Do we have enough Bread, Eggs and Milk?

Me and my bestie, Brielle.  She's my ward mission leader's daughter.

Me holding Sister Penny's snake Hadies. 

Hey everyone!

This week we finally got snow...  On Tuesday we heard some members
talking about how we were going to wake up with snow on the ground, and
someone even said, "Make sure you have enough food to last you a
while."  The four missionaries who were there when she said that all
just laughed at that statement because we were all from Utah, and heck
no snow is gonna slow us down... Then we woke up...

Oh, my goodness, guys, I have been humbled!  You see, Utah has a few
things that Tennessee doesn't have.  1) Snow plows, and 2) (besides
the mountains) flat ground. We had a special missionary devotional
that was broadcast all over the world, and we had to go to the church
for that. Our church is usually less than five minutes away from where
we live, but it took us a half an hour to get there.  But hey, on the
way there, Sister Johnson and I pushed a lady's car up the hill.  The
first thing we saw when we got there was one elder outside shoveling
because they only had one shovel for the entire church.  A few elders
came out a few minutes later with salt.  Table salt!  Shake that snow
away! Just so ya'll know, it does still work if you are very
persistent on a small patch.  Salt is salt....  Only about a third or
fourth of our zone was able to get to the church for the broadcast.
Good on the elders who walked the whole way.  After the broadcast we
watched a few elders do donuts in the parking lot because honestly,
what else were we supposed to do?.... Then we went home and cried....
Well no, not quite, we just went crazy, so close enough.

Thursday the roads were a little better, but still only enough to get
to the church.  We didn't want to sit in our apartment and go crazy
all alone, so we went to the church to go crazy with other
missionaries who were lucky enough to be able to get there.  When the
roads were doing a little better, we got a text from President Griffin
telling us to stock up on gas and groceries.  We got some gas and then
we looked in our fridge.  We were doing good with food, so we went to
Walmart and stocked up on games.  I bought Mad Gab and Uno.  Sister
Johnson got Bounce Off and Phase 10.  We were prepared.  Together we
were unbeatable!  No amount of snow could stop this duo!... We also
got brownie points with all the elders that were hibernating at the
church, and I really do like brownies.

Finally, we were free!  We finally got out to see Beverly, and it went
really well. She just keeps on progressing!  Just like we all should
do even if we are already baptized.

Anyway, I hope the snow in Utah isn't slowing anyone down like it is
here.  I'm sure it's not....  Hope ya'll have a swell week!

Sincerely, Sister Shelton

p.s. I can't believe I forgot to say this last week, but I finished
the Book of Mormon for the second time last week, and now I'm on to the
New Testament!

Live Life to the Five Dots

Pro Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty good.  It started off with zone
conference.  I really loved what President Griffin said.  He said
that successful people do these 8 things.  They compliment, embrace
change, forgive others, talk about ideas, continuously learn, accept
responsibility for failures, have a sense of gratitude, and set goals
and make plans.  Unsuccessful people do the opposite. They criticize,
fear change, hold a grudge, talk about people, know it all, blame
others for failures, have a sense of entitlement, and never set plans.
I challenge each of you to go through those lists and see which side
you're on and make yourself better.

So something that we do every second and fourth week is this thing
called Second Harvest.  It's this thing that Walmart does with all of
the food that has been on their shelves too long.  They give it to
different groups of people for free, and we help them out with it.
The place we do it at is at this community of old people.  One of
those old people is Betty, and we always go and visit her afterwards.
Betty has this electric wheelchair, and this time she let us all ride
around on it.  It was the best thing ever!  We rode it around  in so
many different ways.  At one point, I was riding it while sitting on
Sister Johnson's lap.  Another time, Sister Johnson was riding on the
back of it while Elder Hoyt was driving.  Betty was sitting inside
while we were playing with it, so she didn't see everything we were
doing with it, but she said she was fine with whatever we did with
it.  She said that one time a sister drove it around on five dots -
the fastest it could go.  She said she got scared when she rode it on
even three dots.  We were definitely riding it on five dots.... With
people hanging onto the back of it.

Later on that week we had a lesson with Beverly.  We asked her once
again, "Beverly, will you be baptized by someone holding the
priesthood authority of God?''  She responded with, "Eventually."
Then we explained to her that we wanted to set a goal for her, and we can
change it if necessary.  So we asked if she'd commit to being baptized
on March 19th.  She agreed to it!  BEVERLY IS GETTING BAPTIZED!
I'm so excited!

This has been a good week.  Remember to continuously improve at live
life to the five dots!

Sincerely, Sister Shelton

I Wonder Where I'll Find Them

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good.  It's been full of finding.  There is
an area in our area that I'd never been to before, and Sister Johnson
had only been to once since she'd been here because it's so far away,
and we don't have the miles for that kind of trip, but we knew we had
to go up there because there was a lot of potential up there.  We
decided this was the week we were going to go, and it was a good thing
we did because we found three houses of people who aren't just going
to let us come back, they're excited to have us come back!

One of those people we saw was Sheila.  She's so spunky and has so
much energy.  I love her!  She's a member, but she has the mind of an
investigator, and her husband isn't a member.  We actually didn't see
her husband the last time we went over.  We saw him briefly about a
week before, but Sheila thought that it was so cool that we were on a
mission, and we taught her a little bit about prophets.  She seemed so
excited to have us come back and teach her and her husband.  Hopefully,
we'll be able to see her again this week!  *fingers crossed*

We saw Beverly once this week, and things are still going great with
her.  She's still thinking a lot about baptism, so hopefully soon we
can commit her to that.

Oh, I just thought I should let you all know...  It snowed this week!
But it didn't stick at all....  Oh well, maybe some day I'll have a
snowball fight again....

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!  It's been great out here!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

Happy New Year Y'ns!

Hola familia y amigos!

Oh. *cough* Sorry ya'll....  Happy New Year!  I hope y'ns had a great
celebration into 2016.  I sure did.  I slept.  My dear companion,
Sister Johnson, put an alarm on for 11:58, so we could wake up and
celebrate together, which was so far from what I wanted to do, but I
just went with it.  Apparently, when the alarm went off, I stirred and
just went right back to sleep, and she celebrated by listening to the
fireworks going off.  I didn't remember it in the slightest, so yay!
We both got our wishes!

A lady in our ward celebrated by getting an emergency surgery, so we
bought her flowers and babysat her for about an hour while her
husband ran home to shower.  She's back home now and is doing much
better, so no worries there.  It was nice doing that service for her
and her husband because I really felt like we were helping by being
there, and it was nice and relaxing.  A good change of pace from
normal missionary work, where we just got to help her when she needed
and I got to read the "Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball" the rest of the
time.

Something cool that happened this week is a kid in our ward got his
mission call!  Kid.... He's older than me.... This guy got his mission
call.  He's going to Vegas!  It was just so interesting going to a
mission call opening being on the other side of things.  I knew what
it was like to be him for that moment.... But I went to the Bible Belt
and he's going to Sin City.... So.... Kinda!....

We went to see Beverly this week!  You guys, she's golden!  We were a
little scared that we were pushing too hard with baptism, so we
stepped back for a moment, but the last lesson or two she's been the
one to bring up the idea of baptism.  The last time we saw her we read
Lehi's Dream with her, and she really connected with the people who
ate the fruit and knew how great it was, and then felt ashamed because
of the mocking coming from the people in the great and spacious
building.  She wants to stay strong even with her friends who question
why she is meeting with us.  She says that she feels so happy meeting
with us and reading from the Book of Mormon. It's really amazing
seeing her progress like this.  She's the first person I've seen
progress right from the first lesson, and get so far, so it's really
exciting to me!

I hope ya'll are doing great!  Have an awesome week!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

A duck egg from the Philippines.  I would have eaten it, but i think I may have left it out of the fridge too long.

 

Sister Shelton and baby water ballon Sheldon.

I think I may anger Sister Johnson and Elder Brown...

My zone (Cumberland) with Elder Zwick of the Seventy.

  

Our combined Christmas zone conference with the Knoxville zone.  We got TKM flags for Christmas!

Christmas!

CHRISTMAS WAS THIS WEEK!

I just thought I should let you all know in case you missed the memo.
WHICH MEANT I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY!  Aw... :) They're the best.  And
they're doing well in case you were wondering.  I hope someone more
than my family is reading this email, or this was a very unimportant
paragraph.

Other than that, normal missionary work has been going great!  We saw
Beverly this week, and we attempted to soft commit her to baptism.  I
honestly wasn't thinking she would, but that wasn't our intention.  We
mostly just wanted to make sure she knew that that was what we were
hoping she would progress towards, and now she knows it, so I'm happy
with it.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and was able to focus on the
true meaning, and have a happy New Year!

THE EXCITEMENT THOUGH!!!

Hey everyone!

This week was so crazy!  It started off with a new investigator we got
about a week or two ago.  Her name is Beverly.  We gave her a
Restoration Pamphlet and a Book of Mormon to read so we could talk
about the next time we saw her. When we saw her next, she said she read
the Restoration pamphlet, but not The Book of Mormon because it was
too small of print for her to read.  So we got her a bigger one, and wrapped it
up for her like a Christmas present.  When we gave it to her, she was
so excited!  She tore the plastic right off and started flipping
through it.

The next time we saw her we asked if she'd read from it, and she said
that she'd read the introduction, the testimonies, and had read random
bits and pieces throughout.  She said that she loved it, and that she
understood it better than the King James Bible, and the best part
(wait for it...) SHE SAID SHE KNEW IT WAS TRUE!!!  It was insane!
She's dying for us to come back and read with her because she loves
how we make it even easier for her to understand.  I'm so excited to
see what happens with her.

Then, the next big day was Saturday.  We had our Christmas zone
conference, which was mostly just a Christmas party.  We got a
Christmas present (which was a TKM flag!), then we played dodge ball (I
got a big welt on my arm), and then.... the best part.... (Wait for
it...) WE WATCHED BIG HERO 6!  Yeah!  It was so good!  I'd already
seen it, but guys, we got to watch a movie!

Then..... DEE GOT BAPTIZED!!!  Oh my goodness!  It was so great!  She
had to be dunked three times, but she's a member now!  It was so
wonderful. :) She was so ready.  She was so happy afterwards and so
clean and pure!  So many members came to support her, too!

I loved this week, and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

It's Friday!

Hey ya'll!

So this week has been really fun!  Friday was a big day.  We had a
tri-zone conference with Elder Zwick of the Seventy.  It was so cool!
We were able to listen to him, his wife, President Griffin, and Sister
Griffin talk.  Those are some of the best people to listen to.  The
spirit was so strong the whole time.  I feel like the message I
learned the most from what they said was I can do it.  I have that
ability to make great things happen, and so do all of us.  It was a
big confidence booster.

In the middle of the conference we had a lunch, and I had a group of
missionary friends who I was going to sit with, and then all of a
sudden, one of the elders I was going to sit with said, "Hey, there's
open seats next to Elder Zwick!"  So yeah. I had lunch with a Seventy.
To be more exact, I sat on the right hand of him. ;) Yeah, I just went
there.  But no, really.  It was so cool! He was the nicest man I think
I've ever met.  I felt like that's the closest I've ever been to sitting
next to Jesus.  That kinda sounds weird, but he really does an amazing
job at being a representative of Jesus Christ.  I hope I can be like
that some day.  :)

Later on that day we had a nativity at our church.  Everyone brought
their nativities from home and set them out, and there were so many
gorgeous trees.  It was breathtaking.  It gave me hope for cultural
hall wedding receptions.  (Not saying that's how I'm doing mine, Mom.)
There were so many people who came that weren't members.  We had a
potential investigator come.  And there was a man who didn't believe
Mormons are Christian who came, and by the end of the night he changed
his mind on that subject!

I just love how people are around this time of year. Never forget the
true meaning of Christmas!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton