New Transfer, New Start

Hey everyone!

So, it's official. It's just me and Sister Griffiths now. My little Hampster's left me.  But it's okay. She's gonna go on and do great things!

But a lot of good has happened this week. We started off on Tuesday, before transfers, going over to this rally for the elections coming up, as a whole zone.  We helped feed all of the people that were
there. We made around 5000 sloppy joes, and then we handed them out to everyone. It was pretty intense.

Wednesday was the big switcharoo!  I got to see a ton of people I haven't seen in forever, and say good-bye to lil' Hamp.  And then, we came home and died....  This has been such an exhausting week, guys. In case any of you are wondering why I may not be responding to your emails today, it's because I'm napping. I've never wanted to just nap so badly.

Then, Saturday was a pretty great day!  We got to help out our dear friend, Brother Harris, make his yard beautiful, and then we went and had breakfast with him, as he imparted all of his wisdom on us as always, and it was greatly appreciated.

Later on that day, we went to try a less active family, the Fosters. Hamp and I had tried this family almost every week since I've been here, because they used to see them all the time, but for some reason, we couldn't ever catch them.  But since this was Sister Griffiths' first time trying them with me, I figured we'd have no problem seeing them.  And I was right! We came over, and they instantly loved us, and we instantly loved them, and now we're just gonna be best friends. That's just how it's gonna be.  :)

So yeah.... That was my week, and it was wonderful. There really isn't anything I'd trade for the people I've met, experiences I've had, and lessons I've learned since being on my mission.  Well, maybe Celestial Glory, but I'm pretty sure this is helping me with that!  TKM #lifechanging #hisworkhiswaybyhispower #findteachbaptize

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

That one time I killed Sister Hamp.... Oops....

Am I fan-girling over these cute matching elders? Probably. ;) RIP Wadsworth and Evans.

Our new district government! Judge Judy is behind the camera. ;)

　

Quote of the week:

Random lady in Relief Society: When Abraham was sacrificing Isaac, Abraham was pretty old so Isaac could have just been like, "I SACRIFICE YOU!!!"

Most Exciting Week Ever!

Kay guys,

Here's the deal. This was the most exciting week of my mission, but I have no time to write about it... So, I'll try my best.

Pretty much all you need to know is on Wednesday there was an emergency transfer, so Sister Griffiths showed up on our doorstep, and we let her stay. Then Brian got baptized, and that's the most exciting thing ever, and then we had the transfer call, and after telling president how much we love each other, Sister Griffiths is staying, and we're probably going to be together forever now.

Doing our weekly tradition of going up and down the escalator at the mall. Nbd.

Ice cream at Kay's. #notreplacingtictocs

Brian's baptism!!!

Micky D's with Fafita and Raymond.

General Conference for Days!

Hey guys!

So, this week has been really great!  We started it off by going out to dinner with the Elders and Senior couple from our ward (the Simes!). It was so fun! We don't usually get to go out as a big group of missionaries like that, but senior couples just get away with everything. ;)

The next day we went over to help Mary out with sanding the paint off of the framing around her window so she could repaint it.  It was pretty intense. We got the power tools out and everything!  That came to an abrupt end when we realized we were running late for out next appointment. So we drove over to see our new investigator, Derrick.  He seems really interested, and the lesson went a lot better than we were thinking it would.  We'll see how it goes from here!

On Wednesday, we went over to an area to find a less active member in the ward.  He'd moved, but we knocked the doors that were on that street, and after knocking a few doors, we realized something pretty different about the people in these houses. Each house had a few mentally handicapped people in it and at least one person who was straight from Africa, accent and all, who was taking care of them. We didn't have time to knock on all of the doors, but from what happened that night, we had one girl who said we could come back to see her and two guys that said they'd try to come to church, and they all really seemed like they meant it! It was crazy awesome! We're going to go see one of them later today.

On Thursday we went over to see a less active member named Virginia. We went over to mow her lawn,   #firsttimeinmylife   and then we hung around and talked with her and played a board game with her because she was feeling kinda lonely. It was good to just clear someone up with service, and just by being there.

Then, in case you didn't know, we had conference, and it was awesome! We went over to the Bundy's house, and three of the four sessions, we had Virginia, and our two investigators, Emily and Brian, and Brian's wife, Mary, there. It was so cool that all these people were able to be there who are really making an effort to come closer to Christ! And it's even better because we have less than a week until Brian's baptism now!

I think my favorite talk from conference was by Elder Nelson.  It was about always being joyful, no matter what your situation is.  Remember guys, if a group of pioneers who have been kicked out of their house and persecuted can be smiling and laughing in the freezing cold, you can be happy, too! It's not worth it to be unhappy. When things get difficult, just laugh at the situation, because it's either laugh or cry!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

Vols Won!

Hey ya'll!

So, this week has been good. We got a new investigator, which is always fun!  His name is Derek.  We only met with him once, so there's not too much to report, but let's just say that he should be invited to a fast and testimony meeting, because he is very passionate about Jesus, and that is awesome!

On Thursday we went over to see our investigator, Dustin, at his job. He works at a place fixing cars.  Lessons with him are always interesting because he always has someone pulling up with a jacked up tire at any given moment, so sometimes we have to sit around and wait for him to fix it, but we try to not let there be any wasted time or anything, so we have talked to quite a few of his customers about the gospel, while they wait, and even given away a Book of Mormon while we were at it.  It's pretty great!

Ever since the new change where members can feed us if they come on a team-up with us, we've been getting a lot more food, and a lot more team-ups.  It's really awesome! Good for everyone!  It's awesome because we've been able to meet a lot more of the ward members this way, and gain their trust as well.  (Disclosure: This paragraph was mostly put in just for the sake of my mother's sanity.)  ;)

On Friday we went over to see a less active member, Emma. She is really sweet! She's deaf, and doesn't know sign language, so we just have to write to her.  But we're totally good with that! She's just the sweetest lady ever, and you can just tell how much she enjoys our visits! I just hope she can tell how much we love going to see her!

On Saturday we were able to track down a less  active family: the Zellers.  They're pretty cool, and they have the cutest kids!  We mostly just got to know them, but we shared a brief message with them as well, and we'll try to see them again in the next coming weeks!

Later on that night, we went over to Sister Bundy's house to watch the Women's Broadcast with our less active member, Virginia, and our awesome investigator, Emily! It was so fun to be there with both of them!  I loved the talks that were given, like Uchtdorf's "fourth floor, last door."  Some times you just have to keep on going until the end.  If you didn't get the chance to watch it, I'd definitely encourage you to do so!  Just go to lds.org!  And be sure to watch General Conference this Saturday and Sunday!  Incredible things happen when we follow the council of the prophet and the spirit that's there with it.  I can't begin to tell ya'll how excited I am to hear our prophet speak.  He truly is a man of God. But we can't just listen to what all the speakers have to say, we must act.  "In the end, we'll only regret the chances we didn't take."

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

Also, just thought I should let ya'll know, the Vols won this Saturday! We were knocking doors right across the river from the football stadium, and fireworks would go off every time they made a
touchdown.  First time in over ten years, baby!

Sister Hamp got her ears pierced today, guys!

Baptism Date: Check!

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good! We had zone conference this week, which is always amazing! I got to see a ton of people that I love, and hear from Sister Parry about how Loudon is doing, which by the way, it's doing great! But that's just Loudon for ya. ;D

On Friday we went over to this Methodist church to help with their soup kitchen. It was so much fun! The people over there were so friendly, and I know I'm gonna love going there each week while I'm
here in Knoxville! We even had a potential investigator come through the lines, and I mean.... Maybe someday because of our awesome meeting up at the food pantry, she'll be more than just a potential
investigator. ;)

We also went to see Brian and Mary this week a few different times. And without Brian even being there we committed him to a baptismal date! October 8th! Woohoo! Yeah... Mary was the one who told us that he was thinking of that date, so we're super excited, and they are seriously some of my favorite people out here!

Saturday was a crazy day.  At first it seemed like nothing was going to happen that day, but after going and knocking on a couple of doors, we came back to our car to go to a different area. As soon as we got in the car, we got a call from Brother Harris asking for a Gospel Principles book because he was teaching the lesson, and as he said very passionately, "There's a difference between using the electronic book versus a physical book that you can break the spine and let flop open," which I have to agree with. So we made a deal, if we brought him his book, he and his wife would feed us dinner. So, there we go. There were some plans for our day.

Then, in the middle of the call, we got a call from the elders saying that there was a member from the Whitley City Branch who just had a baby and needed some sort of contact from the church, so we went over to the hospital, and.... She wasn't there.... So we were a little stumped for a minute, but then we decided to keep going, and since we were in an area we weren't normally in, we tried hunting down some less active members around there.

We knocked on this door looking for a guy named Seth, and turns out he moved, which is  unfortunate, but that's life.... We knocked a few more doors, and then decided to move on, but when we got in the car, I turned to Sister Hamp and said, "I just feel like there's someone here for us." And she was feelin' it, too, so we got out and knocked a few more doors. We came across this girl named Alexis, and her mom, Rene. They apparently had a lot of family who were Mormon, but they were
not.  They were super nice and invited us in, and we talked to them for probably an hour and a half.  I feel like I'd never talked so easily to someone of another faith about both of our religions.  They
were so awesome!  Then, at the end of it, they both gave us their numbers, and they said we could have dinner with them and talk to them more about our church! They are seriously so cool! And then, on Sunday we met a lady whose son, who is also on a mission, is good friends with their son! It's the best thing ever guys!  I can't wait to go back and see them!

On Sunday I finally got to meet the Bundy's.  I've heard so much about them and even been in their house, and yet I had not met them. But they are as great as everyone said they were.  We got to go with them to take the sacrament over to Winnie. It was a really cool experience. The spirit was so strong giving it to just one person.  It just shows how important the sacrament really is.  :)

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

Just found out my good friend, Elder Evans, from the great TKM got turned into a meme. Hope ya'll enjoy!

Sometimes you just Need a little Break: The Adventures of my Year Mark

Hey everyone!

This week has been really fun! Monday evening we went over to a referral we received from the Bishop, named Emily.  She's super sweet and very sincere!  She was meeting with online missionaries, so she knows most everything by this point, we're just helping her along now. :)

On Tuesday we went over to the Harris'.  Brother Harris is a recent convert, but he's really strong!  It was nice to just sit down and have dinner with them and enjoy their company for awhile.  Sometimes
you just need a little break.

Wednesday was pretty crazy.  It started off with district meeting in the morning, and then a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I got an ear infection. :/ But it's all good.  I'm recovering now!  After that we had a lesson with Tyree and Lakeesha.  Their mom is a member, and Tyree is really thinking about baptism! I'm so excited for him!

We were knocking on doors one day, and we started with a prayer.  I got this prompting to say something I don't think I've ever said in a prayer before. I asked God to make sure that anyone who might need to talk to us would have the courage to call.  Well, after knocking doors for a while, and a nice kid named Bobby gave us water, Tyree called us.  He said he just needed us to pray for him, so obviously we did. I just know that he wouldn't have called if it wasn't for that spiritual prompting I'd received.  And it's so good to know that he trusts us and knows he can call us.  Whenever you need help, just call the missionaries, guys. They want to help!

On Thursday we went on exchanges. I went over to Pellissippi with Sister Wagner, while Sister Hamp manned the fort in Knox!  It was so much fun!  We went to visit a ton of people, and then we went over to the Christensen's little apartment.  The Christensen's are a senior couple serving out here, and it was so much fun to see them!  It was nice just hanging out with them and talking for a while. Sometimes you just need a little break.

Then, the next day after our weekly planning, Sister Hamp and I went over to the Strub's house to celebrate my year mark! We invited the Campbell's over, too!  We burned one of my shirts to celebrate and had dinner and a lesson. It was kind of like... A little break! Lol I know! I'm so funny!

Just remember guys, don't ever run faster than you have strength!  If you need a break, take it! It won't ever harm you!

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

 

Sister Wagner and me getting ice cream to celebrate my year mark! This girl hasn't ever been my companion, but she's celebrated my 6 month and year marks with me! Maybe she'll just happen to visit the mission at 18 months. ;)

There goes that shirt of mine!

First Week in the Heart of the Mission

Hey ya'll!

So, this week's been crazy with transfers. Packed up my bags, said my goodbyes, had one last Tic Tocs, and went to Knoxville.

I'm here now trainer breaking Sister Hamp.  There's a lot of good things happening over here.  On Thursday we went to a less active member's house, named Clark.  He's pretty cool. He's all into music, but he's actually just learning the guitar, but he has a whole set up in his living room.  Oh yeah, and he's a lot older than you'd think he is, which just makes him even better.

The next day we went to see Leia, a less active member, and her daughter, Lakesha, and her son, Tyree.  They're super awesome.  We were planning on just teaching the restoration, but it got all emotional, and they all told us their life stories, and I just got deep, but it just made me love them that much faster.  They're gonna do awesome things in the world.

On Sunday we were coming in from a long day of nobody being home, and we were just about to go home, but on the drive back we decided to knock one last door.  We found a street we thought was good, and then chose a door.  I just knew it wasn't the right door, though, so I said, "Let's knock this whole street till we find the person we're here for."  So we did, and we ran into Zack.  He's super cool and has the cutest daughter.  I also totally related to him when I was like, "Hey man, nice Twenty-one Pilots shirt, and Jesus is awesome, too."  I mean, he loves Twenty-one Pilots, I love Twenty-one Pilots. He loves Jesus, I love Jesus. There's no way he's not gonna be baptized.  We have a lesson set up with him tonight, so life is good.

Hope ya'll have an awesome week!    #lifeisgood

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton

  Saying goodbye to one of my favorite people in Loudon, Sister Webber!

 Me and my new compy, Sister Hamp!