Dearest Family and Friends and LOVED ones!

I am SOO Thankful for all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I just want to get up and do Cartwheels until I am dizzy because I am so Happy! But that wouldn't be very appropriate to do in a skirt... So i'll try to maintain my dignity and stay put!

This week has been great! The YSA ward that I cover is really on FIRE! This is really a complete blessing and a direct answer to many of my prayers. I don't know if you remember or if I even expressed to you before about how hard it was for me to serve in a YSA ward.  I was never a huge fan of them back home in the first place, and I hate seeing how much the rising generation struggles. It scares me. It reminds me of what I don't want to be like when I get home. But I have been praying to have charity and to love the Young Adults and help them see their potential and the importance of missionary work! I have been praying to see the good in them and their potential instead of focusing on their struggles and faults. I have come to see that The Young Single Adults really truly are incredible. They just need to have examples among them of what to do and how to do it. They need to see their peers acting and making changes. I have seen that as we have started working with those that are really missionary minded and have a great desire to change their lives and help others do the same that their examples have spread to those who have not had that same goal previously. It's been so fun to see the members of the ward get excited about doing missionary work. I love to see them leaving their comfort zone and doing things that are hard and uncomfortable. I know you all know my favorite quote... and even though I've heard many inspiring quotes and poems etc since being on the mission, I still think this one is my favorite.. probably because it's what I need to hear and continually remind myself of! "There is no growing in a comfort zone, and no comfort in a growing zone!" We are not growing if we feel comfortable! Ha I think this means I am always growing. Ha.. I seldom feel comfortable on the mission! I feel like the whole missionary life is a cumulation of 'Awkward Moments'! It was funny, in the missionary panel we were involved in, someone asked us "Tell us a time when you felt really awkward." All of us missionaries on the panel just started laughing! Every day we have awkward moments. I don't know if it ever gets comfortable to quickly screech to a stop jump out of the car and introduce yourselves as servants of the Lord and ask if you can share a message about Christ with them because we are asked to talk to everyone we see! It's fun. I love missionary Life! It's definitely never boring! :)

Anyway.. Jesus (hay-soos) is doing super well! He came to stake conference and loved it. He is so sincere and pure in heart. I feel like he is too sincere to be around all the other people who take the spirit for granted. He doesn't quite fit in with most of the YSA's.. his favorite part of the day is literally meeting with us! They are all making sincere effort to befriend and help him feel welcome though! Yesterday when he came to church, he had taken his gages out of his ears! He still had other earrings in but we haven't talked to him about that yet! He really feels the spirit working on him to make changes in his life. He is excited to be baptized!
Our new investigator Mark Devine is interesting but awesome. He is super short and VERY smart. He wants to learn about all this but has met with the missionaries and just never seems to follow through. I think he has been through a lot in life. His dad is Atheist and his mom is methodist. We had our first lesson with him yestereday and he accepted to be baptized too! Whoo hoo! We are going to set a date with him our next meeting. :)
Also one of our Potential Investigators came to church this week! YAY! :) We will be meeting with her on Tues. Hopefully she will be our next newest investigator!

Well we got transfer news on Saturday and guess what??! I am still training Sister Hamstead and we were expecting it to be just us two, but we will still be in a trio! I am getting Sister Lewis again! She has been Full Feild (meaning no VC) for the last two transfers and has really been struggling. I am glad she is going to be with us and be back in the VC this transfer. I was talking to her a week or so ago and she said that even though my transfer with her was one of my hardest (because of everything with Lacy) It was her easiest and best transfer. I think that this transfer is an answer to her prayers. It will be fun and helpful to still be in a trio especially since we are teaching a lot of men and can't go in without a third Sister. Sister Lewis is a lot like Sister Anderson. They both have really strong personalities and strong testimonies. So our investigators will be used to it anyway! ;)

We will be changing apts too. So we are staying in the same complex but going to a bigger one. We will now have two bed and two bathrooms yay! That will be nice. But that means I have to pack up and move all my stuff again! So that will take up all of P-day time! Oh well!! :)

I got your package! Thank you so much!!! :) It was so fun to get all the thanksgiving and fall things! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom and dad who think of me and send sweet little things! What a blessing you all are to me!

I am the luckiest missionary in the world!

Just one last insight... At our Az stake conf, Elder Holland and Eyring both spoke. I felt like pumping my fist in the air when they spoke about missionaries and the new missionary focus of the church. They said to all the parents and members of the church. ie: the best way for missionaries to do missionary work is through the members, so the fact that we are getting thousands and thousands more missionaries doesn not eliminate or decrease your responsibility- but in fact INCREASES your responsibility! Be prepared, they are coming to you in large numbers. You as parents of missionaries hope that the children you send out on missions will have success and that members will refer people to your son or daughter so that they will have solid investigators to teach. If you want that for your children, you need to be doing that for other peoples children too. You have a great responsibility. You must step it up. Your missionary efforts must increase. I loved it. I know that it touched the hearts of many of the members!

I just have to say that PMG is so inspired! Everyone should study, missionary or not! It should be taught in families. It is such a wonderful tool to help us build our faith and testimonies!

I sure love you all! I am thankful for you and your prayers and efforts.

God lives, Christ is our Redeemer and Savior. The atonement answers the ends of the law and without it we cannot be saved in the kingdom of heaven. What a blessing it is for us to have the Fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

I am so excited for this Holiday Season!

~Sister Michelle Shurtz

HI!!!!
So this week has been awesome! We are finally starting to see some success in this area!! Whoohoo! Actually I should say we are starting to see some success in the YSA ward! Ha our YSA ward has just started to become a gold mine. I have really been praying to love and help this ward get excited about missionary work. We have been making a concentrated effort on going to the full mtg block at the YSA ward and as many of the activities as possible. We want the members to know us and trust us and feel comfortable with us. President Ellsworth told us to really focus on the YSA age people. The mission focus is on finding families, older teenagers, men who could become worthy priesthood holders and YSAs. I really struggled with the YSA ward before, but now we have been putting a lot of effort in the ward and we have an incredible ward mission leader which has made all the difference. Recently we have been getting the members to invite their friends to activities and to church and to hand out BOM regardless of whether they are in our area or not. We don't care about the numbers in our area we just want souls to get saved- if they happen to be in our area then it's an added bonus! :) As we have been looking at missionary work with this attitude it has changed our whole perspective. The YSA members have started to catch the vision and fire of missionary work and many are asking for book of mormons and bringing friends to church! :) Now the Lord blessed us with a new investigator! I told you about Jesus. He is doing so well! He came to church yesterday and he brought his sister Ulyssa and her friend Jessica. They only stayed for sacrament mtg. But it was so powerful! Ulyssa was crying because she felt the spirit. Jesus has been reading the BOM and is comprehending and loving it. We had him read 2 Nephi 4 and he told us off the top of his head that his favorite verse was 19 about the groaning of his soul and not drooping in sin. I was so happy. Most of the time if investigators read- they don't comprehend! He has a baptismal date for Dec 1! We are really excited to be working with him and the YSA are being so good at being involved! I think it was so good for them to see us bring 3 non members to church. Then we also got another new investigator named Mark Devine. He was a referall from the bishop. He came to the Break the Fast after church. We had a lesson with him right then and there. We taught him how to pray and he said the closing prayer! He was supposed to come to the Mission Presidents Fireside that night, but something came up. Robert didn't come either, but Jesus did! The fireside went really well! The Visitor Center Sisters sang For the Beauty of the Earth, and then Sister Anderson, Hamstead, and I sang the closing number, Be Still My Soul. It went really well. I could see that people were touched. I definitely think we had angels singing with us. 

We had a great opportunity to be Panelists for a mission prep class for the stake. There are tons of youth taking mission prep to get ready for their missions. We got to answer all kinds of questions. I really enjoyed it! The spirit was super strong there. I really could feel the Power and Zeal of Missionary work!
Also we had an aMAzing sacrament mtg in the 30th ward on sunday. The 30th ward fasted specifically for a family to teach and baptize in their boundaries before the end of the year. We had asked a couple of people to share missionary experiences in testimony mtg. They were the first ones to get up and then the COOLest thing happened! Every single other person that got up there shared missionary experiences and desires to do more missionary work etc! Every person! It was a missionary mtg! And the spirit was SOOO strong! I have been wanting to have one of those meetings ever since I first read about it in the Susan Fulcher case study. It happened just like in that case study. I took notes and am going to be writing thank you notes to all those who shared their experiences. 
We have been doing a really neat thing that our mission president came out with, Called Family Member Mission Plans. We are doing them with a few members from each ward each week. It's such a neat idea! We have already seen miracles come from doing them with the families. We have a great Potential investigator from one of them. The families seem to be getting more excited about doing missionary work. I am so excited to see the happiness that comes over their faces as they share their missionary experiences with us! It's awesome. I Love missionary work and I LOVE inspiring others to be excited about it too! That's what its all about! Missionary work isn't near as successful if just the Full time missionaries do it by themselves. When the members are involved and excited about helping and sharing the gospel, ITS SO MUCH BETTER! :) 
We still don't have a ton of investigators or anything, but things are picking up and we are greatful for the miracles and the blessings that come as we are LONG suffering and patient! That's something I've been working on. Sister Ellsworth talked to us and asked, "are you 'long'suffering or 'short'suffering? How long are we willing to obey the commandments and work hard without being rewarded before we start to whine and complain to God and everyone else? We should just work hard with no thought of reward or anything in return. This is the Lords work and we should do it His way. It's not about us or what we think we should be getting out of it. Its all about God and what he wants for us and those that we are serving among. He will give us reward and success when he wants to. So much is happening behind the scenes that we can't begin to imagine what is being done in regards to our efforts. Elder Bednar touched on this subject with us when he came. He said in essence: "Stop worrying about counting success as a marker for whether you are working hard and being a good missionary. This isn't about you. God will give you success when he wants to and sees it necessary- it has nothing to do with you really. IF you are working hard, being diligent and being exactly obedient then you need not worry or fret. You are doing what the Lord has called you to do. You should be happy and content." That was quite comforting to me. I love that. I keep getting reminded over and over to stop thinking about me and my successes and worry about others and their successes. 
God is so gracious and kind. He loves me. I know that. Just as I know without any doubt that God loves you and all His children that have lived, now live and will yet live on this earth. That is not a matter of faith with me. I know that. 
Well I had a great Halloween and an awesome week! I sure love you all!
Thank you for your love prayers and support! They are so appreciated and needed! 
hugs, loves and kisses your way!
~Sister Shurtz

Aw! So fun to get all the Halloween pictures!!! I loooove it! You are all so cute and spoooky! I am so happy you all are having so much fun! Thank you for showing me the costumes and smiles! 
I dressed up yesterday as Sister Hamstead and she was Sister Anderson and Sister Anderson was me.. Not really- we just switched name tags- so clever right hahaha not really, but it's all we could do! We have been going to all the ward Halloween Parties and hoping that all the La and NM that we invited would come! We had a marvelous turn out at most of them. We still have two more wards to go. They will be on Halloween day. We had tons of NM at church this week because of the primary programs. What a wonderful tool it is to have the sweet primary children sing!! There were so many that came and were able to feel of their spirit. What a blessing.
We are working still on building up our teaching pool and we saw lots of miracles this week despite our lack of time in the area. We are really working hard to be effective with the small amount of time that we do have. 
We have a new Investigator named Jesus (Hay-soos) He is hispanic, but speaks perfect English. He is 22 and wants to attend the YSA ward. He is such a good kid. He has gages and tats and all that, but he moved out of his cousins house because they aren't living the kind of lifestyle that he wants to be around. He is really wanting to be around good people with good standards. Wahoo- we can help with that!
We were able to contact Robert again finally. He is out of the hospital and doing well. We found out that he was in the psych ward.. he has some disabilities that way I guess. You wouldn't know it though. He is such a good kid, he does lead a normal life, but I think all kinds of problems come when you go through things such as abuse etc. He finished the BOM again. He loves to read and he reads quickly. But he reads it too quickly and doesn't really retain. We talked to him yesterday about the difference between reading the scriptures and studying. We challenged him to read it slowly and mark it and use a study journal. 
Our LA Gregg, Virginia, Jerry, and the Hassell family are all doing well. We have started to reactivate another girl her name is Ludmilla Wilcox. She is from Russia. She is 22 now but she was adopted as a child with 10 other russian children. She is the only one of her siblings that still considers herself Mormon and wants to change and come back to church. She was at our YSA activity. 
There are so many people that are non members that we know about but can't teach yet because the ward members are working with them or preparing them etc. We have been doing this awesome family mission plan with lots of members and I really feel like the members are starting to trust us and want to share the gospel.
We had interviews with the mission president this week and he gave lots of advice and encouragement. It was so helpful. Pres Ellsworth is such an incredible man. I am so grateful for him and sister Ellsworth. 
Funny Story: So we went to the YSA Halloween party this week and Our new investigator Jesus was suppossed to come but we were going to be able to be there to greet him because we had to leave. So we sent a text to one of the YSA members that said "it was fun seeing you here tonight, we have to go, look out for our friend Jesus!" it was so funny because we had talked to the YSA member about Jesus before but they didn't remember that was his name. They thought we were telling them to be better and remember Jesus as they were at the dance and not do anything that he wouldn't want them to do. HAHA we laughed so hard. We were like "yes that too" haha we do want them to remember that as well. ha anyway.. it is weird having an investigator named that. I don't really like it to be honest. But they can't help it! 
Thanks again for the pics:
Janae wins the prize for best costume award!! hahhahha I laughed out loud on that one! - you two either need to email/write me and clue me in on your life or something- I need more details on the newly weds- I'm missin out!
I HAVE THE CUTEST NIECES AND NEPHEWS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM! can't wait to play with them!
Tonya: I will do my best to write you back today! But just know that you are so stinkin gorgeous- your mission pics will be absolutely stunning! And I am SO EXCITED for you to serve a mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's going to be the best thing you will ever do FOR your life! I LOVE you! and PS your costume= ridiculously great! I love it!
Mom and Dad love you! I still love your costume dad- I tell everyone about it!
Mom you are such a pretty elf! I love it!- the teeth go great with it haha ;)
Lisa you look too good to have just had a baby! Jeff... you too! haha. and I did get your pearls email- sorry. I had just printed it off so I didn't get to read it yet. Thank you so much for sharing.. it really truly helped and means a lot. I love you!
Jordan and Charissa: you have a darling fairy nakiya! Loved her costume! and that BIG TOY ROCKS jordan! I didn't get to see your costumes though! Send me pics!
Felicia and Jake! Where are you and your costumes? I need pics- please send! PS you two make cute babies! Just sayin ;)
Moroni, thank you for your email and comments- it  means a lot!
Pat and David I loved the Halloween poem you sent! Love you GUYS! and just fyi I have heard twice now since being on my mission from two different people how great you two were as missionaries! I love you! Thank you for your example!
~GOTTA GO!
Sure love ya'll! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
~Love 
Sister Shurtz

Well I think I got on before you all got to email me this week! Weird

welp.. this week was good.
There is a man who always takes us out to lunch on Fridays. So kind! He said he does it because his wife died a while back and he used to take her out every friday. He said that his father also passed away but that his father was also very involved in missionary work. He was the mission president of California twice! So he says "I take you missionaries out in honor of my wife and my father. I want to do things that would make them happy and be proud of how i spent my remaining time here! His name is Brother Bunker. I think i have told you about him before. Well anyway.. we were talking about the olden days and different names that people used to be named etc. the name 'Fawn' came up. And Brother Bunker made up the funniest joke right off the top of his head. I laughed so hard! It reminded me of Grandpa because he is always coming up with funny jokes that have to do with what we are talking about. I also thought of you mom! I immediately said: Brother Bunker i have to write that down to tell to my mom! That is her kind of joke! Haha it's not even that funny- but it's the kind that you like and that I like just because its dumb and corny. Anyway.. Here it is! "Why do so many moms name their daughter Fawn?... because they are so "deer' to them! haha! ;D
Another couple funny experiences I had this week..
I was in a huge hurry one morning and ran to the closet to put my shoes on. It was dark in the room and and well... I put on two different shoes! I didn't notice until we were at the VC on shift and sister Anderson came up to me and said ummm. Sister Shurtz.. did you know you have one brown shoe and one black shoe on today?! haha! I just busted out in laughter! My face was SO red! I was so embarrassed and was laughing so hard! Ha I had to wear them like that the whole day because we never had to time to go back home because our day was so full. It was pretty funny. I had lots of interesting conversations with people that day because of it though! Great missionary tool eh?? haha i must be getting desperate!
So in our new apt we only have the one bedroom and one bathroom in our apt. so to fit three beds we have to have bunkbeds! i chose the top bunk. I have fallen off the bed twice now, because i am so used to just rolling out of bed to say my prayers when its time to wake up. The problem is that A: I am on the top bunk so it's a wee bit farther down, and B: I roll out of bed to say prayers now at all hours of the night thinking that it's morning. So my companions must think I'm nuts! hahaha oh man. No worries, no broken bones or anything! I am like a cat! i land on my feet in a squat! haha. Hope you enjoy the other pics. sorry I never send any!
I can't wait for my ipod with conference on it! I really miss listening to it in the mornings- especially with the month long music fast that our mission is doing! Thank you so much for being willing to do that for me!
We have been eating dinners with the YSA ward this week. It has been so good for us to get to know them better! I finally feel like we are making progress with the ward! We have two potential investigators in that ward now! Hopefully I'll have some good news to report next week with them!
Things are going well in the companionship.. although i don't know if i have ever felt so BUSY in my life- I now understand why the church is trying to minimize on meetings! We just don't have ANY time in our area lately. It's really disheartening for me. But I am here to do the Lords work however and wherever it is! I will go and do and LOVE IT! :)
I love you all! I hope all is well back home!
~Sister Shurtz!

WOW!
There is too much to say in this email! 
First off! WELCOME!!! to my newest neice Amerleigh Rae Seeley!
Aw how fun! She is darling! I love that she was born on my 1 year mark! What a cute family the Seeleys are! Thanks for the pics!
Wasn't conference INCREDIBLE???!!! I was astounded. I grow to LOVE conference more and more each time I watch it. It flew by this time for me. I sucked in every ounce of it that I could. I never even got sleepy or dazed!
Two of our investigators watched some of conference! 3 of our LA that we are working with also watched it so I am happy!
My newest addition to the companionship is great! I mean she is more than great she is AMAZING~! She totally came pretrained she doesn't need trained- just informed! Her name is Sister Hamstead. She is a doll. I just love her already. I am really working on letting Sister Anderson take over and be the leader in the companionship. It's weird that this is being a struggle for me. I have never been good at being a leader before but now I can't seem to stop taking charge. It's actually been really good though. It gets a tad bit strained sometimes but most of the time things are really good. Sister Hamstead is really personable and easy to get along with. People like her immediately. I am so grateful to be working with her. 
Our new apt is small but nice. Its a one bed one bad apt. but we are making it work and are grateful to be in an apt instead of with members- much less distracting even though we really loved the people we lived with. 
Robert our main investigator is doing really well. We just had a lesson with him last night. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with him and he was so cute. He was crying and trying to hide it but couldn't quite do it very well. Its so neat to see how easily receptive he is to the spirit. He said that he is in the book of Helaman with his BOM reading! He really is a golden investigator- when we can actually get appointments with him! He told us last time that he wants to serve a mission! The only problem could be his parents. They are both non members and are both supportive so far, but I just am so worried that the same thing that has happened with so many others of our investigators will happen with Robert. I hope not! I really want Robert to have this and I really want Sister Hamstead to see miracles!
I am learning so much! I learned a lot from conference and can't wait to start applying it all- so I'm not going to wait!
AH! can you believe it??!!! 18 year old boys and 19 year old SISTERS!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so HAPPY! 
Seriously, I already had a spiritual nudge that this was going to happen! I talked to Sister Anderson about this just last week! I told her, I really think that they should let the Sisters come out at 19. They just really need more Sisters out here. The girls of this day and age really need mission experience as much as possible. I really do feel that there are very few things that compare to the learning and growing experience of a mission. Although I do know that God has other plans for some, I am SO grateful that the opportunity is more readily available for the young sisters of the church to serve. This way I don't feel they have to choose between serving a mission and marriage! They can easily do both! What a miraculous blessing to the youth of the rising generation! It will be needed!
I wanted to share some of the things that I really loved about conference with you. 
"NEVER POSTPONE A PROMPTING"
~Pres Monson
"We are the Saviors hands when we serve the one"
"First Observe- Then Serve!"
"Ask yourself when you do things, 'Am I doing this for me, or for the Savior?'"
"Think of things you can do for others that they may not be able or willing to do for or by themselves"
~Sister Burton
"Pray to be the answer to another persons prayers! There is no greater joy!"
"Be proud to be a Mormon!" say "I'm a Mormon, I know it, I love it, I live it!"
~Ann Dibb
"ASK THE MISSIONARIES!!! THEY CAN HELP!!!" :)
~Elder Nelson
"You will regret the time you spend on technical widgets/internet etc. if you do not carefully and meticulously monitor it!"
~Elder Uchtdorf
"Parents are to teach the WHY of the gospel and sacred duty. Teach at the Cradle side." YOU are to teach by example"
~Elder Perry
"Every morning ask Heavenly Father to help you to recognize an opportunity to meaningfully serve someone around you,
It is usually through another person that God meets your needs, therefore it is vital that we serve one another!"
~Elder Ballard
"We must first do things now that make HIM as familiar to us - as we are to Him before we will be ready to stand before the judgement bar of God."
~Elder Eyring

Well I only had the opportunity to very quickly go through half of my conference notes! But there are some of the things I learned! those aren't all exact quotes FYI
LOVE YOU ALL! I am out of time! 
~ Sister Shurtz

HEY!!

Well guess What??

We GOT transfer news! ................................................

 

I am staying in this area! Sister Anderson is still my companion.. and ......... We are co-training a new missionary!

I am really excited to do this actually.

It caught me off-guard. I didn't expect this at all. And honestly it should be interesting. Training together and being in a trio etc. I think I will just mostly let Sister A take the lead. We decided we are going to make the most of it and give Sister Hamstead the best 6 weeks of her life/mission.

We have lots of fun ideas and plans etc.

We are going to be moving out of the Richardsons house because there is not enough room for 3 there and we will be moving into the Polo Club apartments. We are excited to move because it will be quiet and we will actually get some sleep haha. My poor comp can't sleep with all the Richardson girls practicing their musical instruments at all hours of the night etc. haha I just sleep right through it!

Oh we are also still at the VC just so you know. I am excited to meet SIster Hamstead. We get her on Wednesday! I will tell you all about her when I meet her. Elder Beckstrand let us read her paperwork that she sent in and see her pic etc. She is super cute and honestly sounds a lot like me on paper. She likes to hike, jog, rock climb, she is going into public health etc. But who knows. I am a lot different in person than on paper so we'll see!

We are hoping to see miracles with our new little greenie. But either way we are going to work hard and be exactly obedient!

I love you all! I hope all is going well back home!

Hugs and Kisses!

May I enlist your prayers on behalf of me and our trio and our struggling area?

MWAH!

~Sister Shurtz

Ple

Well,

This week has been SOO much better.  Want to know something cool? I got to shake Elder Bednars hand!!!! :) That was so neat. I'll have to tell you more about it in a letter. But basically I was the third row back in the chapel and in the very center. Best spot in there if you ask me! Well it was awesome, if you want to know what we talked about you can read The two talks by him "seek learning by faith" and "ask in faith" We were told to read those two talks and familiarize ourselves with them and study them like a month in advance. When we got there it was very informal. He asked us questions and we stood up and talked to him and told him what we got from the talk and the things that we learned. It was amazing. We even got a personal Q and A session with him! Awesome! That was a special experience. Well that's Apostle number 2 that I've come in close contact with! :) just 13 more to go! :D

We did a little better this week. Did I already tell you about our Miracle baptism? I think I might have but I'm too lazy to go back and look. So we actually met him this week. I am so excited for him! His name is Robert and he is so prepared! He is 16 years old and just really has a desire to be a member of this church. He and his twin sister were adopted. His parents are not members and his mom has said she's not that interested but his dad seems to be incouraging him to do this and he is so nice, so maybe he will want to learn more when Robert gets baptized. The Dads name is Peter, and he drives Robert to church and activities etc. Its great. Well Roberts scheduled baptism date is Oct 13th. So we told him that to get all the lessons in that we wanted to see him several times a week. His friend Sean that was at the lesson with us said "well that's going to be hard since we have basketball alot this week" and this is what Robert said back to Sean after that "well Sean, I kinda think this is more important than basketball!" YEah! I was so happy when I heard that!

Well we still don't have any other new ones but we are finding lots of prepared LA people to teach that want to come back. This week we had 5 LA families at church! :)

At church this week we had a talk on gratitude. I really felt the spirit during it and started writing down some thoughts and impressions that I was getting. Heavenly Father taught me during that time, that He was answering my prayers in helping me get better at doing certain things that I was really struggling with in missionary work. I have been asking for help in knowing how to do daily contact with my investigators like it says to do in PMG and how to work better with our Ward Leaders, Updating Area Books Diligently, and working through and getting to know the members. Heavenly Father has given me a clean slate to work with and a way to start over. In the next talk after Gratitude there was a talk that he talked about how we save people "one by one" I learned that this is how God is working with me right now. We have Robert that we are working on being really diligent and having daily contact with him, and updating his teaching record diligently. We can really work with the leadership of the ward because it is through them that we can get ideas for how to help the ward members be more missionary minded and because we have nobody to teach really then we have more time to visit members and do Member Family Mission Plans with them. I felt that If I am really diligent with Robert and really strive to improve in each of these areas that the Lord will give us more as we are ready and as he sees fit. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to repent and learn to be more diligent in my area and be a more exactly obedient and PMG missionary! I know that sacrifice, diligence and action brings forth MIRACLES! Yay! I love being a missionary. I am so grateful for the opportunity to take the sacrament each week. I need it so much. I have so much to repent of and change each week. I am such a weak missionary. I am grateful that the Lord has promised that as we are diligent that He will make weak things become strong as he talks about in D&C 1. I have been praying for the Lord to help me change my attitude and my heart and to be happy with what he has given me and to learn what He wants me to through this time. I know that this sunday at church He answered my prayer. It's amazing how that perspective and understanding has changed my heart. I am happy because I am grateful. Gratitude is amazing. Prayer Really works. I know it. I know it more than I have ever known. I love the gospel because we can always grow and learn more. We never stop learning or progressing or know enough. I know that God created all things Spiritual and Temporal- because of this He can and will help us with EVERYTHING if we let Him. Ah life is good. I love you all. THank you for you for your loves and support. I am so blessed! I hope all is well with everything!
MWAH!!!!
~Sister Shurtz

Familia!

I got a new companion! I am still in Mesa East stake in the Mountain View Zone, but I am now companions with Sister Anderson. I have felt that she and I would be companions for a long time. She has been out a couple transfers longer than I have and goes home in Nov. so I could very well be the comp that sends her home! I am happy being her companion. She is really organized and clean, which is good for me. We are now back in the Visitor Center instead of Full field, which is exciting since I love the VC. But, almost ALL of our investigators need to meet during the evening because of work schedules and school, and we are working almost every Evening shift at the VC. We have the most evening shifts this transfer at the VC then I have ever had.
I SAW JORDAN AND CHARISSA AND NAKIYA AND KIRA!!!!!!! oh my goodness. I can't even tell you. I needed that so bad. It was amazing. I was sitting at the desk at the VC taking a phone call and feeling sorry for myself because it was a slow day and I was thinking, here I am sitting at a desk when I could be in my dwindling area... Anyway while I was on the phone I glanced over and saw a group of people coming to the desk. I thought to myself "I need to get off the phone and help these people soon" Then I did a double take and I almost dropped the phone! The first person i recognized was Jordan in his bright green shirt. I gasped and then quickly regained composure and finished my phone call. I then ran over and gave Jordan a big hug and then Nakiya jumped in my arms. Thats when I lost it and I started bawling. I couldn't believe that I was seeing my beautiful family! And then i looked over and beautiful Charissa was right there holding sweet baby Kira. She was smiling at me with tears in her eyes and then I cried even harder! I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to see my wonderful brother and sister and my gorgeous sweet nieces!  I got to hold them both too! What a blessing and a miracle that was. I was just talking to my companion the other day about how hard it was that we couldn't hold babies. My companion loves babies. I told her that they only kids and babies that I missed was my nephews and nieces and the only babies that I craved to hold were my new nieces. I told her that I just couldn't wait! Then they showed up the next day! Kira is such a sweet and delightful baby! She just smiled and smiled at me the whole time I held her! And Nakiya gave me the the best Bear hugs every! I just love my family. It was so good to see Necha and Terry too! I love them. I am so blessed I think it gave me the energy and focus that i need to make it through this hard time. God loves me and hears me and cares about me. I know that. I am so blessed to be here so that I can testify of Gods love for them too. Because if there is one thing that I have of value that I can show with others, it's my knowledge of Gods love  for me.
Well I wish I could write more and more detail but I have to go! I love you all!
~ SIster Shurtz

HOLA!!
So okay, This week has been really great!
But... something great happened! First of all, Sister Javed and I have been just sweltering in our room this whole summer! We couldn't figure it out, because our study room which is right next to our bedroom is nice and cool and the hallway is nice and cool, but our bedroom is SOO HOTT! We can't change our bedroom to our study room because our beds wouldn't fit in there.. so we've just been suffering through it. I have been dying because I am used to being in the basement at home and before living with the Richardsons I lived in an apt where it was very cool. Anyway.. it's just been difficult to sleep at nights with it being so stinkin hot. Well one of the Richardson girls (Crystal) said she saw me sleeping out in the hallway a little while back and in the morning asked why.. I told her I had no idea what she was talking about- I never left my bed. Well apparently I sleep walk and sleep talk! Ha I honestly think it was because I was so hot and my body just couldn't handle it anymore so it moved me to a cooler location without bothering to wake me up. Pretty considerate of my body I think! ;) Well it happened again this week- only this time I vaguely remember doing it. Sister Richardson had gotten up in the middle of the night and saw me laying on the floor in the study room and asked if everything was okay? Not being fully awake I said " i'm soooooo HOTTT!" hahaha and then I walked back into my bedroom. She reminded me about it in the morning about it. I had forgotten because I was half asleep. Well she was really worried about it and felt so bad that our room was so hot. We hadn't told them about it being so hot before because we didn't want to complain. And some people will turn down the AC to save money and such so we didn't want to bother them about it. Anyway, brother Richardson walked into our bedroom while we were out this week and said it was just boiling in there. So he investigated the situation further and guess what he found out? OUR AIR VENT WAS CLOSED!!!! hahaha oh man we all laughed so hard about that. We have been needlessly suffering for no reason!! Ha isn't that how life goes sometimes though? I think we are that way with our Heavenly Father sometimes. We needlessly suffer and struggle just because we don't ASK for help. In 2 Nephi 32:4 it says that if we don't know what to do about something then it is our fault because we did not ASK or Knock. After we are baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost we have no reason and no excuse for not knowing what to do. Because the Holy Ghost will tell us ALLLLL things that we should do (2 nephi 32: 5). If we don't know what to do then its because we didn't do our part! haha I guess you can relate everything to the gospel!
I love that! 
Well this week we didn't have a baptism :'( No beuno. It should be happening at the beginning of Sept though! I hope! All the projected baptisms that we had are getting pushed back. But we will keep the faith and keep working hard!!!! David Rines had his baptismal interview and he is ready for baptism. He just needs to commit to a date and follow through. His baptism is going to be HUGE this has been a long awaited and long prayed for event. He has family that is LDS. His wife and all her family are active LDS. And the ward has been trying to get him to take lessons for years!! WE finally did it though! He is ready and we got in and they are gonna get sealed a year from now- I know it! I am so happy for them! They are a great family! But we have to get him baptized first... I get a little ahead of myself sometimes! :)
The Yost family the one with the three kids that want baptism are all on hold as of now because of parental permission... grrrr. They are sooo ready and have full support in one household but none in the other. I HATE divorce. 
Drew is not sure he wants to be baptized anymore. He has lost his fire and zeal to do this now.. It breaks my heart. But he still likes going to church when he is with his dad and still wants to meet with us, so that is good. He will come along eventually. He is a good kid. I just have to be patient. His mom would give him permission to be baptized if he really showed a desire and really wanted it, but the problem is that he isn't fully sure yet. He is young and still hasn't done his part to gain a solid testimony. He will though. Especially with support from his previously Less Active but now very active dad. We'll keep working with them.
We found a few new investigators this week- Crystal- she lives in the 30th ward apts. and she is 32 with two kids. She is not married but is living with her boyfriend. She is so sweet and nice. She was a street contact. We were in a hurry but I just felt I needed to talk to her so I quickly told her who we were and asked if we could come by and pray with her sometime. She was really open and said yes and gave us her number. When we called and went over she told us the when they were younger and her brother was 16 he joined this church and then died recently after. Since then she hasn't looked into the church much but she has always told her mom that this is the church that she would be baptized into. She is really open. We also are now teaching a man and his wife who are an interesting couple. The wife  Teresa is legally deaf but she can read lips and hear a little if she puts in her hearing aids, but she refuses to wear them, so anyway- we are basically just teaching the husband Mike. He is lutherin but seems genuinely interested. We found him by helping him carry his groceries into his house. He really appreciated it since he's a bit overweight and he lives in the upstairs apt. 
We taught another Lesson with KC and John. I am really excited to be teaching them! We brought a member with us this time. They are next door neighbors and WAY good friends. When John found out that we were bringing his neighbors the Keelers over for the lesson, he said to his wife " oh no! not them! I like them!" haha he told us all that when we came over. Bro Keeler was awesome he told him that there was nothing that was going to change in their friendship either way if they decided not to accept and do this. But he bore a strong testimony telling him that if he does want to do this and learn about this then it's important to him as his friend to be there for him and help him out. It was awesome and very natural and normal. I saw a HUGE difference in John when Bro Keeler was there verses when he wasn't. When It was just us John asked lots of unimportant yet difficult questions and was more just listening to argue basically. This time the spirit was huge. John listened and felt the spirit and it was just so good. I have a huge testimony of Member Present lessons. Oh and KC felt the spirit too. The reason I'm not talking about her is because she has taken lessons without John previously but basically told the missionaries then that if the answer wasn't yes for both her and John then the answer wasn't yes for her. She already knows this is true, but has been patient while her husband got prepared and ready enough to listen. I am so grateful for ward members who gained true friendships and relationships with their neighbors regardless of whether they were ready to talk about religion or anything. 
Another one of our new investigators is Silas. He is 79 and black, and possibly senile.. I don't know. We'll see with him haha.
Welllllllll Transfer news came! On wednesday I will have a new companion. Sister Javed is leaving her greenie area after 9 months! Guess where she is going? She is going to my greenie area! YAY! I am going to write down a whole bunch of potentials and people for her to see! I am so excited. My heart is still in that area a little bit. 
My new companion will be Sister Anderson. She has been out longer than me. I am senior companion still. It will be nice to have someone else driving! Haha unless I get assigned to be the designated driver... that is something they said they are going to be doing soon.
I am back in the Visitors Center! YAY! 
Well I have to GO! I LOVE YOU!