HaKUNA Matata! (Week 3 in Kuna)

Familia y Amigos!

There are some of you who this is my first email to you. Welcome! Also, if you don't want my weekly emails or you want an update on stuff that I miss today, give me a quick email and let me know!

So yes. Here I am in Kuna. It is seriously so great to be here. We are the only Spanish speaking missionaries in Kuna AND Melba, so we have a lot of work to do and we're always moving, but it is seriously so good!

We've had some pretty cool experiences this week. So many connections and things happened that witnessed that Heavenly Father is looking out for us! One pretty funny thing actually happened Saturday. We were having a bonfire that night for our branch and we knew that with our dinner appointment, it would be a close call. We went to Melba for the day and we would have to plan in 40+ minutes to drive back to make it to dinner and it was going to be a busy day. At our last visit in Melba, we were talking to this adorable lady named Adelia. Halfway through our lesson, she randomly asked us something then went into the other room. We weren't really sure what was going on, but then she came out with plates of tamales. O...k... Sweet! So we ate them and kept talking. When we finished, she brought out another one for each of us. I was SO full. And they were delicious. We just joked about it when we left, THEN, we got a call from our dinner appointment saying that they couldn't actually feed us. Can I say more perfect? Yes, it was sad that we couldn't go meet them and visit that family, but it was a little blessing. We were fed that night AND we had the time we needed to finish up some things and prepare for the activity that night! Super awesome.

This week I was reminded how important member missionary work is important and how much more effective the work is when we all work together. We have a tiny little branch of about 30 people on a good day, but there are a handful of them who are SO into this work. The president is so willing to help us and visit people when we need, it is awesome! One thing that he told us that I LOVED and want to share with you is: the Lord wants this work to move forward. If we show Him a desire to act and a willingness to spread His gospel, there's no way He's not going to bless us. If we ask Him for experiences or people who are ready, or even just the courage to talk to someone, HE WILL GIVE IT TO US! We just need to show Him the desire and have an open, willing heart to do His will. I thought that was pretty cool.

And it led me to what I learned a lot about this week: the desires of our hearts. Being a brand new missionary is hard. People would be lying if they said it wasn't. And it's hard not to get discouraged when we see our potential and all that needs to be done. But what I've noticed and really helped me is learning about how when we have our heart in the right place and our desires are good, there's no way that Heavenly Father isn't happy with the work that we DO put in and the little steps that we do climb and how we TRY. I know that as we align our wills and hearts with what Heavenly Father wants, no effort is wasted. It's when we don't try or put our full effort into things that we fall short. And even then, Jesus Christ's atonement is there to pick us up and fill in the gaps. Every way we lack, He will help us. I don't know what I would do without that knowledge. Life would be a lot harder. But I know He lives and died for us. With all my heart.

I hope you all have an amazing week and choose the right!

Con amor,

Hermanita Shirley

Week 2 in Kuna!

Hola familia y amigos!

How are you all?! I hope you're doing great and I realized I don't do a good job of asking how you're doing... I'm glad to hear how everything is back home.

So anyways, this has been a good week. I hit the point where I'm settling in and I realized how much responsibility we have as missionaries. It's been a week of learning and blessings. There were a handful of hard moments and concern for Hermana Dickson and her health. But then, an equal number (and more) of amazing moments. In particular, we have these investigators named Angel and Frances. Angel speaks Spanish and we were originally referred to them because of him. But Frances is a hilarious 72 year old lady who only speaks English. We were a little concerned that she was getting thrown under the rug when we spoke Spanish to Angel, so we went to ward council in her ward and asked what we could do to include her more in the English ward so she would want to come. The relief society president took it upon herself to find someone who could come with us as we visited Frances. She's awesome. And the lady she found was seriously perfect. She was DEFINITELY directed by the Spirit to who she should choose. Sis. Shultz lives down the road from Frances and is just a few years younger than her. They're both widowed and have tons of the same interests and similar experiences! Within the first few minutes of her talking with Frances, she openly and naturally witnessed of Heavenly Father's love. The Spirit just flooded the room. And throughout our visit, she openly talked of a few different things that Frances needed to hear from someone besides us. It was seriously so amazing. Throughout the visit, H. Dickson and I just looked at each other and had to hold back our huge grins because of how perfect and happy it was for us that Frances was making a friend. We were a bit tired before the visit, but we came out full of energy and excitement for the work. I almost wanted to cry from happiness.

We realized how much we are blessed! That was the main thing this week. I truly noticed Heavenly Father in my life and experiences here. He loves us so much and puts people in our lives to bless us and teach us what we need! THAT IS SO AMAZING! Through our hard times and good times, he is always willing to bless us. He wants to bless us! We just need to exercise a tiny bit of faith and trust in Him to go to Him in prayer. Prayer and our actions show Him our devotion and He blesses us SO much more than we can imagine. That first step is just our choice. So cool.

I know this gospel is true. It's amazing. We are able to grow and learn while receiving support from Him. We experience hard times for our benefit, as hard as that is to believe sometimes. He has everything figured out and has a plan for each of us. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father love us beyond our comprehension. I have no doubt about that. I know this is true and I love it.

Have an amazing week everyone!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

PS. Sorry for the lack of pictures! There were some technical difficulties last week. Here we are:

1) On my very first day, after we were done tracting.

2) There was a beautiful sunset, so we took a picture. The sunsets here are so pretty because it's so open!

3) The first time I ate potatoes while here. (I had a blanket on because I was cold)

4) The snow outside our back door on our first night!

Week 1 in Idaho!

Idaho: Week 1

Hello everyone! 

I made it to Idaho! I left the MTC and flew to Boise Tuesday morning, then went directly to Nampa where we all met and regrouped for our specific assignments. Specifically, there are just 3 of us new Spanish-speaking missionaries from the Provo MTC and 1 Hermana who came from the Mexico City MTC. Then there was a whole district of English Nampa-goers who flew with us from Salt Lake. It was a fun plane ride. It didn't seem like that many new missionaries, but I was told that there were about 30 of us new missionaries that day. 

So many new things have happened, but I only have time to touch on a couple. The day we got to Nampa, we all met and had a little fireside, then went out and tracted! Yeah. First day. Neither I or my temporary companion had much experience with tracting, so we just kinda went for it. We went the family history route and if we couldn't think of any other thing to start off with, we just went right into how the church is all about families and learning about our family history and telling about the free services of the church. It went really well. We actually found a few people who had done family history in the past but hadn't gotten very far because they didn't want to pay. PERFECT. So who knows if our random tracting did very much, but it was fun and a learning experience. 

Then later that night, I got my companion... Drum rolllll. Hermana Dickson! She was the one I had gone tracting with and we had joked/talked about if we turned out to be companions. I was super excited! A bit about Hermana Dickson, she is the tallest sister there and I'm the shortest. HA! She actually was in Brazil for 4 months before getting sick. Then she came home and got better before getting reassigned to Nampa (because her visa expired). So here we are! She is so excited about this work and super sweet. She knows Portugese really well, but has been here with Spanish and is still learning the Spanish. I can't wait to work with her. She went to BYU a few years before coming out on her mission, so it'll be cool to see her when we get back. She is really fun and (unfortunately) allergic to a lot of things, so we eat a lot of vegetables and she's inspired me to eat even healthier. And we're in Kuna, Idaho. A bit away from Nampa, but pretty close. HaKUNA Matata! It's pretty small here, but I like it a lot. Lots of humble people. And we have a car to get around even though not all the companionships here in Kuna do. SUPER lucky. And because things are pretty spread out, we have a lot of miles each month. I feel so blessed. 

Random stuff: It snowed my first night here, so it's all snowy still but not really too cold. My boots are seriously coming in handy. We live with members. I've already eaten potatoes. A member brought them over for dinner on Thursday when Hna. Dickson was sick and we couldn't go out. Elder Bonati is in our district. Super funny. He's in Nampa, though, so we only really see them during district and zone meetings. 

The other day, we were driving along and I noticed a really big, black and white cow. I've seen cows before, but not really BLACK AND WHITE ones, so I said, "Woah, look at that cow!" without even thinking about it. Hna. Dickson was just kind of like "Really...?" Yep. I got excited about a cow. Here in Idaho. We laughed about it for a bit and then, to top it off, she said "Holy cow" in response to something I said. Hahah We laughed at our own corkiness. 

About our Spanish branch here in Kuna, it's pretttty little, but there are a handful of strong members who are in love with the work. I walked into the meeting and could just tell that they would willingly welcome investigators who came. More just need to come so that it doesn't look so sparse in there. We'll get there. So I also gave a talk in sacrament meeting. In Spanish. For 15 minutes. It probably helped that my Spanish is really slow. I felt like it was a decent talk for having been there only 6 days. I'll take it. 

One thing that I learned this week was more about how baptism is such an essential thing. We need it to attain the celestial kingdom. And it is the ordinance that we do only once for ourselves but that can be done for others. How cool is that? And with baptism, we are showing Heavenly Father our devotion and willingness to make a covenant with Him. That willingness is essential to the covenant that we make. Sometimes we aren't quite as devoted and determined to work to be better, so we remind ourselves each week with the sacrament. We get to renew ourselves to be better and more devoted to Him and our covenant we made. I think that is amazing. Heavenly Father knew we wouldn't be able to be perfect in our devotion and attitude, so he gives us the opportunity to remember each week what we said we would do. I love that. Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him and live with Him again. He has prepared a way that we can do this, a way that we can continually grow and learn. And He knows what we need to accomplish this. All of this is in the plan of salvation. He has things figured out. That's one of my favorite things about this gospel. It's for us to grow and be better each day. 

I know that Christ lives and love us. With all my heart. 

Love you all and hope you're doing great! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Shirley 

A New Year

MTC Week 6:

Familia y amigos! 

Hola! Feliz Año Nuevo! It's so exciting, isn't it?! A whole new year, with new opportunities and a chance to start again. 

This past week has been very interesting. I'm having so much fun as always and love my district and zone more and more as I get to know them. We are all parting ways just this next week and I can' believe it! In 4 days! Us missionaries going to Idaho will be leaving the morning after the rest of our district is heading to Mexico. So that'll be interesting. It'll be hard to leave these people that I've grown so close to, especially my amazing companion who has taught me so much and become a really close friend. But it has to happen. That's how it is with missions. 

This week was more of a solemn week and a great learning experience. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Elder Toala's mom has had cancer for a while before he came on his mission. This past week, she passed away. That day was a solemn day as we reminded ourselves how much we have been blessed and learned more about the Savior (and in a whole new light). When he came and told us Hermanas, he said he would need some time and to be by himself. Of course, of course. He amazed us all by being back the very next day and back to teaching and learning. He is SO strong. He has amazing faith and trust in the Lord to know why he's here and that his family will be together forever. He is an amazing example to me and I loved the testimony that he shared by his actions and not just his words. If you all could pray for him and his family, that would mean a lot to me. 

Another thing I loved this week was when we talked about the new year. It's really interesting because we're all thinking about change and leaving for our missions this next week as well as the change of the new year. I love thinking about change and how it connects to repentance. Repentance IS change. The gospel of Jesus Christ is also change. It's becoming a better person, little by little. And because of that, as we teach the gospel, we are teaching repentance. We don't have to be calling people to repentance and pointing out their flaws, but by sharing true doctrine, we are teaching repentance and giving them the opportunity to be clean again. I've never thought of it that way. It was a really cool thing I learned this week. 

I loved that the devotional was also on change this week. We heard from Stanley G. Ellis of the Quorum of the Seventy. He spoke about voluntary repentance. About CHOOSING to make a change in your life. I looked at it like this: we know who and where we want to be in the future, so what do we need to do now and what do we need to change to become that person? To me, it's all about hope. When we see ourselves as who we can be and shoot towards that goal, we can accomplish so much. It will be hard work, and we have to exercise the faith to TRY, but we can do it with the help of Jesus Christ. With the support and love and strength that comes through Jesus Christ's atonement. We have an amazing potential, we just need to open our eyes to see it. We can all do that, especially with this new year and as we resolve ourselves to try once again to be better. Even if we set goals and don't keep them very long, the fact that we tried and were better for a week or even a day is better than not trying at all. 

I know this was a deep email this week, but, honestly, repentance is a message of joy. The idea that we can all be clean and erase the guilt we feel--because none of us is perfect, not even close--is so amazing. If you haven't experienced that for yourself, I invite you to and promise that you can feel that relief and joy through the atonement. Through going to Christ in prayer. It really works and I've seen it in my life. I know Christ died for us and lives that we might live. If no one else in this world, Christ and our Heavenly Father love you so much, more than we can even imagine. And THAT is why I am here right now. I love this gospel so much and KNOW it is true. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

Week 5!

MTC Week 5:

Familia y amigos! 

At some point, I might write more of my email in Spanish, but not yet. 

As for this week, there are so many good times! And Christmas... Oh man, so good! 

As for a goofy moment this week, the elders in our district after it snowed one day, woke up extra early and made a snowman and put it right outside our apartment door. Doesn't sound like too big of a deal, but it was huge, like Kelsey-life-size, and we live on the third floor! Yeah, they put some effort into it. So right off the bat, that made my day. Love them. 

Also this week, Spanish is coming. It's a lot of work, but I usually understand things we're learning. Now is just the 

practicing to actually get it. We're learning subjunctive. Yep. Subjunctive. 

I also had a moment this week when I realized how close we all are to leaving the MTC. Less than 2 weeks! It does NOT seem like we've been here this long. But it's true. I have to face the facts. Being here at the MTC is kind of like we're all pseudo missionaries. I realized on Tuesday that this is going to all change in 2 weeks and we're going to a whole new place and teaching real people. AH! I can't even believe it. I'm SO excited but also want to hold up and keep learning here. 

Anyways, so what you're all wondering about: Christmas. It was seriously one of the most interesting, best experiences. I was able to sing in the choir for the devotional and there was a Christmas talent show that Hermana Mansfield shared an amazing poem she wrote with the WHOLE MTC, west and main campus. She did so well. It was an interesting Christmas because it was so different than I expected. I still thought it would be a lot about the commercial Christmas stuff. But, for me at least, it wasn't. I really had the chance to reflect on what Christmas means to me and the WHY of Christmas. It was amazing to focus the whole day on Him. To really ponder His life and atonement for us. To get over myself and truly be humbled by His sacrifice for me. That was a really cool experience. It was also an amazing experience because for the devotional, Elder Bednar came and spoke to us. He's one of my favorite apostles. He is always SO based in doctrine that whatever He says always touches me and the Spirit testifies of the truth of what He says. I LOVE THAT. So his talk was really different than anything that had ever been done before. It was a "question and answer," but he wanted to do it anonymously, so they passed out cell phones and gave us all his ipad number so we could text him and he'd receive questions from us randomly. It was really cool because all of the other MTCs who were watching the devotional live, by broadcast, were able to participate as well. He spoke on a lot of different topics, but my favorites were more about the Atonement, and how Christ loves us individually. Something he said that I really liked is that we are blessed with agency through the Atonement of Christ. Because he atoned for us, we can act how we choose and He will always love us. He will accept us back in if we accept Him and turn to Him. We are able to choose our actions and still have the opportunity to return to live with our Father in heaven and Jesus Christ. We are agents to act for ourselves and not to be acted upon. 

That lead into one of my favorite topics of action. We have agency and are able to be proactive about our lives. We must choose to do things for ourselves and seek our own answers. We need to put in the work if we can expect blessings and answers. Another thing Elder Bednar said was that the Atonement has 2 main functions: cleansing and strengthening. We can be clean through Him, but He also gives us strength. The strength part is something that I desperately need throughout my life, but especially now. I think that is SO cool, that we can derive power from Him. In anything we're going through, we can be strengthened through Him. Ah! I love that so much. I feel like that's a perfect Christmas devotional. Learning of Christ and His atonement. It just rings so true to me. 

I love this gospel SO SO much. Jesus Christ gives us power and strength. He blesses us in every thing we need. All the time. I know it's true. It has blessed my life and it will bless yours. 

I love you all and hope you are doing well! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

Picture 1: Our snowman. 

Picture 2: Our district when we did a secret santa exchange. With our little tree branch that we smuggled for our party. 

It's an MTC Christmas.

Familia y Amigos!

Merrrrrry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Today's the day. The day the Savior was born. A day where we have the special opportunity to celebrate Christ's birth unlike any other day! Isn't that so cool?

I think so.

I've been thinking a lot about Christ and HOW to celebrate His birth and life this season. What I've thought about is what would He want? How would Christ want us to celebrate? The answer is simple.

Service. Giving. Not of big gifts or fancy things, but of ourselves. How can we give of ourselves this Christmas season and throughout the year? For me, this means love and time. Express to others how much you love them and are grateful for them. Love unceasingly. Try to see people how Christ would see them.

That's what this season is all about.

Jesus Christ is our Savior and perfect example. He died for us so we might live. We can be clean through Him. That is the most liberating feeling. I know this gospel brings so much happiness, and not only that, but true joy and purpose in life. I know this is true with all my heart.

I love you all and hope you have an AMAZING Christmas!

Con amor,

Hermana Shirley

Week 4!

MTC Week 4:

Hola Familia y Amigos! 

The days (and weeks) are starting to blur together here. It seriously seems like we just got here, but it was more than 4 weeks ago! I can't even believe it! Because we do a lot of the same stuff every day, the days go by so fast. 

This has been another good week here at the MTC. I'm still having so much fun with my district and zone as I get to know them more. I love them so much and I'm grateful these are the people I'm sharing this experience with. 

This week, a couple of random things happened. The MTC came out with a rule that we can't have Christmas trees, which is kinda sad, but makes sense because they're a fire hazard and all that. So we got rid of our little tree. :( But it's in a better place. And we took a string of Christmas lights Hermana Jacob got from her family and taped it to our apartment wall in the shape of a tree. It's a decent substitute. So whenever we get Christmas gifts, we still have a tree to stick them under! 

Also, I had an interesting experience of being a solo Hermana missionary for a day. The three other Hermanas (and 2 elders) in my district got their visas approved, but they had to go to the Las Vegas Consolate to get them. They were just gone for a day, but it seemed like forever and it was SO weird and different being by myself. The night before, I actually slept with a different apartment of Hermanas in our zone because my Hermanas had to leave at 4:30 in the morning and I couldn't be alone. I stayed with these other Hermanas for meals and gym and other stuff, but for class and study time, it was just the 4 of us left with our teacher. It was actually a really helpful day in class because the learning was just for our benefit. We had the opportunity to ask the teachers any questions we had about Spanish and get things cleared up. It was really relaxed, which was nice. But the whole time during class and study, us 4 had to stick together because there was no way 1 of us could leave without it breaking the rules. Anyways, it was a random day and I got to know the elders who were here a lot better. They're pretty cool. 

A joke that we came up with this week was about the Spanish. It's super dorky and you'll get it if you know a bit about Spanish. It's called "missionary flirting." Because we're missionaries, we use the "usted" form of verbs to be more formal. One day, us Hermanas were just commenting on how some of the new missionaries say "Como estaS?" instead of "Como esta?" because that's what they may have been taught in school and wherever. Because the "tu" form is more intimate and informal, we joked that as missionaries, if you wanted to flirt while not reaaally flirting, you'd just ask people "Como estas?!" Ooo "Y tuuu?" Anyways. It was a dorky Spanish joke that we laughed super hard about. I'm talkin' tears. Flowing tears. 

On Tuesday, the devotional was by Ronald A. Rasband (I think the president of the 70?). It was seriously amazing. I feel like so many talks, especially the ones I don't expect to be that amazing truly are exactly what I need to hear and uplift me so much! With the Christmas season in our midst, he decided to take a different route and talk about SPIRITUAL gifts. I thought that was really cool. And really special for each of us individually. He told us to meet with our districts and share our spiritual gifts, which we did after the devotional. That was a truly humbling and gratifying experience. To know that Heavenly Father knows each of us so well and loves us enough to bless us each with special gifts is really cool. A supreme being pays attention to us individually. How amazing is that? Ronald A. Rasband also challenged us to turn our gifts outward. Sharing what we have and serving those around us, even in just the littlest ways, makes a world of difference. I hope that we all remember what we've been blessed with and do our best to bless the lives of those we come in contact with. Because that's exactly what Jesus Christ did. His whole life was about others. At exactly the times He was in need, he turned outward. Amazing, huh? 

I know Jesus Christ is our savior and through Him, we can be truly clean. To have all the guilt in our lives erased. Wow. I know He died for us and was sent to this earth because of a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to return to Him. He wants us to BECOME. Become the best we can be and become like Him. That's what this life is about. I know this gospel is absolutely true and I know it with all my heart because of how I have seen it change lives already, including my own. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. With the Bible, men can come closer to Christ. The feeling I get from the Spirit when I read testifies to me of its truth. I know it blesses lives in so many different ways. 

Thank you all for your support and love! Remember to be happy and choose to do what's right this week. Love you all!

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

PHOTOS

1. Us with our tree! Right before the funeral. 

2. Self explanatory. Things like this show up on our classroom board all the time. 

3. We found an elder that looks just like Cato! So obviously Katniss and Cato had to take a picture.