A Shout-out to the Herzigs!

January 28, 2013

Hello all!

I have to give props to the Brother and Sister Herzig (who probably have no idea what "props" are) for their excellent assistance this week. Sister Herzig came out teaching with us twice and was very helpful, and they gave us a ride to the church on Wednesday and Thursday, and they let us email at their house today and fed us lunch and ice cream. So they are the winners. Also, they are nice but don't love us quite as much as they love Sister Barnes and Sister Packard!

Anyway. This week was great. Mostly because we had more success in achieving our goals and we had Zone Conference which was very spiritually filling. Both things that make for a good week. You should go acheive some goals and see how it makes you feel!

I'm not sure if you know this, but bikes are great. Except if you ask my companion right after I made her bike 9 miles to a member's house! But she survived so It's all good!  I am excited that to one day ride bikes NOT in a skirt, but it's not too bad now.

And while this week was filled with fun and exciting things, I don't have much time to write about it. So here's some highlights, as usual:

One of the incredible experiences we had this week was with Pierre. We came over, planning to teach the Restoration and as soon as we sat down, he asked a question about why there are so many different churches! It was the perfect set up! He was prepared for the lesson before we even introduced it! By the end of the lesson, he was so excited to read the Book of Mormon (especially since we had given him a copy in French!) And he couldn't wait to come to church! He told us the that if God was at the church, he would never leave, but be there every week!  We missionaries (and Sister Herzig) testified of the Spirit he would feel there, to the point where we were all excited to go!  

On Sunday, we waited and waited for him to come. Finally right after the Sacrament, the doors opened and in walked Pierre with his wife and two boys! It was awesome! They both said they loved it and would be there again next week! hopefully we can have some leadership come with us this week and get them both baptized!  He knows it is true!  He is also really excited to learn about the plan of salvation because someone mentioned it in Sunday School! I love elect people!

I also had a testimony-strengthening experience this week as we went out to harvest. We had chosen a street to knock, but as we rode down this street, I felt like that was not where we were supposed to be. So we knocked a nearby street instead. No one on the street would let us pray with them, and I felt like I was somehow not listening to the Spirit or something. Then 2 days later we were in the same area and decided to knock the street we had originally chosen. We found 6 homes to bless and 4 people that accepted baptism! I realized as we were walking back to our bikes that we had been prompted to not knock that street the first time so that we could find those people at the right time. I love finding people and being guided by the Spirit!

Also, Stacey had a little break-through this week where she actually connected with the things we were teaching! She really liked Enos. Such faith, such love. I like that story, too. Do you?

Okay, that's all for today, folks! Time to turn off your computers and go outside in the beautiful sunshine! Oh wait. . .

I love you anyway! Share your testimony with someone and you'll feel a warm glow!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

Thus Begins the Firsts of the Lasts!

January 22, 2013

Oh how I wish that title was referring to Stacey (our jewish investigator) getting baptized. But she's not there yet. (1 Nephi 13:42)

Haldo Everyone!  Hope everyone is nice and comfy into the new year/semester/transfer/month or whatever else you use to mark time!

Last Wednesday was quite historic. It was my last transfer meeting!!! Ugh. But it was kind of awesome because it was delayed, so instead of having to leave at 6 am, we didn't have to leave until 9! So great.

Also, it was historic because the FFLM got its first 19 yr old Sister missionary! Her name is Sister Price and she is opening a new area in Palm Beach! Pretty exciting. President Said that in the next 12 weeks, we will double the number of sisters we have in the mission!! (I wish I was sticking around to see it!)

And, the meeting was also historic, because I got my last companion: Sister Jackson!

She is from Tooele, Utah, is the 3rd of her siblings to serve a mission, and was born (in the mission) in Boynton Beach South! (Which, in case you forgot, is where I was born!)  This is her third transfer (I'm greenie-breaking for the 3rd transfer in a row!) and she was not at all excited to come up to Stuart. But now she's fine with it. I hope. :)

Thursday we went to the Riveros for lunch again and Hermana Rivero felt the need to do our hair! She put my braids into the shape of a heart and then gave Sister Jackson's hair a little fluff and added some make-up. It was fun, especially since Hna Rivero doesn't speak English and Sister Jackson doesn't speak Spanish. I can't catch everything they say, but I at least could translate a little. And we used a lot of sign-language. It was epic. (I know it probably doesn't sound like it from that description, but trust me, it was!)

Then that night we went down to the Malcarne's home for the Recent convert Potluck dinner. Unfortunately, our recent converts couldn't make it. And the Elders couldn't make it. So It was me and Sister Jackson teaching all of the Elders' recent converts/investigators.  There were 18 people there in all. I was a little nervous, especially since Sister Jackson was so new to the ward, but it turned out well.

Actually, it went so well, that Deandre Halbert (one of the investigators there) ended up getting baptized on Sunday! Yay! He was SO excited to keep the commandments! Great job, ZLs.

While we're mentioning Sunday, Catrice showed up at church! We met her almost 2 weeks ago and haven't seen her since. But we've been in some text-contact and she made it to church! We didn't get to sit by her in Gospel Principles, however, because we were asked to teach the 12-13 yr old Sunday school class. It was pretty fun. The new curriculum is different, but awesome! Those kids are going to be super awesome missionaries by the time they turn 19!  Sunday night, we went to The Birch family's home for dinner and ice cream. Then Stacey came and we had a really l o n g lesson with her, which included watching some of the animated Book of Mormon Stories, looking up jewsforjesus.com and personal experiences from Bro. Birch's life.  Stacey will get there eventually. Pray for her.

Last week, on Monday, we were driving past a potential's house and saw his car, so we decided to stop in. We had a quick lesson with him, but were really excited that he was still interested.  So on Saturday we got Sister Birch to come with us to see him. We talked about reading the scriptures because he hadn't even opened the Book of Mormon we left him and invited him to church. He said he'd come one day but was already committed to go to a church in Orlando that Sunday. He did once again mention that it would take a lot of work to get him to join our church (but at least he is thinking of joining!) and said he had a LOT of questions. We told him he'd get all his answers and mostly let sister Birch tell her conversion story. He was a little skeptical but was very willing to listen and learn.

And to continue the story, here's what I wrote to president:

"We've had some great experiences this week that have really helped up to ave the spiritual energy to get through all the notsogreat times. For example, last night we met with Pierre again. We had a member with us and she was a little older, so we weren't sure if she was going to be the best match, but she was the only one available on a Monday night. But we went in and started talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pierre reminded us that he has a degree in theology and is well-versed in the Bible. He has also been a pastor 3 times.  The Gospel turned out the be the perfect thing for him because he had no idea that "The Mormons" believed in those five things that lead us back to God. He told us how he felt so good as we taught and how he was no longer afraid to come visit the church. He really appreciated having an older person (and convert) there with us because he appreciates the experience they've had and loves to learn from them. The whole situation had just fallen into place and it worked out perfectly! He is really excited to get a French Book of Mormon because he now has a great desire to learn more!  This came at the perfect moment (the way God always works)! After that lesson, we were totally energized and ready to start the week running!"

Also we had one of the most miraculous and inspiring moments of my whole life happen last Tuesday. But I have not the time to tell you about it now.  But really, the story of Dallas Santa is one you don't want to miss out on.

PLEASE REMIND ME TO TELL YOU!

I love you all! Have a most wonderful and fantastic week! 

Love, Hermana Sheffield

P.S. The commitment I left with the 12-13 year-olds was the same I extend to you: Will you share your testimony of Heavenly Father with someone this week?

January 15, 2013

My last transfer meeting is tomorrow, but we are actually going because

SISTER DOUGAL got TRANSFERRED!!! :(

Hello Everyone,

Yes, it is kind of a somber moment. I will greatly miss Sister Dougal. It seems like all of the companions I have for only one transfer are the ones I miss the most. Hopefully that means my last companion will be awesome, as well.  The ward will greatly miss Sister Dougal, too. There was only 1 Sunday this transfer when she didn't play the piano in Sacrament Meeting! I can't compete with that, so hopefully my new companion can play also. I'll let you know.

This week was pretty great. We had some incredibly awesome trainings from our Zone Leaders (at Zone Council, which was also attended by President Anderson) and our Two District Trainings. We are sad to be losing Elder Toeava as a District Leader, as he is transfering to another area, as well.  Plus, We will be losing our senior Zone Leader, Elder Bjorling, as he will be transferring to New York. The zone will definitely feel the loss.

This week was also kind of epic because of Saturday. We went to 2 weddings! First, Brian (a recent convert of Sister Dougal's, and the father of our recent convert Brandon) and Michelle were married at the church. They had the wedding and reception there. They asked sister dougal to play the piano as she marched in. I got to play violin, too! It was awesome to play for a wedding! They whole event was fun. Nothing super fancy, but great. And super cute! I love older people getting married!

After we helped clean up, we found out that the second wedding we were planning on, the one of the elders' investigator, had already happened! In the Bishop's office! We were bummed, and so were the Elders! So we took the party to them! We took the extra flowers, cake, sparkling cider, and food to Terence and Desiree's house and held a fake wedding ceremony for them! It was hilarious! They loved it! Elder Edwards gave them some random rings he had, and they wore them the next day! They even fed each other cake and had their first dance on the lawn.  All of this was made even sweeter with the fact that they have no electricity in their home and live in some pretty humble circumstances. They were so happy that we had come and we were glad to give them an audience.

The next day, being Sunday, we more epic than usual. The Elders had a baptism before church of a family of 4. We helped out, of course, including cleaning up the bathroom when the font over-flowed and providing assistance for the program. Then at church, no one came. Until right before sacrament (thanks to the 4 confirmations!) when Teresa showed up! (She has a crazy story that you should ask me about later. It may include someone being possessed.)

Then after church, there were 2 more baptisms! Terence got baptized, but there was an 8 year old getting baptized at the same time! It was pretty crazy to switch rooms part-way through and Sister Dougal was running back and forth between the two to play the piano and I was trying to find some way to keep the spirit while we waited for them to change and no other missionaries were around and then Bro. Morgan gave a 25 minute Welcome to the ward. It was all pretty intense, but super awesome that so many people were able to make covenants with God! yay!

And my inserted quote from my letter to president:

"On Sunday, We were really tired from all the craziness that happened with the baptisms, but we knew that we would be more blessed if we kept on going. It was getting dark and we harvested for over an hour without much success. We were determined to hit our goal and still needed one more blessing. We went to check on a recent convert who didn't show up at church, and he wasn't home. But we felt like we needed to stay in that complex, even though it had all been knocked by missionaries fairly recently. Then my companion remembered a referral received last transfer who had never been home. We decided to check on her one more time. We knocked on the door and no one answered, but we could hear music inside. So we knocked harder and Allison opened the door. We introduced ourselves and before we could even explain why we were there she let us in. She was almost crying when we said we wanted to pray for her! We left the blessing and she was so happy! She immediately asked where the church was, asked if she could give us her number, and tried to refer us to the friend that had referred her to us! It was incredible! She accepted baptism on the 27th and we are looking forward to going back to see her! It was another experience that gave us the Spiritual boost we needed to keep going. This is why I am a missionary!"

Actually, at District Training yesterday, we were asked why we are serving a mission, what we want to accomplish and how we are going to accomplish it. It was really interesting to think about those things right now, as I have such little time left, but it really helped me to remember why I am here. Sisters serve for 18 months for a reason, so that last month has got to hold some incredible blessings, right? Otherwise I would have gone home a while ago, when I was young and foolish and thought I had accomplished enough. Silly me. We never stop learning. We never stop growing. There is always something more we can learn about Jesus Christ. There is always more we can do better to become like Him. Whether we are serving full-time, part-time, all-the-time, or only occasionally when we are impelled to do so, there is always something we can do to more deeply understand and apply the power of the Atonement in our lives. I hope all of you can find something to do today that will help you to more fully receive the blessings of the Atonement.

Need some ideas? Write to me, I'll give you some!

That's all for today! I hope you all don't freeze in that January Weather! We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is January and not June.

I love you all!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

You Make Everything Lovely

January 7, 2013

Hello Everyone!

Hope you are all healthy and warm, despite the low temperatures and nasty inversion in Utah.  I won't go too much into detail about the sunny 70 and 80 degree weather we have here.  Wish you all could be here (doing missionary work), too!

Hope you also had a wonderful New Year!  It's 2013! Can you believe it?

We brought in the New year by being obedient and going to sleep at 10:30 and waking up at 6:20.  Then we went to District Training! It was actually a great meeting and very motivational. We took some district pictures to celebrate New Year's and then went out to Lunch. We support the poor people at Sonny's BBQ that had to work on New Year's Day.  I'm not sure they were really happy about that, but we tried.

As usually, this week was filled with the Ups and Downs of Missionary work. I won't go into detail about too many of the downs, because everything will be made right through the Atonement of Christ, but I will share a few up moments we had:

On Wednesday we had a lesson with the guy named Josue. We just stood on his porch (in the hot sunshine) and talked. The lesson wasn't super inspiring or anything, but we decided that he looks like a young Moses from The Prince of Egypt. After realizing it, I just kept picturing him getting his hair eaten by a camel and kept quoting "My father. Jethro. High priest of Midian" in my head.

That night, Stacey had us over for dinner! Yay for getting fed by investigators! We also got to read the Title Page of the Book of Mormon with her and point out that it was written specifically for her to learn of Christ (she is a Jew after all!).

Thursday, The Malcarnes had a "recent convert potluck" at their home. We got a ride down there and were able to see Brandon, who got a haircut and was much happier and acting like a different person! The missionaries were in charge of the lesson and we sang "I Stand all amazed" and then had a lesson on The Atonement. We had people identify the blessings they'd received from the Atonement, Such as strength, comfort, happiness, relief from guilt, guidance, etc. And explained why we need the atonement. We explained what the Atonement is and how we can only access it through the ordinances (baptism, sacrament, etc.) It was a really great lesson and helped me to remember the importance of the what we do as missionaries. We used that same lesson idea for several of our investigators as well.

Friday was a Dog Day. (Hope you are all singing Florence and the Machine in your head now.) Everyone we went to visit had a dog. And most of the dogs had issues (brain cancer, going back to owner, lung problems, etc). We definitely smelled like Dog the whole day. But, I got to hold a lizard! Yup I held a wild lizard. It was great.

Saturday, We went to a Bridal Shower. And we got to see a Recent Convert from July that I hadn't met yet. They are still solid in their testimony, just busy serving at a Soup kitchen!

Sunday was a roller coaster all by itself: We found out a recent convert couple wants their names removed from the records of the church, Stacey brought her mom to church, Roger and Brandon got confirmed!, we were in primary and got to sing Faith opera-style, we had a lesson with and 88 year old woman who said she'd think about getting baptized on Jan 20th, we got stood up by an solid investigator, and we had a sweet experience harvesting. This is what I told President:

"All week we harvested mightily. We had an intense desire to find the elect because we haven't had much success lately. AND we had a very motivating District Training. So all week we worked hard, harvesting more than an hour a day in hot sun and rain. But alas, we continued all week and still found no one who said Yes to baptism. We left many blessings, but no one was ready for the Gospel.  By the time Sunday came and we still had no blessings, we were doing our very best to not get discouraged. We prayed once again to know where to go. We picked a street and drove to it. As we drove down the street, we felt uninspired by it and decided to turn the corner to the next street. We felt a little better about that one. We parked and realized how dark it had gotten. We try not to harvest at night in this particular area because there are no street lights, but we decided to go for it anyway. We knocked the whole street. Only 2 people let us pray for them. Neither wanted to be baptized. It was really dark so we decided to knock the doors on the other side of the street on our way back to the car. The first door we knocked on that side was Michelle. She was a little abrupt with us and not super interested in a prayer, but when we asked if there was anyone she would like us to include in the prayer, she mentioned her Grandfather. After the prayer, she was a bit shocked and tearing up. She said she felt so grateful that we had prayed for her Grandfather. We told her she was feeling the spirit and invited her to be baptized. She said "I've never been baptized! Maybe you were sent to help me!" We testified that we were and set her for baptism on the 20th! It was a great moment for us because we realized God still loved us! (not that we really thought otherwise, but it was nice to have that reminder!)

I think I've been too much worried about the "doing" part of missionary work that I've neglected the "being" part. I have been very concerned about the numbers and things not working out how everyone tells me they should be. So it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. But It really comes down to who I am instead. I have decided to up my studies to focus on the doctrine I felt like I knew backwards and forwards, and to strive to be more Christlike in my personal conduct. As I become a better missionary and instrument in God's hands, I know the desired growth in our area will increase. And even if it takes a while to do so, I will have the patience and humility to wait for God's timing."

Missionary work never goes as expected, but it is always good and will always bring happiness, peace, and comfort. There is no way to get these feelings from the world, they only come from God when we obey his commandments. Sharing your testimony with others will bring you these feelings and inspire you to always have them with you. I love the fact that I get to share my testimony everyday. I hope you all take those opportunities that arise to share yours, as well.

Have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Sheffield