4-1-13

Dear Family,

Thank you all so much for the Easter emails! What a treat that truly was to be able to hear from you two days in a row! Easter is such a amazing holiday and one of my favorite days to be a missionary! I was counting my blessings every single day of this past week thanking Heavenly Father that I am no longer in the Philippines for Easter! For those of you that have been reading my emails for the past year you will understand what I am talking about so I am not going into any details! But its been such a blessing to really study the life of my savior and to focus mainly on the last week of his life. We shared that last week with so many families and felt the spirit so strongly in my life. I have been so blessed as a missionary to be able to testify of the risen Lord and to bear powerful testimony that he lives, and that he loves each and every one of us! He suffered for our sins and saw each and every one of our faces as he was in the Garden. I heard a really good thought the other day, that I'd like to share real quick. One of our members told us this so obviously this is not doctrine, but that he has always thought about it and thought that it was a cool though. I thought so too. He told us that he has always thought that time literally stopped as the Savior began that portion of the Atonement. Having time stop, gave him the opportunity to literally see each of our faces individually and to have that one on one time to show us his love! Think about that for just a minute. I have always wondered how the Savior could have suffered for all of us in such a short time frame. Well to think that he has power over everything, including time, what love it must have been if he literally stopped time so that he could suffer for each of us equally and to have the time to see our faces and know us personally! He already knew us before this life and I can just see him and the love that he had for us as he thought back to the relationship that we probably had and then did what he did for us in that Garden! It really puts things into perspective and really makes you love the Savior just a little bit more! I hope that he understands my love for him and that my love is enough to pay him back even a little bit for what he went through for me to be who I am today!

Dinner with the Stones was so nice. Their parents are in another ward, and so two other missionaries that we really enjoy were at dinner also! We had a really good time and lots of good food. They knew that I am not allowed to eat pork anymore because of my health and so they even cooked an entire turkey also along with the ham! That was something that really meant a lot to me! So much love. The Easter baskets that they gave us had a few things that we really needed like toothpaste and deodorant, and then also had some treats that we like. I got sunflower seeds and Reese's in mine. Elder Oba got other things that he liked. It was so nice of them and we felt so loved!

Jon went to the temple with us on Saturday actually and it was such a special experience. The LDS and Catholic church came together and put on the production of Lamb of God! I love that music so much! Made me sad a little bit because Kailei sang one of the songs on her CD so I thought a lot about her then also. It was so perfect though. Jon enjoyed it and said that he was glad that he came. He even brought one of his friends from work with him since it was on their way home. His friend said that he had already seen it and that it was just as good as he remembers. He is catholic and so he thought it was neat that we all came together to put it on. The singers were so good. The hall that the ISC has in it is so awesome too. The music was great and it was just an all around great evening. Travis Cook came with us and actually drove and so that was way nice of him. I love that boy so much! Blessed to know him. Well because of the temple we were not able to actually sit down with Jon to talk or teach anything so his testimony writing will hopefully happen this week and we will be able to meet with him after conference. I hope he is able to make priesthood session at least! He has to work and isn't sure that he can make it back by 5 but is going to try. It would be good for him to be able to be there.

Well on the topic of conference, I have a challenge for all of you! It is basically the same as every other conference challenge out there, but it is so important! I have such a testimony of conference ever since my mission and I know that it can literally change our lives if we allow it to. Conference, like missionary work, is a revelatory work and can be the means of receiving amazing personal revelation for our lives! I know that it was the key for me in the Philippines to get over my home sickness and to get to work. It was also one of the many keys to Marlin Jefferson getting baptized in Hayward! I know that if we will just go into conference with a list of needs and even wants that we will walk away with every question and need taken care of! The Lord loves us and has been inspiring these men and women to speak on the things that each and everyone of us needs. You will not be forgotten. You will not be left behind! Through the direction of the Holy Ghost, we will be able to receive things for our lives that we may not have even known that we needed. But we have to be prepared. Just like everything else in life, we have to do our part and let the Lord do the rest! He will guide their mouths and their words and we will all walk away so spiritually fed that we will be able to make it in this crazy mixed up world for six more months if we have prepared ourselves correctly. If we don't, like it says in the scriptures,"I the Lord am bound when you do what I say. But when you do not what I say, ye have no promise!" Guys please do what we have been asked to do! Prepare for conference and be ready to receive revelation for our lives! You will not regret it! The Lord through the prophet has promised us blessings for those that prepare! So why shouldn't we prepare!

I have got to get going. We are going to go bowling as a district! It's weird to think that me and Elder Oba are the only elders in the district! It is so amazing though! These sisters are so prepared and are such fire balls! All three Brentwood areas have someone being trained at the moment! It is crazy! I love this work and I love to be a leader in such a powerful mission! I hope that I can only begin to do the things that the Lord has in store for me! I love this work and I love being a missionary! It's the hardest thing that I have ever loved to do! I have made life long and eternal friends that I will stay in contact with forever! I have grown closer to Christ and my father in heaven then I ever thought that I would. I have such a respect and a deep love for the Prophet Joseph Smith. We will never be able to repay him for the things that he did for us and for this great church! I love you all so much and am so thankful that we are an eternal family!  

 

Love,

Elder Shelley