2-25-13

Dear Family,

Well things are off to a pretty good start I would say! I was able to go to the mission home last week and pick up my new companion Elder Oba from the mission home. He is from American Fork Utah and is Japanese. He came to the states when he was 6 with his mom. We have a lot in common, but also are pretty different. We get along pretty well though and it has been a pretty dang good week. We have been working really hard and have done pretty well. We taught Jon Saturday night and were really bold with him. He has been basically leading the lessons that we teach and not letting us teach what we had planned to teach. We told him that we would answer any question that he had that related to the topic that we were on and then at the end of the lesson we would answer any questions that he had about anything that we had time for. The lesson actually went pretty well, and we even challenged him for baptism. hahahaha I thought that he was going to swallow his tongue when he heard what we said! He wouldn't accept a date, but he did say that he would pray about the date that we tried to set for March 30th. We will see how all that goes.

Lindsey is doing soooo well! I have to tell you something. This part was back when I was with Elder Makaya, but I think I forgot to tell you. We got kind of an awkward text from her one night asking if she should take out her earrings and some other piercings that she had. We explained to her about the modern doctrine from the prophets on one earring per ear and nothing else. We kinda left it up to her though at that point and told her that it wouldn't be something that would hold her back from baptism, but that she would probably want to take them out since the other girls wouldn't be wearing them. Our next lesson she had her nose stud out and only had one earring!!! It was soooo cool to see the change that she was willing to make to have the spirit in her life! So this past week, we were teaching her and Sister Sudweeks told her to tell me about what she did at school to make some extra money! She turned like bright red, and was kinda embarrassed... she started telling us about how she realized that the clothes that she used to wear really weren't very modest and that she felt like she needed to change that aspect of her life. She went through her closet that night and took pictures of all her cloths. She posted on face book and instagram (I think it's called that) of all those clothes were for sale and that she had no price on them just make offers. She then took them to school and sold them out of a box! She even was able to trade a few things for more modest things from different girls. She said that she was surprised how much girls would pay for shorts that barely fit or shirts that weren't something they should be wearing. I think she said she made over 40 bucks in a week and that she was able to almost trade most of them so that she didn't even have to spend that money she made on new clothes, she just started wearing the ones she traded for! My testimony grew so much that day! To see a girl that took what we told her that seriously was just amazing. I realized how much more I respected her for it also. Even as a missionary we see young and older ladies dress in things that they shouldn't and it makes me so sad. I think that it is even harder for me as a missionary because I have come to see people the way the Lord sees them! I don't just see them and think negative about them, I see them and think, if you only knew that your Heavenly Father wants better for you, you wouldn't dress like that... Lindsey has been such an example to us as members and missionaries that it is absolutely amazing! I have a new found respect for girls that go out of their way to be modest. She even told us that she was surprised at how many girls dressed worse then she did at church. I am so proud of her and the choices that she has made. It has been a blessing to me to watch her grow and progress. Her baptismal date is for the 10th of next month and she is getting so excited. We just hope that she can get her mom and dad there to support her!

I have just been loving being a missionary. I used to just dwell on the fact that we only got one day a week to be ''ourselves'', but have since come to realize that the mission is who I am now. I love doing missionary work! I don't know if I can say that I love doing missionary work on bike, but I do love doing what I do! It is a once in a life time opportunity to give two years of our lives to serving others and I dread the day that it is over. But like Kailei said in her email "being a full time missionary may come to an end, but being a disciple of Christ is for a life time!" I am so thankful for the Lord for being patient with me. I have made so many mistakes in life and have taken so many steps backwards, but I can honesty say that I think that the steps that I am going to be taking for the rest of my life will be forward steps! Even if I am not taking forward steps I just don't ever want to take steps backwards! I have just a love for the gospel and for the doctrine of this church that it has become addicting to read the scriptures! I just love to study and to follow footnotes and to learn things that I didn't know before! I have been trying so hard to memorize scripture verses and important chapters but just can't seem to do it. My memory has never been very good, but what I have found on the mission is that the promise of the spirit filling your mouth at the moment that you need it is sooo true! If you just study and study and read the verses and understand the principles of the doctrine, when you need to remember it, the spirit will bring it to the front of your mind! Dad I am so proud to hear that you have really been putting forth the times to study! It has been amazing to make this journey knowing that the family has been making big steps forward also! I remember reading in the mtc about you going to the temple once a week no matter what and that was such a powerful example to me!  Thank you all so much for you amazing examples and your testimonies that you bear on a weekly basis. 

Grandpa I got your email and am sooo proud of you for walking like you do and for working as hard as you do to stay healthy! Keep it up and the Lord will bless you. Please have fun on your trip and enjoy Vegas! You should make a stop at front site for me and pick up a 3 57 if you get the chance! hahaha That will probably be the next gun I buy whenever I have the money back at home! Haha ok enough about guns! right?

Well I hope you all know that I have such a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ! This is the true gospel and the only church on the earth that has the fullness of the church Christ created while he was on the earth! I have been so blessed to see the changes that it makes in people as they come to understand it fully. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he did everything in his power to bring this church back in its fullness. I have such a love and such a respect for that man that I can't wait for the day when I get to shake his hand and thank him for the sacrifice that he made for me! I also look forward to the day that I get to kneel at the saviors feet and kiss them and shower them in my tears like Nephi did in 3rd Nephi! I wish that we could even put a finger around grasping the atonement that Christ made for us and that love that he has for each and every one of us. He is my Savior and my Redeemer and I will serve him until the day that he calls me back home! I love you all so much and hope and pray that you are able to feel of even a part of the spirit that I feel as I write these letters home to you! Please tell Rocky and Nyle and Luis and all those guys back home now that I love them! This begins the time where all those buddies of mine are going to be coming home so please give them my love and respect and I look forward to next week to hear from you all again! I hope you will remember who you are and who you represent like Grandma tells me every week in her letter! I love you so much and pray for you constantly!

With love,

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley

Pictures: 1. Sister & President Merideth, Elder Oba and Mackay
              2. Hiking at Black Diamond mines

2-18-13

Just a note to you all so you will know what is going on. Last Monday a member took Mackay golfing, I guess Mackay hit a curb and bent something on the cart. They told the golf people and they said if they didn't have the part on hand, he would have to pay for it. Mackay emailed Don last Monday just to tell him what happened and what to expect. On Thursday, Don got a call from Mackay saying that the part had to be ordered and that Mackay had to pay. So Don got to visit with him for a minute and he told Don how excited he is for this new calling. We know he will do well and are excited for him.

Dear Family,

Well I don't even know where to start with this email! HAHA So lets just start with Thursday morning. I am going to start here because I just expect that dad told every one about my golf cart experience! haha Not to happy about that one. So Thursday I got a message on my phone that said I had a voice mail. Usually when the phone doesn't ring, and you still get a voice mail its usually from the zone leaders just sending out a group message to the zone. So we started listening to it but were super surprised when this is what we hear: "Elder Shelley, This is President Meredith. I need you to call me back, there is something I need to discuss with you!" I was in shock when I heard that! Honestly all I could think was that he had heard about my golf cart trip and was calling me about that. So I called him back and he said this, "Elder Shelley, I am calling you to train one of the new missionaries- will you except that call?" HAHA I was so confused and shocked that I had no idea what to say. I said that I would definitely except but that I was super scared and nervous. He basically said ok great! I knew you would except and then hung up the phone! hahaha I was so shocked and freaking out I had no idea what to do. Elder Makaya started laughing and just having a great ole time watchingmy face. And then all of a sudden the phone rang again from a number that I didn't have saved. I answered it like I always do, and said it's Elder Shelley. All I get from the person, is "I have some bad news.." I asked who it was and come to find out that it was the golf course and that I owed a little bit of money... I then called President back and asked him what I should do to pay for it. He told me that I needed to call dad and tell him what happened so that he would understand the situation and be able to take care of it for me. So long story short, I got the blessing of being able to call dad and talk to him for a little bit. Yes I had to tell him that I had some bad news, but I was still able to talk to him and to hear his voice a bit. We had a good talk for a bit and then we had to say good bye. It was still a huge blessing for me to be able to talk to him and to tell him that I was going to be a trainer! I had to go to a training for new trainers this past Friday, and president told us that 3 of the new missionaries that are coming in are 18!!! That three of the 7 elders sitting there are going to be training the first 18 year old missionaries that come into this mission. That scared me a little bit! hahaha President also told us that he has been praying about this transfer of trainers for the past two transfers because this is the begining of the 18 year old increase and that he needs his best trainers to be the one to start it all off. I felt so honored to be trusted by the Lord and by President to be able to be a trainer at this very important time in history of missionary work! I am soooo nervous to train but I know that the Lord qualifies the called and that I will be taken care of! I love this work so much. Elder Makaya is going back to San Fran this next transfer. Different area, but actually into the same apartment that he used to be in! hahah its crazy! Just a side note, Elder Roberts is a district leader now also!

This is going to have to be a short rest of the email. We are going hiking as a zone today so that should be fun! The week has been pretty crazy! Between all the work I had to do as the district leader and the baptismal interviews this week, plus the training meetings and all that, we had a pretty busy week. Sadly we got dropped by Dina and Reina. They text us and told us that they are not willing to make the needed changes in their lives to be a member. It was really hard to get that text especially since we have grown so close to each other. We love that family so much and have gained such a respect for them that it is so hard for me to see them go. It's like seeing Peggy fall off the planet also. We also got dropped by another one of our investigators named Brady. It's all going to be ok though. I have forgot to tell everyone about a young lady named Lindsey that we have been teaching for a little over two weeks. She is soo amazing! She referred herself to us and just wanted a book of Mormon and to learn more. We set a baptismal date for her for the 10th of March! She is progressing soooo fast and so well. She has such a testimony of the gospel it's crazy to watch! We are hoping that through her example that we will start to teach her dad also. She is 17 and so she has to have her dad's permission. He is so supportive and has thanked us over and over again for the change that he has seen in her! It has been awesome!

Jon is actually doing pretty well also. He has been reading still and keeps asking his questions, but has told us that he is praying and that he is still working on opening up to the Book of Mormon. He seems to keep having a better desire and that he is starting to get more and more willing to keep coming to church. We are still praying for him like crazy, and know that the Lord is going to bless him. There usually comes a super strong spirit from new missionaries so I am very excited to have this new elder help me just set fire to our area! It is going to be a blast!

Thanks everyone for their love and for their support! I love you all soooo much! I love this gospel! I love the Book of Mormon and all the truth that it brings. It has changed my life for the better and I will never go back to the person that I was. I love to think back to the past once in a while just to set new goals and make plans to keep on track and to be the person that my Heavenly Father would like me to be. I am so proud to be your son and to have the opportunity to carry the Shelley name here in California. This experience on my mission has seriously changed my life and it has changed it for the better. I have yet to decide about a release date, and probably won't make a decision for a while. There are a few missionaries that want me to come and to be roommates with them which would be way cool, but it all depends on a few factors with money and some stuff. We will see how everything goes. For now though I want to just focus on being the best trainer that I can be and enjoying here while I am here cause there will be no here there, right dad!? Thanks again and please keep writing letters. They are the best! Got a letter from Luis this week and it seriously made my day! I love to hear about all the good times and the things that are happening! Please give Rocky a huge hug from me next week when you see him and tell him to stay in contact with me! Love you all so much!

 

Love,
Elder Shelley

2-11-13

Dear Family,

Time is running short today since we are going to be having a district activity here in a few minutes. We are all going to go bowling and to enjoy the afternoon together. We have all been so busy lately that we have not had time in the past two transfers to get together as a district. Bowling should be fun and is something that we all seem to enjoy doing.

So this week has been pretty crazy. We had zone conference this past week and the next morning, I woke up sick with the flu. I had a pretty high fever and woke up sweating even though we keep our apartment around 70 degrees. I called the mission nurse and she told me that I was one of the missionaries that she had been praying wouldn't get this flu since it causes really bad cramping. To add the flu to the problems I have been having problems digesting food- just kinda put me out of the work for the day. We had to cancel a few of our appointments and try to get it all taken care of and let me get some sleep. I did wake up feeling a little better on Thursday but still couldn't go out and work until that evening. We ended up teaching a few lessons, but we never were really able to recover from the lack of lessons in the beginning of the week. We ended this past week with only 13 lessons..That's ok though we are going to make it up this next week. Who knows, this may be our last week together and so we need to work as hard as we can and to really try to rock the lessons that we teach and have the Lord be very prominent in our work together. It has been a really fun three transfers and I hope that we can have a good week. Who knows maybe the Lord will keep us together for another and make it 6 months together. Only the Lord knows.

Friday night we did celebrate my year mark! Thanks dad for the 40 dollars we ended up going to chilis with another 20 dollar gift card that we had been given. We were able to have an appetizer and steak and all that good stuff so it worked out and it was great. Having served in the Philippines I didn't want to miss out on what would have been our traditional shirt burn on hump day, so we found a member with a fire pit and burned my hump day shirt and tie. I would have burned the tie in the Philippines, but I was in the recovery center and so I burned the shirt and tie together on Friday. I have lots of pictures but I am not sure if this computer is going to allow me to do it.

I have been having a little bit of a hard time this week. One of the young men that we worked with and helped to prepare to go on a mission had to come home because of sickness. He has some kind of a stomach problem and is having some digestive issues. I know all about that-we all know- and so I went over to his house like his mom had asked to talk to him. He was really sick and didn't feel like talking but said that he would call us this week some time to come out maybe and to talk. He is really having a hard time with having to come home. I have kinda been reliving the pain and the sadness that came from having to come home myself. We have been talking to him and trying to help him realize that it is going to be ok. He hasn't given up hope of going back out and so that is good. We hope that he will be able to over come the sadness and the sickness and enjoy this experience of being in the Lords hands just like I was. 

We were not able to meet with any of our investigators this week either because they were out of town or just said that they didn't have any time. We have been struggling with getting in and teaching twice a week and even once a week.. We had to drop Dina's date because she hasn't been coming to church. We pray for her every day and really strive to have the spirit when we talk to her. We hope that she will come around and that she will understand who she is and that she truly is loved by her father in heaven.

Got the box! Thank you everyone and Elder Makaya says thank you also. Mom and dad the pants are AMAZING!!!! I forgot what it feels like to have pants that actually touch my waist when you don't have a belt cinched around you! Haha they are still a tad big, but we have really good ladies in the ward who said that if they get any bigger that they will bring them in for me! No worries and thank you so much! I really look forward to eating the chicken that you sent me also. I have been on a really strict and healthy diet lately so that I can continue to get strong and to not have the pain that I have had in the past. Chicken is right up there on my list of foods I enjoy so thank you so much!

Well I have got to get going. I have been looking forward to emailing you this whole week. I love being able to share my testimony with you all and to read and feel of yours! I love this work so much and have never been happier in life. I have been more blessed with the spirit and more blessed with understanding then ever before! I love the Lord and I love his work. The scriptures are so powerful and are without a doubt the word of God! Please remember that I love you and that even more important is that the Lord loves you! You are always in my prayers and I look forward to reading your emails and your letters each week. Have a great week and take time this week to go be in the the Temple! I realize every day on the mission just how much I took the temple for granted. I miss it and can't wait till i can go whenever I want to again!

 

Love always!

Elder Shelley

pictures: 1. shirt ready to burn for hump day

              2. burning the shirt and tie

2-6-13

We just received this picture of Mackay after zone conference. Love seeing the light of the Gospel in his eye!

2-4-13

Dear Family,

    Holy Cow!!!!! One year down already!?! It honestly doesn't seem like I have been out this long. Looking back at all the things that have happened over this past year you would think that it would have drug on and felt like it was forever long.Well that was not the case at all and to think that I am about to start the downward slide back to Mesa is actually really scary for me. I have been absolutely LOVING my mission here in California! I know that I said that I would go anywhere then Cali at first but I know that there is no other place in this world that I am supposed to be. I love this work so much and have grown soooo much in the past year and even more then that in the past 6 months here in this mission. I have really learned how to set goals and make plans to better myself and to better my life! I am a completely different person then I was a year ago and I am loving it! Being hump day I expect to get a ton of letters here this week with thoughts and quotes and fun things ok? ok! AWESOME!

     This week has been a week to remember!!! We have always had the goal to teach 20 lessons a week because that is the mission standard of excellence and that had never happened in this area from the records that we have and the places that we have looked. We taught 20 last transfer and that was definitely a blessing because we didn't think that it was going to happen. Well this week things were looking really really good! We taught a ton of lessons by Thursday and had even had dinners with less active families that usually don't like us to come over and share messages. The Lord blessed us and we were able to teach 23 lessons this week!!! I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders this week and was looking at the board of the zone. I asked him what it meant when I saw our arearepeatedly written across the top of the board under each month. He told me that that was the missionaries that have been leading the zone in total lessons taught!!! I had absolutely no idea, but me and Elder Makaya have been leading the Antioch zone since 2 weeks after I got here!! We had no idea and that is how I like it. I told him not to tell me that anymore because pride is what has brought people down even since the bible and book of Mormon times. We have been praying and thanking Heavenly Father every single day, multiple times a day so that we keep humble and just work hard. The Lord is obviously the one that has set fire to this area not either of us! We are just his tools and we have just been trying to fit perfectly in his hands so that the best work can be accomplished!!!

      Jon has not been doing so hot. He has gotten more and more deep into doctrine and has been doing everything that he can to prove to me that the Book of Mormon is not needed for our salvation. He has brought up some really "good" Scriptures and has been reading a lot of anti Mormon stuff. We think that we are going to be dropping him here in the next week or so if he doesn't decide to open up to the spirit and to allow it to be the one that really teaches him! The interesting part about teaching him is that I have really been studying the scriptures more and more so that I can support what we are teaching with scriptures. Last lesson there was not a question that he asked that I couldn't find a scripture to answer or to support my thoughts. It has been really fun to watch the Lord try so hard through us to help this kid come to know the truth, but as we know, you have to be taught by the spirit or you will not be taught at all. It's ok, maybe it is just not his time. We will keep praying for him and loving him.

     So Reina and Dina are daughter and mom. Dina is the mom and Reina is the daughter. They are doing pretty well. Dina has excepted a baptismal date but is struggling to live the word of wisdom. She is still really working at it, but is having a little bit harder time then she thought she would. Reina is still having a hard time with some of the doctrine that we teach, but is still keeping her mind open and is praying about the things we share. She is really great and we are sure that it is just a matter of time till the spirit answers her questions and she receives a witness of the Gospel!

     Thank you so much for getting me pants! I am sure they will work fine. There is an elder here that fits into the ones I have now and needs some pants, so I think I am just going to give him mine if these new ones fit. He is a great guy and comes from a family that just has a hard time so I would like to just help him out. I gave him a few of my shirts and a few to another elder from Samoa! hahaha I still cry a little bit inside when I see pictures of myself a year ago! I don't look anything like that and will never look like that again! We had stake conference this past Sunday, and it gave me some great advice. Elder Perry of the 12 talked about being self reliant. He told us that to be self reliant we must first become spiritually self reliant! I had never thought about that before! I have been really focusing on trying to get healthy and in shape for the past few months. Me and Elder Makaya have seen such growth in ourselves the past few months spiritually and physically and sat down and made some goals to become more and more spiritually self reliant so that that way the Lord will allow us to become self reliant in general. We have really been enjoying the work here together and am afraid that we will be going our separate ways here in two weeks. I have really come to love Elder Makaya even through the hard times and the good times! Now if I could just get him to stop snoring life would be perfect!!!! I swear it sounds like brother Schnepf and brother Burnett are in the bed next to me at scout camp all over again!!! I finally broke down and bought ear plugs a few weeks ago but they were super cheap so I can still hear him! I need my rifle ear covers!hahaha

     Well family it is time to say good bye for another week. I hope you can feel my love for all of you through my letters! I try not to think about you through out the week but Pday is my day that I get to think back and think forward to all the good times and to the even better times to come! I have become a much better person and I truly hope that that shows when I get home. I feel like I was a little better after the Philippines but not really. I have really honestly changed this time and have become converted to the Lord and to his work. It has been really fun to see missionaries that are new or even been out for a while come up to me and ask more for advice on making plans and goals for themselves. I have really come to love setting goals lately. I feel like if there are no goals set or no plans made then that is where we just sit around and waste this very short life. Please continue to plan out your lives and make appropriate goals to become the people and members that our Heavenly Father wants us to be! I know that our savior lives! I know he loves us! He stands at the head of this perfect church and will never allow us to fall. He loves us more then we will ever know and is standing there with his hands always stretched out like it says in the book of Mormon! Please just reach out and hold on to him. Let him pull you up and stand in your presence! I love the Book of Mormon. I love how it has blessed my life this year and can't wait to continue reading it. I have been so blessed. I have read it cover to cover three times this past year and plan on three more times before I come home! Thanks again for all the support and for the blessings that you send my way. The priesthood is real! It has been restored through Joseph Smith and we know that it will never be taken away from the earth again! Love you all with all my heart! Talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Elder Mackay Dale Shelley