Dear family!
Well today is July 15th which marks my 18 month mark exactly... I thought that that would be an exciting day, but honestly after the week of blessings and miracles that we have seen, I am not looking forward to this mission coming to an end. As a lot of you know, I had been struggling quite a bit with the loss of my Grandpa. I came to the realization a week or so ago, that I could either let that brake my mission, or shape it into the thing that the Lord would have it be. I decided that no matter what happens at this point, I have lost myself in the work, and it's not going to affect me any more! We got together as a companionship last S
undayand decided that we were going to work our tails off, and that nothing was going to hold us back. We made a few decisions to change a few things that we were doing to make sure that we were being as exactly obedient as possible so that the Lord wouldn't hold back blessings that could have come our way. That next Monday as soon as we got done emailing, we got a call from Sam Yazzie, the
Navajo man that had come to the church a little over a month ago. He told us that he had stopped meeting with the other elders and that he really wasn't interested in the church. But that that morning he had had some interesting experiences that had led him to feel like he needed to call and contact us. We set up an appointment with him for that night and taught him a great lesson. He said that if he was going to go to church that he wanted to go to the Filipino ward, cause it made him feel like he was back in his own culture with his own people. The Filipino people are so loving and so inviting that he just felt comfortable around them. So we added him as an investigator and we able to teach him Monday and Tuesday! He has been trying to get his boss to let him off on Sundays, but his boss is pretty crazy, and wouldn't do it cause he would loose money if Sam didn't work! Pretty selfish huh?!.. Sam is making good steps though. He has a few concerns with the word of wisdom. He doesn't have any problems with the substances, he just doesn't understand why we are told that we couldn't if we wanted to. He drinks coffee from time to time and doesn't feel like he should be told that he can't. We are going to keep working with him though, and hopefully he will be able to make it to church here soon and be able to feel the spirit there and be able to begin to progress! We are really excited for him. We need to reset some expectations though, cause he kinda has this friendship feeling with us rather then teachers. It's great that he feels comfortable being our friends, but we really need him to respect us as his teachers also! His biggest concern is with our title as Elders. In the Indian culture, the elders are those of old age and that teach them and council them. We do the same thing we told him, but its the fact that he doesn't think we should have the honor or carrying that title yet since we are only 20! I have never had someone have that issue, so that is a new one!
Sister Amporias finally got back into town! They said that they had a good time, but that it was too hot! I just laughed and said welcome to my world of Arizona! They were amazed that people could live in that kind of heat and not die! I told them that it can't be in the 50's and 60's everywhere! We have had a pretty big cold spell the past few days, and it has even gotten down into the high 40's at night with really really thick fog! We were able to share a very powerful lesson with her this week, and even extended a baptismal date to her. Our thoughts behind doing so were that we wanted to see where she stood on the thought of baptism! She hasn't kicked it clean out of her mind, but she is not totally sold on the idea either. She wouldn't except the date, but did except the challenge to pray about it. Her big concern is the fact that she feels that we focus too much on the Book of Mormon and don't agree with the bible. We gave her a reading assignment of one of the Isaiah chapters in the book of Mormon when Nephi quotes Isaiah. We want her to see that even the Book of Mormon Prophets referenced the Bible and that we do hold it very dear to our hearts. We realized that we need to start teaching our lessons with the bible and the Book or Mormon referencing each other! We think that as we do that, that she will begin to see that both of them really do support each other and that one without the other just isn't enough! You can't have the Book
ofMormon without the Bible and you can't have the Bible without the Book of Mormon. It just wouldn't be the fullness of the Gospel! She came to church again this week, and so she is at least not giving up on the idea of it! We will continue to pray and fast for her to gain that very important witness that the Book is true!
The big news and miracle for this week is that we have a Baptismal date!!!!!!!!!!! I know that that came out of no where, but it was a huge miracle! It actually came from the other elders in the ward! We were going through the progressing investigators this past Tuesday and they said that they had this new investigator named June. I asked them where he lived, and they kinda tried to change the subject and avoid answering me. It was really weird but I couldn't get an answer out of them on where he lived. Come to find out he lived in our area, but they had talked to one of the members in their area to invite him to take the lessons at his house. I wasn't sure exactly how to tell them that that was not an ok thing to do and that they really shouldn't try to keep investigators from us. I called the zone leaders that night, and talked to them about it, and they called the other elders and discussed with them that we all need to be working as a team and not trying to out do the others! I pulled the five of us into a meeting this past Thursday and talked about how we need to do that also! That the Lord is not going to bless us as much as he could, if we are being prideful and not giving each other the right referrals. So we picked up that investigator and extended a date to him which he accepted! His name is June and he is in his 60's. He has actually been reading the Book of Mormon for a few years now, but didn't know how to get into contact with the missionaries! The coolest thing that happened, is that the day that the other elders gave us the referral, they were able to find 2 new really solid investigators! It was just a testimony builder to us all that when we do truly work together as a team, the Lord is going to bless us all with great blessings and work to do! We both ended the week with over 10 lessons which was double that we taught last week! It was so amazing to watch the Lords hand just take over the work here in this area! We found a great neighborhood this past week that is just full of Filipinos and we found some great potentials from that area! The Lord truly is hastening the work out here, and we are so blessed to be apart of it!
We will be having our quarterly interviews with President this Saturday and so we are really looking forward to those! We are excited to talk to President about all of the blessings and miracles that we have been seeing and all the great work that is beginning to happen. We are really hoping that we will be able to have enough work, that president could consider adding one more set of Elders or Sisters out here. I have the areas mapped out to be able to fit them in if it happened so that would be way cool!
This work is really moving forward! We have no complaints so far! We have just decided that complaining just makes things worse! haha
I love this gospel so much! I have really been working hard to make sure that we are able to finish strong! I remember Dad telling me that you don't want to ever regret the end of your mission! So I have really been focusing and working hard to try to find more and more investigators so that we can get this ward moving even faster! The ward is great! The members give us great referrals, and even do their part and come out and work with us! We have been working as a team and are seeing some great miracles because of it! Thank you all so much for all that you have done for me and the prayers that have been offered in my behalf! I know that this church is true and that it truly is a marvelous work and a wonder that is happening among us! Please remember that I love you all and am so thankful for your thoughts and your support! I love you all so much and pray for you all every day! We are off to the bowling alley to let these new missionaries try out their luck at bowling! Thanks again!
Love,
Elder Shelley
Pictures: 1. Mackay with his 2 kids (trainees)-Elder Santiago & Perez
2. Mackay cutting hair!!
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