mark your callenders (7/10)

 ¡Hola!

I hope everyone had a good week! This week was AMAZING!! 

On Tuesday night we had our Spanish party (FHE) with all of our English connect people and members of the ward. It was epic. Hermana Masner made some BOMB salsa and guacamole, and we had a ton of desserts for our cake walk we did! At first everyone was freaking out because none of our people had shown up, but I knew we just needed to give it time; and sure enough José showed up thirty minutes in, then Maria, then Oscar, then- with only 30 minutes left in the party- Karla, Monste, Lupita y Javier showed up! So, it was a pretty good turnout! 

On Thursday we had a mission tour where Elder Whiting (of the seventy) spoke to us! It started at 9, and car inspections were at 8, we we had to wake up at 5:30 which hurt....but all was well! Anywho it was pretty cool, except at one point he pulled some people out of the audience and I almost died thinking he'd call on me; but it was super cool aside from that 5 minutes! And I got to see my old Zone (we were paired with Corvallis!) and my old quad-pan mates! :)

José is such a legend! We were having our lesson with him Thursday and he told us this story about how he and his friend spontaneously went to Seattle and then to the Canadian Border! I didn't understand a lot of the story (por que 'twas en español) BUT what I did understand is that his friend ended up driving too far (into the stretch between the US border and Canada's) and they ended up having to reverse all the way back on the freeway! :)  José also showed up to escuela dominical this week!!....Unfortunately this apparently wasn't one of the weeks we have it! Our bad, fifth Sunday messed us all up!

We ended up blowing up balloons for a hot minute the other day to help Hermana Masner set up for her daughters tenth birthday. Everyone was pretty impressed at my the rate I could blow up balloons. Guess I've got good lungs. We also went to the party for a while and ended up talking to a few of Hermana Masners nonmember friends. One's name is Jennifer and she's from the DR, so hopefully we can get in contact with her again.

Haylie texted us an hour before we were planning to meet her this week, and told us she had a migraine and couldn't come to crumble with us (our original plan). We were pretty bumed but I figured we should just go get a cookie and take it to her, I was just about the suggest it to Hermana Coca when she told me the same thing! So, we went to crumble, ordered two cookies...got two more forced on us by members, the usual. :)

We then drove to her house and talked with her for a while in the dark (the light was hurting her head). Before we left we decided to share a spiritual message. We pulled out Mosiah 18:8-10. Which I had read in personal study earlier that week, and we had been using for every member lesson since. I found it in her Book of Mormon for her, and handed it to her. She's not super comfortable reading the scriptures out loud to us (it's an acquired language) so she handed it back to me and asked me to read it. So I read it for her, and when I got done I looked up and saw her eyes were all watery. I instantly knew we were putting her on date right then. Hermana Coca asked her if she'd been thinking about baptism. Haylie said "Yes". Then there was a slight pause, and I asked a really intellectual question like "So...?" And she told us all her fears about it, and we talked about them. We watched the first vision video to show that moment of Joseph Smith struggling in the Sacred Grove. Then we asked her if she wanted to be baptized. AND SHE SAID YES!! We then started looking over a calendar with her, but her (low-key anti-) parents came home then. Whom we talked with and took a selfie with before heading out to the car to pick a date for Haylie to become a member of the church they hate so much. The mission is wild. It took a while for Haylie to pick a day, I was having some VERY strong impression about the 10th of June, but Haylie hates even numbers so she choose the 17th, for a day... She texted us the next day and said she realized she'd be confirmed the day after, so she wants to be baptized on the 10th so that she can be confirmed on the 11th! Guess the Holy Ghost and I weren't eyeing the 10th for nothing! :) 

For other, way less fun, news. One of the members of the Bishopric texted us on Saturday afternoon and asked if Sister Laymon could talk. IDK where they got that name, but Hermana Coca and I ended up playing the most intense round of rock, paper, scissors to see who got the honor. Unfortunately I chose paper, and the glory was mine. Which wasn't great, especially because we were so busy that day that I had to write it at 9:45 PM hoping it was still coherent when I woke up the next morning. It kind of was. 

But the real kicker was when we went to the church printer the next day, 30 minutes early so I could print it out and read over it once. A guy was in there, the stake technology man I guess, he was fixing some of the computers; so we talked to him a bit and I logged on and tried to print my talk. Now if I have learned anything throughout my mission, it's that not only do the truths and doctrines of the gospel not change wherever you are a member, but you can also rely on the church printer not working when you need it most. I asked the guy- interrupting him from his conversation with himself about how he'd a distant relative of Joseph Smith- that was there, and he came over, told me to close out of the print menu I had open for him, then proceed to try and find the same print menu himself for 5 minutes, only to open it and do the same thing I had done 10 minutes earlier. He then assured me it would print then continued talking about his family history to no one. While I had a mild panic attack. Needless to say, nothing ever printed, and that man literally didn't even notice he hadn't helped at all, he just kept talking about his family tree. Anywho... I ended up having to read my talk off of my phone, which sucked; but all is well.

Also we had a member lesson with the Bishop and his wife last night and we shared the "Because of Him" video and she said it did nothing for her. That's preposterous!! The Because of Him video is the best video the church has ever produced. How DARE she say such a thing! I was awestruck! To each their own, I guess, but she's wrong and I stand by that. :)

Anywho, the work of the Lord is so good! Hope you all have a great week!

Much Love, 

Hermana Shelton

Fotos (if they send in order):

1- Johnny's with the Sisters 

2- selfie with Haylie's anti-parents

3- selfie w/ Haylie :)

4- Hma Coca got an acne light mask so I put on the hockey one from the closet

5- ran into my Sister Piena in Eugene

6- selfie with the sutherlin sisters in Eugene:)

7- wildlife safari with the Sisters 

8- the Spanish party on Tuesday

9- miley's 10th birthday party (California girls themed...?)

10- raylon, a kid we teach Spanish on Wednesdays

is the baptismal interview graded on a curve?

¡Hola a todos! It's been quite the week, and our next one looks even crazier. :) 

Monday night we taught Maria about el sacerdocio (the priesthood). It went so good! She was telling us what she knew (which was a lot more than we thought, since she had never been taught it before...guess she pays attention when she comes to church?). She also told us how grateful she is for everyone and how the church has helped her family. Especially Oscar. Oscar was baptized in January and she says it's like he's a whole new person! She told us it was like he's been reborn since then (at least I think so, the Spanish is still struggling, hehehe). 

A few days later Maria talked with us for a while, and we realized she had gotten the wrong idea about the baptismal interview.. she thought she was going to have to pass a trivia test. She seemed VERY relieved when she learned she didn't have to know Joseph Smith's birthday to become a member! Hahaha! We read her the questions, and she was so surprised about how simple they were. :) Maria is the best, and I can't wait for June 5th! And I bet she is too, now that she knows she doesn't need to be hitting the books to pass her interview.

One of the members called us and told us about a coworker named Eve, and that she'd like to talk with us. Eve is super cool. Her life kind of recently fell apart so we talked to her for an hour and she cried for most of it; but she is so sweet! We read some scriptures from the Book of Mormon with her, and she accepted one, AND said she'd read Alma 32. She also wants to meet with us again, so that's pretty epic.

We taught our homie José la ley de castidad this week. It went remarkably well. This guy is so cool, he agrees with everything we just can't get him to church. :( But give it time, he'll get there.

Hermana Coca and I were trying to decide what we were going to teach Mike (our neighbor who we walk with and then teach) for a good twenty minutes. We finally decided now was the time to break out the Word of Wisdom. We walked over all prepared and once we started walking Mike told us how hung over he was that morning, and then proceeded to mention alcohol like six times. Hermana Cocoa and I were giving each other such intense stares the entire time. But we both decided now or never, and taught him the word of wisdom, he said he'd live it but we'll see. I'm not 100% sure he was completely sober.

We visited "Tacos Todos Vuelven" again this week. Which is a taco truck that we do a lot of contacting at. :) Ricardo (the owner) was outside the food truck so we ended up talking to him for a good 35 minutes after we got our food. He was telling us him whole life story, he was doing about 60% espanol and 40% English. At the end he gave us a free drink! My first Mexican coke was pretty great! :)

Saturday night we had dinner with our investigator Haylie's parents! We were so nervous! Hehehe. Her parents are pretty against her speaking to us and tell her she's joining a cult all the time; but they seemed to really like us! Hopefully they don't think we're a cult now, and if they do at least we seem like a nice cult. :) 

I would like to end this email by saying how thankful I am for google maps. Whoever planned out the cities in Oregon is an enemy of the state as far as I'm concerned. But Google Maps has helped me through it, unfortunately it let me down for the first time this week. We were trying to help some old lady in our ward set up a zoom link, and her house was OUT there. Google maps took us on like four different paths and none of them were right, we ended up calling her. And I realized how beautiful GPS is then, because old people can't give directions. "Swing a left by the old pine tree"?? Sister Russel we're in OREGON!?

 

But eventually we found it. We helped this old lady set up her zoom link...which was a little difficult because when I asked her to type in her email password she said she didn't know she had one...but all was well.

It's going to be a crazy week here in Roseburg, so I hope you all have a good one too! 

Con amor,

Hermana Shelton

 

¡¡6 MESES!!

Hello family and friends! It's been a grand week here in Roseburg, hope yours was good too! 

Our People:

José: taught him la palabra de sabiduria. We had just got the first point- café- and he went on a bit of a rant, and I was a little scared. But then I noticed that he kept saying "Addiction" every once in a while, and I realized he wasn't ranting in the way I thought he was. He agreed with every point, and told us he'd try living the word of wisdom this week (he drinks around 2 cups of coffee a week). Which was super cool. Turns out the Word of Wisdom (he actually didn't know what we were talking about until we said it in English) was what got him interested in talking with the missionaries in the first place. He's a legend, and pretends like he understands me! :) What a guy! 

Montserrat and Karla: taught them about tithing and fasting. It went pretty well. They seem pretty close to baptism, and Karla's mom (Maria) is still getting baptized June 5th, so maybe seeing that will help them. Apparently Karla didn't know about that, so hopefully it wasn't like a surprise or anything.

Gabriel: referral from the other sisters, he speaks español. We had a phone call with him for about an hour and I didn't understand a single word. My comp who's first language is Spanish said she didn't understand parts of it either. :)

Haylie: Haylie is such a legend! We taught her the ten commandments this week, we're having dinner with her (extremely anti) parents next weekend. We'll see how things go, but Haylie seems pretty convinced they'll play nice. Hermana Coca's making the dinner though, so if they don't play nice I'm going to suggest we take dinner with us and dip out.

Brian: 17 years old, baptized in March! Absolute legend. Calls me out every lesson, by being absolutely golden. Yesterday he told me about how he doesn't do homework on Sunday, and student me felt very called out. :) He also composes music which is wild! 

Ryan: was supposed to get baptized this week, but needs a bit more time for the word of wisdom. He showed up to church still though, and told us he knows this is the true church! :) I guess almost 20 years of missionary lessons really have paid off for him.

Oscar: the first Spanish person baptized in this area! He went and did baptisms for the dead Saturday with names he had spent hours doing family history work for!

Maria: Oscar/Karla's mom, still on date for June 5th, was sick last week so we couldn't have a lesson. :(

Happenings:

I got my second dose of the COVID vaccine this week! It went a LOT smoother this time. This guy had clearly administered a shot before that day, and didn't leave any needles hanging in my arm. I also didn't feel sick at all, and my arm barely even got stiff this time! :) God is good.

Hermana Coca and I were weeding for a lady in our ward who is allergic to weeds, and we had a bit of an ant infestation! I guess I finally can understand the meaning of "ants in my pants". It was quite the time, and I was feeling phantom bugs crawl all over me for a couple days.

Once of the Elders was saying the closing prayer at District Council, and was reading off the names of all our people. Once they got around to ours he found "Jose" written at the top of our list. Now if any of you are unaware José is said "ho-say", but this Elder said "Josie". I don't know who Josie is, but I hope that prayer helped her out a bit. :) Hermana Coca and I have been dying about it ever since it happened.

Every Saturday we have a member lesson with the Wielands; and every week she makes us a treat for after. Hermana Coca had been telling me all about this lady's carrot cake, and how much she wanted it, she ever went as far as to pray for it. Then after we finished our lesson Sister Wieland brought out two dishes of carrot cake and ice cream. I thought Hermana Coca was going to cry tears of joy. Prayers really do work my friends. :)

Sunday morning Coca and I were making some pico of sorts, and she was cutting up some jalapenos. A few minutes later she was dying and her lips were swelling, apparently she had gotten juice all over her lips and they were on fire. We had to go to church though, so she ended up driving to church with an otter pop sitting between her lips to attempt to cool it down. :) It was pretty funny!

Also apparently I'm hitting 6 meses tomorrow!! Say what?!? Pretty sure I just got here! 

Hope you all have the best week, til next Monday,

Hermana Shelton :)

the spanglish grind is real!

It's been quite a week here in Roseburg (technically I haven't quite been here a week but still). I'm over both the Garden Valley ward (English), and then entire stake of Roseburg in Spanish; so it's very go go go! Garden Valley just opened up as a Spanish area a few months ago, so the field is VERY white and ready to harvest. I was a little overwhelmed when I stepped my foot on the parking lot here and Hermana Coca instantly informed me we were teaching 16 people. But it's been so fun! But anywho...here's how my week went!

Monday night we had one last correlation as a district, which was pretty sad. BP gave me my car part (a bass plate) with my name and dates served carved into it, but the best part is that he put the face of Peter Maughan on it, who is the ancestor we share! :) Goodbyes are so bitter sweet on the mission, but all is well! The Lord needs us somewhere else.

Hawkins and I woke up at 4:30 to finish packing and leave for Eugene at 6 so we could ride the transfer van down! I thought I was going to pass out for a large part of my day because we both got around three hours of sleep, but all was well.

Apparently we teach English to Spanish speaking people every Tuesday! That was quite fun, and I met a lot of our teaching pool!

Teaching Pool Rundown (or the ones I've met so far):

Oscar: first Latino person baptized! :) baptized this January. one day will be the branch president of our first Spanish Branch in Roseburg! :)

Maria: Oscar's mom. She saw a lot of positive change in Oscar when he started taking the lessons so she did too! Baptism date: June 5th (same day my little cousin gets married??)

Montserrat and Karla: Karla is Maria's daughter, and Montserrat is Karla's niece. But they're only four years apart. Karla is 21 and Montserrat is 17. Both are super great and are VERY close to picking a date. I had the pleasure of teaching them la ley de castidad this week! ;)

José: no relation to the rest. :) He's super cool, we just taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we explained there are no limits to His atonement, he just kept repeating "Incredible" over and over. It was so cool! I understood very little of our lesson aside from that, but the parts I did hear seemed to be going very well!! :)

Haylie (English): the past Sisters met her at a taco truck! she works for a member, and looks up to him a lot. She's SO close to commiting to baptism. the only issue is her parents are very against it and tell her she's going to hell for joining a cult. Haylie doesn't seem to care though, she knows what she believes, she's just a little scared she won't have a family if she enters the waters. She's so faithful and uses second person pronouns when talking about the church "us, our, etc."

Cece (English): liked our zones Facebook page, and Sister Hannah (our techno sister) talked to her for a while, and passed her off to us! She came to church yesterday! It was so cool! She's 20 years old and just moved here. She had to leave pretty quick after to babysit, but she's planning on coming again next week! Facebook finding miracles happen everyday!! :)

We've done so much service this week!! We've pulled SO many weeds, moved a lot of rocks, and helped some people!! I even got a little sunburnt, forgot about those!

BP happened to be in Roseburg because he was buying a truck so I got to see him! Which was super fun! :) 

Anyways serving the Lord is the best time, and I hope you all have the best week!

Con amor,

Hermana Shelton

(apparently my comp and I have forgotten to take a picture, so enjoy this one of her holding a snake at service)

Bye-Bye Waldport :(

Well as it turns out, this was my last week in Waldport! Sad time, but I'm very excited for new adventures! I'll be leaving Waldport bright and early mañana and going to Roseburg to serve as a Spanish speaking missionary in Garden Valley!!! So excited but so scared, I bet I'll have a lot of stories next week! :)

I'm happy to leave with no regrets though, because my quadpan and I have had a PARTY of a week! 

Last pday we decided we'd buy a shower curtain that wasn't see through (or moldy) so people could get ready while someone else showered. Hawkins and I both have shower Bluetooth speakers so this week was just a dance party in the bathroom. The shower curtain also has an outer space print on it, so Hawkins and I took some pictures with our hair in space buns! 

This quadpan has also recently become unhealthy obsessed with screaming the song "God Bless the USA" in the car. My throat is usually sore after.:) But when we put it on Sister Phillips seems to remember her South Carolina roots, because that twang is popping!

All four of us went and saw Katelynn this week, she's a less active member of the YSA branch. We've never visited her at home before, so we had never met her dog. That thing is a wolf. It would be at least 6 feet it if stood like a human. But was jumping all over us, we were all trying to stay calm,  and we did pretty well. But her dog almost took off Hawkins face! I thought she was dead for sure, but I was not about to get between this wolf and his snack. All four of us ran out of that house after!!

Saturday (aka May Day) was Sister Philly's bday!!! It was a "grot tim" (hehe inside jokes). We partied hard went and ate lunch, had a wild lesson with Jeffrey (one we'll both laugh about for a long time I'm sure), but the real miracle happened at dinner. The lady that was bringing us dinner showed up and apologized for being so busy so she couldn't make anything, then pulled out Taco Bell!! Miracles happen everyday! Sister Phillips was so hyped! She was just wearing her birthday crown jumping for joy! We also had a fun birthday celebration at BP's and he gave her this engraved knife and made a poster!! It was super wholesome!!

Yesterday we had the best turnout for church we've had since I've been here! We had about 50 people! Which is too many for their small chapel to be socially distanced; so us missionaries ended up sitting and listening in the relief society room! It was the sweetest testimony meeting! Truly a great way to go out! 

Any who!! Wish me lots of luck this next week! I anticipate a lot of confusion, but let's do this!

Much love, 

Hermana Shelton (for real Hermana this time :))