Dear Family,
First off so I don't forget, President Meredith has given us as missionaries permission to email friends now also. So there are no restrictions on emails anymore. Please let everyone know that I can email them if they email me so that is really really cool. I may not always have time, but I will do my best to really keep in contact with everyone now who emails me. (Please remember that letters can come any time during the week and so handwritten letters are always cool if you have time!)
Yes mom we got the grapefruit and thank you so much! They loved them as did I! Haha Mine are already gone! I ate 2 a day so they went pretty fast. haha
Well lets just get started with this week. I know that everyone is wondering about Lindsey's baptism, so I will start with that! I can't say that it went as planned, but it did end as planned. Lindsey was really struggling with anxiety before and we were wondering if she was even going to show up to the baptism.. No one could get a hold of her until she showed up to church. She said that she would be there and that her entire non member friends and family would be there also. She was not doing very well though. She text us about an hour before it was supposed to start and asked me if I would give her a blessing before to help her to calm down a bit. She came a bit early and I gave her the blessing. It was a short blessing but was very powerful! She took a few deep breaths and left the room and she was fine! Since she had attended both our ward and the other Brentwood ward in the past, she had member support show up from both wards! We had so many people there, that we were not able to fit every one in the relief society room and had to move into the chapel. We counted at one point 104 people sitting there and we know that there were people in the hall ways and other rooms. It was absolutely amazing. We did sing warriors of light, and it turned out very very well. We had a few mistakes with harmonies because the sister that played piano dropped the music and had to fake it for a bit till someone could come up and put it back on the piano but other then that it went very well. We had a lot of compliments about it and so that was cool. I sang the solo part since I was the only who had heard the song before and I kinda surprised myself. I got some really really cool compliments from people that we didn't even know. One of the men in the ward that I really really look up to came up to me and pulled me aside. He told me that as we were singing, he leaned over to his 12 year old daughter and told her that she needs to take a very long hard look at the four of us standing up there singing. He told her to look at the way we present and carry ourselves and the confidence and spirit that was coming from us. He told her that that is the kind of man that she needs to look for in a husband. He told me that he was so thankful that I was able to be the type of man that his young girls could look up to! That meant the world to me! I have had a kinda hard week, but have been doing better. That compliment was something that I didn't know that I needed but the Lord knew that I needed! It made my day and I shared it with the other elders too. They were very appreciative and thankful for the comment also. It was a basic baptism other then that though. We worked it all out so that it was easy on the family and that they had a great time. We are so blessed to be able to share what we know to be true with others. We may be singing warriors of light in two of the wards now since both bishops were there and came and asked me if I would put it together again for their wards. If we can get investigators to go to those wards for that Sunday we are going to do it.
Speaking of investigators, Jon has come to church 4 weeks in a row and also came to the baptism last night. He has been making some really big steps and we are super proud of him. He still will not except a date, but he says that he is praying about it and has not kicked it out of his mind. He has changed so much in the past month or so and it has been really fun to watch. I want him to feel the spirit so bad and just can't figure out why he is pushing it away so much. I know that it scares him but he tells us that he knows that it's a good feeling and so I am just confused at why it was that big of a deal for him.
Everything else is really going well. Me and Elder Oba have been working really hard. He is a great missionary and honestly is training me! He has such a spirit about him and if he can just get the doctrine under his belt he is really going to kill it out here in the field. I have nothing but high hopes for him and I know that he is going to be an outstanding leader here in a few transfers or so. He is struggling with home sickness and missing his girlfriendthough. That is the hardest part for him. He just sits there and reads her letters every night and thinks about her. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with thinking about her, but we are just trying to get him to not dwell on it so much. He has been doing a two year daily count down and if he keeps doing that the two years is going to drag on so bad! I hope that it all works out and that he can pull through. I know he can! It just takes time! I love this work so much and know that he will come to love it too.
Thank you all so much for your love and for your support. I enjoy Mondays because I get to read all of your emails and strive to put myself back there with you for at least a few minutes. I enjoy hearing about your trips and I hope that you are enjoying Disneyland! I think we should go to Wyoming to the Cheyan rodeo days when I get home! haha or just have a big bbq and throw horse shoes or do something! I feel like the mission is pulling my red neck side out a little bit and I am going to need to get that back asap! hahaha It has been a good change in my life though to see that I don't have to change who I am I just need to change some of the things I do. I am so happy with who I have become and I hope that you can feel at least a little bit of that change as you read my emails! I can't wait to be able to share my experiences with you all and to once again grow together as a family and friends. I have a powerful testimony of my savior Jesus Christ! I love him so much and am so thankful for all that he does for me on a daily basis. I have the outlook lately that if I wake up the same person that I was when I went to bed, I haven't reached my potential. We should go to bed every night and wake up a better person then the day before. I have been trying this for the past few weeks and it has been so awesome! I love it and Love this Gospel. I owe it my life just like I do so many of you who have been there for me through it all! Thank you all so much. Please share the Gospel with those around you. It will change their lives forever and you will regret it if you let the opportunity slip through your fingers! I love you all so much and pray for you on a daily basis! Please remember who we are. We are all children of our heavenly father who loves us and who wants nothing but the best for us. Please remember that he is always there for you and that he will guide you and direct you through even the toughest times of your lives! I have gone through more in the past year of my life then I had in 20! I thought that I would never return to the field at one point, but here I am. I have been able to be apart of this work here in California and it has been a blessing to me! I love you all so much and please write to me and email me! I love opening the mail box to see letters in there. =D The Gospel is so true and I bear testimony of it!
Love,
Elder Shelley
Pictures: 1. Mackay, Elder Makaya, and Travis Cook
2. Brother Sudweeks and Lindsey
3. Elder Oba, Lindsey, and Mackay
4. Lindsey's baptism
5. Lindsey with her family
6. License plate Kadon made for Mackay for Christmas
7. Mackay and Elder Albretson (a Utah cousins friend)
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