Que Tal and Perfect Timing (April 6, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

HI FAMILY! Wasn't General Conference great?! We were lucky to be able to watch the different sessions with some people we're teaching and with members. One recent convert, who has been struggling a bit, agreed to let us come over for the first session. When we walked in, we got it all set up and everything was great. THEN, one of her friends stopped by and she went over to make her food and talk to her in the kitchen, apart from where we were watching. We were like, "Oh great... She just let us come to watch it by ourselves..." They were there for awhile and then she came out and said, "Don't worry, girls, she's about to leave." When Rosa finally came back and sat down to listen, it was at the PERFECT TIMING. The speaker was saying EXACTLY what she needed. Then she turned to us and just said, "WOW." It was pretty cool. We were pretty bummed one minute and then it turned and we were excited. She said she wanted to watch the other sessions too. Heavenly Father really does guide his servants in General Conference to say what we need to hear. :) OH! And I listened to 2 of the sessions in Spanish and understood pretty much everything. SO MUCH MORE than last conference. That was exciting. But it's never quite the same as watching in your own language. 

Also, we had a sweet little experience I wanted to mention. Hna Hernandez and I were at Arctic Circle to teach a man we had met recently. As we were ordering milkshakes, a woman came up to us and asked us if we went to church. Well, yes, we told her. We asked her why she asked. Then she said that she could "just tell." I felt pretty good after that, that people actually do notice how the gospel makes us happier. It may or MAY NOT have been because we were wearing skirts and nametags, but I have a feeling it was more from the spirit. Either way, we were able to talk to this lady who spoke spanish and tell her a little about Jesus Christ. 

Well, this was an excellent week and we really are seeing miracles all the time. The message of Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection really does touch people's hearts. The movie Because He Lives is really powerful. Keep remembering to share it and more importantly, share your testimony of Christ. That's what it's all about! 

Have an amazing week and see the blessings in everything Heavenly Father does! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

I love seeing spanish license plates. Don't worry, we followed this car to see where they live. They pulled into Dollar Tree. Typical. (Que tal=what's up)

HAPPY EASTER! 

It rained, even though it was sunny... SOO we got a rainbow. :) 

We saw a monkey. No biggie. 

Other spanish hermanas in Nampa. #carselfies

Last p-day, this is how I found my water bottle... Best day EVER...

A Precious Pearl (March 30, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

How was your week?! Ours was good! First of all, I made a mistake last week. Correction. The website for the new video is called helives.mormon.org and the video is called Because He Lives. It's really awesome! Share it in every way you can! 

So this week, we went to this lady's house to help her and to sew a little bit on Hna. Hernandez's scripture case that didn't fit. As we did, I took a few scrap pieces and fixed up my potato-sack case. There were parts that were falling apart. I decided I'm going to call my case Frankenstein. First of all, it has green lining. Also, when I patched it up, it had stitching like Frankenstein. I don't mind. I love it, all used and well-loved. 

Also yesterday, we, Hna Hernandez and I, taught the 3rd hour Sunday school class. It was the 5th Sunday, so the bishop asked us to be in charge of teaching the adults. There are 4 companionships of missionaries in our ward, 2 of them taught the youth about missionary work and gave them calls and showed the #becausehelives video and everything. Then the other had to go to an english ward to do something and couldn't get out of it. So we were in charge of teaching the adults all by ourselves. It was exciting. We started off talking about the Atonement and what that means for us. About how easter is celebrating Christ's resurrection. Then we showed the video and talked about how we can share it. We had prepared a lot and then didn't get to finish it all. We talked about how this is an amazing message and how precious it is for us. Then we gave them all pearls on a string, to hang in their cars or wherever, as a reminder to share this treasure. It went really well. 

Seriously, the gospel is amazing. It's so much more than "just a church" that you join to go on Sundays and feel good about yourself. But it really is a change of life. It gives purpose and Jesus Christ's atonement REALLY does help us. I love that. He really did live, die, and resurrect, so that we all can. He did that amazing miracle so that we can all have the opportunity for ourselves. 

Thanks so much for all the support and I hope you all have an amazing easter week! I can't wait to hear what you thought about General Conference! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Shirley

I put my nametag on and then wrapped myself in a blanket to study. I get up and this is how it ended up. 

The couple who teach the english class in Nampa. They are kinda crazy... In the best way possible.

We attempted to make flour tortillas... But we didn't remember how...

Are you here for the blessings or because you love God? (March 23, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

This has been a very interesting week. Mostly really good and with a bunch of learning experiences. 

First of all, we had a meeting with President Cannon about a new initiative from the church. It's called "Because He Lives". It's obviously about Jesus Christ's resurrection and celebrating easter by sharing the message of Christ.That BECAUSE He lives, He can be with us in every moment. The video will come out this next week, on the 28th. It will be onbecausehelives.mormon.org for you to watch and share electronically. I invite you all to watch it when it comes out, then share it in some way. BUT, not just share the video, more importantly, your TESTIMONY of this event. Your TESTIMONY of the reality of Jesus Christ. Your TESTIMONY of how it has effected your own life. It doesn't come out until Saturday, but, because we're special, we got a copy of it and have been able to start getting people excited about it. We've started sharing it with people and actually shared it in our Friday sports night for our ward and it was REALLY successful. We had a few people we were teaching there and they really felt the spirit as we were bearing our testimonies. People were crying and nodding their head in agreement and even added a little to the message. It was really cool. We've already shown it to our relief society president and ward mission leader and when we did, they had family over that weren't members. It really touched their heart and she told us she even wanted to share it. That the message was really good. She is a lady who probably wouldn't have seen the video otherwise or gone out of her way to watch it, so because we showed it there and had it ready on DVD, she was able to feel the spirit of it. That was definitely a miracle. SO, when you all watch it and start to share it, PLEASE share your stories with me! :) 

Also, we had Sister's Conference for our mission this week. Because we're STLs, we had a lot of things to do to plan for this meeting. It's a meeting that happens once a year that is with ALL the sister missionaries in the mission. There are currently 62. The theme was "The Road to Success is Always Under Construction." We talked about how we're all on paths to reach Heavenly Father and are trying to get there, but it's not going to be perfect. We have to keep going and use the tools we have been given. We talked about all sorts of things like that. It was well done (of course, because WE HELPED WITH IT). I also got the chance to design a logo for the bookmarks we made. It's really legit. BUT, during the meeting, Sister Cannon had her daughter and niece come and talk about what it's like to come home from a mission... That was really ironic and Hna Hernandez and I just looked at each other. She just has 3 more weeks and I have about 9... So not very much. These talks were just for us. We've had a few little experiences like that lately. There have also been a bunch of missionaries in our south stake who have come home and we even stopped by a homecoming very briefly this week. Let's just say we don't look forward to being an awkward returned missionary. hahah

So another thing that happened this week is with a man we met just a week or so ago. His name is Cezar. We went to visit him and then as we were talking, I felt like I needed to offer service. So I did but he was busy and told us that he didn't want the help. So I had a strong impression that we should just come back the next day, with service clothes and be ready to help out. So we did the next day, but no one was home, which is pretty unusual for them. So we waited just a little bit, in case they might come home, but they never did... That was hard for me because I felt strongly that we should do that... But then nothing happened. So I was just wondering about why that happens. THEN, I think I saw the reasoning. I had a conversation with Hna. Hernandez about why that happens and we talked about some things I've been thinking about lately. Then she answered some of my concerns I've had. So it was a little learning experience, even though it didn't work out how I expected. I feel like what I've learned is that if we're following the spirit, we will do what the Lord wants us to do and help SOMEONE, whether that someone may be ourselves. We may need the learning that comes with "failure" or just the confidence in following promptings more sensitively. No matter what, though, as we follow these promptings, big or little, we practice following the spirit and allow ourselves to receive more. Heavenly Father trusts us with more of His children and we're able to be better servants of Him. It may be frustrating sometimes when we don't see the results of our labors or the effects of following the spirit, but I KNOW that Heavenly Father DOES give us blessings, even if we have to wait a long time for them. We just need to keep up the faith, even if those blessings don't come 'til after this life. When we do things for the instant blessings, we may not be trusting that they'll come in His time. That's why we need to be obedient and serve others and do everything we're supposed to because we love God and not get discouraged when the blessings don't come right away. They'll come when we obey Him, we just have to trust. 

I love you and hope you have an amazing week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

At Sister's Conference, our family tree! (Hna Hernandez Ruiz [my companion right now], Hna Masiasamua [her "daughter"], Hna Stadler [her other "daughter"], Hna Webb [la nieta, the "granddaughter"], Hna Ekonomo [my "daughter"], me) To explain a bit: I trained Hna Ekonomo and Hna Hernandez Ruiz trained Hna Stadler. Now we're companions and our "daughters" are companions, training our "granddaughter", Hna Webb. 

Yep. Mija Ekonomo. 

My nails for Sister's conference. The theme was construction stuff, and we were supposed to wear yellow or orange. We thought we were pretty clever by having a hammer and NAIL on our nails. :) 

Some Dead Fish and So Much Respect (March 16, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

Hi everyone! How are you doing?! I'm doing super well. This week was really really good. We had a bunch of cool experiences. 

We met a lady who is a member of the church, but hasn't gone in awhile. A bishop in an english ward told us about her. When we first met her, she wasn't very open and didn't want to open the screen door. But then we talked to her a bit and found out she works in Boise in a ear/nose/throat doctor's office. She's an assistant person. I don't remember exactly what she does, but RIGHT when she said that, I was SO happy. I had seriously been thinking about going to one of those doctors. I've had a lot of sore/mucusy throat problems for awhile. And actually, Hermana Hernandez looked at me at that same moment. She agreed. hahah So it was really cool that we were able to meet her at EXACTLY the moment in my mission when I needed that. I just asked her advice on what I should do and that definitely opened her up a little bit. NOT COINCIDENCE! 

Also here, in the Nampa south stake, there is a lot of area, but mostly just neighborhoods with really large houses. And yes, hispanics might live there, but not quite as likely. Not racist or anything, just how things go here in Nampa. And so the area has struggled quite a bit. There are people, but they are harder to find. SO, one day this week, we made it our goal to study about and pray to have more faith to find people who are ready. So we did and decided that we were just going to head out and be guided. So we started off in the neighborhood of a referral. We parked and tried the referral and no one was home. So we just started walking and walked past a few houses until we went up to one. We walked up and were startled a little because a girl was sitting outside on a hammock. We started talking to her and she was super nice and receptive. And when we talked about the gospel, she applied it to her life and wanted us to come back. We could just TELL that we had been guided to her and there was a feeling that she was prepared. We're super excited for our appointment this week. A little while after that, we knocked on a few houses and nothing really. Then we met these members who told us about their neighbor. We went over there and he was barbecuing. We started talking to him. He told us that he had been in jail for awhile and been through a lot. Then we got into this really deep conversation and he opened up with some really good questions about religion and how things have changed since Christ's time and just so much. It was seriously EVERY question that could be answered by the message of the Restoration. So we talked to him a little before his friends showed up with beer (it was his son's birthday and they were having a party. We got there right before.) And we have an appointment with him tomorrow morning. I'm super excited for it. On first glance, he looks pretty rough, with tattoos and everything. But he was super friendly. At the end of our discussion, he said to us, along the lines of, "People always have misconceptions about me. I'm not what you may think..." Things like that. And about how he was actually a good guy, he's just had a hard life. Then I told him after, kinda laughing, that when he started saying that, it made me nervous. I had thought he was a cool guy, but then I was starting to second guess and maybe we'd have to get out of there if he was a serial killer or something. He just laughed and said that was probably the best thing I could have said. He just kept repeating, "So much respect. So much respect." Hahah I'm excited to teach him again. He definitely has a lot of questions and could benefit a lot from the gospel. 

This just taught me a TON about faith. Praying with true faith. It really does work. When we feel like our prayers aren't answered or that we're just going along with not very much purpose, it's probably because of our prayers. We can say them with more intent, more faith, more trust in Heavenly Father. He really is there. I know that. 

Thanks for listening! Or, well, reading. This was a long one. Hope you have an amazing week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

PHOTOS: 

When I was in Caldwell, we did a service project. The family had a pond that had mostly dried up. But there was plastic underneath that kept it from drying completely. So we got in there and took out the plastic. MESSIEST SERVICE EVER, but probably most rewarding. #gettingourhandsdirty

So many dead fish. SUPER good-smelling... 

The crazy storm has passed and I'm in Nampa again (March 9, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

Sorry about these past few weeks, how my emails have been super short and not very exciting. I've been super busy on p-days and when I got around to emailing everyone, my time was already spent. So this week, I'm emailing you all first so that it's a good one. :) 

Well, as I said in my last email, we had transfers last week. I got moved BACK to Nampa and my companion is Hermana Hernandez Ruiz. She's from Chihuahua, Mexico but her family moved to Utah a year ago. So they're living in Orem. This is her last transfer and she's awesome. We are back in Nampa South stake and we are STLs. That pretty much means we're leaders over a group of sisters. We have to make sure they're doing alright and help them or talk to them if they're having a hard time. We also plan and do exchanges with each companionship at least once throughout the transfer. So we've started planning those. At the moment, we're only over 4 companionships. 3 are in Nampa and 1 in Caldwell. 2 Spanish and 2 English. So it'll be fun. We're over both Hnas Ekonomo and Hernandez Yanez. So that'll be fun to be companions with them again. Besides that, we just go to more meetings for leadership. And then we also plan sisters' conference that's coming up this month. It'll be fun. Already, we've been to a bunch of meetings and gotten a call at 3 in the morning, asking for our help. This is the life!... hahah But, we got to eat dinner at the mission home with lots of soft serve from their soft-serve machine. And that worked out perfectly because last week we didn't get a chance to go shopping, so we had NO food. 

Because we've been so low on food, we've been getting creative with trying to come up with stuff. We've been given a bunch of leftovers and then on Saturday, we went to a pancake breakfast fundraiser thing that was put on by the American Legion (or something like that). It's a club for veterans and one of the members of our ward is in it. So he invited us and we filled up on pancakes. And that day, we actually had a really cool experience. We walked into the building of the pancake breakfast and this little, probably 10-year-old, girl comes up to us and welcomes us and compliments me on my dress. I thought that was super sweet of her and then that was about all we said to each other. Later on, I just waved bye to her before leaving. I even thought to myself that she was super friendly and would be a great candidate to learn the gospel, but we didn't really get too much of a chance to talk to her. So fast forward about 5 hours, we go out tracting and walking around in a neighborhood. We walk up to a bunch of people out in their yard. They look hispanic, but they were really standoffish, so we didn't really get anywhere with them. As we were standing there, though, the SAME little girl shows up out of nowhere on her bike, says hi, then disappears! We walked away and were like, "Wait, what just happened?! Where did she gooo?!" So we just decide a direction and start walking. She was nowhere to be found, but we kept going. After about 5/10 minutes, we walk by a house and THERE SHE WAS! With a friend and her sister. They noticed us and said hi before we even did. AHHHH! Blessings from heaven!! So we started talking to them. Turns out they go to a baptist church and love learning about the scriptures and stuff, but had some questions. PERFECT! We had a really good conversation with them and explained a lot about the trinity and the role of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. The older sister was really confused about that and had really good questions. It was seriously really cool how everything worked out that day. We definitely felt guided all day. 

As we were talking to this girl, she got me thinking about the trinity and how crucial and special it is to know that Heavenly Father is a separate being than Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Heavenly Father sending down His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON is so much more special and a true sacrifice. If He just "sent himself down" somehow, or a part of himself, then that sacrifice wasn't really much of a sacrifice at all. He was just coming down, as a god, and living on earth. Looking at it that way, it's cool that Christ came, but it wouldn't have been as significant. Heavenly Father truly did GIVE us all His son. He allowed Christ to be apart from Him for a time. That seems so much more real, like a parent sending their child away for a good thing. It's a sacrifice for the parent, but they do it because they love them and they know that where they're going is a better place and will benefit those people there. It just makes sense that they are separate beings. It means that we can understand them a little more and have a personal relationship with each of them. THAT is pretty amazing. 

I hope that you all have an amazing week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

They didn't open the door, so we played with their chihuahua puppy.  

Hermana Hernandez Ruiz :) 

All of the STLs and Sister Cannon

BAHHHH! (March 2, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

SOOOO this has been a crazy week and day. (Sorry this email is so late.) We had transfers and guess what!! I'M GOING BACK TO NAMPA!! In Nampa South Stake again. And I'm an STL. So a Sister Training Leader. I'm in charge of the sisters in Nampa and doing exchanges with them and all that. Good times. I'm kinda in disbelief right now. We've had a crazy day so far packing and getting all situated and everything. Sooo that's why I haven't been able to email until now. Not to worry anyone! There are so many things to inform you all on and the family history center closes in 7 minutes. SO I will do that all next week. I know I always say that, but I really will. 

Just take this photo of me, Sister Hernandez Yanez, Sister Ekonomo, and Sister Collins. We had a mission conference where Elder Perry came and spoke to us. We got to shake his hand. AWESOME! This church is really really true and I love it. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

Polka Dots (February 23, 2015)

Hola familia y amigos! 

How is everyone? I'm doing really well. This was a very interesting week. It has been a very introspective week and transfer. I don't have a TON of time left, and so I have to make the most of it. BUT, this week, some pretty cool things happened. We have a recent convert lady named Alma and she came to us and said she wanted to get married to her boyfriend (who we're teaching) THIS WEEK! They told us DAY OF. They just wanted to get it done! They asked us to help them out with a few things and they had already done all the paperwork. So we just made a little cake for them and helped her get all ready and then they went to the courthouse. We tried to get the bishop or SOMEONE to do it at the church, but because it was such short notice, no one was available that had the authority and knew Spanish. SOOO it was just us and an hermano from the ward and them. First and maybe ONLY time I'll be a witness for a wedding. Officially. I signed their papers. Hahah But it was really exciting for them. They've been working towards it and finally did it! She didn't want to make it a big deal, but we did our best to make it special for her. And she said her favorite color was black and blue. So we dressed up for it. We actually coordinated our outfits with polka dots and teal. We don't usually coordinate like that, but we did for fun. Everyone noticed the rest of the day. It was a good topic of conversation. haha

Also this week, our zone of missionaries are making a shirt and they put me in charge of it. We went over to a sister's house and she helped us put it all together on photoshop. It turned out really nice. Second shirt I've ever designed. Loved it. 

Also, we had a zone conference about the Atonement. OH MY GOSH. So good! It was about the enabling power of the Atonement. Because Jesus Christ did the Atonement, we can not only be clean from sin, but be STRENGTHENED. We can turn our weaknesses over to Him and be supported and given the help that we need, that Heavenly Father knows we need. THAT is amazing. My favorite thing about the gospel. The STRENGTH and POWER. This gospel is so true. 

Hope you all have an amazing week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Shirley

Hna. Hernandez doing what she has to to talk to people. Hahaha

I'm really really good with selfies #alligatorarmprobs

My camera has a 3-photo timer setting, so here's the sequence of photos:

1) "JUMPING PICTURE! Ready, GO!"

2) "Oh no! Here comes a car!... Don't look like a tourist. Don't look like a tourist..."

3) "Should we try a jump... Ah. It's too late. We already look like tourists"