12-9-13

Dear Family,

What a great change! My new companion's name is Elder Hill, and he is great! He is from West Jordan Utah, and he has only been out for about 9 months. He is a great missionary and is really powerful and strives to always follow the spirit. The best part is that he understands his imperfections, and is always striving to fix them! We are both trying to dignify our language, cause we have picked up some slang on the mission that isn't very good. I am fine outside the apartment, but need to work on it all together!  It will be good to have someone that is willing to work on it together! I am pretty excited about this next transfer! We work pretty well together, and have 4 dates at the moment! Anastasia is doing sooo well, and is going to be baptized on the 21st of this month! We just need to keep in constant contact with her, and things will all work out. We are still working with Tyler too. He hasn't been in contact with us the past week, and so we have been a little nervous about it! We have a lesson with him today, and so hopefully we can talk to him and see how things are going and why he has been ignoring us for a while! Hopefully his family hasn't gone too crazy on him! They are not loving the fact that he wants to get baptized to say the least! They are going to all extents to prevent him, so we have been fasting and praying like crazy to try to help him get through it! I am just hoping that he is able to keep his testimony through all of this! 

So I have to tell you about the best Christmas gift I have received on my mission. I went up to the mission home this past week to exchange a car for one of the sisters. Being Christmas time, as zone leaders we get all the packages and take them back to all of the district leaders to distribute to all of their missionaries. Well as we were getting the gifts, Elder Hill said that I had something. It was just a plastic bag tied in a knot so that I couldn't see inside. I didn't think much about it, and so I just tossed it into the pile of everything else. I had gotten a box from Grandma Shelley also, so it was very nice. We got everything in the car, and Elder Hill asked who had sent the plastic bag to me. It didn't have anything other then just my name on it, so I was a little curious. When we got back to the apartment I pulled it out, and opened it up. Inside was a note, that said, "I know it's not much, but It's all I had to thank you." It was signed by Elder Makaya, and inside were 2 T-shirts with his Island's name on them, one just plane green, and the other red with a picture of the beach and the island's name. Also inside were 2 pairs of flip flops that also had the Island name on them. I couldn't help but cry, as I remembered that I had told Elder Makaya that I wanted a pair of flip flops from his island back when we were in Brentwood together! He told me that it was to much to ship them, and so I just never really talked about it again. I don't think the shirts had ever been worn, and the flip flops were brand new! I have no idea where or how he got the money to get these things to me, but the note that he put in the bag was the greatest Christmas Gift I had ever received! What a humble and truly Christlike young man he was! When I get on email this week, the first person that had sent me an email was him! He had to have sent it the first day he got home and was asking if I had gotten my stuff from him. There were three emails asking me if I had received them. He doesn't have a computer at his house, and I know that he had to have traveled quite some distance to email me those three different emails! I had no idea that he was that thankful to me! I knew that we had become great friends in the mission, but this was a huge deal to me. I am so thankful for him and for the hard work that he put forward to finally become a senior companion for the last three transfers of him mission. He really was a great guy, just had lost focus for a little bit. He ended his mission strong, and he will forever be remember for his loving heart, and his great big laugh and hugs. I miss him already, and hope that he is enjoying his home life! 

Guys I feel like I just need to end with that! That is what the true meaning of Christmas is! Not to give HUGE gifts so that you can been seen as the person that is able to spend a lot, but the person that gives more then he has, just because he has that kind of love! Elder Makaya was a great example to me! I was able to bare my testimony in front of the entire Walnut Creek stake missionaries last night, and it was a joy to me! I love to testify that our savior lives! I know that he does! He has paid the price for my sins, and he is my hero! I'm so thankful that through the Atonement that he performed, I can be made whole and be free of the things that were a challenge to me before! I'm thankful for my Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith! He truly was a revelatory man, and without him, we would not be where we are today! I'm thankful that I am able to be a missionary during the time that the Lord has decided to hasten his work! I have been blessed to be able to stand boldly and testify that I KNOW the savior lives! I KNOW that he is the son of God, and that through him we can be saved and receive our exaltation in his fathers kingdom! I'm thankful that my purpose as a missionary is to save the souls of those who know not where to find the truth. To bring salvation to the broken hearted, and to being peace to those who have lost their way! This is my simple testimony that I bear in the name of Christ our savior, Amen.

May we all continue to live the season the way that Christ would want us to live it. Thank you all for all that you have done for us out here in the field, but remember to do even more for the missionaries that are out there in the field! Remember to lift where we stand, and we will do wonders in the work! I love you all so very much!

Love,
Elder Mackay Shelley

Picture: Mackay and Elder Hill