Week 27

How was missionary life this past week?  It's been good, just been working hard trying to help all the people in oak crest crecer en su fe :) grow in their faith. y a veces esta frusterando cuando las personas no hacer las cosas que les queremos a hacer pero necesito confiar en dios y saber que todo va a pasar en el tiemp de dios. estoy aprendiendo mucho espanol y hablar espanol mucho. :) on Wednesday we had interviews with president and we had a training. It was all really good. My interview with him was great! He told me things that I need to do and I got told that I'm here in oakcrest to help find people :) that made me feel good. Hermana Carbajal said that he told her that he is really proud of me and thinks I'm doing a good job :) yay!!!  on Thursday we had a training with all the missionaries who are speaking Spanish and that was pretty good. We now can only eat with the members in our area...that will be fun to explain to a ward who doesn't know where our boundaries are haha but we will find a way.  This last week we went to visit this old man who is in our ward and he is considered less active because he doesn't come to church only because his wife is in a coma and he stays at home with her and he is the sweetest man. He talks about his wife and how he can't wait till Resurrection day and he can hold her hand again :) he cried so many times when talking about his wife. I am so glad that I can play the piano because he asked me to play a song out of a hymn book for him and it was one that I had never heard before but he loved it! He has a saying that he says for his wife 'I love you more than yesterday but less than tomorrow" he has such a strong testimony and he really would be at church but he stays with his wife all the time. It was really sad seeing her but so glad that we have a knowledge of what happens after this life.  Nothing really exciting happened this week. A lot of good things but nothing very very exciting :) it's just so nice when you see god's hand in your every day work. 

Every time after we eat we die. We literally get so tired. We've had times after meals where we just sit in the car and wait for a little bit. I also just feel tired a lot and I don't know if my pills are a factor in it or if it's just the mission that is making me tired. But sometimes I'm literally dead by 5. it's really bad sometimes but once we actually have something that doesn't fall through and we do it then I'm fine but lessons sometimes are hard if we are just sitting there. But it's probably just something of the mission and I'm just going to keep getting more tired the longer I am out here haha great ;) but anyways this week was really really good! I can't believe it's the last week of January! The first month of this year is gone!!! that is so crazy to me!

Sorry haha I don't have much exciting things to write about this week but things are going really good!!!

I keep forgetting to ask you, but did you ever find/buy rain boots? no I never found any that I liked but now it's not really raining and a member found out that we were almost the same size and so she gave me an old pair of boots that she has. It's starting to warm up and be sunny and not rain as much so I don't' think i'll need to buy them anymore for a while hopefully

Best moment of the week? hmmm...theres been so many! the fact I got told that Hugo went to church, we found new people to teach this week, we had interviews and training, we got to have a birthday party with a family for their son. this week was just really good. 

Are you teaching many people? yeah we have quite a few families and we found 4 new people to start teaching!

Do you play the piano in your new ward? no they have someone that plays in sacrament meeting and then in relief society they have an electric piano that has the hymns preset and so they just use that. 

What would you like us to pray for? that we can get our investigators to progress! we have plenty of investigators but all of them are stuck, and we are trying to work with them to help them keep their commitments. 

These two little kids are so cute! they are kids of member :) the hermana told us that he never played with any of the other missionaries but as soon as I come over he is pulling out his boxes of toys and playing with me and putting them on my lap :) Both of them are 2...it's hard to believe that the boy is 2!

My new district

​We were at an investigators house and his dog loves me!​

​Aren't these puppies so little and cute!!??

​Aren't these puppies so little and cute!!??

me learning how to skate board and long board​

me learning how to skate board and long board​

His name is Seth but they call him chino because he looks Chinese!! And chino is Spanish for Chinese!

I love this family!!

6 Months!!! Week 26

I know it's so crazy! I've been gone half a year! It doesn't even seem like that though...the past few months just feels like a dream! It goes by so fast! 

How is Tomball?!?!  It is really good! It's not the woodlands but I still love it already so much!! There are a lot more trailer parks here and we actually have ward council and correlation with the ward mission leader. That is a nice change.  My new apartment
is sooooo much bigger!!! We don't have  washer or dryer but we take our clothes to a members house and they do it for us :)

 How are things with Hermana Rupp?  She is super nice I love her so much! we talk alllllll the time, we've probably talked more this week than my last companion and I did our whole transfer. She is super nice and super sweet. She's been out 1 transfer longer than I have.

Have you met many members of the ward?   Yeah I've slowly been meeting the members and they are all super great, really loving and welcoming :) and once again I'm getting the "how do you have a Portuguese last name? why don't you speak Portuguese?" it's really funny everyone is so disappointed when I tell them I don't speak/know Portuguese. Haha I got told that when I get home I have to go to school and learn Portuguese.  

How is the missionary work out there?   I'm slowly meeting the investigators and they are all pretty cool, i don't think I've really met any less actives...but maybe i have i don't remember. I feel like such a new missionary again haha I don't know anything! But it's ok it will come as I am here longer. How many sets of missionaries are in your ward?  It's just us and a set of elders :) which is really awesome I think. Did you know Hma Rupp at all before now?  nope I didn't know her before, I kind of met her one time when she was on an exchange with carbajal last transfer and we were at the Hernandez with them but that really was it. She was with Dryden who Coronado trained. 

 Did you get my package? Yeah your package got here on Saturday but I didn't get it till Monday :) I had to laugh so hard when I read your letter haha I can't believe that there are already Cadbury eggs being sold!!! AHHHH I bought a small pack the other day and then you sent me a big pack! Yummmm Next week I will have to send you a picture of my candy box....haha it's CRAZY!!!

Were you surprised to get a package from me? Yes haha there were two packages and we both thought they were going to be for Dryden because she got so much stuff when she was here but nope haha one was for me and the other for Rupp :) Hermana Rupp was really surprised too she asked "how did you get found already" haha I read her that part of your letter and she really enjoyed it.    

What time do you have church on Sundays now? haha it's at the same time :) 11 it made me really happy.   What about food?  Is there just as much of it in the new area? oh my gosh there were so many times this week where we ate 2 meals a day and only a couple hours between each of them. We both wanted to die we were so full. We have this family in our ward (we are going to see them today) they make like 6 different meals and have it all in 1, they don't like just having one plate they like having so many more plates. But luckily they let us serve our selves so if we can just take a little bit of everything then it will be good. This week I've had coconut hot chocolate, cherry ice cream, pineapple drink, actual pineapple, coconut cookies and coconut cake. AHHHHH haha but it's good for me to try new foods :)

How did things go last Monday when you met with the mission doctor?  It was good, I just went to the office and he told me a little about anti depressants but he didn't tell me much. When I saw President on Tuesday he told me he finally got a hold of President Marshall and that I just had to send him the pharmacy address and I did that on Wednesday morning and then later that afternoon he texted me saying they called it in and then by that night I got my pills so now i am taking anti depressants I think it's fluoxtine--not sure how to spell it. Its pretty good, so far nothing too crazy has happened with them.

So here are just some bullet points since I don't have a lot of time of what happened this week

Monday-said goodbye to as many people as I could and then I was up till 2am packing

Tuesday-got a new companion, had correlation got to know some people in the area

Wednesday -We got chased my a dog and we literally ran to our car and jumped in, it was really funny, I played chess with a 10 year old boy and it lasted forever and in the end his mom helped me and I won haha

Thursday- nothing really exciting

Friday-we had district meeting and it was pretty fun to be with a new district, everyone is so nice. I'm with Hermana provost again!!!! YAY!!!!! I love having her in my district!!

Saturday-we practiced the song with Hermana Carbajal and the pills made me really happy that day and I was just laughing the whole time, they had a fun time teasing me about that.

Sunday-we had church and we ate a lot at a members house and then we had the fireside which was really really good

Monday - I learned how to long board and skateboard!  Hermana Rupp and I got together with the two elders in our ward and two of the elders in our district and we bought habanero peppers which are one of the hottest peppers and we all ate them. Haha it hurt so bad!!! We video taped it (I'll send you the video next time I send videos). Elder Mitchell dropped out first, then Elder Hernandez and then Hma Rupp. Finally Herrera, Attkison and I just sat there and then we decided to pop a second one. Herrera dropped out first and then Attkison threw up. It hurt so bad but I lasted longer than everyone else!!! And then later on I did a third haha I felt so sick that night haha it was so much fun even though it was painful. Here's to all those who made fun of me for not being able to handle taki's!!! Haha :)

Anyways That's my week in a bottle. This transfer is so good already and I love it here, I've been able to speak a lot more Spanish more comfortably and it's been easier to speak, I've also been able to go unprepared into members house's pick a scripture and make a lesson off of that so that has been really good, I feel more confident this transfer and my companion and I get along so that's good!​

 

I seriously love being a missionary!! There is nothing better and it goes by so fast I can't believe it!! It is so crazy!! hopefully nothing will be hot to me now. Missionary life is great and I love it so much!!!

All packed and ready for her transfer

MTC Companions

Shalyn's new companion--Hermana Rupp

Mirrors, scissors and a pencil-Week 25

I'm getting transferred tomorrow!!!  Hopefully I will still be in the same zone, I want to stay near by...man only time will tell, by next week I will have a new companion and be in a new area and know a lot more people! It's really bitter sweet leaving. I am happy to get a new comp but also I feel that if Hermana Coronado and I had one more transfer together it would be a lot better, yesterday was really bad for both of us, and then we ended up having like a heart to heart talk and then the stls (hill and carbajal) talked to both of us and then we talked in the car on the way to our appointment and I feel like we are just now really starting to understand each other and getting a long with each other. We both learned a lot from each other. I'm really sad about leaving the investigators and the members of our ward. But everyone who comes to the woodlands says that every ward you go to after the woodlands is so much better. The woodlands isn't very good with helping out the missionaries and everyone dreads coming to the woodlands. I'm really like the only person who has loved the woodlands from the beginning because I was born here! I can't imagine it being better or easier to work with the members but I keep getting told that my next ward will be a lot better. Tonight I'm going to say goodbye to a ton of people but I won't be able to say good bye to everyone because we don't have time for that, but my comp told me we can say goodbye to who ever I want. It's going to be really sad but I'm ready to go where god needs me at this point in my mission.


Avery is so smart and so creative! she is so science-y! I didn't have the mind that she has when I was her age! I wish I would have been that cool with my science fair projects haha remember the cookie one I did? Making regular chocolate chip cookies, making cookies without flour and the cookies with out eggs? haha that was the best I could come up with when I was her age!

What was the best thing that happened this week? God really does inspire people and it happens in the most craziest ways. last night (Sunday night) a member literally changed my mission. That is why the title of this letter is mirrors, scissors and a pencil. We went over to the members house to eat dinner and afterwards everyone started cleaning up the table and Hermana Coronado felt that she should get up to, the husband (hermano gasca) started talking to me and he was asking me what struggles I've been having on my mission and I told him that my struggle is the language. It's hard for me to understand people when they talk, he then asked me if I had any other struggles and I said yes but they are more personal problems. Then we started talking about how we have to go through things to change and then I brought up how we have to become humble and that the challenges we face make us humble. We started talking about humility and he then asked me if I'm humble and I told him I am trying to be. then he said "no that is not the answer, the answer is either yes or no, are you humble?" I thought for a minute and then I said "no" he then asked me what I can do to become humble and we talked about it for a little bit and then he went and grabbed a mirror and he put it up to me so I could see my face in it. he asked me "do you like what you see? are you happy?" I said "yeah" and then he told me that if I like what I see then I have no reason to change, he asked me if I want to change and I said yes. then he looked at me again and gave me a look and so I said "no I don't like what I see and no I'm not happy." we then talked about what I need to do and he grabbed a pair of scissors and made snipping motions behind me and he told me that I need to forget my past and move forward and don't look back.  I need to cut all the ties I have to things of my past and move on. he  grabbed a pencil and he asked "what happens when you bite on this pencil" he did the motion to bite on it and it makes the edges of your mouth go up and so it makes you smile, and that's what he told me I need to do, to smile and to be happy. Then he shared a story about the good wolf and the bad wolf and how both the wolves are constantly fighting to be the stronger wolf he asked me which one I'm letting win, I said that I want the good wolf to win but then he said "no not who do you want to win, but who are you letting win." I thought about it for a minute and then said "the bad wolf" then he shared Joshua 1:9 and told me that I need to be courageous, he told me that I am a special daughter of god and that I am a leader. He told me I'm going to do big things and that my family is receiving the blessings they need because I am here serving a mission. It literally changed the way I was thinking yesterday it was so good.

Where do you want our prayers focused? That I'll be able to adjust well into my new area :)

What made you laugh? umm lots of things haha funny things happen every single day :) um probably that I got to help our in primary yesterday by playing the piano and primary kids are crazy!!!

This week was so good and I am so sad to be leaving my woodlands and my ward and all my investigators but I know good things are waiting to happen and that I will be needed where ever I am called to go to next. It's crazy I never thought I'd leave my baby area, I mean I knew I was going to leave but I didn't think that it would be this soon! I'm so sad to say goodbye to everyone! I'm so grateful for all the miracles that happened while I've been here and I'm so grateful for all the people in my ward who have supported me and loved me and taken me into their families. I love this area and I'm definitely never going to forget it. I am always going to be a woodlands girl! I will never forget anything or anyone who is here in the woodlands!!! I know that who ever comes in here will be what the ward and these people need. I know that we all have people we are here to help and I helped these people as much as I could. Now I have the privilege of finding new people and helping those people and a new ward!

Dinner appointment

Dinner Appointment

We went to chick fil a and got a peppermint chocolate chip shake and shared it :) it was so good!!!

Car Selfie

I love this little girl so much!

Pulling out my suitcases so I can pack

Week 24

This week was pretty good! Just still working, we lost contact with a ton of our investigators this week which sucked but we are slowly getting back into contact with them. We've had a lot of appointments cancel still but we have a lot more people that we are working with and hope to see things start improving with our investigators. On Sunday we made a list of everyone and what we wanted to happen this last week of the transfer and that's what we fasted for. And on Sunday we had an investigator who has been investigating for probably like 3 years she came to church for the first time!!! It was really amazing! She has always said that she would come but never did but yesterday she texted us asking us to drive to her house so she could follow us to the church! We were so happy! She and her three kids came! She only stayed for two hours but it was a miracle that she even came to church!!

On New Years Eve we hung out with the Santiago family at night for dinner and ended up staying there forever! We played sorry while dinner was getting ready and then we played it after too. I won one of the rounds :) it was a lot of fun.

On new years eve we meant to go to bed on time but we were talking and then we were looking at journal entries from when we first got into the mission and then I looked at the clock and said "new years is in 5 minutes" so we got on our shoes and grabbed a blanket and stood on our balcony and then there were fire works that we got to see too so haha then I didn't go to bed till almost 1 because I had to write in my journal and pray haha so without meaning to I stayed up till the new years :)

 On January first we went to the Hernandez house because they told us to come over for lunch and haha they were almost all still sleeping but we ate with them and then the Santiago family came over too and we played sorry again, we visited a few people and then we went to Blanca's house and ate nachos :) which were super good. First she gave me a hug and then she pulled away and then said here is a hug from your mom :) made me happy and she told me about the post and how you guys talked a little bit :). Later we went over to the Rodrigues family and ate again and it was really good too. I love all these families that are in our ward! They are seriously the best!

On Friday I woke up and it hurt to walk we had eaten so much on Thursday that just standing up hurt but it went away slowly throughout the day. We had zone meeting on Friday and it was really good, I got to see hermana provost! I feel so bad for her and her companion...she has a cold and they have bed bugs. I didn't even know those things really existed I always thought it was a joke!

Anyways for the month of December we didn't go over miles!! With the miles we had exempted we were right on where we needed to be! We had to walk a lot to stay under though. I need to invest in rainboots...there was one day it was raining and I accidentally stepped in a puddle and my feet were wet and freezing for the rest of the night. I've gotten some tights from walmart but I might invest in a few more pairs. I have to keep my jacket in the car because every night it is so cold! It's probably in the low 50's highish 40's by the end of the night and the days are not very warm either. It's been pretty cold lately. I really am surprised that i haven't gotten sick with how much we have been outside in the cold lately.

Yesterday at church I was just sitting there listening to the testimonies and Leo came up to me and gave me a hug he had left to go to the bathroom or something and when he came back in he gave me a hug it was the sweetest!!! Also we went contacting last night at the lavandaria and I was talking to this one guy who spoke English and I asked him if he knew of anyone who spoke Spanish and wanted to learn English and he said "no me and my wife are both coconuts." I didn't really understand it until I was talking to my companion afterwards and then we realized that it meant brown on the outside but white on the inside haha like they look like they speak Spanish but they don't haha. We started laughing. During primary I was asked to play the piano and hermana carbajal directed because the normal piano player and conductor were both sick. There was some time before they needed the music and hermana carbajal and I just talked. I'm so glad that she is still in my district I'm going to be so sad when i leave because I'll probably end up leaving before she does! Elder Perez has an English companion for this week. But his companion is picking up Spanish really good! He bore his testimony in church yesterday and he has been speaking Spanish for less than a week! It was slow but it was so good!

This week we just saw Hugo...we are praying that We never see Edilma's name on our phone because he said she was going to call us and tell us that we couldn't come back. He doesn't want that. That was last Monday that she was supposed to call us and she hasn't yet so the spirit is working with her. We told him he needs to text us when she is home that way we can see her and then he will leave that way we can just talk with her and help her. He wants to be baptized so bad but he doesn't want contention between him and his wife.

Anyways, our p day ends short today because one of our investigators who we lost contact with could only see us at 4 today and so our p day ends at 4. Right now we have a lot of investigators but none of them are progressing yet. Hopefully that will change this week!!

Love y'all!!!!

All the missionaries in our ward

We have spent so much time with this family lately!! I love them!

Having fun with a christmas tree ​ :D

Hermana Provost!!!! I got to see her at zone meeting

Never buy food from a store that is named this...haha

So there are these chips...they are called Takis I think they are super super spicy and I always get made fun of haha because a 5 year old Hispanic little kid could eat them while watching tv and be fine haha anyways I bought a bag about two weeks ago and finally finished it and my mouth was burning and my tongue was super red. Everything is still hot to me!! I'm trying to kill some taste buds so I can handle the spicy haha because I like the spicy food!!!! But it hurts haha