Placentero Nos Es Trabajar. El Momento de Ir Vino Ya.

Hola todos!! 

The moment has come! Well, it came. My time as a full-time missionary has come to an end. My last week as a missionary was crazy and I couldn't send my last email. But that's ok. My last p-day was the day before I went home, so I was pretty busy. And then the next day, Tuesday, May 26th, I flew home to Washington. I can't believe it. 

On the Thursday before, I was able to go to the Boise, Idaho temple with all the other missionaries who were also finishing up their missions. It was amazing. I think in that moment, it hit me that I was going home. I prayed for peace and to know that the Lord was pleased with my service. And I felt that. I expected the goodbyes to be hard and that I would be bawling my eyes out the whole time, but I was surprisingly calm. My body and heart were calm even though, in my mind, I thought I should be a mess. In the moment, I was kinda confused about what I was feeling, but looking back, that was definitely Heavenly Father helping to smooth the transition. He helped me to feel calm, confident, and unemotional throughout it all. I'm grateful for that.

Because I felt that way doesn't mean I wasn't grateful for my time as a missionary or I won't miss it. I definitely will. But I think it gives me an appreciation for all I've learned and how I've grown. It just testifies that He knows me SO MUCH better than I know myself. He knows what I need, even when I don't. When I have mixed feelings, He gives me the strength I need. He has helped me to accept change. Not only accept it, but be able to deal with it and even be excited for it. He's helped me realize that there's a process in all of our lives, INCLUDING MY OWN. That my knowledge that I have right now, I can use to face my next challenges. Those challenges will push me and stretch me to learn new things that will prepare me for even MORE experiences. So He'll never throw me into something I'm not prepared for. He knows my strength and enables me so much. That's a reason to be excited. Satan wants me to be afraid and to hesitate and not move forward. But I have everything going for me right now. I can't give in to that fear. I don't want to. 

I grew to LOVE the people in the Idaho Nampa mission, english people and my dear spanish speakers. They have literally become like family to me. They have helped me out so much and been amazing examples to me. I have learned so much from them. I am going to miss that. I think that is one reason I was called to Nampa. Not because it was where I was born, but because Heavenly Father knew I would need to be able to return and see people again. I would need them to be close so I wouldn't lose contact. And I am definitely going to stop by often throughout my life. I'm excited for that. 

I loved my mission so much and it has been the best decision in my life. It prepared me in ways I didn't think I needed preparing. It has blessed me and will bless my family, current and future. I could not imagine my life without it. 

The Boise, Idaho Temple

Saying goodbye to the Cannons in the airport

Placentero Nos Es Trabajar 

A hymn only found in the Spanish hymn book.

1. 1. Placentero nos es trabajar
   en la viña del gran Rey Jesús,
   y honroso nos es predicar
   a Su pueblo Su ley y Su lluz.
   Por Su luz, por Su luz,
   placentero nos es trabajar.
   Por Su luz, por Su luz,
   moriremos en El sin pesar.
2. 2. La palabra de Dios escuchad
   con ahínco, lealtad y fervor.
   Para siempre jamás recordad
   Su pureza, verdad y amor.
   Con amor, con amor,
   la palabra de Dios escuchad.
   Con amor, con amor,
   la bandera de Dios empuñad.
3. 3. ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues, adiós!
   El momento de ir vino ya.
   Si guardamos la fe en el gran Dios,
   nos veremos aún más allá.
   Más allá, más allá.
   ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues, adiós!
   Más allá, más allá,
   moraremos con Dios en amor.

Service, the Spirit, and a little JW Action (May 18, 2015)

Hola Familia y Amigos! 

This was a really good week! We did 2 different exchanges with sisters, so that made things exciting. It's always interesting and fun doing exchanges. I'll keep this email short because we have lots of things to do, but generally, the main themes of this week were the power of prayer, the spirit, and service. Seriously, they are key to doing missionary work and being disciples of Christ. 

So we had some cool experiences this week. First of all, on Sunday, we taught young womens. Doesn't seem like it would be a big deal, but before we were going to teach, we talked to one of the leaders and she was saying that we didn't have to teach it, that one of the regular teachers could do it, but we had already been asked. Then she told us she felt like we should teach it. It was about revelation. Awesome. So as we were teaching about how to recognize the holy ghost, Hna Carrasco told me she had a prompting to sing a hymn. So we did and it seriously invited the spirit. It was perfect because we could testify about that feeling that they were having AT THAT MOMENT. And hopefully that helped them to know what it feels like and identify that good feeling. It was definitely a prompting from the spirit for us to teach that class. It was really cool to recognize that after. 

Also, we just had an experience this morning. We were driving to the family history center to email and we decided that we wanted to go to this little hat store in Nampa. It was on the way. So we parked the car and I, kinda jokingly said, "Maybe we should say a prayer." Then Hna Carrasco said she had had that same thought. So we decided to do it, even though we were just going in to a little hat store. When we went in, the man spoke spanish and started asking us about missionaries and we started a gospel discussion. We didn't actually want to buy an intense hat or boots, but there was a tiny, sequined sombrero that wasn't for sale. I wanted something little like that as a souvenir, so I asked him if I could buy it. Then he gave it to me for free! He said because I was doing a good thing, preaching the gospel. SO COOL! Hopefully we softened his heart a little bit. 

ALSO, when we were on exchanges this week, I went with an english sister, named Sister Wasden. When we studied in the morning, we ended up talking a lot about service and how it softens hearts and shows God's love for other people. Then, as we were out and about during the day, we drove by a Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witness. There were a bunch of people outside working. So we had this crazy thought to stop and offer if we could help. They said sure. (They probably didn't recognize who we were or think we were serious.) SO WE DID. We helped them pull weeds and just talked with them while we were cleaning up their flowerbeds. And we didn't try to preach or anything. This was THEIR property. But, they started asking us questions. And it was a really cordial conversation. It was pretty cool and we were able to talk about similarities between our beliefs and passions in preaching the gospel and helping and serving. It was a really fun and random experience. 

So it just showed me that those things are so important. Heavenly Father loves us and guides us. 

Hope you have a wonderful week!! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

The Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall

Weekety Week (May 11, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

Soo this week we had a lot of things on our plate. There was a relief society activity for mother's day as well as a mother's day activity for the whole ward. And, of course, we were asked to help out with both. The relief society activity was a spa night and then the ward activity was a dinner and show. We performed a Hawaiian dance for the show. (I don't know if I mentioned, the other Spanish sisters in Nampa are Hna Collins and Masiasomua. From Florida and Samoa) So Hna Masi came up with the dance and taught it to us. It was super last minute, so I didn't think we'd get it together, but we did. It was fun. 

Also, we've been seriously guided to a few people this week who are so ready for the gospel. I'm so excited, but at the same time, they're thinking about switching things up next transfer. They're going to combine our area to another one or do something so that there is more work. We're going to meet to talk about it and figure out what would be best. Things will change, but it won't take affect until after I'm already gone. Heavenly Father is guiding people to hear about the gospel. He's guiding the missionaries around the world. He's guiding the mission presidents on how to run the missionary work. It's pretty cool how everything is set up. I love it!! 

Hope you all have an amazing week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

Ward Relief Society activity--Hermana Carrasco at her finest. Yogurt and cucumbers are good to her. 

Cool sunset

We got transferred to Hawaiian speaking in Nampa. 

This is Brissa, little sister of Jesualdo. 

I gave her my camera and this is what I get

:) hehehe

Ducks and Dioses (Gods) (May 4, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

This was a really good week! We had a few random things happen and few cool experiences as well. 

So we were doing our planning outside in the backyard of where we live (with members) because it was nice and sunny. Then all of a sudden, 4 little ducklings come stumbling out of nowhere and go past us. IN THE FENCED BACKYARD. HOW they managed that, I have no idea. But I was on the phone and then, in the middle of the call was like, "Ahhhh some baby ducks just showed up and sorry I'm distracted. Woah!" Mid-sentence. And 2 of them fell down the stairs that go into our basement apartment. It was so terrifying and scary and cute all at the same time. So I finished the call and we grabbed the dog to keep him away from them. Then we got them all together even though they didn't want to be held and kept jumping out of our hands. When we collected them all from under bushes and stuff, we didn't know what to do with them because the mother wasn't there. So we brought them close to a stream-thingy in the neighborhood and just let them go. We debated a lot on what was best. But when we released them, they just hid under a tree anyways... Soooo maybe the mom will come by and find them... Hopefully. 

I also had a doctor appointment for my finger. They did more x-rays. No worries. It's solidly broken, but it doesn't hurt as much as I expected. The swelling has gone down, so it doesn't look as nasty, but there's still a bit of bruising. It should heal up pretty soon. Even when my finger is broken, my bones are strong and legit. Blessings. 

I feel like each week of my mission has had theme. There's one concept or certain thing that manages to come up a bunch each week. This week, it was about the distinction between Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We ate dinner with an english ward and they signed us up with a lady who is less-active. She goes to church every once in awhile, but she struggles with certain things. She was a sweetheart and really kind. When we went into her house, she welcomed us and we got to know each other. She told us that she goes sometimes. So we just kept talking and eventually, she actually opened up to us and asked us about some of her doubts. The main question that we talked about for awhile was about our relationships with Heavenly Father and our relationships with Jesus Christ. She didn't understand the difference. She knew they were different and had always learned about praying to Heavenly Father, but where did the relationship with Jesus Christ come in? That was an amazing question and it was actually kinda a miracle because I had JUST been studying that the past few weeks. So we explained to her about how we build our relationships with Heavenly Father through prayer and telling Him what's in our hearts. And then we gain that relationship with Jesus Christ by repenting and taking the sacrament and using the atonement. When we ACT on the atonement and take advantage of that sacrifice, we FEEL Christ's love for us. And THAT is powerful. The power of forgiveness and remission of sins and a relief from loads we have. That's when we learn that Christ is real and build that relationship. I had been pondering that lately and then when I was able to testify of that and saw it help her life-long question, it was a really cool experience. There really is a lack of this basic knowledge in the world. When we learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and their roles in our lives, we gain a perspective of WHO WE ARE and what's the point of EVERYTHING. There are so many people who are looking for that. We need to help them find it. 

Thanks for listening...or well, reading. Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Shirley

DUCKS!! Hna Carrasco is pretty much a professional photographer. 

ZOMBIE FIIIIINGER!! (April 27, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

This week was... eventful. First of all, I started my week last p-day breaking my finger. We had finished all of our errands and went to play sports with our zone. We actually got there early and so we just started playing volleyball with the 2 of us and a few elders. Then as people started to arrive, I turn around to keep playing and a missionary *cough cough my companion* is running at me and spikes it right at my stomach from about 3 feet away. #1 Caught me by surprise, so I didn't really have time to react. #2 My hand was coincidentally right there, pinkie toward the ball. I've been hit by volleyballs plenty of times, but never had any problems. I looked down at my pinkie and it was bent away from my hand. Woah. That doesn't look normal. It was mostly kinda numb. So I got some ice and just chilled for the rest of the time while they continued to play. We live in the basement of a member who is a nurse, so I figured I'd have her look at it when we got home. It was probably just dislocated or bruised or something. It started to swell, but that's alright. We got home for the day and she looked at it for about 2 seconds before saying it was probably broken. WHAT?! I've never broken a bone, so I don't know what it looks like. So we made some calls and then at about 9:30/10:00 at night we headed to the ER. They took some x-rays and said I needed to see a bone doctor. We ended up leaving at midnight... When I saw the bone doctor, he said it wasn't too bad and since I could move it, I didn't need a cast or anything like that. I just have to splint it to my ring finger for a bit until it heals. So it looks kinda nasty, I call it my zombie finger. But the swelling is going down and I'm able to actually use my hand. BLESSINGS! 

Also this week, we've been teaching this kid named Jesualdo. We've been wanting to talk to his whole family and teach them all for awhile, but it just hasn't worked out. Then this week we had a REALLY good lesson with them. FINALLY. And we brought a member with us who was one of his past teachers. It was perfect. The family all listened and we had a really good discussion with them. THEN, after, they told us they were making tamales the next day. So they invited us to come help. So we helped make Mexican tamales! It was really fun and it took a bit to get the hang of it, but we got pretty good at spreading the masa. They've been a lot more open since these two experiences, I'm so excited how things are finally working out. I KNEW it would. 

Heavenly Father comes through with His promises and we worked really hard to have the faith and trust Him. 

Speaking of which, I also learned a lot this week about the spirit. We had a leadership meeting about the Holy Ghost and then at zone meeting, we were asked to train about how to find new people to teach. We were super nervous about it, but we just focused on the Holy Ghost and how we need His help in finding people who need the gospel. We did this activity where we walked around the church, blindfolded and silent, and just told them to think about their path along the iron rod and being sensitive to the spirit. Then we taught about Lehi's vision in the Book of Mormon and how there are tons of people who are in the midst of darkness and searching for that iron rod. Then we gave everyone maps and invited them to pray right there. In their prayer, we said to ask specifically for Heavenly Father to tell them a neighborhood or street or area that had a prepared person for them to find. Then we just gave them time. We were standing there and then we decided to pray too. We just knelt down and prayed that the Spirit would be there and would guide them. At that moment, we could feel the spirit SOO strong. It was amazing. I KNOW that Heavenly Father was guiding us at that moment. I hope that good things come out of it in the missionaries' different areas. I know it will bless ours. Heavenly Father is in this work and hastening it all the time. I LOVE IT! 

Hope you all have an amazing week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

I was taking a selfie of us at a stop light and our neighbors wanted to be a part of it. 

My monster-swollen pinkie. 

I went to give a thumbs-up, but it turned into this. #attheER

You tell me. How much pain was I in?

Shhhhh and Some Bigotes (Mustaches) (April 20, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

This was a great week. First week of the transfer and I realized I forgot to tell you about my new companion. Because Hermana Hernandez Ruiz left, I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Carrasco. She was born in Argentina, but her family moved to Utah when she was 5. So she grew up in Utah. That seems to kind of be a trend with my companions. They were born in another place, but live in the US. But I'm ok with that. Hna Carrasco is AWESOME! She speaks with an Argentine-Argentine/Mexican accent. It was a little bit to get used to. So basically, she says certain sounds different, like the "y" or "ll" sounds she says like "sh." Don't ask me why, but it's just how it works in Argentina. It has more of a European influence, I guess. We get along super well. She's a selfie-sister, so there may be a lot of selfies coming to you this next transfer. :) 

As for our week, it started off funny. We went to dinner at the Lopez in our ward and Leovi, the daughter, gave us these mustaches. We took lots of great pictures with them, then we had plans to go meet the bishop, so we decided to just go with them on and then pretend like there was nothing out of the ordinary. Conversation starter, ya know? It was SO FUUUNNY! He totally pointed it out and we were playing it off like everything was normal. Then we couldn't hold it in anymore. We all just laughed. Then his kids were eyeing us all weird, so we gave the mustaches to them. They loved it! 

Also this week, we found a family that is SO ready for the gospel. The dad just called the teacher of the english classes, but he couldn't get ahold of him. So the teacher gave us the number to try. We called them (the scariest thing ever, because you never know how they're going to react), CORRECTION: I called them, in my terrible phone-spanish. And the wife actually was really open and glad that we called. She said that she was a member and that she had an 11-year-old daughter that wanted to be baptized. So we asked when we could come over and we went over THAT NIGHT. Serious BLESSINGS! They even came to church yesterday and are SUPER LEGIT! 

Then yesterday, we had a ROUGH, but good day. So we have church at 9 in the morning. So we went to church and didn't even think to bring a lunch or any food. Then right after church, we had a 2-hour ward council. Our stomachs were growling through the whole thing. 1) We didn't really bring any food. 2) We live too far away from the church to just run home for food, plus we don't really even have any at the house. And 3) It's Sunday, so we couldn't go buy some. So we just decided we'd wait until dinner in 3 hours. LONGEST 3 HOURS OF MY LIFE. We had a lot of things to do, but we seemed to just be rejected and aimless and not make progress. And our hunger just made it worse. A referral straight up said no. Then a family who were looking promising, ALSO told us they weren't interested. Then people just didn't answer and we didn't seem to have any success. Then we went to dinner. FOOOOOD! That was good. Then we went to an appointment with a lady we're teaching. Her name is Tina. She's been through a lot. She was a drug dealer and has been in jail kinda a lot of her life, but she's on parole now. Her brother and mom are members and she's actually one of my favorite people. She definitely has been through a lot, but she's making changes in her life and has more perspective now. She started reading the Book of Mormon this week and when she saw us, started out by saying, "Sorry! I'm only in the fourth chapter." We're like WHAAAA! That's AWESOME! But as we were there, she shared with us one of the verses that stood out to her. 1 Nephi 1:20 "...But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." And it really made us feel better. We told her how much she helped us and that sometimes Heavenly Father guides us to things that can help others. It really made an impact on her and me. I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father's watching over me. It's truly amazing! 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

My upper lip has been kinda itchy lately... (me and Hermana Carrasco)

Sasquatch! I mean... the bishop's son

Jesualdo--a kid we're teaching. He loves his bike. #itwasawindyday #don'tjudge 

Drum rollllll, HERMANA CARRASCO, EVERYONE! 

Opportunity and a Potato Sack (April 13, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

WOW. This was a crazy week. It was Hermana Hernandez's last week and now she is officially GONE with her family!! They drove here and picked her up this morning. It was SUUUPER weird because that will be me TOO SOON! I only have 6 weeks!! I still have so much work to do here. 

Anyways, so because this was her last week, we had a lot of random things to finish up. I made her a potato sack scripture case, like mine. It wasn't perfect, but it was good. We have pretty much the same taste in EVERYTHING, so she liked it. Also, I was her personal fashion consultant for her special outfits. We done good. But the crazy thing about this week, is that we had a lot of random things to do and members to see and say bye to, but we still got a LOT of work done. 

We even had a really cool experience with the #BecauseHeLives video. We were contacting a referral and met this teenage kid. We asked him if he wanted us to come teach his family and learn more. He was a bit hesitant, then we told him about the video and he actually looked it up on his phone right there at the door and watched it. He said he liked it and that he thought he had already seen it before. We forgot to ask where from. But then we talked a bit about Christ and asked him again when we could come back. Then HE was the one who said, "How about tomorrow at 3?" So that was pretty cool. He seems pretty open to learning more and we're really excited.

Also this week, we had a visit from a Seventy of the church. He came to visit the stake and speak in our stake conference. His name is Elder Falabella. He's from Guatemala and actually specially requested to talk to just our ward before stake conference. IT WAS SO AWESOME! He is super funny and genuinely kind. He started off the discussion asking about where everyone was from and the reasons that they came to the United States. Most people it was to earn more money and some people said they didn't really know why, they just felt guided. For everyone, it was an opportunity. Then he talked about opportunity, giving our families as much opportunity as we can (teaching kids, education, things like that), and about how Heavenly Father has a divine plan for us. That for a lot of people, the reason they came to the US was to actually to hear about the gospel and how THAT is the thing that gives us the most opportunity and happiness. AND THAT WE NEED TO SHARE THAT. Seriously, as he was saying that, I almost wanted to cry. Our ward kinda struggles in the missionary work department, so hopefully they will let his words sink in and act on them. It was exactly what they needed and I really hope the work grows a TON. He encouraged us all to pray everyday for missionary experiences and actually committed the ward to pray exactly at 5:00 everyday. When we all pray together, it's more powerful. SO TRUE! AH! I love this gospel so much. It is SOO TRUE. :) 

Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

Elder Falabella from Guatemala

Me and the Hernandez's