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!
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
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