LAST DAY OF 2012!!!!

Run and tell that.

Hello Everyone! And Welcome to the last day of the year!  This is the last day of the year I was a missionary!  AHH! How did it come to this??!?!

Okay, I'm alright. I still have time to enjoy this great work before I am tragically ripped away from it.

For example: 

Yesterday we had

2 BAPTISMS!!!!!

Yes that's right! Thanks to our wonderful District Leader, Elder Toeava, we were able to have 2 souls enter the waters of baptism and open the doors to their salvation. 

Roger Allen Antwon Caleb Battie and Brandon Miller.

Both are super happy and doing quite well.  

Roger met the missionaries on his birthday when they knocked on his door. He's come to church a few times since that day in November and set his own date a few weeks ago and followed through on it! His son was even there (but slept through the actually baptism!)

Brandon's story is a little more complicated. His dad was a member referral from a semi-recent convert and they were both taught back in October. Brian (the dad) got baptized then, but Brandon didn't. He had some issues with smoking and crappy friends, but came to the Christmas eve party and quit his job.  We saw him on Thursday (my first time) and talked to him about what he wants in his life. He basically told us that he has no reason not to be baptized but didn't want to do it. We told him to pray about it. Then on Saturday, we had Elder Toeava come and interview him unexpectedly. When Brandon came out of that interview, he was a different person! He was so happy and excited to get baptized the next day! It was incredible! (apparently, 20 year old boys can relate to 18 year old boys better than 23 year old girls can!)  Anyway, Brandon was so happy yesterday! and so was his whole family! It was such a wonderful experience!

The rest of the week was interesting. It was filled with a lot of broken dreams, but we won't talk about those. There were also some really great moments, including the support of members! On Christmas day, we went to the Herzig home and spent a wonderful day there eating, talking, and playing music! (Bro. Herzig found a ton of old music and let us look through it! We didn't know most of them but I'm sure dad would have loved them!)

We also had a great moment harvesting this week. Here's what I told President:

"We biked to an area that was a little farther than we usually go to and found a street. As we knocked, we found a few people that let us pray for them but weren't interested in listening to us. Then we met Pierre. He immediately let us inside and we gathered his whole family together and prayed for them individually.  They loved the blessing! When we asked Pierre to be baptized, he said he doesn't like church because the always ask for money. As we kept talking, we could see the change come over him and by the time we left, he and his wife were asking for us to come back and were excited to be a part of our church! It was awesome, especially because we didn't really say anything, it was just the Spirit working through him!"

Well, I have people to go find and a testimony to go share.  I hope you all do the same!

Have a wonderful New Year! Don't forget to include missionary work in your New Year's resolutions!

Love,

Hermana Sheffield

Look At Your Life Through Heaven's Eyes

December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas EVE!!!!

Hope you are all warm and cozy and ready for Santa to come!  Have you been good this year?

It is, of course, not cold here. Nor will Santa be coming (we already got our presents!). Nor will we be cozy in our beds with dreams of sugerplum fairies. Instead, us missionaries will be driving around with the air conditioning on visiting wayward members and giving them presents. And our dreams are always of people dressed in white and entering into the waters of baptism. No fairies for us.

We had some pretty great moments this week. Some spiritually powerful, some hilarious, some creepy, some exhausting. Here's a few to be noted:

One great moment from this week was with Roger (our super tall, skinny black investigator). We had a lesson with him this past week with a member (who brought him a Christmas Present!) and during the lesson we brought up baptism again and he said he wasn't ready until February. Even the member said that was too far away. So Roger looked at his calendar and said, "I should do it before the New Year. I'll do it on the 30th" ! We were so excited! He set his own date and came to church again and is still preparing to be baptized next week!

Another great lesson happened on Wednesday. We had a member couple, the Riveros, come and visit Nadia with us. They are both returned missionaries and know how helping the missionaries is part of their temple covenants. They have such great testimonies and almost taught the entire Restoration for us! It was really helpful because it was all in Spanish and our investigator talks really fast and Sister Dougal is still pretty limited in her Spanish (although, for not being called Spanish-speaking, she is doing incredibly well!). Anyway, during the lesson, they committed her to come to church and offered her a ride, even though the Dad is the only one that can drive and would have to make two trips to get his family and the other family to church. He is so awesome! Nadia couldn't say no. They also committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We stopped by later in the week and were able to talk with Nadia and her aunt for a while. Before we left, the aunt asked for a Book of Mormon as well! Then on Sunday, Nadia and her 3 children came to church! They enjoyed the music during the Christmas program and really liked the classes. Nadia and her family sat by another Latin family during Sacrament (since the Riveros were in the Choir) and then met a woman from Colombia that got her phone number and is living in a similar situation. It was amazing to see the ward members do so much for her! I am excited to see her progress with all the fellowship she already has!  Hopefully, she will be able to recognize her answer soon and we can set her with a date for baptism!

Yesterday we went to visit a former investigator. Her husband said she wasn't home so we knock on their neighbors' doors. No one wanted blessings from Christ. One man was a Jehovah's Witness and was shocked to see girl missionaries. One guy came up really close to the frosted glass next to his door and stood there super-creepylike and then sort of disappeared into the darkness. Super creepy.

On Saturday, the Elders texted us around 3 and said they were having a baptism that night. Then then said we needed to be there so Sister Dougal could play the piano and I could say a prayer. Then they asked us to pick up milk for them. Then they told us it was Elder Edwards' birthday. We changed all our plans for the rest of the day to accommodate their late-notice baptism, but it went well and there is a new 10 year old member of the church!

This week, it actually got kind of cold. At one point the car said it was only 50 degrees! We were FREEZING! I could see my breath yesterday. That means it is cold, right?

Don't worry, today it is back up in the mid-70s.

On Thursday, We went to the ward Relief Society Christmas party and sang for everyone. We had it outside, but it was luckily the day before the cold front hit. We had it outside where you can look at the pool, or the ocean, because they are just as close! I can't even describe the awesomeness that was that house. It was kind of dark, but I tried to take some pictures for you. It is actually two houses. So I guess if she gets mad at her husband she can just go to the other house and be alone for a while. Florida is crazy.

That was a few moments from my past week. How was yours?

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and are able to remember Christ in all that is going on.

Love, Hermana Sheffield

P.S. What did you get/do for Christmas? I want to see/hear about it!

Is it really December?

Hello all from the hot and humid land of Port St. Lucie, Florida. I am still confused about what month of the year it is. why would people put up a Christmas tree in september? 

This week was actually a ton of fun. And trial-full, but that's what makes life exciting.

Tuesday we had Zone Council. We are in a zone with 20 elders. Just the 2 sisters and 20 elders. Kind of crazy. we are kind of the "mom" of the zone and made sure lunch was taken care of and everyone was happy. We also practiced our song for Mission Conference: O Holy Night in french! With Sister Dougal on Piano and me on violin! It took quite a bit of practice to get them to pronounce French words and such, but it was good.  We also ate dinner with a member family who is half-peruvian (as in she is Peruvian and he is whitewhitewhite). They liked that I spoke to them in Spanish. The only other lesson we ended up teaching was to a woman from Columbia who didn't stop talking! But she is awesome. More on her later.

Wednesday, We realized that we don't have enough miles to go to all our meetings this month, so we will need to bike everyday. We biked and found 3 people that are awesome and want to be baptized! We also found Pat Baddish, who was baptized 30 years ago and didn't really remember much other than that. She was looking for the church here in Port St. Lucie but ended up going to a different church. It was a really long day, hot and humid, on bikes. However, we were happy because President gave us permission to ride down with the zone leaders to the mission conference!   BUT when we got to correlation, the Elders said they were taking Okeechobee Elders! We were crushed, and distraught. AND no one in Correlation wanted to help us! Lame.

Thursday, We woke up and the Elders said they changed it up and they could take us. Rejoice! We left at 7:30 and got to Ft. Lauderdale at 10:00am. Good long drive. then We practiced our song, reunited with old companions and friends, ate a delicious lunch, had a white Elephant exchange, then we had our musical talents.  All the zones did a musical number. We went last. And, if you ask me, ours was the best. Although, some were pretty entertaining. We also had an awesome devotional and took a lot of pictures. Then we drove home. we finally got back to our area around 6:30. 

And, as I told President: "We also were able to have a lesson with a man named Jesus as soon as we got back from Mission Conference. He is so awesome! He said he loves when we come over and it makes him feel good. He mentioned that he sometimes feels the adversary working really hard to get him to not meet with us or read the scriptures. We told him it wasn't uncommon for that to happen when he was doing something so great, such as changing his life for the better.  He also asked if we could have more people with us so that he could learn from them and feel of their spirit as well! He asked us for member present lessons! We were so excited to tell this to our ward council, but it was cancelled because the bishop is still out of town. Anyway, Jesus is awesome and I can't wait for him to come to church (when he isn't in Orlando for the weekend) and then to get baptized!  It is definitely going to happen soon."

Friday, We drove 30 miles to District training in Jupiter. yay. We tried to see our awesome people from Wednesday, but only one was home. We also spent about an hour listening to Pat and Randy Baddish talk about how they are going to live in their camper and then build a house out of sandbags. They also told us how none of their family members like them anymore. It was kind of sad, but I understand a little because they are kind of crazy. Got to love Floridians!  we also had our only member present lesson with Bro. Rivero who really helped us out teaching Nadia. Her aunt came over and had a ton of hostile questions about coffee and the Book of Mormon. He softened her heart and she wants to come back and learn with us again!  THEN, we went back to our car and had a flat tire! It being 8 at night and being pretty far away from anyone we knew, we were pretty determined to change that tire ourselves. We were going pretty well and had the car up on the jack, but we couldn't loosen the lug nuts! Luckily this woman had pulled up and left her headlights on and then went and got her husband who could loosen them for us! Good times.

Saturday we spent 2 hours at Tire Kingdom getting a new tire and watching the CNN report on the shooting in Connecticut. sad. The Ward Party was Saturday night and none of our investigators came and not many members came. It was pretty lame actually. Oh well. 

Sunday, wasn't the best either. Except the Elders had a baptism before church (which I played violin at)! Yay for baptisms!  The Grants (a young couple in the ward) invited us over for dinner. The Garrets were there too and they all told some very funny and entertaining (and scandalous) stories. I think Alan and Kristin would fit right in with them! I miss you guys!  we blessed 9 people yesterday, none of which accepted baptism. And we saw Lea who did not get baptized as she was supposed to, but instead told us she didn't want to quit smoking. We have to drop her. sad day.

Well, Today is a new week! And it is going to be awesome! right? Christmas is coming and even though it doesn't feel like it, the Christmas season is upon us!  Hope you all are enjoying the wonderful blessing that come from our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Port St. Lucie, Florida

Stuart is not only the name of a talking mouse, it is an Area!

Hello and Happy Holidays from the city of Port St. Lucie, Florida!

That's right, I've moved from the southern-most (sisters) area in the mission to the Northernmost! And let me tell you, It couldn't be more different! But still good. Always good.

The area is very chill compared to Miami and the ward reminds me a lot of home (both Utah and Boynton Beach). Except there are a few more Spanish speakers. Officially, we are Stuart North, but we live and proselyte in Port St. Lucie. Just in case you are wondering, I am once again driving a Chevy Malibu (silver this time) and our apartment is probably the nicest in the entire mission! Actually, we're guessing there will be 4 sisters living here soon because it is big enough and there are a lot more sisters coming in. (most after I leave).

My companion is Sister Dougal. She just finished her training. She is incredible! She is from Washington State but she graduated from BYU, so she knows Utah. She plays the piano better than anyone and sings very well. She also is a pro at teaching and harvesting and missionary work in general. She took over the area like a champ! I am going to learn a lot from her! She was called English speaking, but has already learned how to pray and testify simply in Spanish!

This week we had some great miracles. We work together really well and it showed! We got 6 new investigators and set 5 dates! Only 3 of them are still set now, but still, it was awesome! Two are investigators that have been around for a while and the other is a 10 yr-old girl whose sister was baptized last week. She can't read, but she really wants to be baptized! Random cool miracles.

There are a lot of new people I met that I could tell you about, but I don't know where to start and no one really cares anyway.

I will, however, share some tidbits for those of you who are still reading this after so many months.

My favorite harvesting experience this week was our first night here in Port St. Lucie. We went harvesting and we didn't have a lot of time (after the long drive up here and me being sick) but we went out and knocked on several doors. We met a woman who was nice but not interested in baptism. Then we went upstairs. We knocked on the door and Jesus answered. He let us pray with him and when we invited him to be baptized he said Yes, I need to do that. He had gone to church growing up but hadn't been for a while and knew he needed to be baptized. We came back later in the week and had a member present lesson with him. He told us all about his life and the job he has now, which brought him to this part of Florida. He also told us that his mother had been talking to him the day we came by and told him that he needed to go back to church, and then we showed up! He knew we were sent by God. When we asked him what blessings he wanted from Christ, he said he wanted more faith and strength to go to church and change his ways! He is incredible! Unfortunately, he is going to be out of town the next couple of weeks, but I know we were all there together at that moment so he can get baptized. Soon, very soon.

My favorite experience this week was eating at the Rivero family's home. They are from Mexico and the Mom and kids don't speak English. Lucky for me, I understand Spanish! Hna. Rivero basically took that opportunity to explain everything I should know for the rest of my life (mission). I learned so many incredible that day; my life was changed. She has such an incredible testimony of missionaries! I felt honored to be called a representative of Jesus Christ. She also told me to not tell people how long I have left in my mission because then they can't wrongly judge me!

So with that in mind, I will now go out and work because I have been out long enough to know how to work and I have plenty of time left to be successful and work hard.

I love you all! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Season and that you share something about Christ with someone who needs it.


Love, Hermana Sheffield

Diciembre

Hello Everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful December thus far! All 4 days of it!

So, Yesterday we had transfer calls. Sister Syme is staying and I am TRANSFERRING!!! That's right, even though I've only been in Killian West for 1 transfer, I am headed out. Plus, That means I leave the apartment and zone that I have been in since May. I really thought I was staying so I have no idea where I'm going now. But it will be awesome!! and Sister Syme is going to bounce back and LOVE this area once again! ;)

I guess the second biggest news now is that I am sick. Yup. Full on sick. As in I have strep throat!! It's really not a shock for anyone that knows me. Actually, the shock is that I didn't get it until December this year!

Here is a run down of my week because I can't remember specific stories right now. Too much medicine.
Monday: We saw Rachel and it slipped her mind that she had agreed to come to church. She hasn't called or been home since then. Lame. We also harvested this lady named Radia who accepted baptism after we prayed for her unborn child and set up an appointment to see her Tuesday.

Tuesday: We had a great district training and comp study with our District Leader, Elder Kata. Then we went to lunch with our whole district. Pollo Tropical is delicious! We also went harvesting and blessed a ysa, a Muslim, a guy recently moved in from Ohio, a guy living with his girlfriend, and a dad and his little girl who tried to swiffer Sister Syme's feet. "Damelo, papi! Damelo!" So cute. Then we were running late to Radia's so I called her and she said "we're not religious in this house. It would be better if you don't come. Don't come. Don't come. Don't come." (In her eastern European accent). So sad it was funny.

Wednesday: We drove out to Costco to get Flu Shots! Yay! It was a fantastic adventure. The doctor said he'd seen a lot of missionaries (but he goes to Rey Jesus, so preaching wasn't much use). Then, to reward ourselves, we got chicken bakes, churros, and smoothies at the Costco cafe. Such a good idea! We also got a call from a very distraught Karen, who has to be out of her house by Monday and has no where to go and still has to pack. We went over and helped her move some things for a garage sale and packed up several boxes of books. We also shared a message with her and she fed us hamburgers! (And her daughters we just sitting around watching Glee . . .). We found this sweet apartment complex at the top of our area and found a ton of great people including Yenelis who accepted baptismal dates! We stopped by Joe and he said he was busy, but we talked for about 20 minutes. Topics included his high school crush who was "hot wholesome", him being a medical miracle in 1950, a woman's face that could be made into a saddle it was so leathery, and the definition of 'P.S'. Thanks Joe.

Thursday: We ate with a member named Hna. Castro. I wasn't feeling too well and she talked forever and then took us upstairs and left us with her neighbor, a old Cuban women that (surprise surprise) likes to talk. We had lesson in there somewhere and left before Sister syme had to drag me out. Somehow we kept going and managed to reach our goal for harvest blessings!

Friday: This was the day my throat started hurting. We went to see Marscene, a recent convert, and taught her the plan of Salvation. She's hilarious and great. She is a black lady that lives in an ALF run by Spanish speakers. Classic Miami. We ate tacos with Sister Stand and got to talk to her daughter Olga. Which is hard to do. All ourother appointments fell through, as usual.

Saturday: My throat really hurt, but we went harvesting and found 6 people! By mid-day I had to give in and go take a nap. (And just so you know, mom, I called the mission nurse and she told me to gargle with salt water) We also saw a less-Active and found out her son isn't baptized!

Sunday: The aforementioned unbaptized son was our only investigator at church because everyone else ditched us. BUT Michelle Stewart, a really less active, came to church for the first time in 10 years! Yay! We went to eat at the Snyder's after church and who should show up, but Santa!! (Bro. Snyder is a professional Santa!) We didn't do much else because I was feeling so crappy. Oh, but also, we watched a video in Sunday School that was like a movie trailer for the book of Mormon. It was hilarious because all the Latin people loved it and I was just telling Sister Syme all the movies they were using clips from! (300, troy, gladiator, Braveheart, etc.) (We didn't make it to the devotional.)

Monday: I finally got some penicillin in the evening, but the strep had already progressed to sort of a head cold. Awesome. Oh, well, now it will get better just in time for me to go to a new area! Where will I go? Who will be my companion? Find out! Next time on, Sister Sheffield and the mission in Florida. Until then, Farewell. Go do something you've never done before!

Love, Hermana Sheffield
p.s. pictures to come

Thanksgoing

Hello Everybody! (Hello Dr. Nick!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now all filled with turkey and gratitude. This week was a little crazy, but when is missionary work not? It was strange to be here for a second Thanksgiving. This one was actually very similar to last year. Let me elaborate.

To start off the Holiday, we went harvesting!! So, we hardly ever go knock on doors at noon or in neighborhoods with large houses because they aren't usually very fruitful. However, it being a holiday, we decided to try. And although we didn't get any new investigators from it, we blessed 4 people! it was cool. We were all nervous beforehand. So funny.

We were invited to eat Thanksgiving Lunch with a member of the Blue Lagoon ward. After some drama of whether we had permission to go there or not, we drove up there and had a great time. There were about 25 people there in the Relief Society room (the same room we have district training in) and there was a ton of food and nice table cloths and center pieces and fine china plasticware. It was great. We ate until we could eat no more, and then had dessert. We all expressed gratitude and enjoyed each others' company, as per usual.

Then we checked on some folks and left some notes and went to Thanksgiving Dinner at the Snyders. They have a lot of family that is less active and they are all super nice, but not interested. That was a fun meal because She is Cuban and he is very American and likes to cook, so we ended up with a lot of different food. I wasn't even very hungry, but I found some things that weren't at the first dinner to enjoy. Then Sister Snyder brought us out some soup and this guy wanted us to try his rye bread so we were entirely stuffed. They asked us to teach the little kids something about thanksgiving, but it took forever for them to all get there. We ended up being there for hours (long enough that they were able to watch all of 'Brave' while we were there. Don't worry, I stayed in the other room.). Plus, although it was nice enough to eat outside, when it got dark, it actually got kind of cold. Don't laugh at me for being cold when it is 65 degrees outside. Anyway, we had the little kids write what they are thankful for on feathers that we taped to a turkey and read a scripture and explained how all our blessings come from God. It was sweet. It made me feel like an elementary school teacher. yay!

Also, we had a pretty sweet experience harvesting this week: On Wednesday night, we went harvesting in a neighborhood of homes we haven't been to for a long time. We drove past a street that we felt really good about, so we circled back around and decided to knock there. The first door we knocked on was a Jehovah's Witness that was actually very nice even though he wouldn't let us pray with him. The next house was a mom named Rachel who opened the door and readily let us pray for her, she let us come inside even though she was getting ready for Thanksgiving and let us turn off the music to have a spiritual experience. When we invited her to be baptized after the blessing, she told us she had been baptized in 2010 in the MetroLife Church. We testified that this was an opportunity for her to recommit to following Jesus Christ. She responded "I can get baptized again? Ok. Let me talk to my husband!" We set her with a date for Dec. 9th and got a return appointment to talk with the whole family! We ended up not getting any other return appointments on that street, but I now we were sent there just for her! We were so filled with the Spirit after meeting her that would couldn't stop smiling all night!

Then on Friday we came back for our return appointment. We showed up right on time and she answered the door and said her husband wasn't home and that she really wanted it to be a family thing. She gave us her number and then said she'd call us when he got home in the next hour. 40 minutes later she called and said we could come over. When we first started talking to them, Rachel brought up the baptism on Dec. 9th! We explained our purpose and talked about the atonement and the Book of Mormon. And even though they had never heard of the Book of Mormon before, the 10 year old Alex actually said "I love this book!" before we left! Nick, the Dad said they would come to church and we left feeling better then we have in a long time!

After their lesson, we went back to a guy we blessed earlier in the week. His name is Ray (Santos Ramos) and he is entirely a shark (from West Side Story)! He grew up in Spanish Harlem and is Puerto Rican. He has a 4 year old daughter and wants to be a good example to her. We ended up setting him with a date for the 2nd! He told us that the day before we came to bless him he went to this Tarot card reader and she said that two girls were going to come into his life to help him! And boom, there we were. So cool. He was totally down with coming to church and the Book of Mormon and everything. It was a very miraculous day!

Unfortunately, neither of these families came to church. However, a random former investigator showed up with her daughters! It was very unexpected, but I am grateful at least one person was able to make it! We had a good meeting. I know I learned a lot from Sacrament meeting about being grateful for the blessings, even amidst the trials we face. Timely advice.

Well, That just about sums up my week. Ish. Ok, not really, but time is pressing and I can't say anymore. But I truly hope you are all grateful for the blessings you have in your lives. Especially, be grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ because everything pretty much comes through him. You can't get anywhere without him!

Love you all, have an enjoyable end of Thanksgiving!

Love, Hermana Sheffield
P.S. go check out www.mormon.org/christmas and invite your friends!

Thanksgiving: A Cornucopia of Love

Hello All -

Welcome to the Earth, Ethan!  [Alan and Kristin's baby boy, who was born Saturday, November 17, 2012]

Happy turkey week, because I know that's what we are all looking forward to!

We had some really great experiences this week that made me feel like a classic missionary this week. As we were getting out of our car to harvest, I saw a woman getting groceries out of her car. I hurried over and asked if we could help. She looked so relieved and said that would be great because the elevators in her building are broken and she lives on the third floor. We all took as many bags as we could and between the three of us, we managed to get everything upstairs in one trip. She was so appreciative and said we were a God-send. Before we left, we asked her if we could leave a blessing in her home. She allowed us to pray with her and was grateful for the blessing. She wasn't super excited for us to come back, but I am so grateful we got to serve her! I love service!

We took Daniella (a YW in our ward) with us to see Joe. We finally got to go in his house! We were able to sit down and teach him the plan of salvation, to which he responded favorably. He asked a ton of great questions and told us a story about how he shot a woodchuck when he was younger and it really bothered him, so now he is super kind to animals (as in, he catches mice and rats in safe traps and lets them go down the street at the park! He said "It's the only time a rat gets to ride in a Cadillac!"). You could tell he really needed the plan of salvation, and although he is a very slow mover, I know he will get baptized one day. He has to. Come on, Joe!

We stopped by a former investigator this week and found out why she was dropped. She was and is super busy! She let us share a scripture with her because she still had the Book of Mormon sitting out, just completely unread. Without knowing anything about her, I flipped open the Book of Mormon to Mosiah 4:9 because it is one that I had memorized. I was very grateful at that moment to have studied the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes everyday because I was familiar enough with it to pull out a random scripture! And then to be able to apply it to her life was very humbling as I recognize the help I was receiving from the Spirit.

Then later in the week, we had a lesson/drop-talk with Steve. He has been a bi-polar investigator (literally and figuratively) for a while now, but we sat down with him and talked about temples and how important they are. We basically told him that if he doesn't get baptized, we can't continue to teach him, since he only calls us when he needs a friend. He mentioned that he didn't think that baptism would really help him because everything is in God's time and it couldn't change him right now. I had come across a scripture that morning in Alma 34:31 while studying for someone else. The verse says that if you will not harden you heart, then immediately the great plan of redemption is brought about in your life. I explained to him that when he is baptized, he immediately receives a remission of his sins and will get the Holy Ghost, thus accessing the atonement and bringing about the plan of redemption in his life. I had never looked at that scripture in that way before, but in that moment, we were able to help him see how baptism could help him. He still has some other issues to work out, so this may not be his time to get baptized, but I felt very uplifted and inspired from that lesson. It was a very incredible experience.

Did I mention we are teaching a Lamanite? He is pretty great, but busy.

Although we had 10 people committed to come to church this week, only one person ended up coming. Patty DePaula. She is a member referral and is an older lady. What Sister Syme forgot to mention is that she is a little abrasive. I thought she just didn't like me. She said I was being condescending and rude (when I looked at my watch) and stupid when I asked if we could come visit her this week. Go figure. Oh well, at least we had one person at church!

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. I have learned things I know I would never have learned otherwise and I have much more to still learn. I am grateful for my wonderful family which is growing all the time. And for their love and support. I am grateful for my friends and the influence they have had in my life. I am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge and testimony which I have. I am thankful that I can say that I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that I know it is only though him that we can return to live with God and have true happiness. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon which testifies of Christ and explains the wonderful truths of the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father that Loves me and allows me to go through trials so I can learn and grow and become more like him. I am grateful for all the many blessings that I have and can't name right now because I am out of time.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and not only give thanks, but also give.

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Veteran's Day + 1

Hello Fambly! And Fry-ends!

This week was pretty rough. Especially today. We started off the day going to the UrgentCare place because Sister Andrus (roommate) got a staph infection from mosquito bites. Yesterday she woke up with about 10-15 bites, including 2 on her face, and then this morning they were so swollen she looked like a chubby Asian kid.  Plus the one on her finger made her and so swollen that she couldn't move it.  So we drove her to the doctor and they gave her some medicine. This is the third time she has gotten an infection from mosquitoes while on her mission.  And I thought they bites I got were bad . . .

We got a really cool referral this week from some Elders up north. He met the Elders in Pembroke Pines at his other house and then we got to teach him at the house he is currently living in here in Kendall. He is so cool! His name is Ken and he is a pharmacist for the operating room at Baptist Hospital. (So yeah, he's a doctor) He is very interested in learning more about the Church and receiving the forgiveness of his sins. He went to church, but up in Pembroke Pines. He doesn't really want to go to church down here where he lives because he doesn't really like the people in Miami (he says he's not racist because his ex-wife is Latin), so we're not entirely sure what to do with him except see him whenever we can; I just want him to get baptized. It would also be nice to be able to see it! And to get him some friends down here.

We also got a media referral this week. We stopped by the night we got it and she told us she just wanted to read the Book of Mormon and didn't really want anything else to do with the church. We asked if we could come back the next day and bring her one, and she accepted. We came back in the morning with a member and got to sit down and talk with her. She is pretty religious and spiritual and had looked up a lot of information about the Church. She herself is Catholic and prays all the time. She is also a cancer survivor, having had breast cancer twice as well as cervical cancer. She is so grateful just to be alive! She asked us a lot of random questions about "special underwear" and polygamy, and the member was very helpful as we carefully explained things. Being able to share the Book of Mormon with her was really cool, since she already had a desire to read it. And although she told us she doesn't want us knocking on her door, she told us she would call and was interested in visiting church one day. She didn't come to church this week, but I know we planted a good seed and when it takes root, she has our number.

This week we had exchanges! I got to go up to Hialeah and Sister Syme stayed here with Sister Clayton! They came in the same time and are really good friends. I got to go up and be with Sister Carnes! It was fun to be with an old companion again, and we are both so different then we were in the MTC.  We had a ton of success in their area. Hialeah is full of Cubans who seem to have just gotten there. It is very much like being in a different country because everyone there is from Cuba. We talked to maybe 3 people that spoke English and that's just because they had been here long enough to learn it! We blessed 8 people and got 6 return appointments and 4 accepted baptismal dates!  It was incredible! 

The downside of the exchanges was coming back to Killian. Don't get me wrong, I love Killian and it feels like home, but it was a really rough week because almost all of our appointments fell through, all our dates got dropped, and only 2 of our 22 blessings resulted in return appointments. It was truly a miracle we had three people at church! Hopefully next week will be better. I'm not discouraged because I've learned on my mission that everything will work out, but it is still trying during times like this. 

Two funny stories from the week:

On Friday we were harvesting and there were some little kids playing near us. As we walked between doors, the little boy yelled out "I'm the boy! I protect the wee-man!" It was hilarious! We had to stop and laugh before going to the next house.

On Wednesday, we stopped by one of our very slowly progressing investigators named Joe. He has been a huge Romney supporter from the get-go, so we wanted to see how he was doing. He told us that he read two chapters in the Book of Mormon on Election Day just for good luck and that he was planning to come to church if Romney won. He didn't come to church. But he's still hilarious.

Inspirational Story:

While I was up in Hialeah, Sister Syme knocked on a door and the woman who answered said, "I'm a member of your church!"  We went to see her on Saturday and she told us she got baptized when she was 17 and is now 35, divorced, and has 3 girls (11, 14, 16). She said she hasn't been to church in 10 years. She stopped going to church when she moved and didn't like her new ward. It was so sad to hear her, but we were so excited to be able to find her again! She is even said she would come to church if she didn't go visit her mom. (Her mom must have won-out because she didn't come). We are super excited to go see her and her family again and teach them all! Yay!  Stumbling upon lost sheep is so exciting!

Shout out to Jordan and his ward for helping Less-Actives come back to church! You're an inspiration for everyone!

Okay, that pretty much wraps up my week. How was yours?

Love, Hermana Sheffield

P.S. Marvin gave a talk in Church yesterday and Juan confirmed Manual! I love seeing recent converts fully participating in the Church!!!!!

Happy Elections!

Monday November 5, 2012

That's right, folks! Elections are this Tuesday! If you haven't already, get out there and VOTE! Your opinion matters! Take action and help this country to be what you want it to be!

Okay, random plug for elections because people talk about it all the time.  (See picture)

Also, with elections, Florida yards and street corners are filled with signs. In our area it is probably about 2/3 Romney, but other than that, I have zero idea of what is going on. I assume someone will tell us if we are going to have a Mormon President.

And moving on to missionary things. . .

Hello Everyone!

Since last I wrote, I went to the Miami Seaquarium! It was so awesome!! What is a Seaquarium, you ask? I didn't know either, but if you donated $5 to Fight for the Cure, you got in half price, so we went (because normally it is about $43!). Without having any preconceived notions, we had a blast! We saw the Flipper the dolphin show, we saw Sharks and manatees and sting rays and crocodiles, the Sea lion show was awesome (we sat in the splash zone!) and we saw the Killer whale show. Super awesome! Best Idea Ever.

Halloween. We dressed up like Sister Missionaries and went out to knock on doors. We didn't get any candy, but we did bless 4 people and might actually get to go back and see them! We also were not allowed to knock on doors after 6 pm and had to be home by 8. Why? I'm not entirely sure. We had some kids knock on our apartment door, but we didn't answer because we didn't have any candy to give them. :(

Medalia. She is this really nice old Cuban lady who seems to always be wearing the same outfit and has no teeth. She was set to get baptized on the 11th, but then we came over this week and she had teeth in, a new outfit, combed hair, and told us that her son won't let her change religions. Who are you and what have you done to our sweet Medalia??!?!?! We were in shock. So much so that we couldn't say anything. Good thing we had a member with us to invite her to church anyway and get us going again.  Why Medalia? Why?

Julia. She is another sweet old Cuban lady who was supposed to get baptized on the 11th. She told us Saturday that she was going to her daughter's house instead of coming to church  on Sunday. Boo. So we went over Sunday night and set her with a new date for the 18th! Now the trick is to get her to come to church!

Joseff. Joseff is a lamanite. He is a native american who believes in a Great Spirit. He is so awesome and we haven't even taught him yet. We just stopped by and he told us his life history of how he owns a valet company for fancy hotels where rich and famous people live and how he used to be in the Olympics and he ran the new york marathon before he got in a drag racing accident and lost his legs. After being in a wheel chair for a year and a half he now has prosthetic legs.  We're going to teach him like Ammon teaches King Lamoni. We'll let you know if he faints or anything. (Now go read Alma 18)

At Church, we didn't have anyone until the end of Sacrament when one of our new investigators and her 16 year old son showed up! They only stayed for about 30 minutes, but awesome!  And Bradley came back! Super funny that I am now in the ward he is supposed to be going to!

After Sacrament Meeting, we met a man named Sam Smith. He told us that he was there because he was on a business trip here in Miami. He told us about a trip he went on last month where he met a guy on the airplane who was reading a Rolling Stone article about the Book of Mormon while he was reading the Book of Mormon. They talked for about 3 hours and had a great discussion. Bro. Smith gave him a Book of Mormon and found out he lives in Miami and that they could meet up in three weeks when Bro. Smith had another business trip. So he basically told us about this awesome referral and then told us he speaks Chinese (he went to Taiwan on his mission) and we found Bingyu and they talked and found out they have a mutual friend in Michigan. Crazy small world. AND as it turns out, he is Sister Smith's father! She was in the MTC the same time as me and is now currently in my first area! Right before he left, he asked us to give her a hug for him and was getting all teary eyed! What he said about her was so sweet I cried, too. and I know that's how you feel, too, Dad.

The YSA sisters had another Baptism (I met him my last day in YSA). His name is Manuel and he is from Equatorial Guinea and speaks mostly Spanish. He found the missionaries after referring himself from Mormon.org. He saw Ingrid's profile and is now a member of the Church because of it! Don't you think you all should go make YOUR profile now?

Last night our schedule fell through and we decided to go harvest. We found an area earlier in the week and felt good about a certain street. As we came up to the first house, the man inside saw us through the window. He met us at the door and said, I'm baptist, you are Mormon, right? We said yes and told him we wanted to pray with him. He asked the woman inside and she was hesitant, but he turned to us and well, sure, if you just want to pray, come on in! So we were able to go in and kneel with them and bless them. They were very appreciative and we ended up talking about where they were from and why we were there. We committed the woman to come to English class and they asked about the Book of Mormon and we were able to set a return appointment to come back and teach them all about it!

Then we went across the street and met a high school girl who eagerly accepted the blessing. We invited her to be baptized afterwards and she asked, is it okay that I was baptized when I was little? We explained what baptism is and she accepted a date for the 18th!

We were also able to bless a man that was reluctant to talk to us because his family was eating, but ended up agreeing to think about baptism for his whole family!

We got exactly the number of blessings we needed to reach our weekly goal and we did it in 45 minutes! It was a very miraculous street!

Well, That's all I have time for today. Hope all is well with you! I'd love to hear from you!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Ether 15:31

October 29, 2012

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Greetings, family and friends, from the wonderful land of . . .

 

MIAMI

 

Yes, that's right, folks. I'm still here. Except this time it's different. Let me explain.

 

I have been serving in the Miami Zone for about 6 months. I was serving in YSA which actually covered about 12 other proselyting areas in two zones (pretty ridiculous actually). I was the oldest person in the zone (in terms of time served in the zone and by actual age, but I'm pretty much always the oldest age-wise). So when we got transfer news that I was being transferred, it was kind of a big deal that I was no longer going to be there.

 

So Wednesday morning comes, we say goodbye to Sister Hancock who is now safely at home and not a missionary, and were getting ready to load up all my stuff to go to transfer meeting when we get a phone call from the Assistants. They told us that I didn't need to bring my stuff because I was moving across the hall! I got transferred to Killian West! So I dragged my stuff to the other bedroom and we drove up to the meeting to get Sister Chavous' new companion. We decided not to tell Sister Syme on the way up, so she got a big surprise when they announced that I would be joining her! She just finished her training and I feel like I was a little part of it since we all lived together!

 

Killian West is a bilingual area and we serve in the ward with the Zone Leaders. They just got a new bishop and don't have a ward mission leader or Elders Quorum president yet. Good times.

 

Needless to say, it has been very interesting to still be living at 7440 SW 107th Ave #8104 and not be going to YSA. It was harder than I thought it would be to leave. I didn't realize how much I care about all of them, especially my recent converts there!  At least I still get to see them! (which is awesome, but also hard because I'm trying to focus on families now, but whatever).

 

Speaking of recent converts, Alvaro finally got confirmed!!!!! Hooray!!!!!

 

And Frank. I'm not really sure if I mentioned him before, but he came to institute and church last week and we taught him a couple of times. On Tuesday, he came to the activity and I told him I was getting transferred. He was (surprisingly) sad. (Frank is like a 25 year old football player-looking dude. So the fact that he would show any sort of emotion is pretty strange.)  Anyway, since I stayed I got to go to his BAPTISM yesterday! It wa so amazing! I guess he just found the way to fill the emptiness in his life through the YSA people! It was incredible!  He was glad to see both Sister Syme and I there (she was the one who found him!) and he came to church (for maybe the 4th time in his entire life) in a suit and tie! He said a few word before his actual baptism and explained how the members of the church he had met renewed his faith in people in general because they were genuinely nice. He also said that the spirit sometimes speaks to him through movies. When the sisters invited him to be baptized, he remembered the scene from The Last Crusade when Indiana Jones takes a leap of faith to find the bridge that is camouflaged. So he decided to take a leap of faith, too. He is definitely one of the elect! I feel so honored to have had the opportunity to teach him!

 

Here's a little bit about Sister Syme: She is from Sacramento, CA and has been on her mission since July 18th. She just turned 22 (on the 17th of October) and she is a bomb missionary. She is a born leader and has a burning fiery passion for finding and baptizing the elect of God's Children. She has two older siblings. Her brother went on a mission and is now married and she is super happy to be here and work really hard.

 

We had some other pretty great things happen this week, but I can't really remember them right now because Coldplay is playing in the room next to us and that is all I can think about at the moment. I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing. . .

 

So, if there is anything else in particular you want to know, send me an email. or better yet, send me a letter and I will be glad to write you about some awesome experiences.

 

Or, you could go have some awesome experiences doing the work of God and tell me about it! That would be cool, too.

 

I love you all and wish you all could be here, too!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

October in Florida has Come Again

October 23, 2012

Yes that's right, Family and Friends, I have been in Florida for an entire year! I welcome this time of year again, because it isn't so ridiculously hot anymore. At least, not everyday!

And, just so you all know,

I am getting TRANSFERRED!!

Yup, I'm finally leaving Miami after being here since May. I have to say good bye to Snapper Creek YSA which brought some good times, and some really difficult times, but overall made me a better person. I hope.

I have gained a new appreciation for the 3 Nephites this week. The were promised to never feel pain except for the sorrow that comes from wickedness. I'm here to tell you that the wickedness of others is pretty painful.

The thing that made our week most stressful was our recent converts. Both of them said they did not want to come back to church anymore! It was so sad! We had a fast for Alvaro (who still hasn't received the Holy Ghost) and he changed his mind and decided to come, but then he slept in and no one could wake him up for church! Then Jaclyn called and told us there was too much "sin" in the church and she couldn't stay. She is convinced that God told her to leave and that the leaders are teaching false doctrine! I was so crushed when I heard this it literally made me sick. I guess she doesn't have a solid understanding of the Restoration. She believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, but she also thinks she is. She is at least still willing to meet with us because she says we have pure hearts, but will not come back to church. This is why it is not recommended that recent converts move into homes run by other churches. Or maybe it's just Jaclyn. Either way, I'll let you know when I find all the pieces of my shattered heart.

Ok. That was a little dramatic, but can you think of something sadder than someone leaving the church like this? It is not something I want anyone else to ever feel.

One of the more up-parts of this week was when I finished the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time. I finished it in a little less than 3 months and really enjoyed going through this time looking for the blessings of the atonement. I found so many of the blessings I already have in my life that come from the Atonement, as well as many more that I can have as I live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My testimony of the atonment as certainly grown, not only by reading about it, but also by living it - using it in my own life.  How many blesisngs can you find?

We did, however, get some sweet new investigators this week. Frank was found by the other sisters. He showed up at institute and we met with him the next day, taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. He came to church on Sunday and we met with him again yesterday to teach the Plan of Salvation. He is so awesome and has a sincere desire to find the truth and fill the emptiness that has come into his life because of the negative experiences he has had with his ex-girlfriend and his parents' recent divorce. He is getting baptized and doesn't even know it yet!  (plus, he is 25 and of football-player build, so he is very welcomed into the branch!)

On Saturday night, we knew we were behind in blessings and wanted to go harvesting. As we were choosing a place to go, we both felt like we needed to go visit a referral we received from other missionaries. Following this prompting, we drove out to see "Jones." As we walked up to his house, he walked out. We introduced ourselves and had a good chat in his driveway. We talked with him and shared a scripture that really touched him. He accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church! We set up a ride for him and the next day, he showed up! He has been through a lot in his life, including a recent death of his brother (during a home-invasion. Yes, Mike Jones is a complete gangster, with friends on the most wanted list!), and is really looking for peace. I am so glad we followed the spirit and that he was able to come to church! So sad that I don't get to teach him anymore!

Well, I don't know where I'm going to go, but I'll let you know. Next week. When I've already been there for almost a week. Fun times.

Love you all! Keep Spreading the Word! And PLEASE live your testimony to the fullest. People are watching your example!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Feb-tober

Hello my beautiful family! And all you other people not sitting on a cushion.

Being a missionary is great. Have you tried it?

I have five minutes, so this enjoy this quoted material from my week:

This week was pretty incredible. We got more "blessings" than we have ever gotten here in Snapper Creek! We were led to some great areas that were filled with people ready to hear the Gospel! After our Zone training this week when we learned how to ask for referrals while harvesting, we went out and applied what we learned. We got 6 referrals this week! Almost everyone that we blessed, we asked who else they knew that needed a blessing. We were able to contact several of them. One man was not receptive from our normal approach, but as we explained that his neighbors had told us to come to him, he was much more open and allowed us to pray with him! Another woman was referred to us by her nephew and even though he told us to go visit her, she still recognized us as being sent by God! As we were leaving the area, we were a little late for an appointment. We handed a card to someone as we were walking and then were crossing the parking lot when a man called out to us. He had been sitting on the side and saw us giving out a card and wanted a book, also. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and a card, briefly explained what it was and asked if we could come back and bless him. He accepted and pointed out where he lived. I am so grateful he called out to us! [Note: This is almost an entire area of black people. We met people who didn't believe in God, people who were doing hair weaves, a nice femmy man who sang for us his favorite Gospel song ("Who you are") (Who had MC Hammer hair), a kid about to roll his weed, and a family who seriously needs therapy. Good times.]

We also had an incredible experience with a member blessing this week. Our Branch President asked us to go visit a semi-less active sister in our ward. We set up a time with her and tried to figure out something to share with her without really knowing what she needed. I had just read Elder Holland's talk from the CES broadcast and decided to share a little thought about creating Zion where you are instead of fleeing to it. When we got to her house we got to know her and found out some of the difficult past she's had. We shared our thought and she didn't seem overly excited about it. We also explained harvesting, shared some experiences, and blessed her and her home with the things she needed. We got a referral from her and left. The next day, she texted us and said, "I just want you sisters to know how much better I have felt since yesterday! My heart definitely doesn't hurt as much. Also, within an hour of parting, I received an answer to my question. I'm really glad you came and I'm really glad you read part of that talk to me. It helped me realize that Miami isn't necessarily the cause of my problem . . . I need to keep my feet planted instead of being so flighty. Maybe not the exact purpose of the talk, but that's the message I got. I'm really grateful you came!" It was so wonderful that she was seeing blessings in her life and that we were able to be instruments in God's hands to help her!

We met a really cool guy last week and stopped by his house this week to see if he was really interested. He let us in and we talked with his mom and him for a while. He expressed his feelings about God and life and was practically teaching the first half of the Plan of salvation and bearing his testimony of the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity without using any of the lingo. He said he really enjoyed reading about ancient religions and we were so excited to share with him The Book of Mormon and explain that it came from the Ancient inhabitants of the Americas! He was really interested and promised to read it!

One of our investigators that was preparing for Baptism expressed to us this week that he didn't think he should be reading in the Book of Mormon because the Bible says to not add anything to the Words of God. We had a good lesson where we were able to testify of the book and committed him to read it and find out for himself. When we called later in the week to follow up, he said "I think it's true, but I have a question about baptism. When can I do that?" We were so excited and set him with a date right there on the phone! The Book of Mormon is amazing!

So that was the majority of our week. We also had some fun times going to PEPBOYS, had a lesson where we spent most of the time talking about how Japan is trying to 'protect itself' by getting more weapons to attack other countries (namely China), had an interesting scolding from our ward mission leader for having baptisms in 10 days, and had one lonely, sad member-present lesson. Also, Alvaro slept in and didn't make it to church until third hour, so he didn't get confirmed. :( Yes, he slept in even though we have 1 o'clock church!)

There are many more stories from this week that I would love to share with you all. Send me your address attached to a letter and I will share them with you! You will not regret it, I promise!

Have a wonderful fall week!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Sister Chavous: "What Can I Say? I'm a Miami Miracle Maker!"

[NOTE:This entry should be read by saying "Yeah" for every exclamation point (!).]

Dear Family and Friends!

What a glorious time it is to be a member of the True Church of God!

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS THE BEST!!! (that's right, say "yeahyeahyeah" just like Sister Chavous would)

Hopefully you all saw it and were able to enjoy and apply the inspired messages, too. Because there were SO many great things said that we can all benefit from!  Plus, there is nothing like watching the first Session on Saturday morning right after your investigator passes his baptismal interview and sitting next to you is your recent convert who is eagerly taking notes to find out GIRLS CAN GO ON MISSIONS AT AGE 19!!!  So awesome.

Jaclyn is doing great! She may be trying to prophesy for people every once in a while, but she is very involved in the world and excited to get married in the San Diego Temple one day!

Speaking of California, one of the members of the Branch here (who got baptized 15 months ago) got his mission call to California Los Angeles! Way to go, Alex!

And yes, we had ANOTHER BAPTISM this week! It was incredible!

Alvaro Mendoza came to church last week. We taught him for the first time on Monday (the elders taught him twice before) and taught him the Restoration and The Word of Wisdom (the only thing he didn't have a problem with was coffee!) and he accepted the challenge. We saw him everyday and taught him all the other lessons by Friday. It wasn't until Friday that we found out he would need to have a second interview, but we called President and he said he could come Saturday Morning. Although the Branch wasn't really accepting of him getting baptized so quickly, President Anderson said he was ready to go. So with a lot of stress and working with the other sisters, we got the baptismal program all set (jointly because 2 others got baptized at the same time!). After Conference on Sunday Morning, Alvaro was baptized! Afterwards, we asked him how he felt and he said, "Real good man, I feel like a burden's been lifted, you know?" So, although he had no idea this was a Mormon Church when he wondered into it last week, he found exactly what he was looking for and so much more. Like the path to Eternal Salvation. The Atonement is real and works. You just have to know how (and have the authority) to use it!

Here's the harvesting experience I shared with President this week:

     "This week our zone was working on all getting 20 blessings. We have never gotten over 16 but we were determined. On Wednesday, we started the day off with 0. We had some lessons scheduled for that day and knew we had to harvest a lot, but we found ourselves at 5 o'clock and still no blessings. With a lesson that could easily run long at 6, we were determined to find people to bless. We stopped by a less-active with no answer and decide to knock the doors of his neighbor. The first door we knocked on was Rosy. She let us in and brought her friend Steve out and they both knelt down with us as we blessed them. Afterwards, Rosy readily accepted baptism and even a date for the 21st! And Steve said he'd already been baptized, but still wants to see us again! It was so great! We found 3 other people in that apartment complex to bless before we had to leave!

     Then after the lesson, which did run long, we had about 1 hour to harvest before we needed to drive home. We had no idea where to go, so we pulled into a parking lot and prayed. Still not knowing the area or where to go, we started driving. We turned down a street that looked pretty dark, but there was an apartment complex at the end! We both knew we could find success there. We prayed again and got to work. We blessed a man and his two children and their next door neighbor who is YSA and was very interested in the blessings we could promise her. Just as we were setting up a return appointment with her, a girl on the stairs behind us called to us and asked if we were praying with people. When we said yes she asked if we could come pray with her. We finished getting the info we needed and we directly to her. She told us some of the very difficult things she is going through and we blessed her and her cousin. They were both very appreciative and said they were looking for a church that would not be so judgmental. We gave her a chapel card with our phone number and a mormon.org card since one of them went to school out of town.  After being able to have a little lesson with them, we left and realized we needed to get home. Knowing we only needed one more blessing, my companion wasn't about to give up. As we were walking back towards the car, we saw a woman pull up into the parking lot. As she got out of her car, my companion walked right up to her and introduced herself. I was so impressed with her boldness and so was the woman. We were able to bless her and reach our goal! I know Heavenly Father blessed us for our perseverance. He truly answers prayers!

On Friday, we walked around a lot (in the hot 90 degree weather) and found a ysa in a parking lot. We stopped him and prayed with him and then found out he was baptized! He has clearly lost his way and doesn't really know the truth he once had, but it was such a miracle to randomly find him in a parking lot. He might not be ready now to come back to the fold, but at least we were there to remind him. Missionaries = guided by God.

    After Conference on Saturday, we tried to find people to bless, but we had little success. We only found 1 person willing to talk to us. But, he turned out to be a YSA that accepted a baptismal date for the 21st and agreed to come to conference! (He didn't, but that's okay)

     Then on Sunday night, we needed 8 blessings again to reach our zone goal. As soon as conference ended we went out to harvest. We found an apartment complex we'd never been to and were able to bless the first door we knocked on. As we came out, it was pouring rain! We didn't have our umbrellas, so we stopped under a porch to decide what to do. We knew we couldn't give up, so we prayed that God would help us have the strength and patience to continue on despite the rain and kept going. We were able to bless 2 people even though we were wet and then the rain stopped and we were able to keep going and find many people who were in need of a blessing! Harvesting is full of miracles!"

I am super excited to go back and read the conference addresses over and over. I feel like I can never get enough of the things God wants us to know right now. And although I don't feel like I am capable of all that I have to do, I know that God loves us, is ever-mindful of us, and will help us accomplish all that we need to do. And we can be happy while we do it!

I love you all!  Have a wonderful and epic week serving others!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

I Love October!!!!

Hello everyone!

In case you didn't notice, I love October!!!!
Thank you for all the Birthday wishes!  [It is Anna's birthday today!]

This week was fantastic and amazing. God truly does love each and everyone of us. And this week He showed his love to Snapper Creek YSA.

We had a BAPTISM!!!! Jaclyn Lane was baptized yesterday!!! She is SO amazing and is now a member of the Church with all the blessings associated with that! She also has some great ebonics going on. She is
fittin' to bake us some sweet potato pie.

Here is my update to President Anderson, because once again, I don't have time to write a whole new letter.

This week was fantastic! We had some incredible blessings in our area!

First of All: Jaclyn. The Elders in Homestead gave us her information last Sunday after she came to church for the second time. We called her and set up an appointment for the next day. We drove down to meet
her and were able to learn all about her and teach her the Plan of Salvation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of Wisdom, and the Law of Chastity. She basically already believed in taking care of our bodies and had a testimony of the Law of Chastity before we even mentioned it! She had also set herself a date to quit smoking when she accepted the baptismal invitation, just to give herself a fresh start! She is incredible! She is very in tune with the Spirit and was able to quit smoking, learn all about the church, and even become friends with several members before her baptism yesterday. It was such a beautiful program! She was SO HAPPY! It surprised Sister Chavous to see how stressful baptisms are, but we are both very grateful for this blessing falling into our area!

Church yesterday was a miracle by itself. We had 5 investigators at church! That is more than I have ever had here in YSA! All 3 of our progressing investigators came, as well as two new investigators; Alvero wandered into the church a few days ago and met the Elders, and Ana was a member’s friend. They both really enjoyed church and the baptism!  Ana, Shan, and Jaclyn all stayed for the potluck dinner and Fireside, as well! And Christian and Alvero both want to be baptized next week!

Staying to make sure our investigators were taken care of took a long time, and we still needed 4 blessings to get to 15, but we knew that God would help us find people even though the circumstances weren’t ideal. After the fireside, we were able to bless 4 people in 45 minutes! We even found 2 apartments of YSAs!  We kept going and were able to find woman very much in need of a blessing and checked on a potential investigator before going home.

Part of what made this week so great was the Specialized Training we had. I felt very honored to be able to go and am so grateful for all we learned there about accountability, the missionary pride cycle, and Showing charity and optimism. Also, the Relief Society Broadcast was amazing! All the talks (or the three we heard before getting home on time!) were about the Atonement, which is always something everyone needs to learn more about. They were so powerful and we even used thoughts from them in our next lesson! I am so glad we got to go and I am so excited for General Conference!

This week we were able to use the Book of Mormon to teach Shan about Christ. He has very little Christian background and kind of wanted to read the Bible first, but as we taught of Christ using the Book of Mormon, he recognized that he can learn of Christ through this great book. He has such a thirst for knowledge! I am excited for the challenge of answering his questions! We taught him for almost 3 hours on Saturday and he didn't even want us to go because he still had more questions.


I love you all!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Jaclyn's baptism

Me and my birthday presents from home, including the new skirt.  Yay for new clothes! 

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Hello Everyone!

This week was exciting and different. As in, things actually happened! Ha!

This week we had some interesting/unexpected blessings. The first was Christian. He had been taught by the Elders in Killian before he moved down to Coral Reef and they found out he is actually 29, i.e. YSA. We got to drive down and see him on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.  He is incredible! He has such high desires to be baptized. Since he already came to church in the Killian Ward once, we thought he could get baptized this Sunday. However, after talking with our Branch Mission Leader, we decided he should wait until next week to show some commitment before he makes the covenant of Baptism. Which turned out to be a good idea, since he didn't even make it to church this week. We had an awesome lesson on Saturday going over the Restoration using Jenga. He liked it so much we played it again afterwards! Unfortunately, he has some schizophrenia so he doesn't always answer the phone . . .

Also unexpected, we received a text from a former branch-member saying there was a YSA girl attending the Homestead ward who said she was getting baptized next weekend. It wasn't until after church that the Elders down there called us and said that she had come to church twice already and has a baptismal date for this Saturday. I'm not sure why they waited this long to tell us, but at least she got to go to a YSA activity yesterday to meet some of the members of the Branch. It is really frustrating to have to explain why she shouldn't be getting baptized down in Homestead when she's already attended there twice. It is so much easier and better for the investigators if the missionaries pass them as soon as they find them so they can have the fellowship and support they need.

I've also found out that my idea of what it takes an investigator to be ready for baptism is a lot different then what the Elders think it is. We are planning to teach Christian and Jaclyn everything over again, because they don't have a good grasp on any of the lessons. At least their desires are high! Now we just have to work on them being able to witness their commitment.

We had some great experiences harvesting this week. We actually had trouble again finding people to bless during our scheduled harvesting time, but one day we  had 10 minutes before correlation and we found 2 people to bless! Then we were waiting for an investigator to get home and we drove to a nearby street. Sister Chavous saw some guys and jumped out of the car. Before I had even taken my seatbelt off she was contacting him and we were able to bless him and a friend, with a member present! It was an awesome experience as they asked us to pray for things that really mattered to them and we were able to invite them to be baptized. They we eager for us to return! I love finding YSA!

We had the opportunity to be present as one of our recent converts (Anabell)received her patriarchal blessing. It was a very sweet and spiritual experience! Before the blessing the Patriarch mentioned that President Monson had asked us to read 3 Nephi before conference. I don't know when he said that, but we started today. It is incredible to see the way the people see the signs of the Christ coming and still harden their hearts because of Satan's hold on them. I love the comforting and timely words of the Savior to Nephi before He comes into the world. I am so grateful for the love Christ has for us, that he would voluntarily come to Earth to suffer and die for us."

We also had one of my favorite experiences. As church was about to start, we were feeling a little depressed because no one was coming to church. As we sat on the stand (so Sister Chavous could finally give her talk!) we looked up to see the other Sisters walk in with Shan Liu. They met him the day before and invited him to our ward. He had called them and they went out to help him find the church, so they sat with him during Sacrament. We met  him after the meeting and Bingyu (a member) came up and was freaking out because there was someone else who speaks Chinese. She took him to class, which he enjoyed, and then a member who just got called to serve in Taiwan took him to Priesthood. Afterwards (actually, after we went to Anabell's patriarchal Blessing), we talked with Shan. He told us his whole life story of living all over the world, being partially paralized, and coming to realize his life was empty, despite all he had been through physically and intellectually. He talked with someone at work who told him that if he was living in Utah, he would be married with 4 kids by now (since he is 29). He decided to look up the Church, and ordered a Book of Mormon and Bible on Mormon.org, which is why the Sisters went to visit him in the first place. So basically, he is super ready for the truth and we can't wait to tell him about it!

I hope all of you are doing well! Get ready for this awesome thing we call "General Conference" by reading, praying, and inviting your friends over!

Love,
 Hermana Sheffield!

Cambios!

Transfers! Sort of. More last week than this week, but oh well.

Buenos Familia y amigos!
Como estan?

It certainly has been a interesting and different week. Like never before. For Starters, Sister Chavous is not sitting next to me. She is in Hollywood (Florida) and has been since Friday Morning.

Let me back up. Thursday morning, sister Lira got a phone call from the Assistants telling her she was going with Sister Escobores in less than 24 hours (because Sister Lavoie went home 5 days early because of her visa). She cried. We all cried.
Thursday evening, the Assistants call us and tell us Sister Chavous is going with Sister Escobores for a 4-day exchange. Then Sister Lira calls me and says we are going to be companions during that time!

So in all the confusion and tears and frustrations, Sister Chavous got picked up by the Assistants Friday morning and I haven't seen her since. I have to take Sister  Lira to transfers and pick up Sister Chavous there because we are still companions for the next 5 weeks!
(yes this transfer is only 5 because . . . I don't know). Sister Hancock and Sister Syme are still in our apartment (Sister Hancock is "dying" this transfer!)

So yeah, Sister Lira got to experience the joys of driving a ton and teaching very little, as well as hearing and watching all of the drama in the YSA ward. And there is a lot lately.

But since I have 2 minutes left, here is what I wrote to President:

We had an incredible experience on Sunday. After having to give a talk unexpectedly in Sacrament Meeting, my sore throat was getting worse, and both of us were pretty sad after no one came to church. Again. Our possible appointments had fallen through, so we spent the evening harvesting. We found an apartment complex and got to work. We weren’t really excited about harvesting, but were doing it to be obedient. The first door we knocked on was Alanna. She wasn’t too excited to see us, but as we introduced ourselves, she gratefully accepted a prayer. After the blessing, we invited her to be baptized and she said, “I’ve been thinking about baptism a lot” and noted several times that we were sent from God. She also said she wanted her daughter to be baptized now that she is older and can learn and make the decision for herself. She asked if we could teach her, too! She told us her schedule and is very open and willing for us to come back! She is getting baptized on Sept. 30th!

I was super surprised because I haven’t had a lot of success harvesting on Sunday, but the very next door was a YSA! His name is Jose and he immediately invited us in, but since he was alone, we couldn’t go in. He had us talk to him through the open window while he
finished his cooking. We blessed him and tried to help him recognize the Spirit. He asked a lot of questions about how we could say “I know” when we’ve never seen God, and we were able to teach and testify of the Spirit and of the Church. We had a great discussion with him and he invited us to join in a “Dinner of Religions” he wants to have to show Tolerance and Friendship. He is really cool and we’re excited to teach him the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration!

We harvested in the complex until 8:45 and still needed two more blessings to reach our goal. Not knowing where to go or what to do, we looked around and saw a window with a light on and a family visible inside. We knew immediately that we needed to go there. We knocked on the door and the father let us in. He was ready for a lesson! We blessed the parents and invited them to be baptized. Although they didn’t accept, they did ask about the Book of Mormon and we were able to again teach and testify. They invited us to return and explain more about the Book as soon as possible!

As we were driving back to our apartment, I remembered the scripture I wrote on our white board last week: Alma 26:27. It seemed to be speaking exactly of our evening since we were feeling depressed and wanted to go home, but went forth and the Lord blessed us with
success!

I’m not sure why our area is not doing as well as it has done in the past, but we will continue improving our diligence, faith, and obedience and expect the miracles to happen eventually.

I love you all and hope you all can find a way to be more faithful and diligent also!

Love, Hermana Sheffield