Bikes are Fun

Hello world, it's me, Sister Sheffield.

As always, this week was great. Different, but great.

We had a spot of success as we committed 4 people to baptismal dates, notably 2 long-time investigator teenagers, and one former investigator. Plus some people we blessed, but aren't teaching because they speak English.

On the downside, we did not have a baptism this week because Luis asked the unfortunate question: What happens when you fall in love with a missionary? The member with us said, you can't. And he called us the next day and told Sister Sobkowicz they were from two different worlds and that he didn't want us coming over anymore. Classic break-up line. This the day before he was supposed to be baptized. It was sad. Especially because it was right after we had said mighty prayer with our entire zone (I had to say it!) to help people get baptized. He won't answer our calls, but called us at 6 o'clock in the morning on Sunday - possibly drunk.

Our mission has really been pushing hard to reach our goal of 100 baptisms in a month. I think we got over 80 this month! Probably the best yet, but not good enough. We will reach this goal because we have the best mission ever! And our zone had 8 baptisms by themselves! So not only am I in the best mission, but the zone is wonderful and our area is fantastic. (okay, maybe I'm getting a little prideful, but I'm just happy to be here.)

On the upside again, we had a ridiculous amount of Member Present Lessons this week: 14! That is the highest in the whole mission! I can't figure out how it worked, but it did. Our ward is amazing if you just ask them to be! We had the second highest number of lessons this week, too, because this area is awesome and we are very blessed Sisters.

Because it is the end of the month and we have such a big area, we are running low on miles. So we had to bike this week. The first day was only for a few hours, at the hottest time of the day and it wasn't too great. But the next day was from 4 to 9 and it turned out great. We had some really great experiences that were both testimony building and hilarious! But I will have to tell you about them individually in letter form because time is of the essence. Let's just say: one woman told us Judas was the first Mormon, and people actually do run after you wanting to go to church.

Okay, Sorry this is so short. We've got things to do, lives to save and people to bring to the Gospel.

Love you all! and The Church! It is true.

-Hermana Anna Sheffield

The Long and Short of It

Hello All!

What a week it has been. And yet, has it been a week? I can't tell. We do SO much everyday that I can't be an accurate gauge of time.

Por ejemplo: last Friday we went to Coral Springs for the day. They say that was only 3 days ago, but it feels like a month. However, it was a very interesting experience. Sister Sobkowicz was there for Leadership training (because she is awesome, not because she actually has an official leadership position), so I went on exchanges with Sister Lake. She is still finishing her training, but doesn't really need it, she is one of those missionaries who basically has it all figured out before she got here. We had a member take us to lunch (at Sweet Tomatoes) and then we had several "solid" lessons lined up. Unfortunately, all of them fell through. We ended up harvesting for over two hours, some of it with some random guy from the ward. For some reason, we only blessed one home, and it was in Spanish so I had to do it. All it all, it was a very interesting day that made me appreciate even more, if that's possible, my companion and area.

A former Mission President (from the Preach my Gospel, District 2 videos), President Donaldson and Elder Watson, Director of Proselyting, came to the training. Sister Sobkowicz told me all about it and it was awesome! Great things are in store for the people in this area!

The ward here is great. El obispo [bishop] even went to pick up a recent convert and investigator between PEC and Sacrament! How cool!

We still have a car. Our area is huge and we definitely need a car to get to most of our investigators, but we will have to be on bikes this week because we are running out of miles. The Church is 9 miles away from our apartment so that takes a big chunk.

We had some very amazing experiences following the spirit this week. After leaving an appointment, we drove past a woman sweeping her driveway. We smiled at her and kept going. But before we got to the end of the street, we both felt impressed to stop and turn around. So we immediately stopped and went back. We pulled up, jumped out, and introduced ourselves. She gladly let us in to leave the blessing. After the blessing we felt impressed to keep talking to her. We taught her some of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized. She accepted! We created a calendar for her and explained all that would need to happen for her to be baptized on the 29th. She was very grateful we had come by. Although she wasn't able to come to church yesterday and will therefore need to change her baptismal date, I know that we were guided there at that moment to see her.

Then a few days later, we were trying to see some referrals from the English Elders and were nearing the road when we turned around and went back to a house we had just passed and knocked on the door. We blessed the home (from the doorstep because three guys lived there) and had a really great experience with them. Afterwards, we looked up our referrals and realized that one of them was on the street we had just stopped on. Then we realized they had the same name! We had unknowingly contacted one of our referrals! And it really was perfect timing because that day was the anniversary of a personal event of one of the men and the prayer really touched him. It is such an incredible experience to be led by the Spirit to people's homes at the right moment.

I am so grateful to be in this area! The people and ward are amazing. We actually got to contact a media referral (a first for me) and we are now teaching him! Sister Sobkowicz is an amazing missionary. There is so much I need to learn from her, the first being Spanish. She has helped me to be a better missionary, even though I feel like I still have a long way to go. She has shared with me some things from the training that have already had a positive influence on our lessons. I look forward to learning, and putting into practice, more of that great wisdom and counsel.

Have a most wonderful week. Share the Gospel with someone because they deserve to feel the power of the atonement like you have.

Love you all!

-Hermana Anna Sheffield

West Palm Beach AWESOMENESS!

It has been a while since I used the word "awesomeness" but it definitely applies.

Hello everyone!

In case you haven't figured it out, I got transferred to West Palm Beach North! It is in the same zone I was in before, just 40 minutes or so north. But despite the closeness of the two areas, they couldn't be more different. I feel like I'm in a different country. Mostly because this area is

SPANISH!

Yes, that's right, I've had to put my meager MTC Spanish Skills to the ultimate test.

Actually, It hasn't been too bad. Not because I'm good at Spanish, but I would say I can understand between 60-75% of what is going on in any given situation. Although, I can't really be a good judge of how much I don't understand because I don't understand it.

My companion is Sister Sobkowicz (pronounced sub-co-witch). Despite the Polish name, she is from CANADA. And I do mean from Canada. This basically means we speak the same language, but she has a very Candian way of saying words like "bag" and "tag" and "tomorrow" and "sorry." Other than that, she is pretty much the best missionary ever! I don't know enough Spanish to really contribute to the lessons at all, and there are so many people being taught that I don't know yet, so I don't actually DO a lot here, but Sister Sobkowicz is so awesome that it doesn't matter. She's been in Spanish areas her entire mission (almost a year now) and she has been training the whole time (other than the first two transfers when she was being trained). This is the first time she hasn't had the extra hour of companionship study! Although, I kind of miss it. I could definitely use an extra hour of language study everyday! I keep joking with her that she is still training because I need so much help! She is so incredible and happy all the time it is impossible to be sad or discouraged. I was overwhelmed by the Spanish for about 2 hours when I first got here, and since then it hasn't been a problem. I say whatever I can (which is very little) and she makes up the difference. I couldn't have designed a better companion! Plus, she is kind of the unofficial "head-sister" in the mission. The assistants keep calling her about getting the zone pumped up for some new goals or asking her to prepare some things for the leadership training on Friday. (We're not really sure why she is going to this training, but I get to spend the day in Coral Springs with Sister Lake who just got here in December!)

It was SUPER hard to say good-bye to Delray and all the wonderful people I have met there, but Sister Hawkes is still there and she has Sister Despain to help her (Sister Despain was in Boynton for about 6 months, but left the area almost a year ago. Crazy).

We've had some awesome adventures since I got here last Wednesday. Por ejemplo, we met a member referral, Juan Carlos (which totally reminds me of when Bishop Miner told us he can go by J. Carlos when his office needs some diversity!), who is great and really interested in learning more about the church. But before we could start the lesson, his neighbor came out and asked him to move the puppies, so we went to help. We carried 8 little black puppies that were about two-weeks old across the street and into his backyard. It was very random, but they were really cute!

Then that night we went too far for the area we were going to harvest in, and we ended up on a street Sister Sobkowicz has never been on (she's been in this area since the beginning of September) and as soon as we got out of the car, there was a man about to walk up to his house. We stopped him and he recognized us as Mormon missionaries. He said he had seen some Elders in the park a few days ago and wanted to talk to them but didn't get a chance. He's been looking into a lot of different religions lately and wanted to read the Book of Mormon. We talked for almost a half an hour, got his number and gave it to the English missionaries. They called us yesterday to tell us that Bernard, the same man, has a baptismal date set for January 29th! We were so excited! I am so amazed at how the Spirit can direct us to different places without even knowing it!

On Saturday, we were driving past the house of a 14-year-old investigator that had missed our appointment on Friday. We were on our way somewhere else, but we saw him standing outside, so we pulled over to go talk to him. He was really excited to see us and after talking for just a few minutes, he told us he really wanted to be baptized. So we made sure there was nothing holding him back and said why not tomorrow? We taught the Word of Wisdom and Tithing and went over all of lesson 3 and the rest of lesson 4 that he needed to understand. Then we called up the District Leader, who gratefully had some time, and he came up and interviewed Brian. He was super ready! He invited all of his family to come and we set a time. He came to church on Sunday and then was baptized that evening. It was amazing! There were a lot of other youth there to support him as well. Heavenly Father blessed us so much to be able to help this young man to enter into the kingdom and the perfect moment. I know that Brian will be a great example to his family and friends. I am so happy for him!

I love being a missionary! Latin people are so nice, even when I have to bear my testimony the first day I'm here and have no idea what to say! They were all so friendly! I have so much more to learn, but I can't wait to learn it!

I love you all! Have a most wonderful week!

-Hermana Sheffield

Transfers, or news thereof....

Last night we get a phone call from the zone leaders that went something like this:

"Put us on speaker phone with all the sisters in your apartment"

"Okay. We're all here."

"Okay. Sister Sheffield: transferring. Sister Hawkes: staying. Sister Buckley and Spjut both transferring. Area shut down. All Boynton Elders: Staying. . . . (rest of the zone info that I couldn't comprehend)"

"Whoa. Could you repeat that?"

"Boynton Central and Boynton South are combining back into one area. Sister Hawkes is staying. The rest of the Sisters are transferring."

"Whoa."

"Okay. Bye."

So. I am being transferred. I don't know where I'm going until the meeting tomorrow. But I know I have to pack up all my stuff and leave all these wonderful people here. This came as a huge shock because Sister Hawkes really thought she was leaving and I really thought I was staying. Oh how wrong we were. I'm sure it will all be fine, but right now, it is still just all too shocking. ("There's nothing shocking about this. These people are just having a good time!")

I still have to call a whole bunch of people and say bye. I'm not looking forward to it. Especially Ardena and Jerry. I can't stand leaving them. I met them my third day here and we've been visiting them ever since. They have made so much progress and, although they still can't get baptized for a while because of not living the commandments, they have come so far and I wanted to be here to help them stay strong. But I guess the Lord has other plans for me. He knows where I need to be, and even if it is somewhere that is not as great as Delray (and let's face it, here is the best. Here is where I was born), I know that wherever I go is where I am supposed to be.

(One day last week, Jerry made an interesting comment: "I love you ladies coming over here, but PLEASE, bring a man!" It was so funny)

Despite the news of yesterday and the agonizing wait leading up to that phone call, we had a pretty great week. Last Wednesday we had a Mission-wide harvest. All of the missionaries went harvesting (tracting) from 5-7 pm in the attempts to bless 200 homes. We all went harvesting and got 368 blessings! It was incredible! We, as a companionship, blessed 9 homes and our district did 27. Our zone had made a goal of 30, which we exceeded by getting 58! So cool. It was amazing to feel the strength and the faith of the entire mission together! Our plan is to get 100 baptisms in January, mostly from those homes we harvested into last Wednesday.

Speaking of Baptisms, CHARLENE WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!!! It was so amazing! We met her in the middle of December and now she is a member of the Church (well, she will be next Sunday when she is confirmed)! She accepted everything we have taught her and is totally willing to live the commandments. Although she didn't show much enthusiasm at first, she had a strong desire to be baptized and always prayed that she would be excited for baptism. And now she is! She has slowly gotten more and more comfortable with us there and yesterday she was telling us all about her family (semi-paralyzed 13 yr old brother, trouble maker 6-yr-old brother, "junkie" brother that she lives with, mom who doesn't care that she just got baptized). It was pretty crazy. Her daughters are way more comfortable with us there, too. They were a little TOO comfortable and noisy, but I love them.

Also, this week we ate Haitian food and Filipino food. In the same day.

Also, Maria Elena set a baptismal date! For Jan. 29th! (Her husband decided not to go to Colorado because of it! Huge act of Faith!)

Tell you all about my new area next week!

Sister Anna Sheffield

A Light Amidst the Cockroaches

Dearest Family and Friends,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I don't know about all of you, but 2012 is going to be the best year ever. I get to spend the entirety of it on a mission, serving and bringing people closer to Christ. I really can't think of anything that could be better. Nothing brings the joy and fulfillment like bringing souls unto Christ. I know this may sound a little preachy to some of you, but seriously, this is the greatest thing in the world.

Last Saturday, Scott Stolberg was baptized!! It was a truly wonderful experience. He said he could "fly" home afterwards. He has always described the Spirit as an excitement within him, but on Saturday he said it was going crazy "like a pregnant women feels when her baby kicks, only in my chest." He is already sharing the Gospel with people he sees and has incredible fire and enthusiasm for learning more and doing the work for his ancestors. Talk about the spirit of Elijah! Scott has so many trials and hardships in his life right now, but he doesn't care. He knows it is Satan and he won't let anything stop him. He knows, has faith and hope in Christ, that all will work out. He has already seen blessings in the form of work that have come into his life as he has changed and is obeying God's will. He mentioned to us that he finally understands how we can go out and knock on people's doors and share the Gospel with them because he feels the joy and happiness and can't contain it. He wants to share it, too! He (and everyone else) is always surprised when they find out we are two little white girls walking around these neighborhoods. Scott described it: When they show up, it is like turning on a light and watching all the cockroaches scatter. It is true, the people who know they are doing bad things get away as fast as they can, especially when we mention prayer.

However, I think some of the people at the house Scott is staying in are more comfortable with us. During the 45 minutes we were there, we saw drinking, smoking, drug deals, fighting, swearing, admissions of selling drugs, and child neglect. Fun, right. These are the type of things Scott has to live around. Hopefully not for long!

Other than the wonderful blessing of a baptism on New Year's Eve, our night was uneventful. We had to be inside by 8 and we counted down to 10pm. We were in bed by 10:30 as usual and woke up at 6:30 and it was a new year. Amazing how it still comes even when you aren't awake to see it. The other surprising fact was that we still had 5 investigators in church Sunday Morning. We were supposed to have 8, but some people partied a little too much.

One of those at church was Charlene. She brought her two daughters who are super cute and they were actually very quiet. We are so excited for her because she is getting baptized next week!! She is amazing because she accepts everything we teach her and can meet all the time. We've been able to teach her everything in less than 3 weeks and now she is ready for her interview on Thursday! I can't wait! I'm so happy for her!

Guess What!?! I finally rode my bike! Big deal, you may say. But it really was. We rode for 10 miles!!! And it was hot and humid. But we did it and we didn't die! Yay!

Despite the heat last week, by the way, today is rather cold. By 10am it was only 56 degrees. And it is really windy so the windchill is probably colder, too. Welcome to January in Florida.

We also taught a few lessons in Spanish this week. A couple from Guatemala let us come teach them a few times, but we're pretty sure they aren't at all ready to commit to baptism. They are Catholic and we don't really know enough to help them anyway. Hopefully someone that speaks more fluent Spanish will find them and be able to help them more. I basically just sat there listening anyway. I decided I could understand what they were saying if they spoke 3x slower. I don't know what I'm going to do if I get transferred to a Spanish area. It won't be pretty.

Speaking of transfers, next week are transfers again so I will be emailing on Tuesday again. I'll know if I'm staying or going, but that's all.

Oh, I almost forgot, Scott's baptism almost didn't happen because there were 2 funerals on Saturday. Luckily, we were able to fit it in between them. And then, while they were changing out of their wet clothes, we watched some Mormon Messages. Sadly, we watched the one about Chris Williams. It is an amazing story of forgiveness, but it is really hard to watch when they keep showing the street you grew up on. Plus, I remember the night that accident happened, so it was really difficult to watch. Good thing Sister Hawkes and I sang "When I am Baptized" before that, we were both crying afterwards. (Yes, I sang again. Yay for musical numbers)

Well, I'm out of time and we need to go wash our car in the cold weather. Hope you all have a wonderful year! But don't wait until the end of it to tell me all about it!

The Church is True. Christ is our Savior and Redeemer!

Love,

Sister Anna Sheffield