Happy Week!

Familia y Amigos!

Another very interesting week in Nampa. We did a lot of work and found 7 new investigators!! We actually met a man yesterday who when we walked up, he told us he had wanted to come to our church to learn what we believe. It helps that a lot of the people who own land and farms and dairies are members. It sparks interest. But we invited him and we'll see if he comes! A lot of times people start describing what they believe and it's exactly the same as us. We have just been trying to emphasize that our church is centered in Jesus Christ. That's the impression we want to make.

It was Hermana Poblete's birthday on Friday, so I made zebra cupcakes for her. She loves Zebra. We have a mutual love for animal print. We had sports night for our ward that night and they brought a cake and sang to her. They sang this other birthday song in Spanish that I had never heard before. She also wanted to celebrate by making milanesas. It's basically breaded beef. It was really good.

I also did exchanges that night and went with one of my favorite sisters from Kuna who got changed to Caldwell. English missionary work is very different. It made me very grateful for Spanish. Even though it's harder to know how to teach and what to say, the people are so nice and welcoming all the time. They are very open and respectful with us. I love my area and my mission!

One really cool thing I learned this week is about progression. This gospel is about progression. It's hard not to judge people for where they're at right now, but if we were able to see where people were and THEN where they're at right now, we would be a lot more understanding. But we need to remember that. We have no idea what's going on in people's lives or what they've been through, but that's what makes them who they are. Everyone has a different perspective and something to add to the world and the church. And that's my favorite thing about the church, that it's for everyone. It focuses on being better. Progressing. It doesn't matter where we're at right now. And that is one of the really cool things about the gospel. There's something for everyone. Studying the doctrine of the church will help us progress and be better in some way! And Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help us with that.

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

1) Sunset in Nampa

2) We both wore stripes on Sunday and I had to get a last-minute picture before I changed for the night.

3) The Milanesa

4) Our matching colors at Zone Conference this week.

Viva Las Nampa!

Hola familia y amigos!

So I'm here in Nampa!! First week. We cover the whole Nampa South Stake in Spanish. There are 8 or 9 wards in the English south then we go to our Spanish ward. It's been very different than Kuna, but really good. My companion is Hna. Poblete. She's from Argentina but moved to Texas when she was 6. So Spanish and English are both her native language. It's really great. She likes to talk, but we actually teach together really well. And we're having a lot of fun.

Nampa Spanish is a lot bigger than Kuna. The ward is about 5 times bigger! We fill up a chapel. A LOTTT bigger than our little Kuna branch. Already I've met a lot of people and am starting to get the hang of how things run around here. I get to drive, so I'm learning the area pretty fast.

We had our first district meeting with our new English district on Friday. It was really different. Our district is bigger and there are now more elders than sisters. But they seem really great. It'll be fun to get to know the English missionaries in the area and work with them.

We had a really cool experience yesterday. We went to contact this referral we actually had from when I was in Kuna/Melba. I had found this family in Melba only to find out after that it was in the South Stake (where I am now). So I got to go back with H. Poblete. Their names are Maria and Carlos. They weren't there, but we had driven all the way out there, so we decided to just knock on the neighbors' doors. It's a good thing that we did, because we met this really nice guy named Miguel. When we first asked, he said he was atheist and I got kinda nervous, but he was just kidding and was really willing to listen to us. We're going to come back again next week. Then we realized that they actually lived close to other investigators who we hadn't been able to visit because they were so far out there. So we went and visited them all and had really good visits. There's a whole group of open people out there and we can just take a day and visit them all out there at the same time. It's really convenient. The Lord blesses us in little ways like that. I love being here and being able to recognize stuff like that. Heavenly Father is in this work and willing to help us out if we reach out and show Him we're willing to act.

Have an amazing week, everyone!

Con amor,

Hermanita Shirley

1) Hermana Poblete. She likes to take selfies.

2) Selfies with all the girls in our ward.

Nampa or BUST!

Familia y Amigos!

Yes, it is true. I'm headed to Nampa. Transfers were this week and I'm leaving Kuna! It was a great place to be born (mission lingo for our first area) and there are amazing people! I will miss it, but I'm excited to come to Nampa. Hermana Barnes and Turner are staying in Kuna and will take good care of it! This morning, when we were leaving to go to the transfer spot, our gas light was on, but it hadn't been on for very long. So we debated on getting gas in Kuna and being late or just trying to make it to Nampa. What did we do? Of course tried to make it. And what happened? Wellllll, we ran out of gas. So we just sat on the side of the road for awhile while we waited for Sister Fisher to come give us some gas. 2nd time in my life. haha

More big news, they're dissolving the Spanish zones. All the Spanish missionaries are going to be in the English districts. That's going to be so weird! But it'll really help the work. English and Spanish will work together a lot better and more. I'm excited!

This last week we had our branch Cinco de Mayo party. It was a blast! People were swimming and playing volleyball and there was tons of food! And most importantly, a ton of our investigators and non-members showed up! It was a huge success! We had it at the home of Mike Christensen. He owns a lot of potato farms and other things, so he has an indoor pool and a barn with horses and everything. It was the perfect location for the party.

Another thing that happened is we went to El Gallo Giro for the last time and I decided that I'd go all out. I tried lengua. That's tongue. Yep! I did it. It really wasn't bad. It wasn't really that delicious, but it was alright. Tasty because it was a taco (my favorite). We had to eat really fast because we had to leave for a baptism. It wasn't of people we knew, but we had invited Frances to come. AND SHE CAME! Yeah! Sharon Shultz, a lady in Frances' ward brought her. They're basically the same person, it's so cute. And Sharon's the perfect person to bring with us to lessons with Frances. She really understands and relates to Frances, and she's not afraid to testify of things. Stuff that she knows, even if it's really simple. And it means a lot to Frances. So we were crazy excited to have her come to the baptism. It answered some of her questions and made her more excited for her own baptism. She's really close and is really progressing. I love her and am really going to miss her!

And that kinda relates to a big thing I learned this week. It's basically the impact of little things. Alma 36:6-7 is basically the motto of my mission and my life. It's not always the big things that make a difference. Especially in missionary work. It's HOW we talk to people and show them love in little ways, not necessarily in the big, fancy words or being really eloquent. And it's when we do things with sincerity that it makes the biggest impact. That's how it is with Spanish. Because I can't say too too much, I have to show in some way how much it means to me and teach really simply. And I know that makes a big difference. The church is true. Jesus Christ is at the head of it. That's why I'm here and I love it.

Have a great week and take care!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

1) Us on the side of the road. Waiting for gas to arrive.

2) Brother Christensen has the setup for homemade fries on the spot! Let's just say, fries bring a party, especially for Cinco de Mayo.

3) My plate at El Gallo Giro. One of those tacos is lengua!

4) Sharon, me, Frances. I love those ladies.

5) Another sunset.

Gasoline and a Troll

Hola Familia y Amigos!

This week was really good. Progress is happening! It's really slow, but we're doing what we can to help this work roll on. A new branch mission leader was called and we have a big activity today for Cinco de Mayo! So a lot of this week was spent going around and making contact with people we haven't seen in awhile and inviting them to the activity. We probably invited a hundred people! There were a few days where we got invitation happy. HA! But if that means more people come and have a good experience, GREAT!

On Wednesday, we came up with the idea to print out maps of different neighborhoods that had a high concentration of Hispanics and then knock on all of the doors. Straight up tract! It was kind of cool to get to experience that. That's not normally what we do here in Spanish Idaho. We work almost solely on referrals and people who know Spanish speakers. So it was really different. But we ran into some very interesting people. First of all, we met a really great lady named Grace. She grew up in another religion and then things happened in her life where she basically got disowned. So she really had to turn inward and have a relationship with God. AWESOME! That's exactly what we teach! Another interesting character we met was Troll. Yep. That's his name. He is a high priest of Bell, the Irish god of the sun. He told us all about his "conversion" and how he came to know Bell. He was in a military graveyard, searching for paranormal activity, when he saw a bright light/firey ball that was "unmistakably Bell." I've never heard of anything like that and we never would have met him if we hadn't tracted. It was a fun day.

Also, we went to the Kuna stake president's house yesterday, President Beus. They are an amazing family. He owns the dairy we went to last week. We were meeting and talking about how we could help specific people in Melba. Somehow at the end, we mentioned that our gas light came on again. It's kinda a joke with us that our gas light ALWAYS manages to turn on Sundays. But when we mentioned that, President Beus offered to give us a little gas. I was picturing a little red gas can and they'd give us enough to get home safely and drive to the gas station this morning. We pull up and turns out they have a full on gas station (pretty much) and three 500(?) gallon tanks of gas. We couldn't take very much because it would throw off the numbers of our gas log. Then the son who was helping us just went at it! We said, after about 5 seconds, that it was enough. But he just kept going! Hna. Barnes started panicking about how much he was giving us. But he said that his dad had told him to fill it up. Uhh. Not ok. So he stopped at 5 gallons. We laughed/freaked out about it as we were driving home. Mixed feelings. We were just amazed at their generosity but also trying to figure out what we should do. We're just going to tell the office what happened. It'll be alright. I love people who are just so giving! That defines the Beuses.

The last experience that happened this week is with Frances. We're teaching her and since I've been here, I have really seen a change in her. When we emphasized the Book of Mormon and how it's the evidence of our religion is when she really started to read it and put effort into learning. She is amazing. She has a hard time reading, but will read it multiple times to understand it. (I'm getting her the Book of Mormon on CD!) Well, we've been talking to her about baptism and what she thinks about it. She was really hesitant because her parents baptized her in the Baptist faith and she felt like she would be going against their wishes if she was baptized somewhere else. We taught about the plan of salvation and how her parents are in the spirit world, being taught the same things she is. And that they have the opportunity to accept the gospel there. That really comforted her. At that point, we asked her how she was feeling and pointed out that the good feeling she had was the Holy Ghost. That's what it feels like. And we taught that we can temporarily feel the Holy Ghost before we're baptized but we can have Him with us always and feel that good constantly after we're baptized. And that's when I realized how much of a blessing it is for us to be able to have the Holy Ghost with us ALL THE TIME. It was a testimony to me of how amazing it is to be a member of the church and how much Heavenly Father loves us to give us the gift of the Holy Ghost. It really is amazing. It's through the Holy Ghost that Heavenly Father tells us things are true. It's how He keeps us safe. It's how He comforts us. Best gift EVER!

Anyways, I love you all and hope you're doing great!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

Photo: The gas setup.

So this is me putting the milker on the cow last week. Whoopee!

We all wore coral! Couldn't resist the photo op.

Cows and Russia

Familia y Amigos!

How is everyone? Hope you had a great week! I'm still plugging along in Kuna. A few cool things happened this week.

We got a new branch mission leader. He's super excited about missionary work, so things are going to really pick up.

This morning, we milked cows. There a ton of dairies in Melba, and I asked the stake president, President Beus, if we could come today and check it out and help him out. It was super fun. We didn't milk cows all close and personal, like you might think. We pretty much went in and attached the machine to them. Bada bing, bada boom. But it was still fun. We walked around and looked at the cows and saw where all the milk goes. I can cross it off my life and mission bucket list!

We had an experience earlier this week that was really cool too. We were just walking in this neighborhood and had already knocked on the doors that we had been told about, so we had some time. We decided we would just walk around the neighborhood and knock on houses that seemed like they might be hispanic. So we just walked. And it was kinda a curvy neighborhood. But we were coming across nothing. None of the houses seemed like they would be Spanish speakers. So we reached a point where we stopped and just looked around and thought about what we should do. We decided to go to the corner of the neighborhood, where this house was central and might know a lot of neighbors and most of the people around. We walked up to it and actually got the vibe that they would be members. When we knocked, this lady, Melissa answered the door. She is a young mother of 3 girls. She told us she's actually non-denominational Christian and was actually, right at that moment, writing an essay for her church about Christians who act on their faith. She was specifically studying Jehovah's Witness and Mormons. She had been writing this and JUST thinking why she hadn't had any mormons knock on her door. She had been waiting for us! No, she didn't speak Spanish, but we were guided to that door. It wasn't coincidence. It was really awesome. She is so legit and has a ton of faith. So we talked with her for awhile and after we left, we told the english missionaries in that area about her. YAY! SO COOL!

Also earlier this week, we got permission to watch the Seratov Approach at an activity. It's about missionaries in Russia who get kidnapped. It was intense, but amazingly inspirational. Especially watching it as a missionary, it changed my perspective on why I'm here and what my purpose is on my mission and in life. It really all is up to the Lord. We have a reason for being where we are and in the situations we're in. It taught me about love and light and how it can overcome darkness. Really, any person can change. The Atonement can overcome anything. Heavenly Father has a purpose for all of us and loves us so much. When hard and bad things happen to us, it's for a reason. It's so that we can learn and grow, but also to show His power. I found this verse in the Book of Mormon that is appropriate. Alma 60:13. It's true. And I love this gospel.

Hope the Lord keeps you safe and watches over you all this week!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

 

1) Sunset/cloud thing

2) Us at the lecheria (dairy).

This week. Yep.

Familia y amigos!

Well, last Monday we went to Kuna caves. They're one little exciting thing about Kuna. They are literally a deep hole in the middle of a field that connects to a few little crawl spaces. But we had a blast and crawled all around in there last week. Then, we think it was something about the dust or being underground or something, but that night, both Hermana Turner and Barnes got super sick. Sooo Monday and Tuesday weren't too productive. It was super fun to explore down there, but the repercussions... probably not worth it.

This morning, we ran out of gas. Completely. We were driving out of the driveway and it puttered and died. The gas light turned on yesterday, but we couldn't get gas and we had a lot of places to go. So we drove around and made it home last night. We thought we'd for sure have just enough to make it to the gas station, but nope. It was super funny and we felt like classic sisters, running out of gas. We DIDN'T put water in our tank, though. Don't worry. The members we live with had an extra gallon that we used. We put in just enough to make it to the gas station. WE MADE IT!! We were praying that we wouldn't die on the way there.

Then yesterday I had a great Easter! We had a stake conference meeting, then our church meetings, then we went and visited a few people, sharing the Easter video. Then our dinner appointment was really nice. We ate with the Pierces (M&D: they told me they met you!) and when I first walked up, they greeted me, "Sister Shirley, let me guess, you're from Vancouver, Washington." I racked my brain for any idea of how they could know. I just went with it. We walked inside and they had their whole family there. It was kinda crazy but mostly really nice. Being surrounded by people is what I'm used to for holidays. They made us feel really welcome and even gave us little bags of candy. Then after, we went over to our president's house. They had family too. They also had confetti eggs. Long story short, we got into a big fight and their house was covered in confetti. Super fun.

We also were able to go on Facebook this week. I realized that I don't love spending time on Facebook. It's awesome for sharing things, but it takes a lot of time. Plus, it felt weird being on there. But I actually did see some awesome things happen because of it. First off, the video was amazing and I still get chills watching it. Second, being able to remind people that they are cared for and that they're important to me was really good. And realizing how much good can come because of facebook was awesome.

I took this week before Easter to REALLY think about Christ and how I have been, am, and will be blessed as a result of Jesus Christ. I've never thought about it that way, how the Atonement of Christ personally affects me, past, present, and future. It's really cool. I know I have been strengthened, physically, mentally, and spiritually by Him. And I'm overwhelmed with peace and comfort when I think that Christ is how we can be perfect. I'm hard on myself sometimes and especially when I think of all the responsibility I have and the promises I made with Heavenly Father, I know that I haven't been perfect and I make mistakes. To think, though, that when I try my best and humble myself to repent, He will cover when I fall. That's amazing. That's what Easter is about and that's why I'm here. This knowledge makes me so happy. And I want to share that with others. I want other people to make changes for the better and know that they can be happy. Even if they think they're happy, they can be even happier. Even cleaner. Even more at peace. All because of Him.

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

1) I look kind of mentally insane, but I had a good easter.

2) Using the emergency gas this morning!

3) This is a house. We just saw it as we drove by and we HAD TO take a picture.

4) In Kuna caves.

5) Us on Easter!