3-4-13

Dear Family,

Well this week was absolutely crazy! I was out of the area for a day with the zone leaders and then me and Elder Oba had to go out of the area for a new missionary training on another! The first day with the zone leaders, was a special thing that me and a few other of the district leaders got invited to. We went to zone leaders council in Oakland and that was awesome! There were two brothers there from the missionary department to speak and train the zone leaders on how to strengthen the mission and the missionaries in a whole. I was so blessed to be able to be there with them for that training. We felt the spirit there so strongly and really got a lot of really good in sites. President told us about the 50 some new missions that are opening up. I thought that that was super cool! I had heard that a few opened up but not that many! This is a very special time to be a missionary! 

The new missionary training went great too! Elder Oba is really doing well and I feel like he is sticking out a little bit above the rest in confidence and attitude. He struggles a little bit with the desire to serve a mission at times, but he is here and he is working so hard and so that is all that we can ask of him! President asked him to bare his testimony on missionary work and on the fact that he has been working in a bike area. haha He wasn't too fired up about the bike part, but he did really get excited as he talked about the work that has been happening and the miracles that we have been seeing! I am so thankful for him and his diligence. It is so nice to work with someone who trusts me like he does. He doesn't always understand why I ask him to do certain things, but he always does them with such an open  mind and heart. He has been a very big blessing to this area. The members feel his spirit so strong and they can feel the unity in our companionship and have really stepped up to the plate for us in lots of ways.

Lindsey is going to be getting baptized this Sunday! We are so excited for her and have seen soooo many changes in her that it absolutely blows my mind! I am so happy to know that she has found the truth and that she is happy about the changes that she has made. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be a young lady in high school and to be making changes this big and doing the things that she is doing. Brother Sudweeks is going to be performing the baptism and that is so special for him. I feel like he has become kind of a second father figure for her and so it is special to see them share in this experience together. We as a group of missionaries are going to be singing Warriors of Light at the baptism and so that should be pretty cool. We may record a practice of it and so I will see if I can email the video or something to you. It has started to sound pretty cool! Elder Seigel has a great voice and can really do well up in the high register! We shall see how it turns out. It's not going to sound anything like what it does when Tim sings the solo!

Jon has continued to progress. He has come to church like three or four times in a row now and seems to be enjoying it. He still just fights that spirit so much! We have him praying about a baptismal date and so we will see how that all goes. I don't think I have ever prayed so much for an investigator as I have him! I want to see this man get baptized so much! We have seen HUGE changes in him and he would be a great member! He just needs to accept the spirit and listen to the promptings that are coming his way! It will all work out if that is what the Lord wants for him.

I have really been having a good week! We taught 20 lessons again this week even with being on bike and leaving the area twice! It has just been a testimony to me that the work that happens here in the mission field is the Lords work. This is a revelatory work and as long as we stay worthy and diligent the Lord is going to make happen what he needs to make happen! I love this work so much. It has been really hard today to read a few things, but I have been so blessed on my mission so far that I know that all is going to work out and that what ever the Lord has in store for me is exactly what is going to happen! I am so thankful for all the people in my life who have been there for me. Its not been an easy mission for me. I have been through some things that I wish I never had to experience. Some of those things may stay with me for the rest of my life.. But I do understand that the Lord loves and protects his missionaries! I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father who has watched out for me this last year. I have felt his arms around me in more ways then one. I have come to learn how the spirit works with me and how I work with it, that in itself has been worth the entire mission. I have even been being blessed for after the mission already. Dad has been working so hard to really set up a good job and schooling that I can't even express the gratitude I feel to you pop! I also don't understand sometimes why things happen but I have such a love for this work and for this Gospel that I am going to just put my trust in the Lord and remember that he is in charge! Everything else will work out! I have a testimony of this work! It is the Lords work and is the work that I have been called to do. I am honored to be a missionary at this monumental time! I love you all and am so proud to call you my friends and family!

 

With love

Elder Shelley