someone gave me their taxidermied puppy?!?

Hehehe I feel as though a lot happened this week, but I can't seem to recall any of it...but here's the bit I do remember. 

The clothing exchange is low key the source for all my stories, so here we are again. A woman came in when we were about an hour away from closing, and donated a lot of stuffed animals. A noticed right away that a few of them were a little interesting; but when I went over to grab another bag to sort I could have sworn a dog had gotten into the building, because that stuffed animal looked alarmingly real (image below). I freaked out a bit and then the entire district had a very heated discussion for about 10 minutes about if someone had or had not dropped off their taxidermied dog to a donation center. 

Now we pretty much got nowhere in that conversation, but later that week I was messaging a licensed taxidermist on Facebook (just Facebook finding things, they also engrave animal skulls if your interested, I can give you the Esty link). She confirmed for me that if was real fur. And I'll leave y'all to make your own assumptions from there...

We actually got to have dinners WITH some members this week (they have a cool deck so we ate out there). And they have the absolutely gorgeous view, so enjoy the photo we got (views a lot better in real life, but all is well).

Pretty much a lot of our week was a lot of chaotic energy that hit its peak last night. I can't really explain how it happened, but here's what ended up happening. I was making cookies, and behind me Sister Poulsen was cutting Sister Phillips hair with a pair of safety scissors, as Sister Hawkins DJed to set the mood. It was a chaotic time, and I'm still not sure how it ended up happening, but all is well. Sister Poulsen tried reassuring us that all would be well by telling us she used to sweep the floors at a salon part-time at one point, so don't worry she's perfectly qualified. ("Well my father was a piano mover..."- this one's for you dad) :)

If you've made it this far into my email I wish to thank you. I will now reward you by telling you about the sweetest experience we had yesterday! Brother Fitzsimmons who is one of our weekly lessons, has been less active until recently. Today he showed up to sacrament meeting and helped pass the sacrament. After the meeting we talked to him in the hallway and he was crying, and told us about how good it felt to partake of the sacrament worthily again. We were so happy for him!

When I went to YSA I noticed his truck was still there and was confused, but it all made sense when he texted us an hour later. It read: "Sisters. I was not expecting to come home today with a temple recommend, but I did. I had to share so who better than with those who walked with me on the path. I love you all so much. Looking forward Saturday." (BP please tell Sister Mitchell for me!!) I always say his lessons are the highlight of my week, but I think that this text might have taken the top spot this week!

Much love from Waldport (well technically I live in Yachats pero está bien). Have a great week!

Hermana Shelton

crackheads and donuts?!? :)

I think I might start almost every email by saying how crazy my week was, but this was a wild week. Oregon truly doesn't disappoint.

The seventh day Adventists that we do the clothing exchange with bought us pizza for lunch last Tuesday to thank us for all the work we do. Which was very sweet of them! About an hour later Sister Phillips and I were sorting a box of clothes when we found a pile of mouse pooh in it!!! We then spent the next 10ish minutes trying to dispose of the box without having to touch it, which didn't really work but we figured it out. Once we got back I saw that the other Sisters were sorting a very similar box that had been right under ours. I thought about warning them, but thought It'd be find of fun to see them figure it out on their own. I was right, it was funny, especially because their box not only had mouse pooh in it, but a dead mouse. That was super funny, they enlisted my help in disposing of it for some reason- don't know why I guess I just give of vibes that I'd be willing to touch mouse pooh? which is completely incorrect?- Sister Poulsen refused to hold to bag open though, so we couldn't do much. Eventually one of the Elders got sick of watching this travesty and grabbed the box himself and swiftly disposed of everything. I'm super grateful for the people who donated those boxes, what a kind and charitable donation to help this community. :) :) :) 

Later that night we had a member bring us a Taco Bell box for dinner, so all was made us for. I had that fire sauce in my hand, a taco in my other, and I swear if Africa by Toto would have played my entire life would have been made in that moment. 

We taught a member lesson to a mother and her two sons this week, we decided to talk about the Plan of Salvation. Which was probably an excellent choice, because at one point one of the boys asked us a question about the fall, to which the mom said "Oh it's all just fables." My eyes went really wide as I quickly informed her that it actually DID happen, it took some convincing, but I think all was well after a bit of a conversation. Member lessons are always a good time! :) 

The four of us got our first dose of the COVID vaccine this week (the one that starts with M, idk I can't watch the news). For those of you how are lucky enough not to know, I HATE needles. So I was already nervous to get my shot when we walked in there, things only seemed to get worse from there. When we got in they herded us over to some empty chairs, and started playing this weird recording over the speakers. I felt like I was in the beginning of every single dystopian movie every made! Then they started playing this weird music with a thumping beat as everyone got the shot and I thought for a second I was lucid dreaming because no way this was real, but apparently it was?

I met the volunteer that would be administering my shot when he came over to look over my paper work, and that's when I notices this man's hands were SHAKING! Like shaking shaking. I was in the back of the row so I had to wait a pretty long time before my shot was given, so I just sat there and thought about his shaky hands. When he finally got to me I watched as he took the alcohol swab wiped down my arm a bit, held the swab on there and then, picked up the vaccine, held it in a fist, and then with much more force than necessary plunged that thing into my poor arm! I still don't know if he moved the alcohol swab before giving the shot or just shot right through, probably never will know. BUT the real kicker came after, he didn't take it out right away!! He just left it in there, hanging for a bit!! While he went and grabbed the Band-Aid! I felt sick!! The heck was that!! I was also the ONLY shot I've ever had that made me bleed....I made the other Sisters go through a Taco Bell drive-thru with me after so I could get a Baja Blast to calm the trauma after. 

We had Zone Conference Thursday which meant a pretty long drive to Eugene for us. But it was a good time, and we got to see other missionaries for a change. After all the Sisters in our zone ended up going to Voodoo Donuts, which is like a very Oregon thing. While there a dude on drugs came in and tried to order a peanut butter sandwich, the worker just kept repeating the same two lines over and over for five minutes "We don't serve those here Sir." "You can't be in here without a mask, Sir." The dude ended up telling everyone he didn't need a mask because of his mind and then left. The dude behind the counter just looked so tired and bored! He just turned back to the counter and asked Sister Poulsen, "Do you want that wrapped or in a bag?" He must deal with this garbage all the time. 

Jodi is out of the hospital finally so we went over and helped her tidy up since she can't do much on her leg still (it looked nasty and I'm 94% sure she unwrapped it against doctors orders and will have another infection).

Yesterday President Weeks made the long trek down to banishment here and spoke in both Waldport and YSA's meetings. It felt really weird to see President in Waldport, it just didn't seem very fitting, guess I'm only used to seeing him in Eugene! :) We also got a referral from the FHAM (family history and media) Sisters yesterday, we will be calling her Tuesday so hopefully that goes well! :)

Today I had the privilege of introducing my South Carolina native companion to fry sauce and I do believe I have converted her. Which I'm very happy about because nobody should have to put ketchup on their fries!

Wow I typed a lot, I'll stop now, Til next week! 

Hermana Shelton

we're getting vaccinated? :)

Hello my people, hope this week's been good to y'all. Here's a little overview of mine:

Last P-Day Sis. Hawkins and I showed the sisters the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It looked a lot like I remembered it looking, but this time there were a few more people. That seems to be a common theme this transfer, it's getting a little warmer, and the tourists seem to be coming out. I assume it can only get worse from here as well, which is truly enlightening. It's definitely made backing onto our street a bit more difficult...

At the clothing exchange the zone leaders came for exchanges with one of the sets of Elders (I forgot which ones?). By the second hour of us being there, three of the Elders ended up wearing one pair of pants together. It was a super wholesome bromance moment, and we actually had to end up cutting them out of the pants (they already had holes in them so we had to throw them away anyway). 

Velda's lesson this week was a lot less eventful...to say the least. She didn't even mention the incident from last week, we just had a normal lesson. What a legend. 

The four of us taught the Law of Chastity to the Youngs this week. That's all I have to say, actually it's not because BP usually comes to these lessons with us, but not this week. It seems that when he heard the lesson plan he conveniently had a scratchy throat and didn't dare infect us...convenient. I'm just kidding!! But also it was rather suspect.... ;)

We pulled some Ivy for a lady named Fawn. Who was the most Oregonian lady of all time!!! She had these epic long braids and has just so into her garden, and when we went into her backyard we got a REAL good sniff of weed; so as I said she truly was the manifestation of Oregon in the flesh.

Our lesson with Jeffrey was epic. We talked about so many topics I my head spins thinking back on it, I genuinely don't understand how the Sisters that taught him ever got him to stay on topic. Maybe they didn't and that's why it took about three years. :) Jeffrey's the best though and loves having us come over. It's so sweet!

Okay so, Wednesday morning Sister Phillips told me that she had gotten a message from a friend back home asking if he could talk to her before her mission was over (which is like a very broad question because she's only been out for six months). Sister Phillips was like "Well I can either say no, or we can turn this into a missionary opportunity and say only if you'd be willing to hear a message from us". So she decided to make it a missionary opportunity and we low key taught him a lesson last night. It actually went really well and we shared a verse from the Book of Mormon. Which we asked him if he knew about, he knew about it. He had apparently asked their other member friend about it, and he started saying "It's like really important to you and a dude named Joseph wrote it or something-" and I instantly was like, "Yeah, it's a record of ancient prophets that lived in the Americas that Joseph Smith TRANSLATED for us." Then we went and explained how it coincides with the Bible. False doctrine corrected...hopefully it sticks.

We were also able to sign up for COVID vaccines this week. We will be getting shot up at the Lincoln County Fair Grounds on the 14th (first dose). Kind of exciting!! :))

Hope everyone has a good and uplifting week, treat yourself well. Enjoy a Holland talk, I personally recommend, "The First Great Commandment". I listen to it on average twice a week.

Con Amor,

Hermana Shelton

 

¡THE 70 YEAR OLD MOON CAME OUT!

Hello my people :) I hope you have the best Easter/Conference weekend! I sure did!

But let's start from the beginning, and as always, the title will make more sense later. :)

The clothing exchange was a pretty good time as always! I took a sweater, just in time for the warmest week of my mission so far, but all is well. Also Sister Phillips and I sorted baby clothes for a good hour at one point, and I've legit never seen a group of teenage boys (officially I should call them Elders, but they are what they are) get so hyped over baby clothes. It was definitely an experience.

 

By the end of the clothing exchange all of us were pretty dead, Sister Phillips most definitely fell asleep during personal study,; and it most definitely made a loud thud sound as her head hit her desk. We had two member lessons that day, as well, and little did we know what one of these member lessons would have in store for us.

We did our weekly "Zoom" lesson with Velda, she's so cool and always asks us the wildest questions. I love our lessons with Velda. She broke her leg last week so we didn't meet with her though, so this week we started out the lesson by asking her about breaking her leg. It's not really a riveting story by any means, she's old and she fell and broke herself. She started telling us about how she had this really nasty bruise on her but from it, and asked if we had seen it yet. We obviously hadn't, so we said no, like a bunch of idiots. Then she was asked us if we'd like to see it, the cute little greenie- brand new missionary for those of you not fluent in mission language- next to me said "Yeah," and thus our destiny was set.  I could feel that things weren't going to end well at this point, and watched as my companion dove off screen and started laughing. She unlike the greenie and Sister Hawkins, had obviously heard where the bruise was located.

Homegirl Velda then proceeded to stand up (which was ambitious for someone with a broken leg? Apparently she really wanted to show us this bruise?) from her chair. She than changed the camera angle, and then said the fatal sentence, "I'll try to be discrete and not show you my crack". At this point the other two had finally caught on to what was going on, but it was too late. About a second later it was done, we were being mooned by a 70 year old women over a church zoom call. The next ten minutes were just us trying to compose ourselves; but who could blame us. She also asked Sister Hawkins and I if we were new at the end, so she really just thought she was mooning four missionaries she had never met before, she's a legend, and we should all have her self-confidence (actually maybe not, that would be a little intense). :)

The rest of the week was a bit less wild, but still really good. We did some yard work for a member, and she's planning on inviting us back to help her non-member neighbor so yay! Thursday we had to drive to Corvallis for interviews with President Week, we got some Thai food while there, and Sister Hawkins and I might have gotten it a little bit too spicy and lived to regret it, silly us! We also had an AMAZING member lesson with a less active member!

I also started friending people that have liked/interacted with some of my posts in the local Facebook groups, one of the people I friended liked my post so I messaged him, and we may have gotten a new! Say what!? His name is Jason, and we talked with him over messenger video call last night! It was actually so cool, he was so fascinated with our missions and how they work, it was really cool. We talked about the Atonement (but didn't call it the Atonement, because that's a very our church phrase apparently? learned that while on the mission). He's knows the bible REALLY well, and asked us our favorite verses, I blanked for a hot second, but luckily Isaiah and 2 Nephi are fraternal twins, and my freshman year seminary teacher played songs for scripture masteries and those will never leave my brain. :) He said he'd like to talk with us about what we believe again too! We're so excited!

And of course we can't end this email without talking about GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was so good, but also where was my guy Elder Cook at? It was also the first time on record that Ballard's voice hasn't knocked me out, so that's epic! I can't wait for the talks to come out so I can re-read them, I also will NEVER forgot the shock and yells that came out of us when they announced Eugene Oregon was getting a temple. I'm sure a lot of tears came to the eyes of all the people that I love here, the Waldport Ward Information Page was definitely blowing up!

We actually got so hyped for Eugene, that I didn't even hear the Prophet say Smithfield! Crazy! Cache Valley really is moving up in the world getting our second temple! I hope they find a hill for it, I'm sure they'll have no issue finding pretty grounds (or a hill, we are taking CV)! Just look at Sky View's campus vs where I went to school...I love you Mountain Crest but I said what I said. Maybe they'll put it right next to 'La Unica' and we can go to the temple, then get street tacos after! :) That'd be the dream! :)

Till next time, I love you all, God loves you all, and I hope you have an amazing week!

Hermana Shelton :)