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

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

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

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

HEY!!

Well guess What??

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

 

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

I am really excited to do this actually.

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

We have lots of fun ideas and plans etc.

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

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

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

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

Hugs and Kisses!

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

MWAH!

~Sister Shurtz

Ple

Well,

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

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

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

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

Familia!

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

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

Okay I've got to be quick because I can't print emails anymore so it
takes a long time to read and to see all the pictures plus email you
and the president!
Things here are awesome! We had the baptism for Landon Hassell this
weekend! He is so cute and his family is doing so well now! They have
been to church for three weeks in a row now, and we even got Kyla the
mom to go to relief society! They are such a good family. Landon is so
smart. I know that he is going to be a rock in his family and help
them stay on the path.
We found 7 new investigators this week! That was awesome! :) I am so
happy. We also set a date yesterday with a guy named David Rines!!! Oh
man you have no idea! We have been trying soooooo hard and long to
have a lesson with David. His wife is a semi less active member. She
comes sometimes but is always really busy. She is SOO cute and sweet
and their 3 kids are darling! We had talked to Eve like hundreds of
times but we never even talked to David or met him. Finally she said
well come over for dinner sometime and we'll do it that way so he
doesn't feel pressure. So we set up a dinner appt. And he is SO nice
and ready and open! I don't know what Eve was freaking out about. We
had a lesson with him and found that he knows like EVERYTHING already
about our church. He said he has read up and studied up alot on our
church and doctrines. He just said the only thing he lacks is a
spiritual confirmation and prayer. He said that he would pray and
read. Our next lesson, we had really great members and fellowshippers
for them and we set a baptismal date with him for August 18th! I was
sweating bullets with setting it for so soon. But he accepted and he
is just ready!! I am so happy.
Things are going well in the mission and our Zone is one of the top
zones in the mission! Woot! :)
There are now sisters covering the other 4 wards in our stake that we
don't cover. So now this is a Sister Stake- Yay for SISTA POWER! We
are gonna rock it!
We also have two new investigators. They are named Kc and John
Dikorte. Kc has grown up around the church and has taken lessons
before. I feel like she is ready but that she wants to make the
decision to join and attend church with her husband. He now says he is
willing to listen, but he has heard alot of wrong and bad things about
our church and so he has a lot of hard questions about polygamy etc.
He has ready  alot of literature, which was sited and all so it's
supposedly correct although most anti mormon literature is sited but
extremely twisted in its explanation. Anyway he will be a tough cookie
to crack and his heart is kinda hard. But he said he will listen and
that we can try to help him have an open heart about all this!
We had interviews with our mission president this week and they went
well. President Ellsworth is incredible. I am amazed at the selfless
service that he and his wife give. All their time and thoughts and
efforts are given in this great cause of missionary work and helping
their 200 missionaries to succeed and be better. I don't think they
have any time to themselves. I am so grateful for their service.
President encouraged me to use the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlets
more in our teaching since we are teaching a lot of younger kids that
need parental permission for baptism. We are still working on Drew. We
still have lessons with him and his dad. Our bishop is meeting with
Drew and his mom tonight so I really hope and pray he can get
permission for baptism tonight!
I don't know if I ever told you about Iriwinta and Aldred Begay and
their two kids Dominique and Cheyanne. They are a Native American
family that I gave a tour to at the Visitor Center a couple months
ago. Since the tour I have been teaching them over the phone and they
would come into the VC frequently to see me and have me teach them
lessons! I got them transferred to missionaries and I just got a text
from Irwinita saying that they are all getting baptized August 10. And
she wants me to participate in the baptism! I am so HAPPY! I won't be
able to go or participate because I am not in the area or anything but
I am so happy for them! Irwinita is always giving me things. She gave
me a beautiful indian beaded braclet with my name on it and a necklace
with earrings in a home made pouch thing. She is so sweet and I am so
happy for this wonderful family!! I also had the opportunity to meet
her mom who was visiting her daughter, and teach her about our church
also. The spirit was really strong and she said that when she got back
to the reservation that she would start attending our church.
Lots of good things are happening here on the mission.  I love and
miss you all!
Oh a cool recipe I learned here on the mission is
Rolls:
2 cups of Bisquick
1/2 cup of sour cream
and a cup of 7-up.
They are So good! A family from the south fed us yesterday and had
made them. thought I'd share.
Well I love you all! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you!
~Sister Michelle Shurtz