joy that comes from it and how great it has been to be apart of the YSA ward here. The people in the crowd were blown away by how good he was at speaking and how confident he was up there. I was really proud of him, cause we were the ones that talked him into doing it. We were a little nervous about how he would do, and that it may scare him so much that he would get embarrassed.. not enjoy the experience. He said after that he really felt the spirit up there. He bore a powerful witness of Christ and Joseph Smith! It was a testimony builder to me to watch a young man who really had no foundation, and then to take off like he did. It has been so cool to be apart of him! 

We also found this new investigator named Tyler Falls. He is a young guy who is dating a less active member of our ward who is working to get back to church. He is very very open to learning, and has been progressing very well. We have really been pushing for baptism, but his family is a split family between Jewish and Catholic. He is a little worried about getting baptized because of his family, but he is willing to keep learning and is just kinda waiting to get that undeniable spiritual impression. 

Well it is time to sign off, and do a few more things that I need to do on the computer before we head out to play some basketball. It's not a successful P-day, if we don't get to play at least an hour of ball! 

I love you all so much. It has just been an amazing opportunity to be in weekly contact with you all. I love sharing my testimony on my mission, and it has been a true pleasure to be able to share it with all of you! Thank you for the love and the guidance that you give me through email. I look forward to Monday's a lot, cause I get to share my experience with everyone! I have a testimony of this great work, and it makes me sad to think that this could be coming to an end soon.. It has been crazy to even think about what it's going to be like to be a normal member.. It will all work out though! It all has to come to an end at some point. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon and how much it has changed my life! I am completely changed because of how much power it has put into my life! Thanks all for the love you share! I will talk to you all next week!

Picture: Elders Fijardo and Geilman

11-4-13

Dear Family,

How has the week been going for everyone? Our week has been going sooo well! We were lucky enough to move Xian's Baptisms up to last night!! It was a great baptism! He really had a good time. It was a little tough though for us, because he had a tough time picking someone to baptize him. He had two people that he had asked that said that they would, and then they at the last minute had something come up, and told him that they couldn't do it. We really have been trying to get members to baptize our investigators, so that they have that special connection with someone in the ward. So we finally found one of the guys that had driven him to church a few times, and so that was a blessing to be able to find someone that he had a connection with to be able to do it. It was a very special service. During the intermediate lessons while Xian and the man who baptized him changed, me and Elder Fajardo were able to teach the message of the Restoration to the members. It was a very good lesson, and we got a lot of really good compliments on the way that we teach together, and the level of spirit that they felt. We were really unified in the lesson, and really hit home with the members about how we need to be able to get referrals, or that we are not going to be able to keep baptizing! We have been super blessed to be able to baptized 3 out of the 4 on our own efforts, but that isn't what usually happens! We really need to be getting referrals, and for all of the referrals that we get, that we would love to be able to teach them in their homes! It was a very specail thing for me and Elder Fajardo to be able to teach a huge group like that, and to be able to feel the spirit so strong! We got three referrals after that, and they seem really solid!

All of our dates in November unfortunately dropped this past week.. We still have one hanging on by a thread, but we are looking to add a few more this week with the new investigators that we find! It has been a pretty crazy last few weeks with all of the things that we have had to do as Zone Leaders, that we have been struggling to find for the past few weeks! So this week we have set the goal to find 10 new investigators! We really need to rebuild our pool, and that is the most important thing for us to do! We had a tough week with really everything, so we are getting prepared to just tear it up in the finding aspect! Keep us in your prayers this week that we will be able to find those that will receive us!

So this past week in the Stake we had Stake conference and it was AMAZING!!!!!! The Stake President out here is out of this world with being missionary minded, and has really been pumping the stake up with getting to know us better, and trying to find more people to teach!  He spoke about missionaries who get it done, and those that get it. Those who get it done set mission records, and have HUGE short term success, but those who get it, are the ones that baptized converted investigators, and those who care more about the person that they are teaching then the number that they are trying to get! That touched me a ton, because when I first entered the field, that was all I really cared about! All I wanted was to be known to the mission President, set records and baptize a thousand! Well a few of those things happened, we lead the mission for a while, and baptized more then usual. But what I realized now is the diference that I feel now compared to then! I cared about the people, but I was so much more worried about what the mission president was going to say when he saw the numbers. Now I have a very special love for the people that we teach!                                                                                                                                                 

Peter as been less active for the past month again, and told us last week that he doens't want to be Mormon anymore.. We have both lost sleep over what it is going to take to get this young man back into the church, and to not care about what his friends say about the "Mormons." We are really hoping that one of these days that we will be able to touch his heart again or have one of the members do it. He is a great kid, and really needs the gospel in his life! We will see how everything goes, but please keep him in your prayers too! I couldn't bare to see him just walk away from this because he doesn't fully understand it! Things will work out, but it will just take time and effort! We are willing to put forth the effort!

I have got to get going.. Time has gotten past me, and it has been super loud in here, and hard to focus and type. I am a horrible multi tasker when I am trying to talk listen and type at the same time! Alison is doing SOOOO well though! Since her baptism, she has taught gospel principles class in sunday school, talked in Stake Conference, and given a talk at Xian's baptism! She is super willing to come out and teach lessons with us, and even wants to serve a mission herself!! We are sooo excited for her and all the things that she is doing!

I have a very powerful testimony of this work as I hope that you already know! This has been a very powerful week for me and my testimony has grown 10 fold! I LOVE being a missionary so much, and it just keeps getting closer and closer to the day that the tags will come off for good... But it's all good right? Cause we will be able to always have a tag imprinted on our chests! I will never loose the title of a representative of the Savior Jesus Christ! It is a very special opportunity to be able to tell people that every single day! I love to be able to walk the streets and talk to the college students and telling them that we have a message that can take all of their stress, worry, and guilt out of their lives! You have no idea how many people just hate life and wish that they didn't have to go through it! It is so sad to watch and see, but it is a huge blessing to be able to tell them that I have something that can fix all of that! I love it so much! Elder Fajardo was a horrible friend, haha and reminded me that after this week I will be within single digits week wise.. I can't believe that it is going this fast! I don't even want to think about it!  Thank you everyone for all that you do on a daily basis for me! Thanks mom and dad for the way that you raised me and the life lessons you have taught me over the years! I will be eternally greatful for all that you have given me! I love you all and pray for you each day!

Love 

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley 

picture: Xian's baptism

10-28-13

Dear Family! 

What a great week it has been. Alison's baptism went through with ALMOST no hiccups!!! haha She showed up with plenty of time, we had the font filled a good half hour early so that we made sure that the water wasn't running when people got there so that they could feel the spirit as best as possible! We got our pictures taken before with all of her friends and as we were taking pictures he non member dad even showed up, and took a few pictures with her. She was so glad to see him there, cause he had told her that he would come, but she wasn't so sure that he was going to be able to make it. So that was a great way to be able to start the service. The talks that were given and the number of people that were there, was just so amazing and the support that was shown to her was out of this world! I was walking down into the font to perform the baptism, and as I looked down I was a little confused, cause I could have sworn that I had filled the font up to the 4th step so that it was waist high, and easy to get her under. Well when I get it, it was a bit below my knees. Super confused I looked at Elder Fajardo who was witnessing the ordinance, and neither had any idea what was wrong.. Then I heard it! Very quietly you could hear the water draining!!! The seal on the font must have been super old, cause it wasn't fully sealed and had been leaking for about 45 minutes! We tried it the first time and her knees came up even with her feet fully planted on the bottom! The water was just way to shallow... We thought that we were going to have postpone the ordinance for another 45 minutes to refill it. Alison wanted to try to do it one more time, so we figured that if she just went under, and then just stuck her legs out straight I could just push her to the bottom of the font and it would all be fine! haha surprisingly it worked, and I was able to get her fully under the water! It was one of the more interesting ways to baptize someone, but you can't get anymore interesting then baptizing Marlin on our knees and then having him go face first! awe good times good times! I love this work so much. Even when things don't seem to go as smoothly as you may hope, it always works out in the end, and it is such a blessing to be able to be apart of something this important! Alison is just on fire! She was asked yesterday by the stake president to share her testimony and her conversion story at stake conference this coming Sunday! Haha her hair was basically still wet from being baptized the day before and she is already speaking in stake conference. She also taught Gospel principles class in Sunday school this past Sunday on the Gift of the Holy Ghost! She is so solid it blows my mind. She is going to be going to BYU soon, and is planning on serving a mission in a year! It has been such a pleasure to be able to be apart of the teaching process for her! One more crazy story from the baptism! The Lord really does know the end from the beginning, cause after the service we were taking more pictures and I couldn't find my camera! I had this horrible feeling to go and check my baptismal pants, and found it in there! I had taken the camera into the font with me!!! The Lord knew that if I were to loose my pictures, that I would die! My mission pictures are more of a journal now a days then my paper journal. So if the water would have been waist high, I would have probably lost about 6-8 months of pictures!!! I love blessings of the work! 

Xian is doing soooo well! He has been to every hour of church since the day that we first met him! He has been spending time with the members on the weekends and going to parties that they have. He is a really personable person, and so it is really easy to get along with him! He has been taught basically everything that he needs to be baptized, and is really looking forward to his date, that we are planning on asking him if he would like to be baptized this Sunday! He is super solid, and as long as he wants to, we will be having another baptism back to back! We have been sooo blessed in the work lately. It has been fun. 

We're struggling a little bit with getting the rest of our investigators to progress though! We have 4 dates now for November, but we are really struggling to help them prepare themselves and to be excited about getting baptized. We will keep working with them though! Our zone has 20 baptism dates for November and that is the highest that we have had in years in this zone from what we can tell! We usually have about half of the dates that we start with go all the way through, so even if we only can get 10 of those, that would be the highest baptizing month this zone has ever had!!! We are soo excited! 

Well I have got to end this email and send a few others that I need to so that I can get to Oakland. I have a temple recommend interview with President since mine expires end of this month. Crazy to think that I have been endowed in the Temple for over two years now! I am so thankful that we are blessed to be able to be endowed with our Heavenly Fathers power and Priesthood. I know that I still don't have even a tiny grasp on how amazing that power really is, but I am just so thankful that we are able to be apart of it! To see Temples keep popping up all over the world is just a testimony builder to me that President knows exactly what he is doing!!! I am so thankful to be a missionary at the special time that the Lord has hastened his work! Remember the promise in conference that said we all need to find one person and help to bring them into the church by Christmas! There is so much joy and so many blessings that just await these precious children of God! They just don't know it yet! Help them to know it by inviting them to come to church and to meet with he missionaries. The worst they will say is no and then you can move on and find another friend to invite. I am not saying that I think it's easy, or that I am perfect at it, but I do know how much joy it brings when it happens. Don't be afraid to invite them!!! Love you all soooo much! I can't believe how fast the time is going.. One of the elders in the zone, will be going home with me, and we had a good little behind the scenes cry as we realized last night at a stake presidents fireside with the missionaries that we would only have one more of those left, and how fast it has been going. I have had to take the tags off once already, and I can tell you that it is not something that I look forward to doing again.. But I know that it all has to come to an end at some point. It will all be done in the proper time. All I know is that we are working as hard as humanly possible these last two transfers!!! We have been a little sick this week cause of a little stress, plus the crazy drop in temp and weather! We are going to be fine though. Keep working hard and know that the Lord will make up the difference! Love you all sooo much! Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley

Pictures: 1-3. Alison's baptism

                 4. Twins-Elder Fajardo and Mackay

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Love, 

Elder Mackay Shelley 

Pictures: 1-3. Alison's baptism

                 4. Twins-Elder Fajardo and Mackay

10-21-13

Dear Family,

Well transfers came and went and thankfully for me, Elder Fajardo is staying for one more transfer with me! I honestly have no idea how it happened, but hey I'm not complaining! We have been working so hard these past few weeks, and have set up 5 baptismal dates so far in November! We are hoping to set even more, but the big part now is to try to keep all of those dates, and help the investigators keep them and make it all the way to the end! We are so excited for them, and they are going to do soo well. Xian has been doing sooo well! He has committed to all of the things that we have asked and is really starting to gain a great testimony of the Gospel! The way that you say his name, is like shin. Like that part of the body below your knee and above the ankle hahaha. He is a great man! He comes to church every week, and has even been going to institute a few times a week, and even meets with us as much as he can. We are hoping to move his date up a little bit, but we will see. We want to make sure that he has a very strong testimony of it all before we go farther.  His date will happen though! He is already telling his friends that he can't drink with them anymore because he is Mormon! So cool! 

Alison is going to be getting baptized this Saturday as well! We are soooo stoked for her!!! She has asked me to baptize her as well. We really pushed her to ask her friend who introduced her to the Gospel, but she wanted one of us to do it. So that will be a fun experience! She is so prepared that we really didn't even have to do much to get her ready for the date! The family that helped her through it, and invited her to take the discussions was there the entire time, and helped her through all of her questions and concerns. I don't feel like she should even be a missionary convert she was so prepared! We are excited for her though, and she has been inviting all of her friends, and so we should have a pretty packed house that night! I will send off some pictures this next week. 

We have been working really really closely with a few of the missionaries here in this zone. We have really been putting up some really good numbers lately, but we could be doing sooo much better!!!! President has been a bit worried about the missionaries that are new that are training new missionaries also, and so he has asked us to get closer to the newer missionaries and to help them accomplish the goals that they are setting! It will be pretty fun to be able to help these missionaries get going and to start to see the success that is available in this zone! We have so much potential, but we are really trying to get everyone to catch the same wave that we have caught. We have so much faith in our missionaries, but all of our faith put together won't make them have success unless they start to build their own faith up! I hope that we can get the elders and sisters going and get them excited about the work that has been picking up.

 
Had a crazy birthday box come in the mail this past week from Sarah and Luis! We opened it up after planning and honestly just played with all the stuff in it for the rest of the night! We took tons of pictures and honestly I haven't laughed that hard in months! We have been so busy and so stressed with all the work that we need to do, that we haven't been taking much time to just think about cooling down and relaxing for a bit. It was a really good time to just laugh and enjoy the time. Luis and the family also sent me a great package with some great jerky, (that is already gone...) haha and a beautiful picture of their family! It came right at the perfect time for me also! I have it now on the corner of my desk, and I am sooo excited to have it! It was so kind of both of them! 

Well family I love you all so much! Can't believe that Haylee is getting baptized, and that Kailei is 23! Dang she is OLD!!!!! Happy Birthday big sis! Love you soo much! No more missed birthdays right?!?! Can't wait! 

The church is true! It is sooo true. There is nothing that could change the way that I feel about his Gospel. There is no other church on this earth that has the ordinances that we do, and that is why I love it so much. The power of the priesthood still amazes me! We gave 6 blessings this week, and all 6 of them were miracles that strengthened my testimony of the power that we hold here in this church! I love it all so much! Thank you all and I pray for you daily! 

Much love,

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley

Pictures: Mackay and Elder Fajardo playing with items received in his birthday box!

10-14-13

Dear Family,

I have to start with the crazy story, and the reason for the heading so that my parents don't get worried that I am disobedient! haha We were weekly planning this past week in the apartment, and we started hearing this dripping noise! That isn't that big of a deal or out of the ordinary since our sink in the bathroom drips all the time. But about 2 minutes later, there was a little crack in the bathroom and then all of a sudden it started sounding like it was raining in there! We both jumped up and ran into the bathroom. There was like a river of water running down out of our bathroom light! We were freaking out, trying to fill buckets and then pour it down the sink so that our apartment didn't flood!!! Elder Fajardo called the office while I kept pouring the water down the sink and then trying to mop up the water on the floor so that it didn't get to the carpet. It took maintenance like 30 minutes to even come knock on the door and ask what the issue was. He saw me rushing around trying to stop the water, and freaked out and ran out and up the stairs to see what was going on! He found out that our friends upstairs had turned on the tub to take a bath but then fell asleep and so it was all over their apartment and then starting to come down in huge flows to our apartment. It took us like 2 hours to be able to get everything cleaned up and then be able to get back to our planning, but then we had to get going because we had to get out to Danville for a district meeting. We had no way to be able to make up our planning either because our weekend was just nuts this week! So we are going to be following the spirit like crazy this week. It will probably end up being the best week of our lives, because we have no plans and we have to follow the spirit 100%! It will be fun to try out! 

Other then the flood in our apartment, the week was great! We found this amazing new investigator, who's name is Xian and he is super solid!!! He is Chinese and really wants to be able to find a church to attend. We found him Thursday night, and we taught him Friday, Saturday, and then he came to church on Sunday, and then we even took him the the temple on Sunday which was AMAZING!!! We set a date with him for the 23rd of November and he is going to make it for sure! He told us that his mom in China has been wanting him to find a church for quite a while, and so he said that he really enjoyed the YSA ward and that he thinks that he found his church! I have no idea how or what we do to find such solid Investigators, but he is doing sooo well. 

Alison is a go for the 26th. We tried to get her to move it up to the 19th, But she has already told everyone and her friends that she is going to be baptized on the 26th and so we have to keep it that day now. It's completely ok, but if Elder Fajardo gets transferred, then he is not going to be able to be there... She has asked that I baptize her, but we are trying to get her to choose the young RM that referred her to us since they are super good friends. We will see how that goes. We are really excited about her date! 

Peter finally came to church for the first time in 4 or 5 weeks!!!!!! We and the ENTIRE ward were sooo excited to see him, and so he enjoyed himself. It has been so cool to be able to see the ward circle around him, and then have him never feel alone at any point. It was really cool. He is such a good young man, he just has a few struggles that he is trying to work through. We had really good lessons with him though, and so that was good! We are trying to keep him inspired and uplifted so that we don't loose him again! I think he will be fine! 

Other then that every thing has just been kinda same ole same ole! We had a zone activity carving pumpkins, and so we don't have a ton of time to email. I will make it up next week with a better and longer email. I am so thankful for all the birthday wishes and the emails that I got this week and last! I am so thankful for conference and the great spirit that it left in me last week! I have been so inspired and uplifted. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this church is true, and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet! I loving sharing this message to everyone that is around us! It has been a blast! 

I don't know what the director was thinking, but we will be singing the Army of Helaman at a fireside as missionaries, and I have been asked to do a solo!... haha We shall see how that goes. I have grown to love singing out here on the mission, but not solos. Last time I sang was in Brentwood with Warriors of Light. That didn't go too bad, so we shall see what happens!

Love you all so much! 

pictures: 1-4. Birthday pictures

                 5. Mackay's district