April 23rd

Well I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Tasha Lewis. Her name is really Natasha but she doesn't like to go by that. She is really cute and very on top of things. It's fun being able to learn some things from another companion and get ideas as to how other missionary companionships do things. I haven't really had that since I have only learned from sister Hansen and then I trained Sister Crawford, So it's all been the way I learned it the first time. Which luckily Sister Hansen taught me pretty good so it's not been a problem but still it's fun to see new ideas that Sister Lewis and Sister Kranendonk have done. I think that Sister K and I are basically having a parallel mission. First we were comps in the MTC and then we get out here, and become trainers together right after we trained and now I have her trainee as my companion- so fun. Well I don't know if I told you but I thought I was full feild and I apparently I'm not! I am back in the VC. I am still in my same area but just back in the VC like I was with Sister Hansen. I am actually pretty bummed about that. I really wanted this area to stay full field. It was progressing so well having us in there with all that extra time! But it's okay because I do love being in the VC. It's really amazing and it's also really nice because now the hot weather is really starting to settle in! HOT! It was 102 yesterday and it's only April! yikes I'm in for it!! Haha but hey I can take it. I only get one summer here, I might as well get the full experience and do it on bikes! Whooie! hahha Sister Lewis is being a trooper. This is her first time on bikes and she hardly ever complains- i'm impressed.. Ha i complain more than she does, mostly in a joking manner but still- it's awesome. 
Well.... Guess What?? JIM BAKE IS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!  I am so happy and excited for him! He is doing so well too. He got confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints yesterday. It was a great blessing and it again addressed his migraine issue that is still really bothering him and causing him a lot of pain and worry with his job and finances. It's starting to really affect his health and memory. He is really excited and he has alot of ward support. I think he might start going to the midsingles ward activities, which will be really good for him I think. I am SOOO happy and excited for him! He is really solid. Even if Rachel Tyler isn't interested in him.. :( Sad. Ha he asked her on a date and she was like ummm not really interested that way. I just want to be friends! I don't know if she has told him yet but she told us that haha luckily we didn't get involved in setting them up at all. That would have been bad. We really thought she was interested in him.
Wellll lets see, what else? We haven't done a lot of work this week I don't feel like. I mean we've just been running around like crazy figuring out the baptism and interview for him with Pres Ellsworth and trying to get readjusted to the Visitor Center again and balancing the time in our area with that! Bleh I hate the way our area suffers when we are in the VC but I know I just need to be better. I need to be better at finding. And I need to be better at helping the members understand their responsibility to find people for us. We have a new mission rule. We are no longer aloud to tract in this mission! Weird. We didn't tract a lot anyway, but when we felt we needed people to find and to teach then we would tract a certain area. So no more of that. When Elder Allen came to our mission he said that tracting was awful in this day and age. People hate it. They hate us knocking on their doors and invading their privacy and intruding and also it puts us in the same category of the Jehovah Witnesses. On surveys people say that one of the things they hate most about our church is that we knock on their doors and invade their privacy. They say that only the Mormons and JW's do that and they hate it. Well no more of that for us. It's probably good. Tracting has never been the most effective way of doing things anyway. This just makes it more important for us to work better with members and find through them. iyiyiyi easier said than done. Well pray for me and my finding efforts please- i'm struggling. 
Well I better go I love you all! Hope all is well. Keep being strong and awesome! Never give up or slow down. Our time here is limited and temporary! Live it to it's fullest and remember who should be in charge in our lives!!!
LOVES! Mwah!
~SIster Shurtz 

Well Hey There!

Wow sounds like a lot is going on there with the politics! That is so neat that dad is so involved and that so many in our ward are involved also!

Okay so things are going pretty great here. Much better than last week! Two of our investigators who had dropped us last week randomly came to church! That was a nice surprise! We have 4 potential investigators that we are really hoping will become solid investigators this week!

Thank you for the fun St. Patricks day "GO GREEN" buttons! those were fun to wear! Sister Crawford especially loved it! Good choice! :) St. Patricks day was pretty good. We had a meeting with the Easter pageant cast! It's huge! There are over 400 hundred people in the cast! I know the guy who will be playing Isaiah pretty well, we eat dinner with his family quite a bit. His name is Steve Kroll. He also helps with a lot of the producing now too. I have to find an 'in' with people so that I can be in the pageant when I get home! So many people try out and even though there are 400 cast members MANY are turned away. Anyway at the meeting with the cast they had us missionaries walk around and train them and role play with them on how to invite the people in the audience to learn more about the church from missionaries and also to go into the visitors center before and after the showing of the pageant. It was really neat. The cast members are so nice and so willing to learn and do missionary work. The cast members will be walking around in costume before the pageant starts and talking to people. President Ellsworth talked to them and said that our full time missionaries wear a badge that helps them feel a bit more confident and be a little more bold than most people can be, and you have your costume that gives you that same confidance and authority to teach testify and invite. SO neat.

Another thing that is really neat is that President Ellsworth has felt inspired to only have sisters work the Easter Pageant this year. This is something that they have never done in all the years of doing the Easter Pageant. They have always of course had the sisters only doing the visitor center, but they always had Elders working the crowds outside on the temple grounds. Now we are having only sisters out there. All the VC sisters will still be inside, but the full field sisters will be outside, and also the tempe mission sisters are coming to work the crowds outside! pretty neat right? This has never happened before and what a neat opportunity for the Tempe mission sisters to be able to work at the Easter Pageant! It will be fun getting to know some of the sisters from the other mission during this time! Also Sister Crawford is the only full field sister that will be working inside the VC because she is my companion! Cool right? She is so super stoked! I am grateful that she gets this opportunity. Easter Pageant really will show miracles! Sister Beckstrand is doing a VC choir with some of the VC sisters so that is being fun. We are just getting together and learning music and singing together. Sister Beckstrand is a fabulous pianist! incredible. She has also asked all the VC sisters to try to memorize The Living Christ before Easter Pageant! YIkes! I am excited to try because this is a goal I've had forever, but that only gives me 10 days to learn it! haha, I might be late- but ima gonna do it!

Well I gotta close, sister crawford has a doctors appointment to fill up her medication so time is short! Loves to all! thank you for all the love and support! MWAH!!!

~ Sister Chelle

Oh man! Sorry -another computer mal function here in the family history center, it erased my whole email! HAHA Oh man we've just got to smile and keep going when things like that happen! I'm starting to wonder if it's the computer or me since this keeps happening.... hahha

Well I have to go in 5 min, so this'll be brief but here goes!

Marcelo Certoma is BAPTIZED!!!!!!! That is Romina's husband. It was such a beautiful baptism and his confirmation was wonderful! Aw those two are already blessing the ward so much! I will try write more about all this in a letter.

The work here is moving along and we were really blessed this week. We are working hard to fulfill President Ellsworths vision of doubling baptisms at least in our area. The Harmony ward that was struggling so badly before now has alot of potential investigators that we are working on turning into solid investigators that we can teach! Pray for Harmony ward- and for us to find and be able to teach those that are prepared there!

Beth is doing alright. We were supposed to teach her with her husband and kids this week for the first time, but they all got sick so it's rescheduled for this week. Pray that it goes well. Her baptismal date on the 17th of march depends on it going well, since she needs her husbands approval and consent for her and the kiddos to be baptized. Also please pray for Brians (her husband) heart to be softened and that he will let them do this and realize it's a good thing and even want it for himself- that would be the best!!

Aw there is so much more... lets see. Well Sister Crawford and I are doing well together. We have decided that together we make the perfect OLD person. She can't hear.. at all! She needs a hearing aid- like for reals. ha and then there is my memory. It's just non existant. Really it's gotten worse here I think.. I don't know. It's awful, luckily sister Crawford does have a good memory so she helps me out there. I think it's good that she can help me with that, because it helps her feel needed in the companionship, which is so important when you are being trained, because you just feel so helpless! She is doing well though. Except when she doesn't get her sleep! Ha ooooh boy sister Crawford needs her sleep or else she is just an emotional and cranky lil sister! haha. Well lets see I guess that's all I get to write for now. Hopefully I can get a letter out! Love you all!

~Sister Shurtz

Boy oh Boy!
It's been a great week! Marcelo just received the Aaronic priesthood and is now getting an interview for his temple recommend for baptisms for the dead! So exciting! Another really neat thing was that Jim, (who is 35 bald has glasses and extreme migraines)  is really progressing well. He is having an open heart and said he will continue to read and pray. We had a lesson scheduled with Jim during the same time that Marcelo was having His preisthood Ordination that we were invited to so we were not going to be able to make it.. but then we decided to ask Jim if he would come with us to Marcelo's ordination, even though Marcelo is in another ward. He said that would be fine and then we did a church tour afterwards with him and he said he would come to church the next day! And guess what? He came!! So cool! Sister Crawford and I gave talks in church and Jim and Beth and one of her daughters were there to hear! I was so happy! The talk went well.... I'll tell more about all that in my letter. 
Sister Crawford and I are getting along so well and I really love being her companion! We are starting to get better at teaching in unity. She is trying to do better at being on time and keeping her comments missionary appropriate ;) I still love riding bikes! It is just so wonderfully nice right now! The weather is just perfect and I just wish it would stay this way because I know that soon it's going to get HOTTER than fire, which might be an understatement! I'm excited to take on the heat though! Whoo! Well we are busy teaching lots of people! We are teaching two different girls in the poinsettia ward that have pink hair! haha. 
Today we got up at 4:40 am to hike camel back for our zone activity! It was lots of fun! When we got to the top we all knelt down on the rocks and said our mission prayer. We have this thing throughout our mission, where every missionary in the Mesa mission kneels down and says a prayer at 7:55 am wherever they are at with their companion or with other missionaries if you are with them! It's really neat. Later today after emails and laundry we are going to go make pizza's together as a zone! I like my Zone alot! 
 Thank you for all your love and support! The Lord has really blessed me this week and helped me feel less stressed this week, or at least has just let me see some of the fruits of my labors. I know the Lord is mindful of me and all that I am doing! 
Love you all so much!!! 
~Sister Shurtz

Hello Hello!

Well things are going pretty good here. My struggles are different than they were a transfer or so ago. I know where I'm going! And I can find anything with an address. Hahha that's progress for me. I also feel like I know what's going on better and that the ward members are starting to know me and trust me. Now what I am dealing with is helping my companion know where she is going and feel comfortable with the ward members and what is going on. 

I love my companion so much! She has so much personality and knows exactly what she wants and is not afraid to be different, I love her! She is a great missionary too!

The work this week has been frustrating. We have had long meetings everyday this week except one day. That one day was very successful, but the rest is just were frustrating! Also one of our investigators who was so sincere and was progressing so well. Has just dropped off the face of the earth. Her name is Dianna. She was living with her daughter-in-law, and was helping her alot, but when Dianna tried to correct her in something she got mad and kicked Dianna out. She has no phone, no drivers liscense. No nothing... We have no way of contacting her or making sure she gets missionaries. :( I know that the Lord will bring them to her again though. Or maybe when she gets settled she will seek them out herself. She had read like half the Book of Mormon in a week, and was underlining it like crazy. It kills me. Also a girl that we were just going to meet with after emails today, just texted us and said she doesn't want to meet with us, and said she would rather us meet with someone who wants to learn. ugh! I hate that. I'm sorry, things really are good too though! Beth and two of her girls came to church!!! that was awesome. We went over to her house the day before and reminded her about it, then that morning we called and texted her and when she didn't answer, we showed up at her house 5 min before church started! Haha she had just gotten out of bed! We said Beth you should come, you'll only be a couple minutes late, how can we help you get there? She said, okay i'll come, go ahead and go, i'll be there in a few minutes! And she came! Yay!! She only stayed for sacrament mtg because she was in pain, but her daughters stayed the whole time and loved it!

Marcelo will be baptized this week! It's crazy all of the opposition that their family is facing with the baptism! Oh man... I just pray that he will be strong! I know that the whole ward is behind him helping in any way they can! The Sherwood park ward is so amazing! truly the way all wards should be!

There are so many good things happening! I just know though that there could be so much more! I feel unqualified, and feel like if there were better missionaries here that the work would be moving along so much better. I need to be more dedicated and diligent and organized. I am not discouraged, I am just frustrated with my own weakness as a missionary, a trainer, as a daughter, and sister and as a human being! ah! haha I feel like nephi in 2Nephi 4. When he exclaims "Oh wretched man that I am! etc." But I know that I just need to read the rest and be comforted because Nephi doesn't let himself get down for long and he remembers his blessings and that the Lord and his angels are constantly round about him and he prays for the lord to help him to abhor sin and be stronger and better etc. This chapter has become one of my favorites! I know that the Lord will be with me to guide and strengthen and uplift me if I am diligent and work harder than i thought I could! I love the talk be President Henry B. Eyring, called "Preparation in the Priesthood: I Need Your Help" it's so good! I hope I can work longer and harder than I thought I could. I know that the Lord loves me and is blessing me and is so aware of me! I just need to put in all the effort that is required of my hands!

Thank you THANK YOU for your letters love, prayers and constant support! You are so wonderful and your love and advice is so needed and so appreciated! I love to hear what is going on in all of your lives! Thank you for being patient with me! I am terrrible at writing letters, and making time for things! I am so sorry! Please be patient with me while I learn! I love you all!!!

~Love Sister Shurtz

Hey Hey HEY!

It's me again.. So this week I had LTM's which is Leadership Training Meeting on Tuesday and Wedneday. Both of those meetings were 8 hours long! yikes! Ha they were both so good though and it was great to be with all the leaders in the Mesa mission and learning from our Mission President and his wife! I do have to say that I feel a titch overwhelmed though. I already knew there were so many things that I needed to work on and incorporate into my training and into my own learning, but now there is pages and pages of things to incorporate! AH! How do I do it all? There is too much I need to do to be better! I am now just trying to calm down and take it a little at a time and apply it as I can. Line upon line precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, until I am the best missionary that ever lived! hahah jk. But yeah. Well Sister Crawford is so cute! She just brightens my day and is so willing to go out and work! She is good at reminding me when I try to double book appointments which I have tried to do 3 times now this week! haha. oh man. I sometimes think that I don't have a brain! Maybe that's why i'm here right? To get one!

Everything takes longer when you are teaching a training because you have to do what needs to be done, and help your trainee the whole time as well and make sure the understand and do it right etc. Oh man, I am getting good mom training skills here! I know that it would be so much easier to just do everything by myself, but the only way to help them learn is to teach them and let them make mistakes etc.That is how you must feel as a mom!

The work is going alright, I feel like we should have so much more sucess than we have now, because we have so much more time with us being full field now!! Ha oh dear.. I honestly have no idea what i'm doing! I hope I get this figured out soon. :) Sorry I hope I don't sound like I am complaining! I really am loving this and I am just learning how much I need to rely on the Lord and let him help me through this and figure this all out!

Marcelo Certoma is progressing very well! His baptism will be FEB 18th. He is excited and we are having his interview this saturday!

Beth is doing... alright. We are just trying to convince her to let her husband be in on the discusions that we are teaching to her and her girls. He said he is willing to sit in on them, but she told us that she doesn't feel comfortable with that and doesn't want him to. We are going to talk to her about it again, she knows that this is what needs to happen for her to be able to receive his approval for baptism... iyiyiyi. We are praying for her and her husband and girls!

We are now teaching danny and teresa (cookie- that is what they call her). They have committed to be baptized on March 3rd. We are now realizing that we may need to move the date back because of law of chastity issues and because Danny just got out of prison etc.. We are working with them though. We have a few new investigators and Harmony ward is doing so well!!

 I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Hopefully I can get to letter writing this week! MWAH
~ sister shurtz!

Life Training

Hello Familia!

This week been interesting! It has been so hectic and crazy and scary and great and wonderful all at the same time! First off I am training the cutest lil thang from Annacordes (no clue how to spell it) Washington State. She lives on an island an hour north of seatlle. She is an earth muffin and recycles EVERYTHING, She won't even wear certain materials such as polyesther becuase it's not recyclable! ;D She is so cute though. She LOVes birds and loves being on bikes. She is also such a good missionary! It's really neat being able to train her because she has been a member of the church for only 2 and a half years! I know right? and she's on a mission yes. Her mom and her brother and sister joined the church also but they are all less active. Her dad is not a member and does not support her. She's incredible. I am amazed at her faith of coming out here on all those terms. It's fun being a trainer for her because she knows the basics of what she needs to know to be a missionary because that's what we teach as missionaries, is the basics! But she just finished the BOM for the first time yesterday! So it's fun teaching her all the stories and things songs and things that she doesn't know yet. She is so willing to learn and although she doesn't like a lot of the rules and doesn't get why we have some of them she is willing to be obedient. I  just do my best to explain why we have them and just tell her that if we are obedient whether we know the reason or not then we will be blessed just like Adam. I am already having so much fun being her companion! What a sweet heart! Training full field is tough. Ha I am not used to planning for all that time! I was like, yikes! How do I use all this space?! But now I'm starting to get the hang of it and there is so much work to do and so many people to see and still yet not enough time for it all!

Oh boy, I am excited! We are gonna set our areas on FIRE! especially the harmony ward, we are really working hard there, and trying to get to know the members and get them excited for missionary work! Whoo! We already have 4 baptismal dates set! Oh man and GUESS WHAT??????!!!!!!!!!!!! Marcelo Certoma is getting baptized!!!!!!!! YAYAH baby! so neat. His date is set for the 18th of Feb! Aw the Lord is blessing us so much! I know that as we do our best to be obedient and truly put our whole faith and trust in the Lord that he will poor out blessings upon us! I will not lie, this week has been difficult and challenging, but it has been even more, joyful and rewarding. Wow, I can't believe how much the Lord is blessing us. I hope that I can continue to rely on Him and put my whole faith and trust in Him, because I really honestly just can't do this without Him. I am truly learning the truth of what so many prophets have proclaimed, that in the strength of the Lord all things are possible. We just have to put our trust in him and not in the arm of flesh.

 XOXOOX

MWAH!

~Sister Shurtz