Meet the Mormons! Week 10

This week has been pretty good! We got to watch the movie Meet the Mormons it is coming out into theaters on October 11th. It was so good!! You should all definitely go and see it! I would tell you what it is about but I will make you go and see it yourself :) haha. I got to see Hermana Woodard twice this week! Once during the movie and the second time on Saturday at the women's conference. I loved women's conference, we got to the church at 430 and practiced our song. (the 22 hermanas in our stake put together the Efy medley in Spanish and we sang it) the first hour was eating dinner and the members worked on service..I had two dinners that night...Pork chops at a members house and then lasagna at the church. Then at 6 we had our own women's conference where we had people talk and share their testimony and we sang. Almost everyone in the room started crying. I have a video of it but I don't know if it will let me send it...it might be too big but i will try!! We got to watch conference in English which was awesome! During the last prayer the tv stopped working so we all just said amen. It was really funny. I loved how they said a lot on the temple but it's so sad because we can't go very often. I want to go to the temple so bad!! but we have to wait :( I loved president Uchtdorfs talk...like always. when they announced he was going to speaking everyone got so excited! I loved the little primary kids from Korea that sang. Oh so precious! Even the musical numbers from the choir were really good. I remembered last women's conference where we went to Chocolate moose after and got that really good dessert :) That was pretty awesome! Sorry you guys couldn't go to the church I hope the boys were good while you watched it! Did Avery like it?

 I can't wait to see pictures of them in their costumes!!! that is so cute!!! Yeah on Halloween we have to be in our apartments by 6 so we will probably play some games and decorate the inside of our apartment, hang out with the other hermanas and make treats and watch church movies :D and hang out in our onesies ;)

Oh I hardly ever eat lunch. sometimes my breakfast is just a piece of toast, but I try not to really eat in the morning,  1. I'm never really hungry 2. if I eat I won't be hungry later. But, I know it's not good to miss a meal so I try to eat a little something when I first get up.

I am so excited to watch conference!! Yeah it will be at the church not sure which one will show it in English. I am so glad that i can watch it in English. As much as i love Spanish i am not ready to watch general conference or anything int hat matter in Spanish. i would probably only get a few words here and there, maybe next fall conference haha :)

 

In your letter last week, I got a little confused—you talked about H*** and E***, Are they investigators or inactives?   If they’re investigators, how did you find them?  They are investigators. We found them at the English class. We showed them the restoration dvd the other day and they loved it!! They are so awesome! We had tried calling them about an hour before our lesson and they didn't answer the phone. About ten minutes later they called us back and said they didn't answer because they were reading the Book of Mormon! that was so awesome! they always have so many wonderful questions. I can't wait till I can actual help answer questions instead of just teaching some principles. :D Later you talked about E***, are both of his parents members? Yes they have become reactivated in the time that I have been here.  His baptism is coming up!  Must be exciting?  we are so excited! And so happy that we have them as our people to teach. The family is really awesome. E*** is so funny, we just need him to read his Book of Mormon! He is the silliest boy. 

I liked your answers last week to the questions I wrote you so you get the same questions this week:

What was the funniest thing that happened this week?Hermana Carbajal was really worried about our miles this week and we were trying to figure out where the church building was we were meeting at for the movie and we were asking our district leader  who then forwarded the text from the zone leader with the address and the city on the text as Sandy, Utah. Hermana Carbajal thought he had just sent it because he knew she was stressing about the miles, as a joke and so she wrote saying something along the lines of "Well I definitely don't have that many miles so looks like we can't go." and he replied "have faith, faith moves mountains" Then after laughing we replied with "well Texas Doesn't have any mountains so we can't have faith." and then the last thing he said was "looked like someone already used all the faith in Texas to move all the mountains" It was really funny but basically the zone leader had just for some reason put the wrong address on it. 

What was the most random thing that happened? um....a drunk guy we contacted kissed our hand. We shake peoples hand when we meet them (if they are guys, if they are women we do the hug and kiss on the cheek thing) It was awkward. After that we quickly said goodbye and left. 

What was the most spiritual thing that happened?.When we sang The efy medley in Spanish on Saturday. It was so amazing and the spirit was there. So many people came up to us and said it sounded like angels were singing with us. 

What was your happiest moment this week? When we met G*** who is J*** wife (who is a less active who wants to become active and get sealed in the temple) and we taught her for the first time this week and the whole lesson was really good and when we gave her a Book of Mormon she was really happy and gave us both a big hug. :D 

Tell me about the divisions (or whatever the heck they’re called) Where did you go, who were you with, what did you do?etc.  know me..tell me everything :)  We call them exchanges. So far I really am not a big fan of them because I would rather be in my own area and I almost had to miss teaching H*** and E*** but we met early since Hermana C and Koch were in the area and so I got to go. And they really are just kind of a pain. Yeah it's fun to get to know the other sisters but I'm still trying to get used to our area and the only reason we went on one is because we had gone to the mission office and had picked up the letters for that companionship and Hermana Koch really wanted her letters. If I have any funner exchanges I will let you know :)

On Thursday I had to teach a lesson by myself. We went out with one of the members and earlier that day while planning we had decided to share a scripture on faith and Hermana C had me choose the scripture and then I had to present it to the Hermana. Hermana C hardly said anything at all. The hermana was so proud of me with my Spanish and when we were asking who would say the closing prayer she told Hermana Carbajal to since she had made me teach the lesson by myself. 

So guess what?? I am going to start teaching piano to one of the hermanas in our ward. I love her kids so much. She has four kids and they remind me of my siblings. They are so crazy! One of them is a month older than Cole. She has a son named L*** and i love him so much, he always comes up and hugs us and the other day he came up and hugged me and said "thank you so much for being willing to teach us the piano I'm so grateful!" aww!! He is the sweetest most loving boy. They are probably my favorite family so far in the ward. 

It's really fun meeting people from all of the world. i have met people from Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and so many other places. It's so much fun to find out where people are from!

Love you!!!!

We found a big chair at the mall last Monday :D it is huge!!

These are the two other Hermanas in our district. The reddish hair is Hermana Hill and the dark hair is Hermana Fitzgerald

After we were done with our district meeting we made lunch. Hermana Hill's mom went to France and sent her this sauce stuff and so we made pasta! It was really good :)

Beautiful Texas Sky

Our Car

Us with hermana C's old companion and her companion. Don't remember their names...

Hermana Woodard and I!

A few more pictures

 Shalyn and her companion bought animal onesies...."P-Day Eve: Animal onesies, Blue Bell Ice cream, and The Testaments.  Comp unity at its finest."

 

Courage--Shalyn wanted this to be shared.

Food---It's never ending!

My week was pretty good :) Still loving every second that I have here. I got your packages on Tuesday!  Thank you for all that you do mommy!!! I also got your card with the subway gift card, thank you mommy you are so sweet! and I loved the story that you put with the card. I LOVE YOU!!!

Yeah that is the Sapps, a Senior couple missionary (I got an email from someone in Houston this week with a picture of Shalyn and her companion). They came over because Hermana Carbajal wanted to introduce them to me and then she wanted both of us to get a blessing from him just for our missions, since I am just starting mine and she is half way though. I hadn't had time to get ready that morning because we were trying to clean up a little more for them, I was just about to finish getting ready because we thought we had a half hour but they came early. They are so sweet. I loved being able to meet them and hear their stories and their insight on things. Before each blessing we said a prayer and before we prayed sister Sapp shared her insight on blessings. Even though it has no back up in the scriptures she believes that when we lived in the pre-mortal life with heavenly father, before we came to earth God gave us instructions for things we need to do in the life. But then we went through the veil and we forgot those instructions. When we receive blessings she believes that it is bits and pieces of those instructions that he gave us. I thought that the way she thinks of blessings is so amazing. I agree. I would love to think that blessings are the instructions that God gave us for this life.  The blessing he gave me was really kind of surprising. Hermana Carbajal always writes down her blessings and so we wrote each others blessings. Just the main points. I want to share some of them with you. 

The Texas Houston mission will never forget me and the work that I do. 

I have the knowledge/wisdom for family history and I will help people in my mission and after my mission. As long as I pray before I start to do family history God will be able to help me. And when I go to the temple to do their work or help people do their work I will feel their happiness and I will meet and greet these people in the Celestial kingdom. 

This mission is just the start to the service that I will do. And I will always be an instrument in Gods hand. 

Those were just the few main points that were given in my blessing. I have a job to do here and I can not wait to learn how to do family history more and be able to be a light and help people do their family work. 

How’s the work going in Texas? It's pretty great here! We have been finding people to talk to. We didn't have any new investigators this week but we had another great lesson with H*** and E****. they were not able to come to church on sunday but they said they really want to next week. And, they want us to start teaching them the hymns so they can sing a long as well. They read all the testimonies at the beginning of the book of mormon and had everything marked up. And they had so many great questions! They are so excited to be learning! We are teaching them again tomorrow and I can not wait!!! They are the people I am probably most excited for right now because I have been here for lesson 1 and so I feel they are more mine. The baptism we have coming up is for their 9 year old son. Well his whole family is now active again! They all came to church on sunday for the third time! We are so happy that this family is becoming closer and hopefully they will once again have the desire to be sealed in the temple. After E*** gets baptized we want to take a trip to the temple and walk around the grounds and talk about families and how they can be sealed forever.  I helped teach a lesson for the first time on Tuesday. It was the restoration and we broke it into parts and I did really good for a while but then I got stuck but hermana carbajal was supportive and took over. Before she was able to go on the family asked how long I had been speaking spanish and we told them almost two months and they were so surprised and they told me how well I was doing. We are mainly teaching the kids but we hope that the mom and the grandma will start taking the lessons officially. They have been with us for two of the lessons so far. Hopefully we will bring this family closer as well. 

Hermana Carbajal has been having me have more parts in teaching. Sometimes it is difficult because i psych myself out with Spanish but i can at least share my testimony and teach some principle. So on Wednesday we did LDS.org time (we get a little time each week to go onto lds.org) and that morning we had been a little late doing everything and so we were a little behind what we had planned for the day. But we had said that we wanted to go see C*** and see if he still lived in that apartment because he said something about moving but we weren't sure. But, since we were late we almost didn't go but I suggested "let's just go see him." We went and it was the most perfect timing. We met his mom, we saw him and they told us they were moving apartments. They were still going to be in the same complex of apartments but just a different one. After we left Hermana Carbajal was so happy and told me how happy she was that I followed the spirit because if we hadn't gone we would have never know they had moved or where they had moved to. 

The dinner appointments are good...but I am starting to really hate food!! I am so grateful that these people in our ward are willing to serve us but we are not elephants...I am so surprised I didn't get sick last night. Every dinner appointment they always ask if we want more. And we don't want to be rude so we say yes. Almost every night I feel so full. I am still full from last night. I couldn't even finish it.  Sometimes I try to eat really slow so that they won't ask me if I want more but with out fail when I am almost done they ask me if I want more. Ugh so much food! I am so grateful for them but I just want one time where I can just eat one plate of food!  They are all amazing. Last night we had purpusos. Not sure how to spell it. We got to help make them. There is always a lot of meat. We had a different kind of meat loaf this week that had carrots and peas and it was turkey instead of beef but it was pretty good.  Some things are still really hot but I have been putting salsa on my food when it is offered so that i can start building up a better tolerance for it.   Almost everyone speaks a  little bit of English. But it's normally not very much. Sometimes they will say something to me in English and i feel so bad but hermana Carbajal says it's just because they want to help me understand them when they are talking.

 Las clases de ingles son cada miercoes y  jueves a las siete en la noche. Las clases son gratis y por todas las personas in la comunidad. haha the english classes are every wednesday and thursday at seven. They are free and for all the people in the community. We have teachers that teach it but we go and support them and we have investigators that go to the classes and so we are able to talk with them after. Sometimes we have up to like 20 people show up but it just depends. It's mainly just an English class but they use some of the same things that they use for the missionaries when they are learning a new language. While going to these classes I am realizing how weird the English language is and all the words that sound the same. So many of the people that go start talking really well. They always have a prayer at the beginning and the end and they ask them to say it in English. Last week they learned about Family home evening and then they learned about things in school. 

 I am pretty sure I will be with her for at least 13 weeks but I am not sure. Haven't learned much about transfers yet or how long I will be in different places. I think it just depends. 

For Halloween we'll probably just do our work until we have to go home, I think we have to be in early that night. But not sure. We will probably just work and maybe watch a church video but we haven't talked about it so I don't know what will happen. 

Our area didn't do anything (Mexican Holiday last Monday). But hermana Carbajal's last area had a huge party I guess. She was mad she missed it. Yeah it's their independence day. but they didn't do anything down here...that we saw at least.  

My ward is pretty good, I played the piano in sacrament meeting and in relief society. Of course in relief society I had to play true to the faith :P but God was with me and he helped me to be able to play it with out making it a huge disaster.  In sacrament meeting We had two homecoming missionaries give their talks. On Saturday one of them had a party and we went and I played the piano while our district sang a hymn. Our ward is at 9.  

Are you still loving the Texas heat? Yes I love it!! This week we had a couple big rainstorms. I think it was Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

Each week we send him an email and I think it is like every other transfer we have a meeting with him but I am not sure (when asked about contact with her Mission President). It's ok I still have no clue about half the things in my mission either. We have district meeting every Friday and so far we have not had anything with our zone. But there is a contest each month to see which zone will get to do a zone activity. There are a lot of things that play into it like the miles on our car, keeping our apartment clean and other things like that.

Sometimes we go and walk around but sometimes we just sit in our apartment and I will read a new era and stretch. The missionaries who used to live in our building lost the key to the gym  and there are always people in there and not a lot of equipment so we have only gone there once i think (response to being asked about exercise).  

That is a great place to be reading :) (The kids and I just finished reading Mosiah and have started Alma)

 When I study I mainly am doing the lessons, and trying to find scriptures and other things for them. most of this week I was studying the restoration. I wish I had more time just to do my own study...I mean we only study 4 hours every day...haha but those studies are all focused on our investigators. 

What was the funniest thing that happened this week? um...I bought a zebra onesie...:)

What was the most random thing that happened? we went to a birthday party and taught a FHE lesson at the birthday party :)

What was the most spiritual thing that happened? We had a lesson with J***, but we also had the English sisters who covered that area with us. They had stopped at his house before we got to him and he told them that he wasn't interested but then a few days later we came and he was so excited to learn more about our message. It was raining so hard. His wife wasn't home so we couldn't go inside and so we sat outside under his patio and it was so hard to hear and he kept inviting us inside and we told him we couldn't and the rain stopped for a little and when we started teaching about the Book of Mormon and Christ it started raining really hard again. Even though we had the adversary fighting against us because we followed the rules the spirit was so strong.

What was your happiest moment this week? teaching H and E!!!! :D :D

Thank you for the pictures! I love them!! I know it is so crazy that I am almost at 2 months. I feel like I have been here a long time but at the same time I feel like I was saying I was at 1 month not to long ago. It's so exciting! 

yo se que jesucristo es el hijo de dios y nuestro salvador. yo se que dios es nuestro padre celestial. Dios nos envio a la tierra para aprender, preoresar y obtener eperiencia. Yo se que a traves de jose smith dios restauro su eveangelio. Un profeta viviente dirige la iglesia en la actualidad. Yo se que el libro de mormon contiene la palabra de dios y el libro de mormon es evidencia del amor de dios por sus hijos. La fe ayudame a enfrentar los desafios de la vida. el evangelio de jesucristo es verdadero. Se que esto es verdad. Al entir el espiritu santo. Este conocimiento me ayuda cuando necesito consuelo. Gracias a este testimonio puedo confiar en dios y superar desafios. Estoy agredecido por el amor de nuestro padre celetial. Le estoy agradecido a mi pare celestial por sus bendicones. Amo a jesucristo y a mi padre celestial. Decio estas cosas en el nombre de jesucristo. amen. 

It says:

I know that Jesus Christ is the son of God and our Savior. I know that God is our Heavenly Father. God sent us to the earth to learn, progress and obtain experience. I know that through Joseph Smith God restored the gospel. A living prophet directs the church today. I know that the Book of Mormon contains the word of God and that the book of Mormon is evidence of the love God has for His children. Faith helps me to face the challenges of this life. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I know it is true  by feeling the holy ghost. This knowledge helps me when I need comfort. Thanks to this testimony I can trust in God and overcome challenges. I am greateful for the love of our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and his blessings. I love Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Hummingbird!

This is W***. He is one of the recent converts and he made us flower pens.

My Zebra Onesie

"Our onesies"

At the Birthday Party

Pictures!

I received these pictures of her arrival in Houston in the mail today!

Shalyn and her mission president, President Mortensen and his wife

All the brand new missionaries

Brand new missionaries with President and sister Mortensen

Hermana Medeiros

Miracles are happening!

This week has been pretty great. So many miracles and my companion and I have been working hard. The normal goal for contacting and referrals is 175 a week or 25 a day well this week for referrals we got 175 and then for contacting we got 191!! We got 36 just yesterday!! We totally kicked butt she told me that she has never gotten 175 before on her mission. When we do our nightly planning she always asks me what I think our numbers should be and it used to always be oh lets just get 25 but the past week I have been saying 27 or 30. Our goal for this week is to get 200 contacts and referrals. We have 9 new investigators! 1 reactivation! 1 person with a baptism date. He is nine and his dad is the reactivation that we have this week. He will be getting baptized on October 11th. We are so excited! We hope that we can help the mom become active again and that they will be able to get sealed as a family one day. 

We had a lot of miracles this week and the first two were with English speakers. On Wednesday we had exchanges and so our STL (sister training leader) came with us and we went around these trailer parks and after we had talked to some people we found these English speaking guys outside and so we talked with them for a little bit and when we asked them if they knew anyone who could benefit from learning more about Jesus they pointed to a trailer that was a couple down from theirs. We thanked them and left. With out saying anything we all walked towards that trailer even though we had planned on leaving because we had appointment in 20 minutes but we all just walked to the trailer and this guy opened up. He let us in after telling us that his wife was home. (he spoke English as well) But we sat down with him and started talking with him. He was golden. We shared some scriptures and we talked about the book of Mormon. This guy was smart he knew so many things about religion. We ended up giving him a Spanish and English book of Mormon and when we were promising blessings about reading he started to cry. He asked us "so do I call myself Mormon now" we laughed and told him if he wanted. Hopefully we will go visit him this week and teach him an actual lesson and then the next lesson if he agrees to it we will be doing a hand off where we give him to English speaking missionaries. But we will still visit him.

Then the other day we went to the dollar tree to find a birthday present for Edgar (the one getting baptized) and we started talking to this couple. (Hermana Carbajal had me start the conversation with them. You can imagine how scary that was) but we talked with them for so long and they are so golden too!!! they don't go out and party, smoke, or drink, they raise their kids on good principles and values. They even told us they would love it if we came and talked to them sometime. We talked in the middle of an aisle at the dollar store for about 40 minutes. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing. I hope we go visit them this week!

So we also finally had a few Spanish speaking miracles.

We were at the lavandaria where people wash their clothes and we started talking to this guy and he knew so much too, while he was talking and answering the questions that we had for him I was feeling the spirit. I didn't talk a lot because I really didn't understand much of what he was saying but the spirit was strong. We have his address and phone number and he told us he wants us to come talk to him sometime. :)

The next one is with a less active. it was my first time visiting him and Hermana carbajal said that they really don't care or know anything about the gospel. We taught him OLA orar, leer las escrituras y asistir la iglesia (pray, read the scriptures, and attend church) We had him say the closing prayer and he prayed that we would keep coming back to teach him again. We got him to commit to coming to church on Sunday with his son. Hopefully this time he will want to start coming back to church. :)

We then started teaching two new investigadores. Last night we taught them about the restoration and they were just soaking it all in. They were so interested. The spirit was so strong and I knew they felt it too. We left our extra book of Mormons in the car and so we told them we would be right back. We got them and the wife ran down the stairs to get the books. She was so excited! That lesson was amazing.

I am so grateful for all the miracles that we have had. Sometimes it is difficult because I really can't understand people and its really frustrating not being able to express myself the way I want to. Hermana Carbajal keeps reassuring me, I know I will learn it, I know it will come but its just frustrating not being able to communicate with people. Sometimes I feel like an awkward teenager. One that doesn't know how to talk to people. It will come, I know I just need to work hard and trust in god and it will come.

Yesterday at church I played the piano in relief society and then I got asked to play in sacrament meeting next Sunday. None of the other missionaries play the piano so I will probably be playing in some way each Sunday.

I am so tired by the end of each day. Trying to concentrate on Spanish and trying to understand it takes a lot of brain power. I just need to keep working and I know it will come soon. Its only my second week, I don't expect myself to be fluent but like I said its just frustrating not being able to express myself.

I love being here in Texas and serving the lord. Our STL said to me while we were planning she just looked up and said "God loves you" then she paused and looked at me "he really does and this place is being blessed because you decided to serve" I am so thankful for her. Our STL is really amazing.

I love working hard. It is so much fun. I just want to keep pushing myself in any way possible. I love setting goals higher than normal and trying to do all I can to make those goals happen.

I am glad that you guys got the package :) and I am glad you all liked the things in it. Yeah some of the messages didn't come through till later and then I didn't even get some until I opened up my email today. that stinks that emails are so slow on Mondays. I want to be able to talk to you :)

Oh man I hope ava is ok! Tell her I am sorry that my bike was so mean to her! :(  (Avery has been riding Shalyn's bike and had a nasty fall this week)

It's definitely a blessing that you don't work right now. That way you can be there for them when they were hurt.

Haha that is so cool that he travels here all the time for work! We will have to go check it out sometime (Pappacito's Cantina--recommended by a man in our ward who travels to Houston regularly for work)! It's cool one of our less actives works at chick fil-a or how ever you spell it and he gives us free meals when we come in :) The grilled chicken sandwich is so good! It's so nice of him to give us free food :)

​YAY!! I am still in the newspaper!! That is awesome!!! :)

Mom-it's going pretty good, sometimes it's hard to find the Hispanic people to teach but we are finding them slowly. :) it is definitely a blessing. 

We are trying to talk to this guys wife, he is a less active but wants to come back to church and she isn't a member and they already have it as a goal to be sealed int he temple! But they keep having to reschedule ugh!!!!!! we just want to meet her and teach her so they can be sealed! WE should maybe..hopefully have another bap date soon. 

We are teaching another 9 year old girl and we just need to figure out what is up with her dad and get him to talk to the bishop and set up a date and then we will have another one!! Everyone we teach is really nice. I feel bad that I really can't help out much in the lessons but soon I will be able to. I have one thing down. When we tell people about our English class I always say what day it is, and all the other stuff. So I have one thing memorized to say to people when contacting :) Now just have to work on the other part that we are missionaries and want to teach the gospel. ​

Our ward has a lot of people but I think a lot are inactive. It was interesting going. I didn't understand anything and then we had ward counsel afterwards and so for about 6 hours it was just nothing but Spanish and I was only picking up a few words here and there, my brain was tired after those hours. it was nice to hear English again after all of that. 

All the dinner appointments are good, so far we haven't been served anything nasty or weird. I have liked everything but I feel really bad because I have been trying all the salsas no matter how hot and one of them was really hot and the lady we were eating with kept apologizing and told me that next time it wouldn't be spicy and she told me to go eat tums or what ever they are called. I kept trying to tell her that it was fine and that I liked it. On Sunday she came up to me and asked me how my stomach was and I had to reassure her again telling her I was fine and that I liked it, it was just a little hot. Yeah while I am here I am trying to get used to spicy food so I have been putting salsa on a lot of things when it is offered.

 My Spanish is coming a lot. Hermana carbajal says it is really good but I can' wait till I can understand what people are saying. Yeah she told me she was going to send a shout out :) I don't drive at all thank goodness. She does all the driving :) I just help her out by setting the GPS when we don't know where we are going. we are going to hang out with some other sisters today :) last week we found a SWEET TOMATOES and we ate lunch there! It was so good!! I miss sweet tomatoes.

First letter!

My Companion did my hair

Me on Sunday before church

"We got fake nails from the dollar store and did our nails :)"

"We came back and we had this message on our porch"

"This dog barked at us for 10 minutes"

Howdy y'all

Hey mommy!!! Here I am in good old Texas. I love the weather, especially in the morning and at night. We have gone on a few walks in the morning and it is not freezing cold like it is in Mexico and in Utah. Its warm and it feels soooo good. It gets pretty hot but i enjoy it...you know me :) I love the hot and hate the cold. 

It is gorgeous here in the woodlands. It is basically what it is called. The woodlands is just like a big forest with a ton of trees. And yes there are houses that are HUGE. It is so pretty though. When Hermana Carbajal found out I was from Spanish fork she started freaking out saying that that is where her trainer was from and then I said well I know a girl in my stake just got home and she was here and then we pieced it together that she was the same person. It's pretty awesome :) I love hermana Carbajal she is so patient and supportive. She is 27 and she taught gymnastics, kindergarten, and preschool before she came out on the mission. She helps me so much. Her mom is from Honduras and I think her dad's family is from Spain. So she knows a lot of Spanish, she nicely corrects me when I say something wrong and she is always telling me how good I am doing when I speak in Spanish. I have a lot to learn. I am really struggling to learn the tenses and all the many different conjugations and irregular verbs but she told me the best way is just to talk and listen to how people speak. 

The real missionary work is good. But it is crazy to think that these are real people and not the fake investigators from the CCM. These are real people with real lives and with real problems. We get up in the morning, exercise, get ready and then we have personal study, comp study, and then language study and then another companionship study. Then we have lunch and then go out to our appointments and contacting people. We have a few lessons every day and we have a dinner appointment every night. Most of the time they mainly talk to Hermana Carbajal and I just listen quietly trying to learn spanish but the other night we had a dinner appointment and she talked to me  A LOT!! Also at stake conference during the adult session we were talking to a bunch of people afterwards and I think it was our bishop and his wife who started talking to me and then hermana Carbajal went and started talking to someone else. The bishop spoke some English to me but his wife kept talking to me in spanish and I was really only catching a few words but I was able to put the sentences together and gather up the Spanish I know and reply. The one thing that has taken a while to get used to is that fact that when you meet someone or see anyone you give them a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I am still trying to get used to it but I do it like a million times every day so I will get used to it soon. Our goal is to contact 25 people a day.  Yesterday we kicked butt and stalked people in the parking lot because we needed to find people and we got about 25 in a half hour. Unreal. We live in an aparment complex. It is just the two of us. When we got to the apartment she had decorated my desk and put a paper banner up that she had made welcoming me to the apartment. She is really awesome we get a long really good and I am learning a lot. My real address (for letters) is 26325 northgate crossing blvd #1621 Spring, TX 77373 They said they would rather have letters sent to this address and other mail sent to the mission home. Yes I am pretty sure all my boxes made it. Thank you so much for the greenie package. I loved it :) very cute and I am sending your email address to my companions so that they can thank you as well. That was really sweet of you. I love you mommy :)

I'm sorry our talk was so short I had also been crying, well I was trying not to cry because I really wanted to talk to you but I didn't want to have to wander around trying to find a calling card and then not have any time. I was so thankful hermana Haslam and I found that couple to let us use their phone. As soon as I heard you I couldn't hold it back anymore and just started sobbing. There was so much I wanted to say but I couldn't think of anything I was just so happy that I got to call you. Just hearing your voice was really nice. I miss being able to talk to you every day. We ended up giving that couple a book of Mormon at the airport,. They wouldn't accept our pesos which we tried to give to them saying we had no need of them anymore and so we decided to give them a book of Mormon as a way to say thanks. I loved hearing Tate's little Hello that he does. He is such a sweet heart. I was sad I didn't get to talk to the to the other kids. We left late, got stuck in traffic and then getting everyone through checking in luggage and security took forever. And then we couldn't find our gate and then when we did, they changed where our gate was. But those five minutes where so special to me to be able to talk to you. 

When we were at the airport and when we had all of our luggage we were walking towards the door and we saw the president and his wife standing just outside of it. Some girls started crying but we all ran to the door with our trolleys of luggage.  Before we got to their house (mission president's) on wednesday night we stopped at a church and had some snacks and then learned about somethings. Then they told us that there were pillows in the chappel and that we could all go and take a  30 minute power nap. So we all laid on the pews and fell asleep for a little while. It was really nice to be able to fall asleep. That morning and been so stressful and I was so tired. After that we went to the president's house and had dinner and talked about the mission and had interviews with the president. I love them, they are really nice. At the hotel there were two of us to a room, I went with hermana Provost. On thursday we had breakfast at the presidents house, finished interviews and took pictures of the group, and single pictures, and pictures with the president. Then we got into the van and drove to the church where all the trainers were meeting us. We were all so timid getting out of the car and walking towards them. We had a big devotional and then us newbies went into the other room to learn about some of the things that we were going to be doing while on a mission and the trainers got a training session. Then we met back together and the trainers would come up and introduce themselves and then president would say who they would be training. The girls all hugged each other when meeting their new companion and the boys did a dramatic hug and it was so funny. Hermana Carbajal has an amazaing voice. She studied opera for a few years a while ago. She says she can't do it now but she used to be able to. Hermana Woodard is serving in my stake. I saw her at stake conference and she ran up and hugged me. Her companion hardly knows any english and so she was really happy to see me. We talked for a while before and after and then again on Sunday. I don't remember where hermana haslam is but I think it is kind of far away. 

We use the computers in the library because the computers at the apartment complex office don't work all the time. It was a pain trying to find a spot to park. But we found one and here I am :) We are going to go to the post office so I can mail the package that I have for you guys. I wanted to buy you this chocolate candy bar called bueno bars that are so good but they would have melted the first ten minutes. But there is other candy for you guys and a few other things. I wrote about them in the letter I put in the package. Then we will go grocery shopping to get more food and then we are going to explore and walk around the mall or something apparently nordstrom just opened and so she wants to go check it out. We are going to hang out with some other sister missionaries as well. It's so different compared to other p days at the CCM. Then after 6 we will be contacting and teaching a few lessons and having another dinner appointment. So far I haven't had anything bizarre or too spicy. A few things are pretty spicy but I have been able to handle it pretty well.

I am so glad that you were able to go to the temple. I really miss the temple. The one here is closed all of September and so I will have to wait till next transfer to be able to go. I miss it!!! Keep going to the temple I know that it will bless you :) :)

So on Friday hermana Carbajal was really tired and so we went home and she took a small nap. We then went over the apartment complex called imperial chase and we were going to go visit someone who lived there. He wasn't home so we walked over to the next door and we met this 15 year old.  We talked with him and he said his parents are catholic and if they had opened the door they would not want to listen but he is wanting to know more about everything and so we stood on his porch and hermana Carbajal talked about the restoration and we ended up giving him a book of Mormon! I could tell that he felt something and I really hope he reads it. But he is leaving for Mexico on Wednesday and doesn't know when he will be back so I don't know when or if we will ever see him again but we planted the seed!! He gave us a hug when we were leaving it was kind of weird but we didn't want to offend him so we let him. He was so awesome. Then we left his house and we were walking through the apartment complex and this little girl came up to us and asked if we were Jehovah witnesses. We said no and she said her mom wanted to talk to us so she went and got her and we talked with the mom for a few minutes and we got down her information so that we can go and visit her sometime. We then walked over by some stores and we met this lady named Yolanda. Oh my gosh she is so amazing. She says she already has Christ in her life. She is a praising dancer and a gospel singer but we talked to her for a long time and she shared with us her struggles but she has so much faith in Christ. She is so strong and she has been through so many things we don't know how she does it. But she trust in God and has such great faith that everything is for good and that God is leading her to something better. She sang to us one of her gospel songs..which was really interesting to be sung to outside but man if she would just be willing to listen to the lessons and feel the spirit and know that it is true she would make a fantastic member of the church. She would be able to do so much good with the faith that she has. 

If we hadn't had gone home and rested then we would not have met any of these people. It was a great experience. 

So far while being here everyone we talk to is really nice haven't been harshly rejected by anyone. 

I love this gospel with all my heart and I know that it is true. I am so thankful for the things I have been able to learn and for the ability to learn Spanish. I know that God will help me as long as I put my faith in him and trust in him and work as hard as I can. I know that this gospel is true and that Christ lives. I am so grateful for the small and tender mercies that I have noticed in my life and in the lives of others. I am so grateful to be here serving a mission. Something I never thought I would do. But I am so grateful to be here and to be able to help be an influence in the lives of others. I love it here and I love the people and I know that this is where I am meant to be. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

 

Flight from Mexico City to Houston

Flight from Mexico City to Houston

Flight from Mexico City to Houston

Arriving in Houston

 

Coming out of Customs in Houston

All the brand new Texas, Houston Missionaries with President and Sister Mortensen

Dinner their first night in Texas

Trio

The trio saying goodbye to each other

Shalyn and her new companion, Hermana Carbajal

Shalyn and her new companion, Hermana Carbajal

Necklace Hermana Carbajal gave her

Last email day at the CCM!!!

Mommy!! 

I think that it is so interesting that we get to stay in a hotel, I wonder how that works (The first night she arrives in Houston all the sister missionaries will be spending the night in a hotel). Thank you so much for sending my stuff to me...I hope it wasn´t too much of a problem (I mailed her 4 packages that will be waiting for her in Houston.  About 45lbs worth of stuff). I will make sure I don´t throw those away (Space saver bags) :) Oh oops my jean skirt probably was on the floor before I got it to a box and was quickly putting things away trying to get everything done. Yeah you can take it out but yes the plastic bags should be di stuff and I think I have a box too unless I accidentally took those down stairs. 

It was pretty hard to say good bye to everyone. I don´t think anyone cried. We were pretty close, I wish I had gotten to know some people better but it's hard as a missionary haha. On Sunday night after the videos we said goodbye to Riding, Hickman, Niblett, Boulton and McArthur. So on Monday we still had Maher and Andrews. After lunch we said goodbye to Maher. Andrews went with another district that was in our zone. And we went with them for class time. While we were working on Tall We said good bye to Elder Andrews. It was pretty sad when we woke up this morning and realized we were alone. This morning two girls from our house left and now there are only five of us left in our casa and the other two leave at 230 tomorrow morning and we don´t leave until 630 so we will be alone again :( but its really exciting that we get to go to Houston tomorrow!! In 24 hours I will be there! Things were ok with the trio we had plenty of good times this week. We are still pretty close but I am so excited to have new experiences.

Elder Hickman is so funny. He probably had the best humor our of everyone in our district. The things he would say during class sometimes....and the things he would do...we would all die and just start laughing. 

I have some cash that I am going to exchange into pesos in a little bit so that I can get a few last things. I spent most my pesos at the Temple when we went. I think after emailing we are going to all go exchange some money. But yeah I will buy a calling card at the airport and then if i can call you tomorrow from the airport. :) I can´t wait to talk to you!!!!!

We leave at 630 am!! We are the last group to leave. There is one sister and one elder who I have not met yet who are also going to Houston. I can´t wait to meet them!! I am basically all packed. I haven´t weighed anything yet. At the reception desk they have a couple suitcase scales so that we can weigh things here. It´s so nice but it´s going to be a pain going back and forth so many times to make sure they are all under the weight. Our carry on can only weight 22 pounds. I am hoping all my bags are under the limit but we will have to see. I will probably have to rearrange things again but I just hope it isn´t a pain like it was when I was packing to come to the CCM. Thanks for reminding me about the receipt. I will make sure that I keep that with me :) 

The donuts were so good. I mainly shared with the hermanas because on Friday when I got them it was the last day before the weekend that the store was open so all the elders went and spent 100 or more pesos on just buying candy so none of them really wanted any. Just finished the donuts today. mmmm Thank you so much for the yummy treats that you sent me!! The box was really interesting like Elder Hickman said... I will attach pictures so you can see. And on the side it takes the Lord's name in vain...of course Elder Hickman would notice that and point it out to me...haha :) 

I am so glad you guys got new home teachers :) That's so crazy that he comes home in May, I feel like he just left (She's talking about her good friend Benson who is serving in Japan). That's so cool that Mckay (Benson's brother) is wanting to go right out of high school. That family is awesome (Wood family) :) 

I feel so sad for the kids...I can´t even imagine. We watched a video that had Elder L Tom Perry from a few years ago and I just felt so sad because I thought about Estee and how there are now six sweet sweet kids that don´t have their mom. Thank goodness for the plan of salvation and that we can live with our families forever but when you are that young it's so hard. It´s so sad. (Last year at college, Shalyn worked for Elder Perry's granddaughter, Estee and her family who was nearing the end of her battle with cancer.  She passed away on 8/21.)

Ahh!!! Haha that is so cool that he got his mission call and is going Spanish speaking, I will have to email him. Is he going to go to the CCM when he leaves in January (talking about her friend Kaleb who just received his call to Massachusetts Boston mission)? Oo Elder Andrews is going to Honduras and a bunch of elders from another district were going to Honduras as well (Talking about another friend who leaves in a few weeks for his mission to Honduras). 

Anyways lets see this week was pretty good. Our whole district got really frustrated with the language I think on Wednesday. We all just kind of shut down. There are so many tenses and different times that you use them and we were all stressing out and we didn´t know how we could ever learn the ones we need to know. There are 27 tenses in Spanish but only the really smart people use all of them. And apparently there are 25 different tenses in English. Our minds were all blown. Our teacher told us to close our books and to just relax. He told us some inspirational stories from his mission and then we were able to study on our own. Before class ended he told us all to come outside and he gave us all a really tiny mustard seed and tape for us to put in our bibles. I asked for two so I could have one in my Spanish bible and one in my English. With faith the size of a mustard seed we can do anything. Then it was really nice because the next day Alvarez instead of teaching us a form of subjunctive none of us were really understanding it so he went through the three...or four forms of it and explained each one to us. We all were able to grasp the ideas better. There are so many tenses that I can´t even keep them straight anymore. Sometimes I even have to really think about how to conjugate in the present form which is the easiest!! Oh well as I keep working I know I will learn it. I keep hoping that maybe I'll get a native speaker as my trainer so that I am forced to speak Spanish more and then I really can get help with my pronunciation and grammar.  

We got to teach different people who weren´t our teachers. It was so different. They invited their friends to come and we could teach them. We got to skype with someone. It was so hard to understand what he was saying because he was breathing into the microphone but he would still be talking. I didn´t understand like half of what he was saying. We felt that he could have taught us more than what we tried to teach him. it was a good experience though. I really need to work harder so I can get this language. I know it will take time but there is just so much to learn!

So Hermana Boulton´s mom sent a package for our teacher hermano Alvarez because his wife is pregnant. We got the package on Thursday and left it on his desk and he was so happy. I took pictures and his face was just so happy. It was filled with so many clothes. We didn´t know if it was a girl or a boy until the next day. He is having a girl!!! We also got to meet his wife and we taught them..all ten of us taught one lesson. It was really bad because we had two guys who were being immature and wanted to change the lesson when we only have five minutes left to plan. They didn´t realize that we will all have our own opinions and we can´t always do what we want. The lesson kept changing directions so I didn´t really say much but I said the closing prayer. His wife is so cute they are perfect for each other. And they are so cute together!!  It was so different to see him as a husband when we really haven´t seen him as anything but a teacher and an investigator. 

We had a ton of meetings on Friday preparing us for the things that we will be doing out in the field.  The power went out Friday night. It was out till we were in bed and then it came back on but it kept going off all night. I stayed asleep but my two companions were awake a lot of the night. Every time the power came back on hermana woodard would reset the alarm. She turned her fan on so that when ever the power came back on her fan would turn on and she would wake up. I was just glad I was able to sleep the whole time. 

Our last Sunday was pretty fantastic. It was really sad knowing it was the last time we were going to be here for a Sunday. The devotionals and classes were all great and one of the devotionals about prayer was exactly what I needed. we got to watch two videos. One on John Taylor and the other one about the Savior. After all the newer people left all of us leaving this week had a testimony meeting. Not everyone got to share but it was so amazing to hear all the testimonies of everyone. Especially from Elder Maher from our district because at the beginning of these six weeks he told us he was here purely out of duty and didn't have a testimony. But he got up and shared how his testimony has grown these past few weeks and that he now knows all of this is true. It was so amazing to see him change. 

It´s my last day here!!!!! Tomorrow I will be in Houston!!!!

Estoy muy nerviosa

Best Ice Cream Bars Ever!!!

"It reminds me of a symphony bar--the ones with toffee and almonds"

The gift for Hermano Alvarez

Hermano Alvarez

Krispy Kreme donuts!

Studying by flashlight when the power was out

Our District with Hermano Hernandez

Trio with Hermano Hernandez

Hermano Daniel Villanueva taking a selfie with us

A real picture with Hermano Villaneuva

Two of my teachers and I (Hermanos Hernandez and Villaneuva)

Two of my teachers and I (Hermanos Hernandez and Villaneuva)

Our branch with the last two districts standing...we lost half our branch last week

Our branch with the last two districts standing...we lsot half our branch last week

The most American meal we got

Our salsa shots...haha we do these with all the salsas. My mouth still burns and they love my reaction when its really hot

Trio with Hermano Alverez

Last two Elders with Shalyn

Trio with Elder Andrews

Trio with Elder Maher

"Us being us once everyone left for lunch"

Nap time for the Trio

Night time at the CCM

Special message for Avery, Zane, Cole, and Tate