Summer's lease hath all too short a date.

This summer has been wonderful and interesting and boring and hot and crazy and amazing. Like summer should be.

Coming home from a mission was much harder than I thought it would be. Especially when I didn't really have anything to fill my time. But then I went back to my old summer job and suddenly had no time to do all the things I thought I was going to get done! My life is so hard. 

Summer is now over, for most intents and purposes.  I didn't take a Spanish class or paint rocks for dad's herb garden. I didn't study the Common Core or write to my recent converts every Sunday. I could look at the rest of the things I didn't do and decide this summer was wasted or a failure. But that is depressing and it is more fun to be happy! Rejoice! Be of good cheer! It's a commandment!

Also, I can reflect on the awesome that happened this summer and enjoy the relived memories by myself all I want, but I have chosen instead to share them with all of you.  I hope it brings you joy and happiness as well!

Guster/BenFoldsFive/BarenakedLadies

  One of the highlights of June was the Guster concert at USANA.  All the cool people were there. Like us:

And them: 

And Them:

And him:

And them:

Guster is always so amazing in concert. AND we were on the second row. So here's another picture of them!

Camp

This was my fifth summer working at the JCC of SLC. Things were a little different this year.  It was my first time being with the 8 year old girls (although, to be fair, they aren't that much different from 7 year old girls!). These were an amazing group of girls, however, and I already miss them. Well, most of them anyway!

We got to go on some great field trips this summer, which is how I got most of my entertainment since I was usually too tired to go do anything else! 

Jungle Jim's

Kangaroo Zoo

The Hogle Zoo

Sleeping on the bus ride home

And sometimes we had a fun just staying at camp.

Bird Show

Graduation Day!

Water Kickball: 1st base

And sometimes we dressed up.

And even though I was pretty beat by week 10, I still cried when I said good bye to my co-counselor! You are so great, Lainie!

“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.” 
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

California

I have some awesome former mission companions from California. Three of them got married there this summer.  I only made it to one (but I got to see the other two at their bridal showers!) and I got to see another companion unexpectedly, so I guess we can still be friends.

In a crazy 60 hour trip, the bless-ed frusin-o-mine Cheryl joined me in driving over 1600 miles to Fresno and Sacramento and back.  We had an amazing time (I know, it is hard not to when Cheryl is around!) and learned that my car can go 433 miles on one tank of gas, but driving all the way across Nevada and not filling up until Delle, Utah is a bit of a stressful way of finding out.  

We stayed in Hanford, CA the first night and if felt a lot like Florida. We even got to help someone jumpstart their car! Too bad I didn't have a Pass-Along Card!  We drove to Fresno in the morning and attended a wonderful sealing for a wonderful couple that is perfect for each other.

Sister Buckley is now Jessica Newton but she's still living up to the phrase, "Only you can pull that off!" She made a beautiful bride! We stuck around the Fresno Temple for a session before driving up to Sacramento.  We may have been too late to tour the Jelly Belly Factory or the State Capitol building, but we made it just in time to spent several hours with the great and inspiring Sister Syme. (I still can't call her Adrianne!)

We explored Old Sacramento and the bridges nearby. 

Chocolate Covered Crickets

  But the best part of all was just chatting.  I'm pretty sure most of the time of our one transfer together was filled with talking. But sometimes my ramblings make a person feel better.  At least I hope they did! 

We also spent an inordinate amount of time late at night playing with her cats.

 

We went to church in the morning and were complimented on being Utahans, indirectly. And just like that it was time to leave. And nine hours (including Jane Eyre and a whole lot of nothing to look at) later, we made it back to Utah, where we found this smoky sunset and the comfort of our own beds.

The Magical Path

We added to it.

Mother and Cat sold separately.

Reflections

Last Saturday marked 2 years since the day I entered the MTC.  Next Wednesday marks 6th months since I was released as a missionary.  While being a camp counselor for the summer and living in Salt Lake again make me feel like I am the same person I was before my mission, there are a few things that remind me that I am a returned missionary.  1) I gave a lot of talks this summer because I am a returned missionary. 2) I am almost always cold, which makes me miss Florida. 3) I miss Florida for so many more reasons! 4) I have many new friends to list when my brother tells me I don't have any friends. 5) There are a lot more people I haven't written to in a long time. 6) I get random flashbacks to streets in Florida when I listen to MoTab. 7) I feel guilty when I have to turn the missionaries down.

But more importantly, 8) I feel so much happier when I get to do even a hint of missionary work. Going to Gospel Principles and helping teach investigators and recent converts fills me with a deep happiness that is a satisfaction you can't get anywhere else.  9) My faith exceeds my fear. Even though I still get overwhelmed or worried about something, I can rise above it quickly.  Or at least quicker than before. The trials I face now or in the future may be even harder than the ones I've faced in the past, but it is so much easier to get through them when you obey the commandment to Fear Not.  Trials, whether we brought them on ourselves or had them trust upon us, are means to becoming the better version of ourselves.  They are there for us to grow stronger, step higher, and learn more. They are to help us understand the depth of Our Savior's Love and Atonement and then to turn around and use that Atonement to become more like Him. There are times, especially in the middle of a trial, that this knowledge escapes me and forget that it will only be for a brief moment and be for my good.  Sacrificing my momentary comfort and perceived happiness to become better is a lot harder sometimes than I want it to be.  In those times, when I feel lazy or distressed, when I find it hard to have faith the enabling power of the Atonement steps in.  As someone said in church on Sunday, if you desire to have faith, act as if you have faith already and faith will come. And Christ can give you the strength to "fake it 'til you make it."

The pain of sacrifice lasts only one moment. It is the fear of the pain of sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it. -F. Enzio Bushe

Now day is done. Gone the sun

from the lakes, from the hills, from the sky.

All is well, safely west.

Shalom

On to the next great adventure: Student Teaching 2.0!

(Hence the new Blog Title)

I'm going to pretend that I have faith in my Spanish abilities and say that this is going to be a great semester!

I think I'll go spent my last day of summer at Seven Peaks.

Two Years and Counting

Two years ago today, my cousin came home from work and handed me an envelope.

Last year on this date, I spent my first full day in Miami and met the Branch Mission Leader and the awesome people of Snapper Creek YSA.


This year, I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness with my family and got a poster.


All three were pretty epic.

Really, the last two years have been the most incredible 24 months! I am so grateful for them! So many amazing experiences that I never would have had and wonderful people that I would never had met if I hadn't gone on a mission.  My life has been and will continue to be affected by my mission. I have thought of it everyday that I've been home and will no doubt think of it every day of my life. I am so happy to be a returned missionary!
And if you didn't think I loved my mission, now you know I do.

But cool things happen after the mission, too. The last 2.5 months have been a very interesting experience.  Going from teaching and working and sharing the Gospel everyday in a warm and humid climate, to sitting at home in the cold dry air with practically nothing to do was a very big change.  I needed an intense amount of lotion and a purpose. Due to the random events going on in the lives of my family, I have been kept fairly busy so I didn't go completely insane all at once.  (Have you ever gone from being totally busy to having nothing to do? It's harder than you think.)

So here is how I've been occupying my time:
The day before I gave my homecoming talk, my friend got married. Then a week later,

Brianon and Thomas

these two were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.  Thomas, you chose well.

The Salt Lake Marathon runners ran past our house in the rain and we held a baby shower for Jamie's new baby girl - which came about an hour before the shower started. Welcome to the world, Greta!

Pink much? This is missing the pink deviled eggs.

Then, because why not, I went to Florida!

Angela and I with a Britto Peacock.

I got to hang out with the extremely nice Sobkowicz family and we went to the zoo.  

But the real reason for the trip was to be there for Cesar as he went through the temple for the first time. We met and taught Cesar and his family a little over a year ago. They were amazing them and they are incredible now.  I am so proud of them and where they have come.  Congratulations Cesar!

Joel and Cesar

We also got to see several of the people we taught while we were in West Palm Beach. It was almost magical to be able to visit people and do missionary work without actually being a missionary.  I wish I could go back right now! I'm so glad I know all those wonderful people!

As soon as I got back, my parents got to celebrate their first grandchild's 1st birthday.

Mommy and Daddy are very proud of their child who is stuffing his face with cupcake.

James Tiberius Bullen has officially completed one year of life.  Just in time for the new Star Trek to come out!

Then, not but 3 days later, I went up to the lovely Logan, Utah.

Way to go, Jaron, Ian, and Jill!

My awesome friends did something I only pretended to do, and GRADUATED!!

Two days after I got home from Logan, the wonderful and amazing Diana Hourrutiner come to Utah! We had the wonderful opportunity of being companions until she went into the MTC.  We got to visit several temples, which were all beautiful!  One day, she went on an exchange with another great former missionary, and I helped my parents out with the landscaping.  I moved all the flagstones, that were originally part of the ditch out front, from the backyard to the side of the house and made a path.

The path that will one day be magical.

It was more work then I imagined it would be. My arms were incredibly sore by the end of the day.  At least they still work! And the path looks great, right?

After many days of being a missionary and not being able to do missionary work, Diana finally went into the MTC!

Danielle, Diana, Anna, and Jessica. Las Hermanas!

And with a trip to In-and-Out and some pictures, she was off!  Suerte Hermana Hourrutiner!

Now life can move steadily onward.  Even though I don't know what else is coming in my future, at least I've had these last two years to prepare me for it!

There and Back Again

Dear everyone.

This is the last time I will write from Florida as a Full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is bittersweet, as I would love to stay but am happy to return to the land of my fathers.

 

I'm not really sure how to express my feelings right now, but I tried to as I wrote to my Mission President one last time. So I hope you will permit me to share with you what I shared with him. If it doesn't all make sense, I'll explain later.

 

"Dear President Anderson,

I can't believe this is it. I really don't want to leave because being a part of this mission has been such a wonderful experience and I know that it will only go up from here. But, alas, I must go, because that is the way God wants it to be. 

 

I really have loved being here in Florida. Not only was the weather nice, but the people are amazing, and the spirit of this mission is incredible. I am so grateful that I got to serve in such an obedient mission that is worthy of bringing forth miracles. Even today, as we went out to eat with several members, we were blessed with a miracle. One of the waitresses came up to us and said, "With so many Mormons all in one place, there must be a church around here somewhere!" We laughed and she told us she had just moved here from New York. Luckily, I had a chapel card with me and the member immediately invited her to a new member dinner they are having on Thursday. It was awesome. Afterwards, the member noted the miracle saying, "If you weren't going home, we wouldn't have been here to meet that woman! God definitely has everything planned out, doesn't He!" I was grateful to be an instrument in God's plan once again.

 

At the end of District Training yesterday, our district leader had me share my testimony before I left. I was going to stand up and say the common "I know the church is true . . ." but I stopped and decided to share some of what I've learned on my mission. As I spoke I realized how important my mission has been and will be in my life. I can already see the changes that have come as I have gone through experiences and used the Atonement during my mission, and I know this is just a school of sorts for the rest of my life. As a member put it, a mission is for you to learn and become so that when you go home you can apply and use all the knowledge you have gained. But if you don't maintain or continue adding to what you've learned you may regress. 

 

I also came to understand a quote I found towards the beginning of my mission in "Jesus: The Perfect Leader" that says "Stretch your soul in fresh achievement . . . to bring about lasting change." When we accomplish a goal we've never before reached we set that as a new capstone. Never again should we go back to old comforts for we know and have seen ourselves at that higher level. If we consistently strive to reach a capstone or fresh goal, we will continually move higher until we no longer have any desire to reach anything less. I remember at the beginning of my mission when we were struggling to get 12 blessings in a week. Now we strive to get 12 by Wednesday without giving a moments hesitation. Also at the beginning of my mission, the mission had a goal to get 100 baptisms in a month. Now we achieve this regularly and strive for more. I have no doubt that this mission will set 150 or 200 baptisms as a norm in the near future. This is possible because we are only restricted by our own limited faith and can perform miracles for the Lord if we only choose to believe. Never again will we be content with 100 baptisms or 12 blessings in a week because our faith as grown to a perfect knowledge that we are capable of far more.

 

One more thing I learned this week is that when we truly have faith, and show it by our hard work and diligence, God may still not bless us when we think he should! His timing is perfect and He knows exactly when we need the blessings we have "earned."  I am comforted to know that God does not show his love in the way that mankind tries to measure it. It is not in the outward blessings others can see that you have, but in the peace and joy in your own soul.

 

I thank you for all you have done and will continue to do for this great mission. I feel truly blessed to have served here and will remember it everyday of my life.

 

Love, Sister Sheffield"

Name 100 things you've learned in the last 18 months

Dear Family and Friends,
This is a letter. It contains the thoughts I have as I reflect on the past week. It is not the last. But almost!

Alright, the fact that I am going home so soon has actually started to creep into my thoughts. Once in a while. But because of that, I'd rather GO and DO now and TELL you all about it later.
And while I love you all, I don't know what's going on in your world to make this relevant to you.

So here is a brief run down of the week:
Tuesday, biking. See below.
Wednesday, Weekly planning! and No correlation. But Sister Boylston came with us to see Stacey! We had a lesson outside because it was really nice weather. Yup I said it.
Thursday, Valentine's Day! We had a conference with Elder O.Vincent Haleck of the Seventy! It was awesome. Then I went on exchanges to Palm Beach Central! I didn't get to see any of my recent converts, but I did get to see Randolph Gaines, a man who I found and was then baptized in the English ward! (He had very little memory of me!)
Friday, woke up in Palm Beach! It was rainy. I got a really bad headache. Blah.
Saturday was cold. We found some cool people including Devarius, who accepted baptism!
Sunday was colder (the high was 58) and no one came to church. (Okay so there were lots of people at church, just none of our investigators)
Monday, District Training. It was great. then we had 3 dinner appointments (we only made it to two.) We found an awesome woman in an apartment that used to have a member family. See below.
Tuesday, back up to 75 degrees. I think we'll go play mini-golf.

. . . and some of what I wrote to President:

"It still surprises me that Satan can use so many different tactics to try to get a missionary down! I have been working/praying really hard to be sure that I don't get "trunky" or slack off, and Satan knows it. This week, he used emotions, weather, physical strength, companions, and investigators to try to get me down. While I wish I could say that I paid no heed to these things, they did manage to slow me down a few times. But, because of the wonderful gift of the Atonement, I was able to repent and get up and get going and doing again fairly soon! Now I just have to work on not letting those things affect me at all!

This week was interesting. It definitely didn't turn out how we had planned, or wanted it to go, but we were still able to see some amazing miracles. Tuesday night, we were riding our bikes. We had harvested until it was too dark to see because all of our lessons had fallen through and then went to see some old potential investigators. As we were biking, we stopped and contacted a man on the sidewalk. He was on the phone and didn't really speak English, but we gave him a Book of Mormon pass-along card anyway. We started going again and then heard someone calling out to us. I stopped and turned around to see the man walking back toward us. As we caught back up with him, he said "I Mormon!" In a broken mixture of English and French, we found out that his name was Joseph, that he had been baptized in Haiti and had moved here and couldn't find the church. We gave him the address of the church, our phone number and the number of a woman in the ward who speaks Creole. He was so happy! On Sunday, another family in the ward picked him and his daughter up. I was so excited to see them in the Chapel! I knew we had been inspired by the Spirit to go visit that potential (who wasn't even home) so that we could meet Joseph on the street. I am grateful that God could trust us to follow the Spirit so that Joseph could find the church!

On Sunday in ward council meeting, the Bishop wanted to go through the ward list to identify as many people as possible. He invited the missionaries and we were able to give information about individuals that we had met and that former missionaries had made notes about. I was grateful that we were allowed to be a part of that and feel more like we are part of the fiber of the ward. We were also able to get the names of some less actives that no one knew about and are excited to visit as many as possible to report back to the ward council next week. In fact, yesterday we stopped by a family that lives close to us. There was a note by their name that they were attending a Methodist church now, but we went by to see if we could member-bless them. Turns out, they don't live there anymore! But the woman who answered the door was very nice and let us in to leave a blessing in her home. She didn't speak much English either, but after the prayer she asked if we could come back again and pray for her family some more! We readily agreed! She definitely felt the spirit, even though she probably couldn't understand most of the words in the prayer. We are excited to go back and visit her with a member that can communicate better with her!"


Now, should you have any questions or requests for souvenirs, please send me a letter immediately. As in today or tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll see you soon.

Bye for now!
Love, Hermana Sheffield

Stay tuned next week as Sister Sheffield explains how her departing interview went and how amazing miracles happened!

When I share the Gospel, there's not a thing I would change

February 11, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Febtober. Febril. Febuly. What does it feel like to you?

This week was great! We accomplished things we've never done before! Our area got 37 harvest blessings this week! AND our zone got 317 blessings! New "Capstones" reached all the time here in the Stuart Capstone Zone.  Now it is on to New investigators!

There were several times this week that I wanted to throw the phone at the wall. The first time was when Pierre finally answered his phone and pretty much told us he was too busy for us and wasn't coming to church because it was really different from what he's used to and would take him a while to be okay with it. Boo.

Then we got a text message from Dallas. It said, "After much pondering and prayer I have come to the conclusion that the LDS church is not true." After resisting the urge to throw the phone and yell and scream and cry. I texted her back and said, "I know how much our Heavenly Father loves you and will reward your patience and diligence in seeking out the truth. I know the Church of Jesus Christ is the true church. . ."  I am still broken-hearted that she of all people could come to that conclusion, but I know that one day she WILL know the truth that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is truly the Lord's Church on the Earth today and that there is no other way to salvation and a fullness of joy. I continue to pray that Dallas and her family will remember the things they learned and lived so they too can have the joy that I have felt from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In that same vain, we had an interesting experience this week. We were harvesting early on in the week and we met a girl named Maria. She was getting her mail and was holding the pass along card we had put on her door. As we talked with her, she asked, "What's Mormon?" So we explained a little and she got her sister and we went inside her house so we could sit down and explain more.  We talked with them about the Atonement and introduced the Book of Mormon and then they started asking questions. Maria's main concern was about heaven and she was excited by the idea of the Spirit world. Both girls had a lot of questions and we answered several of them and then had to go. We came back a few days later with Sister Boylston. Unfortunately, Maria's older sister was there. She is VERY active in her non-denominational church, and very bold in telling us about her beliefs (which make no sense to me. I mean, how can three separate beings all be one? and how can we just believe in Christ and then be "saved"?). We barely got a word in at all. By the time we left, Sister Boylston said, "I feel like we've just taken a beating!" And we definitely were glad to be out of there.  Then a few days later, Maria texted us back and said she wanted us to come answer a few more questions that we didn't get to answer before. Thinking it would just be her, we went back over. Unfortunately, the sister was there again. Things went a little better this time and we actually got to teach about the plan of salvation. She of course had some way of disputing every single part of it with scriptures that she doesn't understand at all. 

SO from all of this, I learned that some people are too hard-hearted to accept or even listen to the Gospel. I also learned that Modern Revelation is SO NECESSARY to our understanding of the scriptures and God's plan for us. Meeting with Maria and her sister really helped me to strengthen my own testimony of the Restored Gospel, of the Book of Mormon, and of the Church.  Other experiences I had this week greatly strengthened by testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Now we just need to find some people to teach, so I can share all of this wonderful knowledge with them!

One really great moment with the phone this week was when the Sisters in the newly created Palm Beach Central area called. They told us we are going to have exchanges this week! And I get to go down to West Palm again!!!!  I was literally jumping up and down I was so excited!

That was pretty much it. Of course there were other things that happened, but the important thing is that we be obedient and keep working. So It's time to go and do.

I hope you all feel the warmth of the Spirit as you read or share the Book of Mormon this week. Especially those of you in the cold places of the world.  Don't fret. Don't doubt. Don't Fear. February will be over soon.

I Love you All!!!!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

"Love Her As I Loved Her!"

February 4, 2013

Dear Fambamly and Fry-ends,

Hello from the land of rainbows, butterflies, and Sunshine. Literally. We've had all three this week! Sorry if you haven't had such things.  I also got sunburned this week as we were out on bikes and talking with people for long periods of time in the sun.  But don't worry, January is over! And February has the redeeming quality of being only 28 days long! So the end is near! (Of winter, not of my mission because we're not going to talk about that)

This week I accomplished something I had never done here before. We left 15 blessings in one day! Saturday was filled with knocking on doors and not much else. But hey, check off that goal.

Much to our dismay, we were only able to see our awesome Haitian Friend Pierre once this week. He was really busy I guess. Actually, he went with his wife to a different church on Sunday so we didn't even see him then. But in our lesson on Friday, he said he wanted to put a picture of the Plan of Salvation on his wall because it showed the whole picture of Life. He really loved it. That's because it is TRUE, Pierre!

On Thursday we went to the Malcarne's again. Pretty good turn out, except for OUR recent converts. Good thing the Elders' converts are always there!

Looking back, my week doesn't seem too completely exciting. So here is some highlights I wrote to President! (shocking that I would resort to this, I know.)

"I love Fast Sunday! None of our investigators came to church, but a less active guy that moved here from Idaho showed up! During personal study, I sought out the answer to the question of what I could do better to help Sister Jackson and our companionship unity. I read the account of Samuel the Lamanite and noticed this time how he had preached for days with no success before he was finally cast out. Then he was directed to return and preach again among the same people. I realized that not everyday is an "Ammon converting King Lamoni" day or a Nephi and Lehi baptizing 8,000 type of week. Sometimes we have those days that barely get mentioned in the Book of Mormon, when the great prophets and missionaries were preaching tirelessly with no success. But the reason we can continue moving forward and continue to knock on the next door is because we have that hope and faith in Jesus Christ that all will be made right and that there are people in this area that are waiting for us at this time. As we continue to better ourselves and make sure that we are trustworthy instruments in the hands of the Lord, He is preparing people for us. There is occasionally some disappointing or discouraging moments we have to face, but I know they can help us grow. So here we are, growing the best we can, and pasting that smile on our face until it becomes real. 

I truly love this work. And even though it is WORK, I am so glad I am here doing it.

I feel successful as a missionary this week because of an experience we had on Wednesday. We were on bikes all day long, checking on people. We were trying so hard to get new investigators. We were returning to as many people as we could. We stopped by a guy that we had met several weeks ago, even though he hadn't said yes to baptism. We found him at home and very willing to talk to us. We got to do some how to begin teaching and learned more about him and got him as a new investigator.  Then we unsuccessfully visited others. Around 5:30, we knew we hadn't gotten any blessings yet and we only had an hour before Correlation meeting. So we got on our bikes to go to the street we had thought of, but before we even left the area we had been in, I saw the car of a potential investigator at her home. She hadn't been a very solid possibility because she was a little distracted when we blessed her. We hadn't even planned to go back and visit her. So when I stopped and decided to go visit her, my companion was hesitant, knowing that we needed to meet our goal for blessings still. But I felt it was important to see her and knew that somehow everything would work out.  We went up to her door and she readily welcomed us in. She said she was about to pray after getting home from a long hard day at work and knew that God had sent us again to visit her right at that moment. As we talked with her, she committed again to come to church and we found out that she used to have a Book of Mormon, but had left it behind. We gave her another copy and set up another time to see her. As we were walking back to our bikes, I realized how the Spirit had guided us that afternoon to be able to see her.  Plus, by the end of the week, we had more blessings than we have all transfer!  God definitely orchestrates this work!"

Well, I'm going back out into the sun now because I'm tired of this cave-like family history center. Have a wonderful week and find a way to bring sunshine to someone's soul by sharing your testimony!

Love, Hermana Sheffield

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