PART-TIME HERMANAS?!?!

Hello, my people! What a week! Okay... where to start?

Quick follow up on last week, as I told you one of the APs asked me to lead at Zone Conference...yeah. Fun fact, I can't lead, and I received a lot of comments about it! :) Oh well, at least everyone was mildly entertained. 

Also we were driving home from Medford in the dark and a deer came out in the middle of the road. I got an aggressive driving from TIWI (the tracker in missionary cars) BUT we stopped in time. High-key - biggest deer I've ever seen, my comp was really shook by the whole thing. I guess the Cache Valley in me was unphased. :) God is good, and deer are the dumbest creatures to live.

We went to mutual this week and it was SO chaotic. A leader's toddler was there wearing her Halloween costume already (she doesn't wear anything else apparently), a child was showing me his breakdance skills, someone was carrying their 14 year old son on their shoulders, Joann showed up to pick her Jamie, and ended up playing basketball and taking out her 3-year old in the process! Good times only.

We went to a member dinner Saturday night and WOW. That was such an immaculately insane event, that I don't even think I can address it in this email.

We went to the Spanish group this Sunday. I don't know if I've mentioned this before...but the Spanish group is an extension of our ward (4th); but for some reason, unknown to everyone, 3rd Ward is over Spanish. Read sarcastically because an entire Branch has gone inactive over the last few years, and they haven't visited a single house. I straight up printed out flyers for them, and they didn't even put them up. Anywho, when Coca asked who to refer a Spanish speaker to in Klamath Falls the APs said us (more on my homie Luís below). Which I guess makes sense, because as sad of a showing as it is, we're probably the best at Spanish in the Zone. Anyway..the Spanish group is legit one family, and it was testimony meeting. We cleared the room, everyone bore there testimony. The younger ones (idk they were probably 5-9) all bore their testimonies in some cute Spanglish. "Mi testimonio es...God loves us and we can go to Heaven again." - direct quote. Precious, top five sacrament meetings of my life.

L E S S O N S : 

Lori!! Oh Lori, we taught Lori the plan this week....SHE AGREED WITH EVERY POINT! She didn't even give me some push back on the Fall, she thought that's how her Baptist mother taught it to her. I should be ecstatic...but I need Lori to not agree sometime. I need to see a reason why she won't come to church, or progress further. Figuring out what's holding this lady back is going to turn me into a conspiracist.

ERIC!! Legend, he was a self referral! He requested to meet with the missionaries on Comeuntochrist.org! We set up a lesson over messenger, and once we got on the call I realized we knew each other from Volleyball! He's been coming for a few months, sadly that means he's a YSA, so we'll have to refer him. :( But we had such a killer lesson, and we introduced the Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it! He told us he grew up Lutheran...and they didn't speak well of our church; but he said he thinks that church was garbage, so our church must be pretty good! Legend. Also I talked about Rocket League with him, so shoutout to Nate and Dall because otherwise I would have no idea what that was!

Jamie told me she drinks tea this week. Didn't think I'd have a W.O.W. issue with my 11 year old investigator, but here we are. Guess we'll have to teach that soon.

Luís! I love this dude! What a guy. He showed up to English Connect and it was just him, us and Sister Goodfellow (she legit has a master's degree in Spanish). He told us he wanted to learn more about Jesus and we were like speechless, we ended up taking him on a tour of the building. Sister Goodfellow was explaining every picture and told him about the W O.W...and I was like, bruh he's not ready. BUT he still asked us how you become a member after?? We told him we would love to talk with him more, and he told us he was available every night?! Say what? We had such a good lesson with him! We taught him the whole restoration and he teared up at the first vision!! His only problem was with a book other than the Bible, but I think we helped him understand it better and he eventually took the L.D.M. and agreed to read it! He was also asking such amazing plan of salvation questions! Like, "What happens to people that die without repenting?" He's coming to English Connect and a lesson next week! Sadly we have a conflict with church...he picks up his son at that time; but I think we can resolve it, start praying for us.

After he left Sister Goodfellow turned to us and asked, "Where did you find that guy?" So, we told her all about how Coca messaged him on Facebook! Sister Goodfellow got so excited and bore her testimony about changing missionary work & how God's given us tools to further His work! :) If only all members could try and understand like Sister Goodfellow. IDK I guess of lot of them just think that knocking on doors like door to door salesmen is the way of the Lord or something. Felt pretty refreshing for a member to finally have eyes to see, it doesn't happen very often. :)

♡/ Sister Shelton (/part time Hermana Shelton)

P.S. next time I write y'all I'll be 21! :) Wild. AND WATCH General Conference, I can promise that you'll receive guidance and answers to your questions! High-key going to be the BEST birthday present. 

F O T O S :

1 - my queen Delores

2 - lil bebe Medford temple!♡ please pray the materials can come (it's being renovated) so all the amazing people here can go to the temple again!

3 - I love Philly!♡

4 - if you ever see my bio looking weird it's because I always forget to log out on the computer and the Elders were on it next

5 - selfie with two of my many comps.

6 - sis Goodfellow herself

rain, mild food poisoning, and referals

Hello everybody,

I hope you're having the best week! It's been a great one here in K-Falls! It actually rained! TWICE! I wore my rainboots on Saturday! I'm also convinced the seasons changed overnight, because I woke up on Friday and all the sudden needed to dig into my suitcase for all my sweaters. I'm actually sitting in my winter coat typing this email.

Kind of had a few moments that let me know I'm somewhat of a seasoned missionary, because Hansen keeps being shook by all the people we're meeting; and I don't even feel phased anymore. She keeps telling me she's never met so many weird people in her life, but nothing will ever phase me after the people I encountered on the Oregon Coast.  

 

U P D A T E S   O N   M Y   P E O P L E :

Jamie! We had our first official lesson with Jamie this week (Anthony's older sister, age 11 wants to be baptized). She's so cute! Awww! We taught the Restoration and it was so good! She's so sweet, and said she'd read the BOM we gave her! She also told us that she snuck into the bathroom at her dad's house so she could watch church!! (yeah idk the dad might be low-key anti-religion in general...). Which was VERY faithful of her to do, especially considering it was stake conference...

Oh also... I talked with Joann and Elizabeth about picking out a date for baptism, and told them that the biggest thing would be waiting for church attendance. AND guess what? THEY'VE BEEN TO CHURCH LIKE 10 TIMES! They'd been going for like 3 months before I got here, and the other Sisters just never marked it..? Anywho... we've been talking with Elizabeth about a date and it's looking like it'll be Nate's Birthday!! (October 16th, for those of you that don't know) But nothing is official yet, and it's right after transfers which is sad; but it's fine because I'm going to spend the rest of my mission here. Probs not, but we can hope.

Gary! Oh Gary. Gary has COVID, please keep in your prayers. We love Gary, and hope he gets feeling better soon.

We went with the other Sisters to Georgine's again; and Sister Hansen was once again shook by this lady's life decisions. Georgine is so interesting, she seems SO normal, but her life is insane. She bought some creepy church and wants to make it a dog sanctuary... and she's living in a house that barely has walls. IDK, to each their own I guess. Her accents pretty dope too, think she told me she's from London.

S U N D A Y : 

What a day, okay let's see, where to start.

We woke up to a referral, who we have a lesson (over Zoom) with on Thursday. :) 

Then we went to Ward Council, and I once again asked for a Huddle, and it low-key happened this time. I guess you really can bother people to bend to your will! :) Our 93 year old WML is still VERY confused by it, so the work is not done; BUT it's progress.

THEN just to top off this day, we got a messenger call from CAMPBELL AND COCA!! They had a referral for us!! Have you ever got to be on a call with three of your companions? 12/10 recommend. Coca told me I'd created a Shelton Jr. in Campbell, which is very flattering.:) It was so cool to talk to them, and we'll probably be calling them again soon about Anthony's baptism!:)

Anyway yeah, Sunday was an amazing day, all that happened, and we still had time to get a mild case of food poising and throw-up a few times; but the work of the Lord stops for no illness. ;)

Last night I got asked by one of the APs if I'd be willing to lead the music for Zone Conference, the only issue is, I never learned how to do that. So this should be fun! :) If anything, it'll be wildly entertaining for everyone there. 

Much Love, 

Sister Shelton ♡

F O T O S : 

1 - apple picking @ Lori's

2 - there's a random SpongeBob statue made out of an old car in Keno?

3 - Shelton and 3 of her comps!♡

4 - Dwight the Boot man

5 - classic elder way selfie

6 - apple picking IN THE RAIN!!

7 - fizzy candy! :)

a 93 year old burped in my comp's face! :)

Well hello there my beloved friends and family! How are things? Let me know, I'm pretty sure the world's low-key on fire, but I don't have access to the news. :) 

Anyways, Monday and Tuesday consisted of a lot of goodbyes. Campbell and I went and said goodbye to everybody, and then to each other once we got to the transfer spot. Turns out my new comp is Sister Regan Hansen, who is Hermana Coca's old companion, so we're really just switching comps! Hehe.

♡ O U R   P E O P L E : ♡

LORI: Lori was sick (kidney stones :( so we didn't get to meet with her this week). But we've rescheduled for tomorrow and are teaching her the first lesson finally!!

BETTY: What a sweet lady. She was obviously not doing well (being chronically ill for over 10 years, tends to do that to a person); but she still met with us. I asked her all the baptism interview questions without her knowing, and confirmed that there is actually no reason this women isn't a member of the church. She pretty much bore her testimony of the restored gospel to us for an hour and a half. This week we're going to teach her The Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson (aka the soft baptismal invite), and pretty much ask her why she won't get in the water. Will keep you updated.

ANTHONY: an absolute king. He started our lesson off by showing us that he memorized all the steps from the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson (for those of you that don't have PMG memorized, think the 4th article of faith). Then we taught him about the 10 commandments! We used the hand signals and he loved them, and remembered almost all of them! He's so excited to be baptized. If only he wasn't at his dad's every other weekend.

JAMIE: Anthony's older sister, age 11. We went over to have a new member lesson with Joann (The Law of Chastity, yay!) and she came up to me and told me she wanted to be baptized!!! I was like... "Sick, but we kind of have to teach you what the church believes in first." So we're now going to be teaching her too, now if Michael (14) can just get with the program! :) He will in time, we're homies, we've talked about Pokemon together. 

I actually started to map out the week to see what day we're looking at for Anthony and Jamie's baptism...and general conference is right where I need it not to be. :( Which is fine, it'll just be further out than I'd like. 

☆ F U N   T H I N G S : ☆

We once again had the privilege of going to Volleyball, and it was a grand old time. Sister Hansen invited some guy over Facebook like 30 minutes before, and he came!! AND we have a lesson set up with him this week! Say what? We'll have to hand him off the STLs because they cover the YSA, but still! :)

We went over to Delores, and had lunch with her (which is what we usually do before helping her "organize" her garage). We got Jalapeños, which was immaculate; and Delores asked us to get her a Jarritos (those Mexican sodas in a glass bottle, that are straight up burp juice). We got her one and while we were eating Sister Hansen asked Delores a question, and she turned and faced Sister Hansen, and let out the LOUDEST burp a 93-year-old women has ever released. Then just started answering the question, as if nothing had happened. I snorted but covered it like a cough, and Sister Hansen kept it together remarkably well (she told me after that she had to say a little prayer to keep composed). I love Delores.

We had stake conference this week! Which President and Sister Weekes drove down for, which was fun! And our new member Gary came! Gary is legit the best! I asked him about Stake Conference last night though, and he wasn't a fan! :) Below is the conversation Gary and us had, written as if a 5th grader was asked to make a screenplay:

"Hey Gary" -me

"Hey Shelton" - Gary 

"I saw you at stake conference, how was it?" - me

"Weird and confusing." - Gary

"Oh, well-" - Hansen

"Why did I even go?" - Gary

"Gary, you're a member of the stake, and-"-me

"We didn't even take the bread and the water." - Gary

He low-key had a point...but anywho...hope this week is amazing for all of you, by the next time I write you I'll be double digits on my month marks, so that's gross. 

Til next time,

Hermana Shelton

《 F O T O S : 》

1 - sad bye bye @ the transfer spot

2 - last sistrict picture :( (literally, they changed the districts this transfer)

3 - bye bye to my second born

4 - the worst cowboy boots I have ever seen

5 - bye bye to chaotic energy with Soeur Ruegner.

6 - cute little box o sunshine I received :) gracias Nelsons!♡

my child is running away from home??

Hello Everybody, 

I hope you're having a great labor day! Without any further ado, here's the transfer news:

I guess I'm a crap mom or something. Yet again I will be abandoning my half raised trainee. This time she's actually getting taken away......:( Our Zone Leaders delivered the message that Campbell will be leaving to Eugene tomorrow, and being comps with Hermana Coca. Small mission, I guess. I'll be staying in Klamath Falls 4th and getting a "Sister Hansen". There are two in the mission, and I got no specification; so we'll see who shows up I guess? Pretty much the whole zone is gone too; so goodbye to the Klamtucky I know I guess.:(

L E S S O N S : 

Lori: okay so after a YEAR AND A HALF of reading the BOM with missionaries. Lori has completed Moroni 10. Campbell and I knew that this was a great point for us to actually start to teach her lessons; and then Lori mentioned that she wanted to start reading D&C- which by the way, reading D&C with recent converts/new friends is not it-, and we said no. Campbell asked her what if we taught her the lessons her son got instead. And Lori LOVED that idea...she was so excited, almost as if missionaries have never mentioned that before...IDK that woman greatly confused me. 

Anthony: His ADHD- and being nine- showed a bit more this week then ever, and we had a bit of a rougher lesson; but he told us he'd be at church very firmly. AND he was!!! And not only was he BUT both of his siblings too!!! Say what, now if they'd just sit in during the lessons...don't worry we'll get there. :)

Betty: Our sweet Betty had been really sick this week, so we couldn't meet with her. Please keep her in your prayers.

Gary: I cannot express in words how much I love Gary. One of the sweetest human beings I've had the pleasure of meeting. He actually went up and bore his testimony this week! It was so sweet, and very "new to the gospel too." He got up there and saw Brother Nash was there - our 93 year old WML, who had COVID, not sure if I ever talked about that one...- and started having a conversation with him across the pulpit about Sister Nash's health. It was actually so sweet though! :) Gare-bear is a legend. 

O T R A S   C O S A S :

One of the Sisters' twin got married and was in a state of distress for like 36 hours, and bought four dresses online. I don't think I've ever met someone who believe in retail therapy quite like she does. It was incredible. I just sat there sending people on Messenger the "Because of Him" video (obviously), as she kept spending all her savings. 

THE SISTRICT:

Ruegner wanted to have a farewell lunch at our last district council of the transfer. She kind of appointed herself to make all the food, and then Campbell and I decided to celebrate her birthday that day, so that's how I convinced Ruegner to make the dinner for her own surprise party. It was pretty hype though! :) 

T H E  D O G  S H E L T E R :

I actually went to California this week! The Sisters that cover the Keno branch (which goes into Cali) asked us to come do some service with them. We helped our this british lady named Georgine, who bought an old church and the most ghetto house of all time (that's RIGHT by the church) and is making it into a dog shelter...? IDK none of it made sense to me. Her house legit house no flowering and some of the walls are only partly there...? Anyways that was an experience, and that church's energy was not right. Don't send your dogs there. 

W O O D   C H U C K I N G : 

We also moved some wood piled with the other sisters, we just loaded up the wood into a truck and then unloaded it at the new location. Anyway, while we were chucking wood Ruegner straight up broke a window on the shell of the truck. It really just shattered, the guy did not care at all, but Ruegner really did. She felt SO bad, and spent like 15 minutes sweeping it all up for him. 

4  A.M.   W A K E   U P   C A L L :

I was woken up in the pitch dark yesterday morning to Campbell saying, "Shelton, there was a pounding at our door, and now there's a man with a flashlight in our backyard." I apparently had slept through a lot, so I accessed the situation, and then said, "Well there's nothing we can do, so I'm just going to go back to sleep". I did not have time to feel scared I guess, anyways turns out it was the power company, because the whole streets power went out and they need us to move our car to get to our power box or something. IDK. 

TRANSFER NEWS:

As I thought, the Klamath Falls Zone has been blown apart. Practically no one is staying, Campbell and I had a lesson go long last night and showed up at 7:45 to the Sisters house, when we got there the ZLs were outside, they had just given the transfer news to the other Sisters and all four were crying. Then they told us ours and Campbell was crying, and it was total anarchy. RIP the Klam Fam. 

Anywho see y'all next week! Much much love from Klam-Tucky! 

Hermana Shelton

p.s. Sister Weeks (mission president's wife) took all the Sisters in the Zone to get Fro-Yo during interviews- because all of them but Campbell and I had been doing through it that transfer- and....it was quite the experience.

F O T O S :

1 - Photo Sis Weeks took, after the most awkward FRO-YO trip ever

2 - i speak facts only

3 - she was feeling 22

4 - RIP the Sistrict

5 - found a big chair, and sat in it