1-28-13

Dear Family,

First off yes I got Grandma Shelley's stuff! Tell her thank you but that life here in the field has just been way to crazy for me to get letters off to anyone really!!! I finally got one off to Grandma and Grandpa Jones last week. Sorry for how long it took. Mom and Dad there should be one for you guys here tomorrow or something. I really put some thought into that letter so if you could, I would really appreciate your input and your thoughts. Thanks for everything! Email would probably be best to reply to it just because its faster, but letters are always cool to receive! (hint hint everyone!) haha

Well, the work here in Brentwood has been going absolutely crazy! We have been working so hard and the Lord seems to be working even harder! I have really been trying to figure out why the Lord has blessed us as much as he has, because we really don't feel like we deserve the miracles and the blessings that have come our way lately. I wish I could send them all, but there is not enough space or time. First off though, Jon came to church yesterday!!! He had his long hair back in a bun/pony tail and was in a really nice suit and tie. He looked very professional and said that he actually enjoyed church. He told us afterward that he still does not believe that the great apostasy happened, but that he enjoyed how nice our members were and how he felt there. Seems like he is just really fighting the spirit. I keep thinking back to the scene in Joseph Smith The Prophet when the lady tells Joseph that she doesn't believe in the religion, but that she is thankful for their service. Joseph then tells her that that is our religion. We serve and we support and we are kind! He asked again about why there were not any crosses on our church, and I was prompted to share the response that Pres. Hinckley shared when he was giving a tour of the temple to some really high up christian leaders. He said, "We just have chosen not to use that as our symbol. We have chosen to use the way we act and the way we carry ourselves and the symbol of Christ!" I think we all need to remember that. That our symbol of the church, is how we carry ourselves and how we treat others. Our hearts should symbolize the saviors life and our life should be modeled after the saviors life! He enjoyed that concept and said that he would have to think about that more. Please keep us in your prayers with Jon, because we really need to step up our game as missionaries to help him to see the blessings of the Gospel and the blessings of having modern day prophets.

Dina and Reina are still doing awesome! Dina has a date!!!!! Reina is working towards having a date! Reina still struggles with a few of the doctrinal concepts, but is very open minded and is continually praying about the things that we teach her and about the things that she has grown up believing. They were not able to come to church yesterday, because of work, but they are doing very very well. We are so excited to continue to teach them and to watch their steady progression!

Now the big news, is with Colby!!! She is doing sooo so well. We have seen more increase in testimony and courage in the past week, then we have in the month and a half that we have been teaching her! She told us that receiving the Holy Ghost was more then she ever could have imagined and that she feels completely different. Saturday night when we were about to go to bed, Sister Kurtz text us and told us that her husband wasn't working Sunday and neither was her son and so to please pray for her to have the courage to invite them to church. We prayed as a companionship that night and personally, and also Sunday afternoon. We got a text about an hour before church from her, and she told us that when she asked them if they would like to come, they told her that she didn't have to ask that they were already planning on coming!!!!! Sure enough There they all were sitting in the bench together as a complete family! We were so excited for them!!! Wehaven't asked if we could come teach them yet because we need to take time and kinda let them come to us, but it is going to happen sooner or later. Please keep praying for them! We are so excited!

Well family, I have got to get going. I am going to go play tennis with Elder Siegal again today. I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and how strong my testimony of the Gospel of Christ really is. I have really been working hard to figure out how the spirit works with me. We have been given so many spiritual experiences and have really been having great inspiration, but as we come to learn how to listen to that better, we are going to be able to follow the spirit so much better! I love you all so much. I read a scripture the other day in 2nd Nephi 2:4 -I realized through the foot note, that we truly do already know our Savior Jesus Christ! He knows us personally and is really there and really is on our side! I have been studying and praying so hard lately to be able to truly gain a relationship with the Savior and to be able to tell people that I know the Savior personally and that he is there and is answering my prayers! I have felt the spirit more in the past three weeks or so then I have ever in my life. I have been doing a lot of thinking about my life and have really made some cool changes that have really helped me to feel closer to everyone of the Godhead. I have been so blessed as a missionary and am so proud to know that Kailei served honorably and has come to know her Savior also! Thank you to all of you who have had such an amazing influence in my life! I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for all of you! Thanks againfor everything!

 

 

Love,

Elder Shelley

 

1-21-13

Dear Family,

This is going to have to be short since the whole zone has to use the stake center since the library's are closed for MLK day. First off I still just can't believe that Kailei is coming home tomorrow! Sure wish I was there to see her off the plane and to talk to her about all the amazing experiences that she has had over the past year and a half. She is going to be so spiritual and so humble that I look forward to when I come home in a year just so that I can talk to her. It's been a great experience to be able to come on a mission the same time as her and to be able to share in the experiences that she is having. I have sure been praying that she will have had her baptisms that they were hoping for and that she left her mission with the comfort in knowing that the Lord has excepted her work and that he is thankful for her service. The Lord has a very special way of thanking his missionaries and so I am sure that the experience that she is going to have on that plane is going to be life changing. I am glad that Aunt Kim could be there to share in her experiences and to be there with the family!

Yes Colby was baptized on Saturday!!! I was able to perform the baptism like she had asked and two of our priest aged young men were able to witness it! Colby was so happy on Saturday and her entire family was there! Her dad and brother are not members and so to have them there was truly a blessing. We were so thankful for their support and they even came to church yesterday to see her be confirmed! She had a few cousins that came also. Ha one of them I swear looked just like Randy Sanchez and I had to double take when I saw him standing there. It was fun to have Filipino people around at a baptism again. It brought back some really good memories and feelings. The water was super cold again because we are having problems with the pipes.. Haha you should have seen her face when she went down into the water and came out. Poor girl was shaking. We just told everyone that she was shaking with excitement. Good times. Good times.  Everything went perfect though other then that and she said that she really felt the spirit. She has grown to really have a strong testimony of the Gospel. That is my favorite part of the mission. To see someone who had no knowledge of the gospel or of Jesus Christ 6 weeks ago and to now be a member of the church and to know that she is really doing well.  She invited a few different  friends to come to church with her and to work towards taking the discussions! She is going to be a great missionary for us.

Dena and Reina came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so perfect that they came this Sunday also because we confirmed Colby and they were able to witness that and to learn what it was all about. ha we were really nervous about half way through the service because we had these two little kids that kept running up and down the row next to them screaming and yelling. They then went on to have a fight over whether the lights of the chapel should be on or off!.. Finally  these two young women went and grabbed them and took them outside. Their parents just sat there in the back like nothing was wrong. haha The member that we were sitting with told me that he was about to drop kick each one of those kids. It was super funny. Thankfully they told us after that they LOVED church and that they really felt the spirit. We said that we were so sorry about the little kids and that that doesn't usually happen.. They said that they liked how family oriented it was and how simple it was. We were so happy to hear that they enjoyed it and that they were planning on coming back next week. We were blessed this week for sure!

We had interviews with President on Saturday and those went soooo well! He is really proud of the work that we have been doing here in Brentwood. He told me that he was very proud of the work I am doing as a district leader and that he couldn't ask for any more. he told me that the reason that we are having so much success in this area is because we are obedient, diligent, and worthy. He told us to keep up the good work and to keep doing what the Lord wants and to just watch the blessings role in! He is such an amazing man! He talked to me about my release date and a few things about college and those things and is going to be calling Salt Lake this week to talk to them about it. I may get a letter off this week to you about all the things we talked about but just plan for now for me to come home around February 8th. That may change but we are not sure yet. I am thinking about going into forestry after the mission. President's job was he was the highest up person over all the national forests and parks. He told me that he thinks I would be a great person to go out and track and tag buffalo or elk. He did tell me how to do it but it involves a lot of science and things like that. hahaha science huh?   He said that he sees me moving up the leadership line in that industry very quickly. We shall see what happens. Right now I am a missionary and he is going to work on the post mission stuff in the next month or two so that we can start looking into schools and my future in time.

Yes I did get the grapefruit and have been eating them like crazy. I had to put myself on rations though so that I can try to make them last two more weeks. The family that I shared them with told me to tell you thank you and that they have never had anything that tasted like that. I gave them like 5 or 6 and they were gone in a day. haha good times. They said that they would keep it on the down low that I had them and so I wouldn't have to share any more. haha mom yes  I could use some shampoo. I am about out of that too.. Other then that I think I am doing well! Well other then I need new clothes. I put my baptismal pants on for the baptism and realized that I still had 42 inch pants. They wouldn't even stay up!.. Sister Meredith brought me a pair of 34's that I wore for the baptism and she said I could just use those for the next year. But president said that he would like me to get new shirts and slacks. He said that they look like I let the air out of them and that I need to get some that fit better so that I look more official and so that I can be more comfortable and not have to fold my pants at the sides every day. He said to talk to you guys and see if we had the money to buy some new things and if not to call Sister Meredith and come in and she could try to trade me some pants. I was thinking next Monday I would go shopping if we had a little extra money. If not just let me know and I will go and try to find some in the mission home.

Thanks again for all the support and love that you send my way! Tell Kailei hi for me and to make sure that she knows how much I love her and look up to her! She was one heck of a missionary and I know that she is going to be an even more amazing mother and wife when all that comes because of what she learned on her mission. We have some great sisters here in this mission and I just look at all the things that we as missionaries learn out here and have a very strong testimony that returned missionaries learn more about how to be the best husbands and wives that she is going to do great things! Love you all so much! I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith really did restore the church and really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! We have such a great opportunity to share this amazing blessing with others!

Love

Elder Shelley

Pictures: Colby's baptism

1-14-13

Dear Family,

    First off I still can't believe that Kailei will be home on Tuesday! Time seems like it has flown by for her year and a half. It's pretty crazy that on the8th of February I will hit my year mark and be on the downward slide of my mission. Things just seem like they go too fast out here. I know how Kailei is feeling. When I was told that I was leaving the Philippines I was full of so many mixed emotions. I loved those people more then words could describe and I didn't want to leave. But like she said, the mission comes to an end and we have to except that. That plane ride home is one of the neatest, hardest things she will ever experience. When she gets home after a day or two, ask her about the plane ride home. The Lord has a way of thanking his missionaries if they worked hard and were obedient. He makes sure they know that their work was acceptable to him and that is one of the coolest things we as missionaries get to feel. I guarantee she will experience it in one way or another! Please give her a big hug and kiss from me when she gets off the plane! And PLEASE take lots of pictures of everyone waiting there for her and as she comes down the hall and all that good stuff! I want to be able to feel like I was there to see her come home!

     Well this week was a wild and crazy experience! We were able to take Colby to the visitors center on Tuesday and that was a day to remember! The spirit in that room was so strong and the members that we brought with us were perfect for her! She opened up to them like you couldn't even believe and it was very special! We went to the display of Books of Mormon in the back in all the different languages also. When we got back there Sister Kurtz, Colby's mom, found the book in ilango and started reading it. Ilango is another dialect of the Philippines. I found the Cebuano one and we were trying to read them to each other and see how well we could translate them to English. hahaha lets just say that when they told us in the MTC that Cebuano has no rules they were so right. We got a good laugh out of it though and it was really special to be able to talk about the Philippines culture and to understand exactly what she was talking about. The lord works in mysterious ways that is for sure. We met with Colby on Friday also to set up her baptismal interview with the zone leaders and to also get her program ready. She has asked that I baptize her. I was honestly really surprised and humbled by it. I am excited though. She is a very special girl and has come soooo far from when we started teaching her. To think, the first Filipino that I baptize won't even be in the Philippines haha. Sister Kurtz made Lumpia for us the other day and so that was a treat. I asked if she would make eiro (dog) for us but she just laughed and said that wasn't funny! hahaha Elder Makaya got a kick out of it since they eat it in their island also, but Colby will be baptized Saturday at 3 o'clock if everything goes as planned. She is still struggling a little bit with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon thinking that she needs to have a 100% knowledge of them before the baptism but we are going to work with her this week on all of that. She really needs your prayers though if she is going to pass the interview and be baptized. We all know that she is ready, but we just need to help her to realize that.

     Dena and Reina are still doing well. They had to cancel again this week because of Reina's work schedule.. But they are still reading the Book of Mormon and are enjoying it. Hopefully they will let us come back Wednesday and teach so that we can try to get them to come to church. We have so much we want to teach them and just hope that they continue to progress through the gospel and to accept the invitation to be baptized when we extend it.

     We were given two really solid referrals this past week and were able to set up appointments with both of them to start taking the lessons. We also were able to find a new investigator named Jon this week. The lord has blessed us more then you would ever know! We don't feel like we deserve as many blessings as we have received but are so thankful that he trusts us with these sweet children of his. We are still going strong in our companionship. This is the longest I have ever been with one person on my mission, and I am a lot like dad, I like change. It's been a little tough to stay with the same person, but Elder Makaya is amazing. There is never a dull moment with him and I enjoy that. We still have the car and so that is nice. I am afraid that when we go in for our interviews with president that they will take it back Saturday, but we will see. I need to get back on bike anyway so that I can stop gaining weight. I have gained about 5 lbs since being in car again. hahaha. No worries. Its probably all muscle anyways =P.

    Well family, I have got to get going. Me and Elder Makaya are going to go get some lunch and then I think we are going to go play tennis with the zone leaders. I want you all to know that I stand next to Kailei on every word she said in her email. We truly are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ! That is the biggest blessing that I have ever received in my entire life. To be able to wake up ever morning and put a badge on that has his name in big bold letters is something that we look forward to. Taking it off for good is something I never want to imagine. I took it off once but knew deep down it would be back on sooner or later. I love this work so much. I love going into strangers houses and opening up to them and letting them see who I really am & showing  me who they really are. Then being able to talk about Christ and his life and ministry is something that you wouldn't understand until you have done it. Ha we were laughing the other day saying that when we get home we wonder what would happen if in my wranglers and boots knocked on someones door and said that I had a message about god to share with them what would happen. We are blessed with even an extra spirit about us that people can feel. I am so thankful for the scriptures that allow us to read the words of the prophets and to understand them and be taught by them! I feel like alma the younger as he was away from the sons of mosiah as me and kailei have been away. But I know that our reunion will be the exact same as theirs were in the scriptures. We will be so happy to see each other, but more happy to know that we are still brother and sister in the Lord! I know that she is never going to stop sharing the gospel and I know that she will do great things! I love you all and pray for you every day! Keep going to the temple and reading your scriptures! We are so blessed to have all the resources that we do! I am humbled to know that Jesus is our savior and redeemer and that through him, we can become new people every day! We don't have to think about yesterday because today is here! I Love the Gospel and I love my father in heaven! I echo Kailei when she said shall we not go on in so great a cause!?

 

With all my love!

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley

pictures: 1 & 2-Elders Makaya & Shelley, Colby & Sister Kurtz (Colby's Mom) at the Oakland Temple

              3. Colby and her mom at the Oakland Temple

1-7-13

Dear Family,

   It's crazy to think that Kailei only has one more week to accept our letters! It has gone so fast and she has grown so much! For those of you that knew her before the mission will understand when I say that I didn't think it was possible for her to gain anymore of a spirit about her. Well when I got to talk to her over skype, let me tell you that she is not the same girl that left 18 months ago. She is the most Christlike person I have ever met and I can only dream of being half of the missionary that she was to those lucky people in Argentina! What a blessing it is going to be to have her back in your home. I hope that you take the opportunity to learn from her and to truly let her bless the home and the people that she comes in contact with! I know for a fact that her mission is far from over. She will bless the lives of so many more people in Mesa as she serves them and comes in contact with them! I am jealous of all of them because they get to be in her presence!

    What a great end to a crazy transfer we are having! These last few months here in Brentwood seemed to fly by. We got the phone call Saturday night and we are blessed to stay together for at least one more transfer! Elder Makaya will have been here for 9 months in this area. He was very surprised to hear that he would be staying, but seems to be excited to continue to teach the people that we are teaching! It has been a blessing to learn humility from him and to continue to learn how to love those that we come in contact with each day. I tend to be a little too bold sometimes with people, so he has done a great job at teaching me how to be loving along with the boldness. I look forward to learning more and more from him as the time goes by!

    New years Eve was a great time. Yes, we watched Brave and to be completely honest I forgot about the naked butt parts hahaha. The zone leaders just looked at me and said I thought you had seen this movie?! We just laughed and blew it off haha. I am curious to know if president had seen it before though. haha The members that we spent the evening with ordered a ton of pizza and we all just pigged out and had a blast together! We played football in their backyard as we all waited for the rest of the missionaries to show up and the projector was getting set up. Our zone is really fun and almost all of us are really athletic so that makes it fun on days like that and on p days!

      Colby is doing soo well! She still has her date of the 19th of this month! She decided that this is what she wants to do and that she is willing to give up all the stuff that she was doing so that she can be baptized. She is still struggling a bit with her testimony. She feels like she isn't going to be ready for baptism because she doesn't know everything yet. She likes to compare herself to us as missionaries knowledge and testimony wise which is not fair to her. We are still working with her to realize that we baptize 8 year old kids who still really don't have a great knowledge of the Gospel and that need to continue to learn. We are taking her to the Visitors Center and Temple hill tomorrow so that we can help her to continue to have spiritual experiences. Please keep her in your prayers and we know that she is going to make it!

    Peggy is going to be attempted to visit this week but will be dropped after that if she doesn't show any desire to change or to come back to church.. It is so hard to see people be dropped especially when they were so solid at one point! I find myself praying for her many times a day and hoping that she will feel something different when we are not in her life and that she will have a change of heart. Dang agency! hahah just kidding. She will be baptized sooner or later. The seed has been planted and she has the Book of Mormon in her house. She will come around sooner or later.

    Dena and Reina are progressing very well. We are going to be teaching her the plan of salvation here this week and they are very excited to see how we believe. They both believe in reincarnation so that should be interesting to see how it all turns out. We are really going to be pushing them to come to church here this week so please pray for them for that also. We would really like to set a date with them this week but we are not sure if they will except. Good thing its not up to us right? We will extent the date and we will just leave it in the Lords hands.

    I want to thank everyone for their prayers for Kailei as she has been coming to the end of her mission. I am more interested in you praying for her to make it home safe and sound then you praying for me! I have been praying so hard that she will feel good about the way that she ends her mission and that she will be ok with how it all ends up!

    I have such a testimony of the power of priesthood! I have to share a quick experience with you that happened to me last night. I am not going to go into much detail just because of the sacredness it has to me, but in a sense this is what happened. We were teaching a lady who lost her husband this year. We were talking about the plan of salvation and she has been having a hard time with the thought of him maybe not excepting the gospel. At the end of the lesson I had the impression to give her a blessing. She accepted our offer and in the blessing many amazing things were said, but the one thing that I felt so prompted to tell her, was that he husband is in the process of accepting the Gospel as we speak. As the blessing ended, the spirit was like a thick fog in that room! We had brought with us a new 18 year old priest that honestly did not want to come at first. He is not really thinking about a mission but I'll tell you, after that experience that he was able to witness he came out of that house and said that he was going on a mission and that that changed his life. It changed mine too. The priesthood is an amazing thing. I have never been able to promise something like that to someone! It was a life changing experience. I love the priesthood and the power that it is to our family. I am thankful to have a father in my life that has always been worthy to use his priesthood and to have a mother that taught me to honor it and to respect it. I wish that I had understood the power of it before this, but I am sure excited to use it in the future to bless the life of my future wife and kids. I have been so blessed out here in my mission! Thank you everyone and may the Lord Bless you all this new years season!

 

With all my love

Elder Shelley!