Well,

This week has been awesome! Although I don't feel like I got to spend very much time in my area. The transfer schedule that we are on now at the VC is divided into two 6 hour shifts instead of split up into 3 shifts, which allowed us more time in our area in different times of the day. I had ZLC this week. It is a 6 hour mtg held at the mission home for all the Zone Leaders and Assistants to attend. It is the time that President councils with the leaders in the mission. At the meeting we get taught and trained. President gives us the info that he wants us to pass down to our zones (and VC) and then we do trainings on it. It was a very spiritual meeting. The Beckstrands also came and we all received insight on how to help the Visitor Center. We received training on how to better give commitments and teach towards those commitments that we are planning to extend throughout the whole lesson. We also received a training from Sister Ellsworth on Faith and knowing, accepting and following the Will of God. 

I am excited to be back with Sister Crawford. We are doing well in our companionship and it is easy since we already know how to work with each other and what each other expects of the other.  Sister Crawfords personality is a magnification and reflection of her mom. I am seeing how much influence our parents have on us and the people we are. 

I am so blessed and grateful to have grown up in such a great home with incredible family and parents! Mostly everything that is good about me, is because of that. I probably wouldn't be any better than any other person that struggles with different things had I grown up in their situations. I am no better than most people. I just grew up in better situations. With great blessings comes great responsibility. Because I have been given much, I too must give! I have so much responsibility to love and teach and serve others. I have no excuse to be wayward or disobedient. I will be judged harshly if I choose the wrong path or stray from the right one because I can truly say that I KNOW what is right. I don't know everything, but I know enough. I know enough to help others, and to share my blessings with them. I hope and pray that I can be better so that I can not focus on myself, but focus my efforts on helping others. The scriptures in Luke 22 where the Savior tells Peter: "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." keeps circling in my mind. I want to be converted, so that I can more fully strengthen and help my brothers and Sisters!

Well I love you all! I hope things are going well! 

Thank you so much for your love, thoughts and prayers!

~Sister Shurtz )( O

P.S. Did Tonya get her mission call yet???!!! I can't wait to hear! My guess is Mesa Arizona Mission Proselyting and VC Spanish speaking :) haha. If she doesn't go here, then she will go to Washington DC Visitor Center and proselyting mission. Or she could go to Brazil, or El Salvador. Or she could go to Tennessee.. I really want her to come here though. I think she would love it and do so well! I hope she gets to serve part time at a VC.. But I know wherever she goes will be perfect for her!

P.S.S. Thank you So much for the Package!! I loved it! Sister Crawford says thank you too! I opened it already.. before Valentines Day.. whoops.. :) thank you! You spoil me! 

Also the 525 e Main st address works great for you to send to! Thank you! :)

Hello Everyone!

It has been a rainy week this week! It's been fun. I love the rain! It sure is cold though! But then I look at pictures from home and it helps me not complain about the cold anymore!!! haha I don't even remember what it's like for it to get that cold!

Well this week has been good.Transfers are coming up again.. which means that I am going to be super busy again! On Tuesday Sister Sordes and I will do the conference call with President and the Beckstrands, and we will talk about the Sisters and make recommendations for companionships and areas etc  Then on Friday we get to work on the beast (the transfer schedule) which takes like 5 hours! And Sister Mackenzie goes home on the 5th so she'll be packing and going to scottsdale at the end of the week. It's so weird. I am really going to miss her a lot. I sure love her.

Destiny and her kids are doing SO well. It has been so fun to teach a cute little family. We have been reading the scriptures with them and the kids are really listening and understanding and seem to be enjoying it. They came to church and love it. I really want to set a date with them, but it's hard because the husband is in Mexico for a couple months and they don't want to do it without him. This family is so prepared! I really hope I can help them to be baptized before I go. I love them a lot. 
Lindsay Ashworth finally came to CHURCH!!!! :) we are so happy! She is actually doing so well. She has read everyday except once since the beginning of the year and hasn't smoked since then either! 
Eileen Madden is doing really well. She loves the Book of Mormon and is finding her answers to her questions in it. She can't come to church though because of work. We are going to teach about that tomorrow. Hopefully she can understand the importance and make a way to come. 
Sammi is doing amazingly well!!! I LOVE her.(I love all my investigators- but she is just extra loveable...Sidenote: I want to be like that. I mean, Jesus says love everyone- but I don't want to be that person that people have to pray to love and have charity for. I want to be easy to love. I want to be loveable!) She is progressing amazingly well. She loves the scriptures and understands them so well! For example, yesterday at our lesson when we were talking about tithing, she said "so in our lesson at church today they briefly mentioned Cain and Able and their burnt offerings of animals without blemish, is that how they did their tithing back then?" It was a bit off but I was so amazed that she was already thinking and applying the scriptures to our day! She is so ready for this gospel and will be an amazing leader and example! I am blessed to be her missionary  I feel like she is kinda like a freebie. One I don't have to sweat bullets for, but still feel the joy of teaching her and watching her learn and grow. She is done with all her lessons now. So we will just be reading with her, and having her teach us and clear up the questions and concerns she has. 
The Visitor Center sisters and doing so great. I love serving in the Visitor Center! I have been able to have more opportunities to talk to the sisters individually and uplift and encourage them. It has been good to get to know some of the newer sisters and encourage them. I have also been really looking for opportunities to serve the sisters at the VC so that I can show my love and help them to trust me. I want them to feel loved and respected. We will be incorporating some of the 8 fundamentals from PMG in the trainings that Sister Sordes and I give in our upcoming Trainings at the VC. Oh.. actually it will be me and the new VC Trainer.. Sister Sordes goes home on the 5th of Feb too. So now I will be training the new VC Trainer as well. But I already know who she is. She is going to be Awesome! 

This week in church I received a lot of revelation/inspiration for myself and for the Sisters at the VC. I have just really been struggling with being who the Lord wants me to be, and knowing exactly what that is. I know that no matter what the person in church is speaking about.. or how uninteresting it is.. we can and will receive revelation as we attend our church mtgs and listen and apply ourselves. I am so blessed to be able to attend so much church. We go to about 2 to 3 sacrament mtgs each week and several sunday school classes!

I love being a missionary!

This is Gods Church, given to us with Jesus Christ at the head and a Prophet called by God to show us their ways.

We are so blessed to be a part of this ever growing Marvelous work and wonder! I love you all!

Love

Sister Shurtz

Hello!

So I feel really bad. I haven't written anybody for over a month now.. sorry! I honestly don't really ever have a long enough p-day to get time to write. 

Sister Mackenzie has been sick this whole week again. The first 4 days we didn't go out.. but these last ones we have been able to go out, but my poor comp still has the sniffles and is sneezing like crazy! Like you said mom, I am super blessed that I haven't gotten sick at all! The Lord has truly blessed me with health and strength on the mission! I am so grateful!

We had our interviews with President this week. It was really good. I had asked him a few weeks ago if I could have a blessing from him to help me with my calling as a VC trainer and with my companion. When we were in our interview he asked if I would like that blessing then, I said yes! It was such a wonderful blessing. I am so very truly blessed. Our Heavenly Father truly is all knowing. He knows exactly what I need to hear and gives me the Loving advice and comfort I need. In the blessing I was blessed several times to have health and strength, which I think is the reason I haven't gotten sick at all even with a sick comp. He told me that this calling was a special calling that is much like an assistant to the President, but that a specific calling in the church was not necessary for one to be a leader. He said that this call was given to me to allow me to learn and exercise Christlike attributes especially kindness and compassion. He encouraged me to search the scriptures for answers to my questions and concerns. He emphasized many times that I would fulfill my calling best by leading by example. He blessed me that I would be able to fulfill my calling in a manner that the Lord would be pleased with. I was told that the Christlike attributes that i learn here will help me as a wife and mother and in raising my kids, and the leadership callings that I hold in the church. There was more but those are the things that stuck out to me. 

We had a great lesson last night with a lady named Eileen. She has been raised Catholic but has since decided that she doesn't believe it because her priest told her that the book of Genesis was a made up story. He told her that because she asked him why God would command Adam and Eve not to partake of the fruit and yet put the tree right there in front of them. He didn't know the answer, so he just said that it was all an example to teach them and not a real story. That bothered her. She also had questions about infant baptism. It was fun to be able to go over there and give her the answers to her questions in the book of mormon! She has been reading the BOM and loves it. She read 2 Nephi 2 and said, well if he woulda just told me that I would have been fine! haha we explained to her that he didn't tell her that because he doesn't know it because he doesnt' have the Book of Mormon. I think she is starting to get why this church is important. She is really nice. Her daughter is living in one of our other wards and has expressed interest in taking lessons as well. Her name is Courtney so hopefully we'll get to start teaching her daughter Courtney and her husband and kids!

Sammi Miles still has her baptismal date for Feb 16! She is SO stinkin cute! I love her to death! She is basically already mormon. We talked to her about the Word of Wisdom today. She was like "well I heard ya'll don't drink coffee so I already stopped that. But tea I had no idea about.. man I love my 99 cent peace tea.. but oh well." She is so cute. She is in the YSA ward and already has so many friends in the ward. Everyone loves sammi.

Well The VC is going well. We are starting to get everything ready for Easter Pageant already! We are trying to figure out what to do for the exhibit in Theater 1 for the pageant. We usually do picture taking with the soldiers and cast members.. but I have some concerns about all that because it really takes away from the spirit in the VC along with some other issues. I am kinda nervous but excited. I really want this Easter Pageant to be special and really spiritual. I am sad I won't be there. 

I should come home on the 12th of march! Too soon...

But I am excited to see you all!

I don't know if my mail is getting lost but mom I never recieved the OFY AFY EFY stuff and I haven't received any mail for a while. It's fine if i haven't gotten any but just in case some has been sent.. I would send it all to the VC at 525 E Main street Mesa AZ 85203 or 85205... I can't remember right now for some reason.. sorry! We live with members and our mail gets mixed in with theirs.. so it could get lost more easily! 

Well I love you all so much!

~Sister Shurtz

Hola!

Wow I'm to the point that I just don't even know what to say or write anymore. I just feel like my life is a big blur. I can't even remember what I did this week! It's all passing me by so quickly. I feel like it's sand slipping through my fingers and I can't hold on to it no matter how hard I try! I am loving this mission. I love what I am doing. I love the Lord, and I am so excited for this new year! It's going to be the BEST one ever. I am pretty sure I have learned more in this one year of my life than in many many of my others all put together! It's incredible what the Lord teaches you as you leave everything else behind to serve Him.

I hope I can be a better servant and better person altogether this year.

I am so excited to change more and repent more and be even better (hopefully) than the years before. I am realizing more and more how this life is really all about changing and progressing and becoming better and helping all those around you to do so as well! If we aren't changing and improving then we are wasting this precious probationary time that the Lord has given us. This time is short. I am seeing that now. People compare a mission to a lifetime. They call it a mini life. I can see why. It definitely helps you learn a lot of lifes important lessons!

This week has been good... Guess what!? A girl in the YSA area that we have been working with named Sammie set a baptismal date this week! She is getting baptized on  Feb 16th! She is so ready and so cute! She actually has been ready for awhile but her parents wanted her to take it slower and not get baptized when she wanted to. They said that if she took her time and really searched it out that they would support her more. So she did. They sat down together and set a date together. She is so excited and so are we! She came to the mission Presidents fireside on Sunday and loved it. She is from California and won Miss Teen rodeo a year or so ago. She is really fun and will be a great asset to the church. She feels and recognizes the spirit so well. She amazes me!

The family that we found. The Nieto's are doing well. They won't be baptized for awhile though. We weren't able to meet with them enough before the Dad Ivan had to leave to Mexico for residency so we will keep working with the wife and daughter and him through the phone at the VC while he is gone. He could be gone for over a year.. so we'll see what happens. The wife (Destiny) is leaving with Ivan tomorrow and then she will come back in a week. They are such a great and prepared family. I gave them my card with my name and address and phone number on it. They were trying to get a hold of us (me and sis mackenzie) once and they called the number on the card (I think dads phone) and they heard the Voice mail and realized that it was dads phone! haha! They joked with me and told me that they talked to you and told me that they told you they met me at a bar etc.. haha it was funny they were trying to get me worried but I told them that even if they had told you that- you wouldn't believe them because you trust me. They were really impressed by that. The fact that I wasn't even worried surprised them! They are really impressed with the people in this church and our values etc. Ivan said that when he gets back from mexico they want to come visit us in "Ogden" they might move there! I told them they could come!

We are working on a new program with the Sisters. It's called Media Planning. We are hoping to help the Sisters get organized with their contacts and referalls that they receive from everyone. 

Well I sure love you ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Love

Sister Shurtz 

HELLO! 
So this has been such a CRAZY week full of so many changes and experiences. 
I guess I didn't explain very well last week what happened. So I was called to be the new Visitor Center Trainer last week. I didn't know what transfer news was yet last week. I just knew that I was being called to be the new Trainer at the VC. Sister Carlson who has been the english VC Trainer is leaving tomorrow so they had to call a new one. They sustained me just this last week during prep mtg. 
Last week Sister Carlson, Me and Sister Sordes (the spanish VC Trainer) and Elder and Sister Becktrand sat in Elder Beckstrands office on a conference call with President Ellsworth and talked about all the Sisters in the Visitor Center and how they are doing and what we feel they need and who would be a good companion for them etc. It was so neat and amazing. I was able to see how the spirit works in these meetings and we were able to discuss some really important things. I didn't even know that the Trainers in the past ever did this with President. I just thought he made all the decisions by himself. And ultimately he still does make the final decision- Well he and the Lord do, but it makes sense that he would get information from those who are around us all the time. 
Also this week I sat with Sister Carlson and Sordes and made "the Beast". That is the schedule for the Visitor Center sisters for the full transfer. It's called the Beast because it is a beast to make. It took us 5 hours! It is done in excel... which I am no good at! But I was able to learn enough that I think Sister Sordes (from France) and I will be able to do it by ourselves next year. Sister Carlson really knows what she is doing. I am so nervous for her to leave. I haven't learned all that I need to from her yet! But it's okay, Sister Sordes will teach me and Elder and Sister Beckstrand and the Lord of course. I guess I'll just have to fake it until I make it!
So basically with this calling we just correlate with President Ellsworth and Elder and Sister Beckstrand on how to help the Visitor Center Sisters. We are the Assistants to the President for the Visitor Center. We give trainings to the Sisters every other week, and we plan all the meetings, and run all the prep meetings for Christmas lights every day. We get to train the awesome Host couples that come to volunteer on the grounds during the lights and invite everyone to come in. I know we do a lot more, but those are the main things that I know about so far! I am excited, but extremely overwhelmed! The only reason I am excited is because I know that the Lord will qualify me and because i know that I am going to learn a lot and grow a lot. I just hope and pray that I can be humble enough and trust in the Lord enough to do this. I CANNOT do this without Him. 
Well I am getting transferred also. I am leaving this area! I am actually really sad. But it's good. I've been there for 5 transfers now so I guess it's about time! I am going to be companions with Sister Mackenzie from Kenya. This will be her last transfer.
I love you all so much!
~SIster Michelle Shurtz

ho Ho HO! Here we go!
It's the Holiday season again! Wahoo! I love this time of year and I love CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!!! I love more than anything what we get to do there in the Visitor Center! I love seeing the spirit work through me to touch the hearts of so many people. I am so grateful to be an instrument in His mighty hands. I have seen such a change come into the eyes of so many as they feel the spirit and desire to learn more about this. 

Well Jesus Valdez one of our investigators in the YSA ward got baptized! The baptism was wonderful! The spirit there was so strong and so incredible! We had 5 non members there.  His mom and his sisters and then another of our investigators came. They all felt the spirit so strong there. They cried and smiled through the whole thing. My companions and I sang "I know that my redeemer lives" I was so nervous because Sister Beckstrand asked me to sing the whole 3rd verse by myself. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable but she wouldn't take no for an answer (she was our accompanist). I sounded awful and shaky during every single practice that we had (which was like 2 haha) I was so afraid that I would ruin the spirit because I was so nervous to do it. I prayed right before we sang with my companions and I just asked for help to sing well and help those there to feel the spirit. I asked for angels to sing with us. 
Can I just say that I know that during my Solo I was not really singing alone. I did so well. I am not bragging because it wasn't me. The spirit was so strong, and when I started to feel nervous, the thought came into my mind, just focus on the words that you are singing. Wow, that changed everything, I felt and was somehow able to express the way I felt through music as I sang. Such a special experience. 

 Jesus told us that his sister told him that he didn't want to even drink anymore after watching Jesus get baptized and seeing the person that he has chosen to be and work towards becoming. Jesus' confirmation also went very well. He even fasted and paid fast offering on sunday and tithing as well! He had a neat miracle. He wanted to pay tithing and fast offering but doesn't have any money right now. He was praying about it, and he found a 20$ bill. It wasn't his he just found it out of nowhere on the ground! He was so excited, he paid tithing on it, and then gave the rest to fast offering. We told him that he only has to pay tithing on what he earns but he just wanted to! He is so pure in heart. He really is amazing and will bring many into the gospel. He is excited about preparing to receive the priesthood and hopes to be ready so that he can someday baptize his mom and sisters if they choose to meet with missionaries. They have said they would like to but they are in the process of moving so they don't have an address yet. But we will stay in contact with them until they move. :) Jesus said that he even wants to serve a mission! He thinks that if he gets to that he will get called to China because every time he eats at Panda Express his fortune cookie tells him that he will go on a long journey to China! haha we all laughed about that. But it is a possibility. 

Guys I just want you all to know that I KNOW that God lives. He knows your name, He knows your doubts, worries, insecurities, and fears. That is why He sent His son Jesus Christ! He came to make all things that are wrong in this world right. All things can be overcome and can work together for our good if we will only learn to rely and trust more in His atonement. I think that is the problem. We as members of the church believe in Christ. But how much do we really rely on Him in the hard times? Do we cast our burdens on the Lord? Do we even know how? I have been thinking about these things a lot lately. 
Well I love you all! I love to share and expand my testimony of Jesus Christ. I feel like my testimony just keeps growing and growing! I hope it never stops! 

I love my companions. I love being in a trio. We are learning a lot together and all growing in love, patience, and understanding. We are feeding off of each other and helping each other to be more diligent and work harder and talk to EVERYONE! We are already seeing great blessings in doing so. :)
Also, I saw the title of your emails mom and dad. I AM getting them every week! So sorry for not replying in the emails about them! I usually try to print them off. Because i don't have time to look at all the pictures, email president Ellsworth, turn in numbers for the week and email you all. Sorry! I love and cherish every word that I read in your emails. Thank you for your concern and love! I truly am doing well! Thank you So much! i love you!!!!
~Sister Shurtz

HEYA!
Sister Shurtz here.... Haha
Well things are going pretty well here in the East Mesa stake. I am getting so excited for Christmas Lights again! WOOT! They are so beautiful! Wish you could see them. I like them better than Salt Lakes even.. probably because I'm partial to Mesa since it's my mission! But also because they are like really blingy haha the temple grounds are really small and so there is not much space to put the lights. They have lots of them though so they are just a lot squished into a smaller area. Whereas in SLC they have them more spead out and such. Plus the lights here are more bright and fun and colorful although I guess the ones on Temple Square in SL are more elegant. Anyway.. it's fun to have the lights up! Neither of my companions have been here during Christmas lights so it's fun to be with them! 
We just got done practicing some songs with Sister Beckstrand for our little Choir. We will be singing for a few minutes on Christmas day. Sister Michelle Baer came to the VC today to give our little choir some tips on how to make it sound better and how to sing in general. I really enjoyed it. She is amazing. She sang "Where can I turn for peace?" to us and it was incredible. She puts so much feeling and emotion into her voice. I almost wanted to cry just watching her and listening to her. I felt the spirit so strong. She has a few CDs out. You can buy the one with "where can I turn for peace" on it at Deseret Book she said. Also she has three other CDs she said that you can buy her songs on itunes too. Just so you know!
Welll things are going really great in our area. We still don't have very many people to teach but we also don't have much time either so it works out. I have been praying to get more investigators and find the prepared. I wanted to share a neat answer to that prayer that I prayed. I remember asking for the Lord to help me know what to do to find the prepared people to teach. I know that we are always supposed to be focused on finding no matter how many investigators we have. Which we don't have very many.. anyway so as I asked the Lord to help me know what to do to find. I felt like I needed to just be patient and continue to do what I am doing. Talk to everyone. Ask for referrals from EVERYONE, and be EXACTly obedient. Then I remembered a talk in conference talking about helping those that need to be lifted 'one by one'. I felt strongly that I was going to get it one at a time. I was going to help prepared people in this area one by one. The Lord knows that we have little to no time in our area. He knows that we are doing our best to use His time effectively and He knows that we are striving to be worthy to receive the prepared children. He has asked me to be happy and sufficient in helping his prepared children one by one in this effort at this time. I don't know why, but I am grateful for that confirmation. I also felt that I was being an instrument in bringing MANY to the truth through the wonderful tools and spirit at the Visitor Center. I am gaining a strong testimony of the power of Visitor Centers. They are amazing. They truly are dedicated bldgs and there is a power there. I love serving there. The tools we can use to teach and illustrate our testimony of Christ and the BOM ect. are so perfect. I love teaching there! I love to see people feel the spirit and have a change of heart. I love to teach! I love to learn! I believe it was Elder Holland who said that the spirit that can be felt in the Visitor Center is second only to the temple and the Sacrament hall. I have seen miracles daily there. I am finding that at the Visitor Center you get out of your day what you are willing to put into it. It is so easy to just sit there and not have an effective eventful day. Its easy to not talk to or 'interrupt' the people that come into the VC. It's easy to just keep to yourself or talk to the other Sister or senior couples and waste time rather than seeking to talk to everyone that comes in and finding those who have questions or could use your help or testimony. If I pray for an experience to help someone while I am there, I always get one.
   Jesus (Haysoos) is ready for baptism. We took him to two baptismal services last week. He is sooo pure in heart! Such a great kid. I am so impressed with him. He has incredible fellowshippers. His baptism is still set for Dec. 1st 2012 at 2 pm. His birthday was this Sunday. He turned 22. He chose to go to church and meet with us rather than go on a road trip with family and friends for his birthday because he knew that he needed to be at church and he knew they would be partying and drinking etc. He said, I don't wanna do stuff like that. I don't even want to be around it! I am so impressed with him. 
Mark Devine... I don't think we'll end up meeting with him. He keeps saying he's ready to do all this and wants it but then flakes out and never shows up for appts or church or anything. I know the Lord will keep working on him. 
We have an amazing YSA WML. I am so impressed with his willingness and dedication to his calling. He is so on top of things and so ready to jump at our slightest suggestion. I know that much of the success that we are having in our YSA ward is largely because of him. I am so grateful to be working with great ward leaders. His name is Jared Despain. 
We are now teaching Heather Payne in the 30th ward. She is a prepared one! Her husband is an inactive member that wants to come back. She knows a lot and has come to church for the past two weeks. She has great member support and is SOOO so sweet. I love her already. She has a 4 year old daughter that means the world to her! She has lots of real intent. She really wants to know if this is true. 
I want to stay here forever! Being a missionary is too good. It's so great. I don't want to think about having to go home and 'be' the person I'm trying to become. Thats the scary part of all this. That's why I want to make sure I have really changed my heart. 

I want you all to know that I am sure and have no doubt or wonder but rather, I Know that Jesus is the Christ. He has redeemed all mankind from the fall. We are His children. He loves us perfectly. We cannot make it back to God without relying upon the Atonement and mercy of Christ. God is our Father. He wants us to come back to live with Him. Christ lives. We will see our loved ones again. Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration of this great and perfect Church. Thomas S Monson is the prophet. He speaks with God. I love this gospel with all my heart. 
Thank you THANK you THANK YOU! for all your love prayers and support and love! 
I am so thankful for all of you! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!
May turkey and stuffing fill your bellies and Thanks fill your hearts! awwww ;)
~Sister Shurtz
 

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