The Last Week in the Promised Land

Hey friends!

This one's been a crazy one..... A crazy awesome one!  Especially Wednesday..... Oh, that Wednesday...  It started off awesome and ended awesome, but what happened in between the awesome was.... Well.... I don't really have words for it....  I mean..... I called 911 for the
first time in my life.... So....  No worries. Our investigator that we had to call for is doing just fine.  And we're good, too, and then we went on our merry little way.

Before that, though, we woke up bright and early and headed over to the mission office to pick up our brand new car!  #42miles  We had to hang out at the office with the Abingdon Sisters and the Watauga Elders until they could install the tiwi's in our car, aka the worst thing ever that only missionaries have to deal with, but hey, we'll survive. It was quite the party.  Seriously, just hung out with some of my favorite missionaries for a few hours, and it was awesome!

Then, to finish off our Wednesday, we picked up Essence and got Aiyana to come with us, and we walked over to the church for Young Women's. We were in charge that time, and so we just partied because we could. We also had our investigators, Sam and Debra, come, and they loved it.
We played Uno and Bounce Off, and it was the best!  Seriously love those girls!

On Saturday we set up a booth with our branch over at Riverfest.  It was pretty awesome! #alldaypantsday We had coloring pages, and Book of Mormons, and all sorts of fun stuff!  A few hours into it, President Griffin and his cute family showed up, and it became even more fun
because let's be real now... Who doesn't love President Griffin? Nobody! That's who!

We also had our investigator, Ella, invite us over to her church for their "Youth Explosion," which was super awesome, so we snuck away from our booth for an hour to watch it.  It was at a black Baptist church, so everybody was just feelin' it, and my hands were very sore from all the clapping that happened by the end of it, but it was so awesome.  They also had shirts that said, SWAG: Saved With Amazing Grace.

We ran back to the booth after that and finished up there.  President gave us permission to stay out late and watch the fireworks they had. It was super fun!

All right, friends.... This is the end of my time here in Loudon.  We had the transfer call this morning, and I'm going to go to Knox South to serve with Sister Hamp.  I've actually known more or less where I was going to go since Saturday when President gave me a ton of hints trying not to give it away, but so obviously did.  Lol! Silly President!  Also, my dear companion, Sister Parry, is going to be turned into Hermana Parry for the last three months of her mission, because we don't have enough Spanish sisters in the mission to train the amount coming in this transfer, and hermanas have to be trained by hermanas. We've know about it since Saturday, too, so she's been brushing up on her Spanish, and I've been saying random sentences in Spanish that really probably don't mean anything at all trying to encourage her. We knew it was coming, though.  Really I just don't know if I should laugh or cry for her!  But hey, that's just the life of a missionary for ya!

Loudon, Tennessee: The place that stole my heart.  T-2 days.  Over and out.

-Sister Shelton

That one time I went to Fields of the Wood in North Carolina.

That one time we got a brand new car.

That one time we saw the Ghost Busters at Riverfest.　

That one time I had to say goodbye to my Tennessee mom and dad, Jack and Christina.

Quotes of the week:

Me: Being in pants and having a booth and staying up late with you guys makes me feel like a college student with a nonprofit organization like "Save the pandas!"

Elder Leon: Oh yeah! Save the pandas!

　

Essence: What if there was a missionary Pokemon Go, and the rare one was Jesus? Would you play it? Jesus would be the rare one and the 12 apostles would be the second most rare, and Judas would be the one that runs whenever you get close to it.



Sometimes We're just Models

Hey everyone!

So this week's been pretty good.  We started it off by going and seeing our investigators, Michael and Ashley.  We'd been trying to see them for awhile, but it never seemed to be the right time.  We were getting a little discouraged, but they finally let us in!  They are so excited to meet with us, too, and we are with them, too. We'd taught Michael the restoration before, but not Ashley, so we went over it again for Ashley... Or as much as we could.  Michael likes to talk so.... Haha! No, he's hilarious. I love them both so much!  At the end of the lesson, Michael was like, "Could you guys come back again tomorrow at like 5?"  We wanted to, but that just happened to be the one time that day we had something set, so we had to come back two days later instead, but that was okay because we finished up the restoration then!  They are so incredible, guys.  They're so sincere in their desire to learn and find the truth!

We had Zone Training Meeting this week, too.  We went over to Farragut, and things went really well.  President gave a training about not picking and choosing commandments to obey.  It was really good and really inspired me.

On Sunday we taught Primary. It's always fun doing that.  Last time we taught, one of the little boys afterwards went up to his mom and said, "Mom, they messed up a lot!"  Then his mom said, "But did you have fun?"  And he said, "Yeah."  She responded with, "Then it's all good!" Haha! I loved it! But this time when we walked into the Primary room, one of the girls cheered.  I think we've made a good reputation for ourselves with the Primary kids. :)

Later that night we had dinner at President Terry's house along with Carolyn and the Kaser's. It was a lot of fun.  It was relaxing, too, which is always good. We got permission from our Mission President to go over and watch some videos on YouTube about the scriptures, so that was exciting! ;)

It's been a crazy fun week, and it'll be fun to see what the coming weeks hold in store!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

We had a photo shoot on P Day.  Here's just a few of the many awesome pictures that were taken.

The train that just sits on the side of the road that I've always wanted a picture with.

The old water tower that I've also always wanted a picture with.

Me and Par Par.



Not the photo shoot anymore, but still an awesome time at Red Robin with all of the Sisters in the zone after zone training meeting.

We went to a place called Fields of the Wood today for our adventure. It's in North Carolina.  It's super awesome!

A Week of Service

Hey guys!

This week was kinda backwards and weird, but it was awesome nonetheless.

It started off with interviews with President.  It's always so interesting seeing how inspired he is as my priesthood leader.  He just seems to know everything about me before I even tell him.  But it's also so interesting to get a little bit more of an up close and personal look on the revelation he receives for me and the mission. So it was fun!

We had a lesson with Amber later that day, and we showed her President Monson's last conference talk.  He talked about how in Alice in Wonderland, Alice asked the Cheshire Cat which of two paths she should go.  He responds with, "Well, that depends on where you want to end up. If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter which path you take." So we asked her where she wanted to end up, and she said she wanted to be like us (minus being a missionary) which was both flattering and reassuring, and we're going to keep working with her to get her where she needs to be.

Wednesday night we took Essence with us to Young Women's. It was really fun. We played foot golf, which is just what it sounds like. You kick a soccer ball into large holes in the ground. Yes, folks, here in Loudon we have parks that are just that cool. And more!

On Friday we had exchanges.  I stayed here in Loudon with Sister Blickenstaff, and Parry went to Pellissippi with Sister Wagner. Sister Blickenstaff and I seriously partied it up.  We went and got
ice cream at Tic Tocs and ate it on the roof of the funeral home, and then we played a ton of games, and tried on all of the random clothing hanging around the apartment, all while still having a couple of good lessons and getting service done. I seriously love that girl! #mostsuccessfulexchangeever

On Saturday, literally all we did was service.  Blickenstaff and I did service at Carolyn's trying to help her clean up her house after she bug bombed it, and then we exchanged back, and then Sister Parry and I went over to the Ramsey's and helped them clean up their house with the elders the rest of the day so that they can adopted a couple of kids.  I'm so excited for them.

It was a crazy week!  And we did a ton of service, and got hardly any finding done, which was very backwards, but hey, gotta do what the spirit tells ya to do.

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

 Cute little Loudon.  This is the movie theatre down here.

 Me and Blick on exchanges! Love her!

 Meeting at Panera to end the exchange!

Finally, the first picture we ever took of just us together. #we'reterrible

Just Anotha Week Here in the Great TKM

Hey everyone!

This week we got a lot done.  We had a lesson with Sam and Debra. Debra has been taking the lessons for a while, but her daughter, Sam, has just recently been feeling comfortable coming out and seeing us, but she's super awesome!  She had a lot of really good questions, and we did our best to answer them.  We taught her about the restoration, and we're just slowly digging out her questions.  It's pretty great. Then we had dinner with them, and it was super good!

Earlier that day we went over to our investigator Sandy's house, and helped her sand down a table so she could repaint it. We called it "Sanding with Sandy!"  It was pretty awesome!  It took a lot longer than we thought it would, but hey, we love her, and she needed the help.

On Thursday we had a pretty crazy day. We were just going around like usual, and we were thinking of where we needed to go next, and the thought came to my mind to go see Beth and Belle.  We'd been trying to see them for weeks, but they seemed to be MIA.  We'd met with them for awhile before now, but they just weren't there.  But it just seemed so clear that we needed to go there, so we did, and we pulled up, and their car was there! I was squealing and jumping up and down with excitement when I saw that, and we ran up and knocked on their door, and they were there!  They answered!  It was so exciting! We didn't teach them too much, we just saw them, but we're going to be able to see them a lot more often, and I'm so excited to see what happens with them!

Friday was interesting. We told a guy named Hawkeye that we'd come by and help him on his farm, but he seemed to have forgotten, so his son took us around. He showed us his chickens and goats and pigs and cows, and we got to feed them. I think the cows were my favorite because I got to scare them. :D It was quite the adventure.  We even got a couple of fresh eggs to take home, which was great.

On Saturday we went to the baptism of a little boy in our branch named Trizden. It was awesome, but it was also a little different. It was the first baptism I've been to on my mission in which no missionaries had been involved. We were just there for support, but it gets even better. We walked in and I saw Brother Wilson, who moved out of the branch a few weeks ago, and then I saw his wife, Sister Wilson! It was so exciting to see them again! They were just here for the weekend, but it was awesome! They should be coming back again in the next few weeks just to visit! I just love them! :)

It was an awesome week here in the TKM.  The Lord's work just keeps moving on, and I love seeing that and being right in the middle of it!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

A picture of that awkward time I realized I didn't take one picture that week, so
I quickly snapped one just to send. Hey ya'll!

Watching the World Change

Hey ya'll,

How yn's been doin' o'r yonder?  This week seemed slow, but it hasn't been.  It's just that the past month or so I always have something to report on like someone getting baptized or confirmed or receiving the priesthood, and for the first time in a long time that's not the case, and that's okay. I've been pretty spoiled for the last transfer, so I don't have anything to complain about.

On Tuesday, Sister Shuler stayed home with Carolyn and packed up her bags while Sister Parry and I went out to do some finding.  It was kinda awkward for a little bit because we were trying to stay close by so we could run back at a moments notice to get Sister Shuler so she could say goodbye to everyone, and we had no idea when that would be. Because of that, we ended up knocking doors at a really awkward time of day, but we couldn't figure out anything better to do.  It was kinda discouraging, but right at the end we found 3 potential investigators that we're going to go back and see during the week.  Then we came back to get Sister Shuler, and said bye to everyone with her.  It was hard to see her leave all these people she loved. I feel like, from watching her, I haven't cried in a long time, but it was good.

Wednesday morning came, and the Breeden's came and picked her up and took her over to the mission office.  It was hard saying goodbye, but now she's onto the next stage of her life, and she's gonna rock it!

Later on we went over to Young Women's, which was the biggest party of my life.  I feel like I hadn't had that much fun in a while.  We did watercolor pictures.  I never knew how riled up I could get just from watercolors, but it was awesome!

The next day we went over to see our new investigator, Helen.  We found her from our other investigator, Debra.  Here in Loudon we have ambassadors for our church.  This is the second investigator we have that has gone around to all their friends and told them they need us in their life.

On Friday we went out to the boonies of our area.  We had a lesson with a less active member and then knocked a couple of doors around her.  We got a couple of potential investigators, one of them being Brittany.  She was sitting outside, and we walked up to her and talked to her for a little bit and showed her a little video. At the end of the video she told us how grateful she was that we stopped by because she had been struggling with a breakup, and she felt like she wasn't sure she knew Christ or was saved even though she told everyone she had been.  It was incredible talking to her, and I can't wait to go back and see her again.

Then we went over to see Marissa and all of her family. It was our last time to see her before she left to go back and live with her dad. She's seriously incredible guys.  She definitely has a piece of my
heart.  We halted them a little with getting organized before she left and had dinner with them.  I love this family so much, and I'm sure I'll see Marissa again some day. :)

On Saturday we had our branch activity. We went up to Melton Lake Damn and had an awesome lunch and played a lot of fun games.  Sister Parry and I got there, and we had our skirts on, and then we saw the Elders in normal clothing, and we just thought, "I could be wearing pants right now.  Why am I not doing that?!"  I even thought to wear a slightly more casual skirt, but not pants.... #missionaryprobs  It's all good though.  We were boss at volleyball in our skirts.

Later on that night, I got permission from President Griffin to call my awesome recent convert, Harley, and chat with him for a little bit.  He just keeps progressing in the gospel, guys.  He got his patriarchal blessing since I've been gone from Grove Park, and he got it in the mail a few days ago. I'm so proud of him!

So there yn's go.  I love it here in Loudon.  It's just so crazy seeing everything change.  I got to see the fruit of one of my previous areas, and see two good friends leave. One is starting a new phase in her life, while another one is staying strong with the gospel no matter where she is.  As for me, I'm just in the middle of it keeping the work going and watching the world change around me here
in Loudon, Tennessee: The place that stole my heart.

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

 Our last picture with Sister Shuler. She's going to do incredible things back home.

 Look what someone put on our windshield! It completely made my day!

Another of the many animals I hold out in the Tennessee wilderness. This is

Hawkeye's chicken. We're gonna do some service with him this week!

 

 

Quotes of the week:

 

Water coloring with the young women:

Me: I've never had so much fun in my life! Except that time I baptized

Marissa....