Week 5 already?!

Amigos y familia!

I don't remember if I actually ever gave you all my address here! So here it is again:

 

Hermana Kelsey Shirley (has to have my full name, to avoid confusion and all, with ALL the other Hermana Shirleys)

1008 W Sanetta St.

Nampa, ID 83651

 

(I love letters. That's all. That'll be my only plea for letters, don't you even worry.)

Can you even believe it?! It's already been 4 weeks that I've been here! I'm starting to relax about the missionary stuff and really get the hang of things. Sister Dickson has been here in Kuna for her whole Nampa mission and just knows EVERYTHING about the area. When I first got here, I felt like I was just following her around and trying to help in any way I could, but she definitely was the one who really knew what was going on and what we needed to do. I had wanted for her to educate me about the area and help it so I didn't have to rely on her so much, and finally this week, we started doing that. One day when we were really out of it and having a hard day, we just spent a lot of the day working on paperwork and organizing our area book and we got maps of the area and ALL that fun stuff. It was actually realllly good that we did that. We now feel like we have things under control and organized. So that was a little blessing that didn't seem like it at first. Plus, it was awesome because we were way prepared for all of our correlation meetings on Sunday.

Sunday. It was our first reallllly long day. We had a meeting at 7AM, and it was kinda far out, so we had to wake up extra early. Then we had meeting after meeting with driving to different buildings in between until church at 1, then appointments all the way until 9! So a 14 hour day! It was crazy! And whenever we'd tell people we were exhausted, they'd just laugh and say, "Welcome to missionary life!" hah but it was really good. There's something to be said about working REALLY hard alll day and then just crashing at night. You have purpose and can feel like you really accomplished something.

Anyways, so at the very end of our day, we had to drop off another set of missionary's area book at their house. We had exactly 10 minutes until 9, so we knew we couldn't stop and talk, so ya know what we decided to do? Ding dong ditch deliver it. Yep. So I set it on their door, propped up against the door, and then rang and ran! SO FUN. Even though it wasn't even that big of a deal, we zoomed away laughing our heads off! I feel like that's key in being a full-time missionary: having fun. Those moments of laughter that keep us sane. Hermana Dickson told me this quote from Sister Hinkley once (and I definitely will not quote it right): "When I have the choice to laugh or cry, I choose to laugh. Because I prefer to laugh." So that's kinda been our motto. When it's really hard and we're getting down on ourselves, we just laugh at how ridiculous it is or laugh just because. It really helps.

I think that's the biggest thing I learned this week: The JOY of the gospel. It truly is the source of joy and happiness in this life. Seriously. When we're doing what's right, being obedient to God's commandments, and aligning our will with His, we are able to truly feel the fullness of this joy. It's really hard when we're stuck in a rut to think outside of ourselves, but really, when we turn to the gospel and to our Heavenly Father, Oh man! It's crazy how much of a load is lifted off our shoulders and how good we feel. It's pretty awesome. I can use all the help I can get! In case you didn't know, I love this gospel and know it is true. That's why I am here. To help others on their way to coming closer to Christ.

 

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Shirley

 

PS Sorry I'm super bad at sending pictures, I was never much of a picture taker... Thought that might change when I came on a mission, but turns out it doesn't. SO I'll take some and send them next week!