9-24-13

Well I know a few of you may have thought that I forgot about ya yesterday, but we were blessed to be given the opportunity to go to the temple this morning, and so today was our P-day. I had such a great session in the temple today! We were all told to go with a few questions that we needed answered and I can honestly say that all five of my questions/concerns were answered! Sitting in the Celestial Room with Elder Fajardo after was a really cool experience also. We really do get a long really well, and have so much in common that we were able to talk quietly and enjoy the spirit that was in the room. One of the things that I had asked was to be able to feel Grandpa's spirit there because it has been hard for me that I hadn't ever been able to do a session with him because of his health. Well it was really really neat because I felt him right there next to me the entire time, and it was just a huge blessing to know that he is still here with me. I have always known that, but man was it special to be able to feel him right there with me!

 

Well our sad news from this week was that Deniella was not baptized... She called us a few days into the week and told us that her mom had called one of her pastors from one of her old churches, and had set up a meeting for her with him. She told us that she didn't know what it was going to be like, but that she had to go. We had a really bad feeling about it, and just told her to pray before she went and to keep an open mind about it. She called us about four hours later, and told us that she didn't want to be baptized any more, that she found out all about who we really are, and that she was very upset that we didn't tell her all about Joseph Smith. We were super confused and just really wanted to meet with her. She said that she would meet with us the next day, but that she wasn't going to be getting baptized. She had been hit SUPER hard with Anti Mormon Doctrine and was really upset about how we hadn't told her about it. She was told some things that I hadn't even ever heard of. We thankfully have a member who had read up on a lot of anti stuff before he was baptized, and he had gotten answers to it all, and he was really able to help her out. She still is up in the air, and doing her own studies, but we have faith that she will be baptized sooner or later, but it will be a really tough ride to get her there.

Well I have got to sign off. There are a few things that I still need to do email wise. Real quick though. Harry was confirmed this Sunday and he is on fire! He is working to get the priesthood so that he can go to the temple as soon as possible and do baptisms. He is so happy and has told all his family that he is going to come back to China in February and teach them all about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He is just doing so well and we are so happy to be able to be apart of his life. Peter is kinda off the radar right now. He is just going through a hard time right now, but he will still text us back, and read what we ask him to. He is going to do fine, he just needs to figure out how he fits in in the world, and just keep enjoying the journey. He had a good time with us the other day when we took him out to dinner, so we just need to keep getting him involved in the activities! 

Guys I love this work so much! I love just working like dogs and coming home so tired that we think we might as well die,and then have about 2 hours more work to do as zone leaders! I have never felt so tired and worn out my entire life, but it is such a miracle tired that it just makes it all worth it! I know that I am tired, but I love it and never want it to end! I would have no problem with just being a missionary for ever! I have had such a revelatory experience of making plans on how I am going to stay a missionary even once I am back home! I just want to always share the Gospel and be a missionary. I know that one day the tag will come off the front, but it will never be taken off of my heart! I love you all so much. May we all remember that we are ALL member missionaries and there are people out there who need the Gospel and who would be much better off with it in their lives! Thanks for all the emails today it was great to heard from you! I love you so much I know that the work is the Lord's work, and that it is all true. I would not preach something that I didn't know for sure was 100% true! I hope you all know that I have a very strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and Temple work! It is the thing that is going to keep us all together no matter what happens! Remember who you are and what you represent, right Grandma?!?! Love you guys!

Much Love!

Elder Shelley

9-16-13

Dear Family and Friends,

So Harry was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!! We were sooo happy for him and so blessed to be apart of this young mans life. I was blessed to have him ask me to baptize him also. We really wanted one of the ward members to do it, but he personally asked me, so I couldn't say no. The baptism was beautiful! There were a lot of members there to support him, and he was just beaming the entire time! Even the morning at church he had this spirit about him that every single person there could feel. It was so neat to be able to talk to him about how he felt as we were changing back into our Sunday dress. He came into the room and was very quite. He looked up at me a little bit into it, and told me that he couldn't really explain how he was feeling, but that he felt fantastic!! He had this Heavenly Glow about him that was just so special for us to witness. He bore his testimony after the baptism, and he brought tears to the eyes of many as he explained how much he had changed, and how he was so blessed to be able to have met us missionaries and how he doesn't know what he would do if he had never started reading the Book of Mormon. it was very very powerful, and it was a blessing to every ones life that heard him! 

 We had two non members that came to his baptism with friends, and we were able to add both of them as new investigators, and one of them name Alison told us that she had never felt something that strong before, and she wants to be baptized too!!! How amazing is that?! The other one told us that he had felt something also, and that he wanted to learn more about what he was feeling and about the things that were taught through out the service! It was so special. We were super blessed this week to be able to find 6 new investigators through out this week! We were looking through our names and investigators that have been being taught for a while, we realized just how much potential we have to accomplish our October goals! We have quite a few people who have already said that when they come to know that it's true that they would be baptized, so now we just need to get them to accept dates, and allow Heavenly Father to answer their Prayers. We are very excited for them!

We are a tad worried about Deniella.. She told us that she is struggling with the thought of having modern day prophets, and is a little worried about her baptism.. We have a lot of faith in her, and she has a lot of friends who are really working on keeping her excited and ready. Please keep her in your prayers.

Another prayer we could use is for Peter Pu.. We have yet to be in contact with him for the past week or so... He isn't answering our calls or texts, and didn't come to  church or Harry's baptism either. He turned 21 this past week, and we heard a rumor from a friend that he may have had a little issue there, and so we think he may just be embarrassed! We are really trying to support him through this tough time, but don't know how to do that if he is not contacting us back.. Please just keep praying for us, and him and pray that we will be able to call us back or open his door to us. We have really been worried. 

Thank you all so much for your excitement and for your love for our work out here. We have been so blessed to be able to enjoy a lot of hard work and success. It has been so much fun to be able to share all of our stories and our success with you! We have got to get going this week, but know that I love and pray for you all! You are so special to me, and I know that we will be together forever! I have had a few really good opportunities to testify of Christ and Joseph Smith. That is my all time favorite part of missionary work and it just makes my testimony grow so much! Thank you all so much and know that I love you and have a solid testimony of this gospel! Thanks for all you do and know that I love you! 

Love,

Elder Shelley

pictures: Harry's baptism

9-9-13

Dear Family and Friends,

    We get to stay together!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited. We honestly didn't expect to be able to stay together, but I guess the Lord heard both our prayers and decided to give us one more! I can't believe that I only have three more!... I have been doing everything I can to just not think about it. We have been so busy honestly that  haven't had any time to think of anything but missionary work. 

     This past week has been so stressful but great at the same time! We hadn't been in contact with Deniella for almost a week until last night! We have been so worried because she wouldn't even respond to the friends that she has made in the church! Well we finally just decided that we were going to go over to her apt even though she had asked us before not to and just see what was going on with her! She opened the door and was really surprised to see us. We talked for a few minutes at the door but she felt awkward, and so we went for a walk and talked. Come to find out, she had been offended by a less active member of our ward, and there had been a lot of rumors started about her. She was really offended, and it didn't seem like she was going to be able to get over it. As we talked to her though, we felt very inspired to ask her all of the baptismal interview questions in a very non pushy and honestly in a way that she didn't even know that we were doing it. She answered all of them exactly right, and as we brought up the need to be baptized, she just laughed and said, "Ha you think that I am going to let a few stupid boys get me to not be baptized?! Your crazy! I follow God not the boys!" MAN!!! That was one of the coolest points of my mission thus far! She is still down for the 21 of September so that will be really exciting to see. We have a few more lessons to teach, but it is all going to work out. She was really excited, because she had asked Elder Fajardo to baptize her but we weren't sure if he was going to be able to stick around. She was really happy when she found out that he would be!

Harry is better then ever! He is super prepared for this Sunday to be baptized! He was set for this Saturday, but they are going river rafting Saturday, and so the bishop invited him to go and so we are going to be pushing it back a day. He is very excited though! I will be sending pictures of the past activity on Saturday! It was a Viking party and they did raft boat races in the Pool, and Harry joined in and just loved it! The ward has really put him under their wings, and he is really enjoying being apart of this ward! We are excited for him! 

We added one more date this past week for the 12 of October!(Sound like a good date?! haha) He name is Anna and she is from Brazil! She is here in the states doing a nanny job. She met a few of the other Brazilian sisters in the ward, and has just fallen in love with the ward! They all do zumba on Tuesday nights together and that is how she got hooked up with the church. She has a great testimony of Christ and the Bible so we are working on the Book of Mormon now! Should be great!

Well other then that the week was a little slow actually! I honestly feel super bad saying that we had a slow week when we still taught 12 member present lessons. I think that we are just way to blessed in this area! There is no room for complaining! 

Me and Elder Fajardo have decided to go really lean on our diets and cut out all of the soda, fast foods, and most red meats, unless a member feeds us! We have really stepped up our work out plans and work out 4 times a week, and play dodge ball on the other 3! We are both right around the same time going home, and have decided that it's time to get back into shape so we don't go home any fatter then we are now! haha. I don't think I have anything to say about being fat. Ha having used to be 280 lbs, 190 seems to be doing me pretty well. 

Our scripture studies this past week were so good! We have a few investigators that like to ask the hard questions, and it has been a pretty good challenge to have to answer them! They have been expanding my bible knowledge so much, and it has been fun to have to work at doing everything we can to truly understand the scriptures and understand why the bible says a few of the things that it does. It has been super inspiring to read the Joseph Smith translations, and to be able to see exactly what some of the words meant in their original Greek or Hebrew text! It really opens up your mind as your begin to study the true meanings and understand what has been removed in the past out of the bible. I have really had my mind opened on how to read and study the bible! 

I love you all so much! I am so thankful that I have the support that you have all given me! Thanks for the memories and the laughs that I get to think back to and remember! I am so thankful that I have such a close family that Kailei would surprised Kadon for his birthday! I am so pleased to be able to call myself a Shelley! May we all remember what the name means, and stand true to who we are! I have such a great testimony of this great work, and am so thankful that we have the full and complete Gospel in this day and age! I can't even begin to think about how it would be to have to live through this life without the simple truths of this gospel! It has been a great blessing to teach what I know is true. I have been more blessed then ever being able to teach the gospel! I will never go back to the person that I was! I know that the church is true, and that we are going to be able to be an eternal family! Love you all so much!

Much Love,

Elder Shelley

Pictures: 1. Harry at the Viking party!

              2. Elder Fajardo, Harry and Mackay

              3. Elder Fajardo as a Viking!

              4. Peter's baptism-Elder Fajardo, Peter, and Mackay

              5. As close to swimming as he'll get! (trying to pull the plug!)

9-8-13

Mackay attended a funeral this last week and was able to see dear friends from his former area. The Sudweeks (Wayne and Pat) were kind enough to send us pictures of him and his companion (Elder Fajardo). This family was so good to Mackay and I will be eternally grateful to them for being his California family.

Pictures: 1. Mackay and the Sudweeks
              2. Mackay, Elder Fajardo and Wayne Sudweeks
              3. Mackay and Elder Fajardo
             4 & 5. Mackay and Elder Fajardo with their car

9-2-13

What an amazing week this has been! Peter was baptized this past week, and he did soooo well!!! He made me laugh so hard! He came in a T-shirt and shorts because he didn't know that he had to come dressed like church!.. That was on us though big time that we didn't take the time to fill him in.. I guess we just figured that he would think about it on his own. We forget that he has no religious background at all. He came in and was feeling the water to make sure that it wasn't to cold or to hot! He told me that it was acceptable to him! hahaha After the baptism me and Elder Fajardo got up to give the intermediate lesson and we are still not total sure why, but in the back ground Peter was hootin and hollerin about somethin! Him and the man who baptized him was just laughin away and there was not a dry eye in the audience at that moment! I wish that I could say that it was because the spirit was so strong, but it was because everyone was laughing so hard about it! We still have to ask him about why he was screamin like he was! Haha Well the rest of the service went really well. We had a great turn out from the ward, and people brought a few snacks for after the service for him. Well after it was over we were taking the chairs down and thanking people for coming, and bishop asked, "Where is Peter?!" Well we looked all around the church and outside and no one was able to find him!.. It was super weird! Well we were walking past the car of the person that had given him a ride, and I just happened to look through the window and saw his legs at a glance! I am not kidding, but he waszonked out in the car! We knocked on the window and he still wasn't waking up! So we took a few pictures of him so that we could remember it, and then opened the door and woke him up! He was so tired. He had stayed over the night at a friends house, and hadn't slept at all that night. We got him to come back in and to enjoy the friends and people that were there for him! It was super funny!

One of the best parts of the baptism was the fact that we were able to get 5 of our investigators there to see it and to support Peter! Harry and Deniella came, and then we had three others that we had found this week! They all loved it so much and Harry actually told us that he wanted to get baptized that day so not to let the water out yet! Haha We told him that if he wanted to and felt like he was ready he could be baptized a week from that day or two weeks. We told him to pray about it, and he got back to us that he wants to move it up to he 14th of this month so we are super excited for him! We took him to the temple last night, and he loved it!! He told us that he had never felt so calm in his life before! I am so excited to see this young man enter the waters of baptism. He is going to be a great member of the church. He told us that he wants to serve a mission in his city in China when the church first puts missionaries there! Honestly I would believe it that it could happen! He is going to do so well. We played ping pong this week and he just seriously kicked my butt... He is dang good! I think Garret needs to come out here and play this guy! Definitely have found a worthy opponent! haha

Our prayers have been answered!!! I have such a testimony of Prayer and Fasting! Deniella is going to be baptized on September  21st! She decided randomly last Friday that it was dumb to hold herself back from the blessings of the gospel for that long and so she called her mom and told her that she could be here for the first time she goes to the temple to do baptisms, but that she was going to get baptized for herself before she came out here! We are so proud of her, and so thankful that Heavenly Father stepped in and made sure that she didn't wait to long. It is a week longer then we had planned, but like we tell people, they receive revelation for themselves not us! We just invite for a date and then let them decide! We don't take agency of others away! We are super excited for her! 

We were able to find 6 new investigators this week and it was amazing! This past week was easily the best week of either of our missions! We taught 19 member present lessons and had a total of 21 total lessons! Teaching 19 investigator lessons was such a miracle! It was so amazing to watch the Lord just tell us where to go and how to do it!

Sadly we found out two weeks ago that one of our really good friends and member of our ward that we both knew, has passed away... His funeral is going to be this Saturday in Oakley and so we have gotten permission from president to go. It was huge news to us all and very very sad. But thankfully we know the plan and his family is very strong in the gospel! Please just keep them in your prayers this week. They will need it!

Well I have got to sign off! I love you all! I know that what I have been doing the past few years is exactly what I am supposed to be doing!! I love this gospel so much and am so blessed to be able to have Christ's name on my name tag! I got an email the other day from a guy who I was in the MTC with and he was telling me that they all only have one more transfer!!! For the first time I was so excited that I still have four and a half months left!!! I would not be ready to go home already! I love this work and I love to teach the ysa aged kids. They have such strong faith whether they are members or not! Thanks again for all the love and support that you have given me! Know that I have faith in this gospel! I love it so much. I will never deny the feelings and the thoughts that have gone through my mind the past transfer. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life! As we opened my box from home and found that both of us got ties from Grandpa, tears came to both of our eyes. He has been here with us the entire transfer and now we have ties to make him even closer now! As we listened to the funeral service this past week, we both came to the conclusion that Peter and Harry are the men that Grandpa saw in his dream! I remember him telling me that the man didn't know god yet. It couldn't have been June because he already new him! It is Harry and Peter! Elder Fajardo felt the spirit so strongly as I told him that story and we know for a fact that Grandpa is tracting the college one door ahead of us each day and that is why we have yet to find anything less then three a week for the past 5 weeks! I love the plan of salvation so much! I thank Heavenly Father each night for allowing me to be born into the family that I was born into! I Know that I was not always a great example of who a priesthood holder should be, but I sure am trying now! I have a very strong testimony of the priesthood and what it can do for us all! Please read your scriptures every day this month in preparation for conference coming up! You will see blessings from it I promise!

 

Much Love

Elder Shelley