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