Just normal stuff.

7-30-2012
Familia,

Well, since I last wrote you its only been a couple of days, so I don't have much new to share with you.

We got transfer calls on Saturday. Millie and I are staying the same, but Elder Allen who I've been with for 9 months is leaving. and I'm super bummed about that.

Since Wednesday we've mostly been doing service, helping an hermana in the ward get ready for a birthday party for her grandson. It was intense, the grandson turned one- and the party was HUGE. There was a clown, and dancing, and a big dinner, and who knows what else, because we left after an hour. But it started at 5pm and went to 5am!

I'm really sorry, I wish I had more to write but I really don't. We have just had some member lessons, and some less actives. Just normal stuff.

The weather has seemed to cool down a little bit. So thats nice.

I don't know. . . I hope you all have fun at Martin's Cove! I hope you learn a lot and have some awesome experiences!

Love you all!

les quiero,

Shaelyn

I read him part of Alma 6 where its talking about the Atonement. And after that Berto definitely calmed down. He told us that that was obviously of Christ and he consented to pray again about the Book of Mormon.

7-25-2012
Familia,

This week has definitely had its ups and downs! Luckily its starting to look like its going to go in an upward direction for the next little bit. Keep your fingers crossed.

So the majority of last week was pretty slow. We had a lot of appointments cancel, just like the week before. And let me tell you, it was pretty discouraging. Millie and I both were feeling kind of down.

On Monday we had Zone Meeting and I had my first interview with President Fenn.  It was okay. I hope that I am able to build up a good relationship with him before I leave, but the interview definitely wasn't what I was hoping for. But we'll see what happens.

Yesterday we had our up day! We have been helping an hermana in the ward's daughter, Jenny, redo the kitchen, so we went over there and did service for her in the morning. Painting, and sanding, and all sorts of dirty work. Lets just say I've seen more cucarachas in the last few days then you have ever seen in your life. :P As much as I'm not a fan of doing dirty, hot work, we had fun. Jenny is just a year older than I so it was fun to help her out. She's not a member, and definitely isn't going to be one anytime soon, but she's awesome.

Then after we left there, we went home and got cleaned up and went to the Salgado's house. Hermana Maria Salgado was baptized probably back in like January.  And she has a slew of grandkids (5) that we teach every Tuesday and Thursday after she feeds us. Three of the grandkids are over eight, but the mom of two of them won't give them permission to get baptized. But Leslie, just turned eight in like May, and she ended up asking her mom for permission to get baptized a couple of weeks ago. Her mom said, "well, do you want to get baptized?" and Leslie, being eight, said. . ." I don't know. . " haha so we talked to Leslie about it some more and found out she said she didn't know cos she's afraid of water. So we asked her to pray about it and ask Heavenly Father. The next time we came over we asked her how her prayer went, and what Heavenly Father said. She said, "I think he said yes! I want to be baptized!" So now we're helping Leslie get ready to be baptized on August 11! :) Oh also, witihin the last week and half since I wrote you we went over there and did sidewalk chalk with the kids, it was super fun, and I took lots of pictures. They drew lots of pictures of us, and wrote thinks like  "I Love Jesus" "I love the Sisters." They are so cute.

Then after we left the Salgado's, we had an appointment with our super Christian investigators, Carla y Berto.  They had cancelled the last couple of weeks, so it was good to get in with them. Last we talked to them they said they'd read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Well. .  they prayed about it first, and felt like they shouldn't read it. Ugh, this feels like exactly what happened with Maria y Luis one year ago. But, we had a great lesson. Berto talks a TON, but we were still able to have a good conversation, with minimal contention. He sometimes seems to want to Bible Bash, but we've been able to avoid it. They really do like us, and love talking about Jesus. I think sometimes they are just worried about our salvation. :) But anyway, I wanted to watch the restauracion movie with them, but yesterday morning there was a bad storm and their power was still out. So we taught them the restoration, with difficulty because Berto interjected so much. But we were still able to feel the spirit many times, and just testified over and over again. Finally Berto asked me to read him something from the Book of Mormon, after I testified that it talked of Christ, and that there was no way it could come from Man or the Devil. So I read him part of Alma 6 where its talking about the Atonement. And after that Berto definitely calmed down. He told us that that was obviously of Christ and he consented to pray again about the Book of Mormon. I asked him if he would pray with us right there, and he did. In a very. . . enthusiastic manner. They are the kind of people that mutter along when other people are praying and kind of sway back and forth. So while he was praying, I also prayed- so that he would feel that he should read the Book of Mormon, that he would be humble, and have an open heart. But because he was basically yelling I was having a hard time concentrating on my prayer. So I ended up mouthing the words, and they just thought I was doing what they do and muttering along with them! :) After the prayer, I asked how he felt, and he told me he would read the Book! so thats a start! :) Then, we stood up, and I asked them to watch the movie, and to pray about it, and as I handed it to them, their lights turned on! They totes took it as a sign from God, so thats pretty legit. But man, did I leave that appointment EXHAUSTED. We couldn't get out until two ours later and it was just spiritually draining. But good. Very good. Left on a sweet spiritual high.

This week should be good. If people don't cancel left and right. But so far we are pretty booked! :) And hopefully the weather chills out, so I can be comfortable again. :)

I love you all so much! You are the best!

les quiero,

Shaelyn

fotos:

the district

me and Cynthia next to a picture she drew of me :)

millie and i

Cynthia's picture of me :)

TE AMO!

me and the salgado ninos

millie and i in chalk form :)

everytime we leave the salgado home the kids go out in the yard and find "gifts" for us.

usually its weeds and rocks. :)

Imelda, her grandkids, and us

 i may or may not have completely biffed it, and hurt my knee really good. so i iced it with frozen bread

Either the chair in our apartment was really old and beat up, or the tortilla's have really gotten to me. . .

This is a 3 part miracle. part one- they got the note. part 2- he called! Thats huge, btw- no one ever calls us when we leave notes. and part 3- they came to church and we were able to set up an appointment with them! YAY!

7-16-2012
Familia,

This week has been okay. Really slow, a lot of our appointments ended up bailing for one reason or another, lots of people are having family emergencies.  But Millie and I were both a bit sicker this last week, so we got some time to rest. Which was good and much needed. But due to that, I really don't have any good stories about people we visited.

But Wednesday we had a mini bday party for millie, so that was fun. She made herself a cake and decorated it. I watched. I'm a bad companion, but she was having so much fun. . . I just let her do it. :)

Thursday or something we got a note on our door that we can't park in the parking lot of our building anymore because the bank is foreclosing on it. soo. .  That means our apartment is probably next. Millie and I get to go apartment shopping this week! Yay!

Saturday we had an appointment with a man I met in a park. We met him in the same park, which is in the middle of la selva (super mexican), and cars kept slowing down and trying to figure out why this guy was meeting with two white girls. But it was okay. He's not super interested, but it was still a good lesson.

Sunday something pretty cool happened. A little bit of background for the story. . .  On Wednesday or something Millie and I were looking for some inactive members and some former investigators, and we tried an hermano who has a nonmember daughter, who i've tried a couple of times but they are never home. They weren't home, and it was one of those apartments where you have to get buzzed in to even get to their actual apartment. Millie wanted to leave them a note, and I was hesitant, because who knows if they'd even get it, we'd have to put it on the front door to the whole apartment building. But we did. And they actually got it! and actually responded! Sunday morning the hermano called me and told me he got our note, and asked what time church started. and they came! This is a 3 part miracle. part one- they got the note. part 2- he called! Thats huge, btw- no one ever calls us when we leave notes. and part 3- they came to church and we were able to set up an appointment with them! YAY!

A member gave us an eliptical and a stationary bike yesterday. So I'm gonna try to start working off some of these tortillas before I get home. :)

And this morning. . . I walked out our door and heard some people talking in Spanish to a member kid, Frankie, who lives above us. Frankie doesn't speak Spanish really well, so I tell them, and they come down and talk to us. JW's. It was kind of a hostile encounter, cos I told them our whole building is mormon, and they got like all defensive and I got defensive. . . but we took their paper. And they didn't take ours. It was Millie's first encounter with the testigos, and she thought it was super exciting. :)

Sorry for the boring week. We'll try to do better next week and have some more adventures!

Love you all!

Les Quiero,

Shaelyn

Man. What a week. HOT HOT HOT.

7-9-2012
Familia,

Man. What a week. HOT HOT HOT. Super grateful to be in a car, and have a basement apartment with ac that works. I feel bad for the elders on bikes with crappy ac in their apartments. We've had temperatures of like 110 all week, with humidity. Yuck.

So this week has been alright. Pretty busy, but I can't for the life of me seem to remember any cool stories. Umm. . .

Well, the last couple of weeks an inactive hermana has come to church, and the first week I didn't know who she was, but I introduced myself. After church someone told me who she was, and I realized she was part of a family I've been looking for since I came to this area. We have 4 different addresses for them, and none of them are correct- or even exist. I've probably spent hours driving around Bensenville, IL looking for this family. So when she was at church the next week, I was all about talking to her. I saw her in Sacrament, and as soon as the closing prayer was said I basically hurdled over the pews to get to her. :P I FINALLY got an appointment with her and a current address and phone number. So we went by for our appointment, and man. I'm sure glad we were able to find them. They're an awesome family. Just have been away from the church for along time. They were sealed in the temple, but then according to them, just due to laziness stopped coming. And I'm pretty sure its been years since they've been to church. But their oldest daughter tried to commit suicide, and she is actually the one that asked her mom if they could go to church, so she and her mom were the ones there. And their youngest son (15) just got his girlfriend pregnant. When we were in that appointment Hna Milliron and I didn't really have to do anything to get all of this info out, we just sat down and BAM. Information overload. Long story short- they were saying how they know they need the gospel, they need to come back and how much it will help their family. So. Hopefully we can help them come back. I'm really glad she came to church and I was able to finally get her address. I'm serious- that one's going in the miracle list.

Haven't been able to meet with Carla and Berto, they cancelled- but want to reschedule. . . which is a good sign. A ver que pasa.

The referral from Liz. AWESOME. Its her husband Marco's brother, Cesar, and his wife, Yenis. Cesar is a member, inactive, just like Marco was. Basically moved here from Peru and lost contact with the church. Yenis is super super Catholic. But told us she can feel like something is missing, and they want to increase their faith in Christ, etc. She rejected a baptism invite, saying she wants to die Catholic. . but then kind of went on to say that she wants to be part of our church. .  she just needs God to open the way. Well. Pretty sure that can happen, so no worries there. :)

Millie (hna Milliron) and I had an exciting middle of the night adventure this week! at like 3:45 am i woke up to the fire alarm beeping. Just because it needed new batteries. But its in our room, and I COULD not sleep. Well. Before we figure out it was the actual fire alarm, I checked the co detector too, because its closer to my bed, and I didn't wanna get out if I didn't have to. Well, I guess taking the batteries out and putting them back in, made the co detector realize its batteries were low too. So at 4 am we had two alarms going off. Very loudly. So what did Millie and I do? We went to the gas station. At 4 am. And the Indian attendant didn't know what batteries were in English, and I was tired. and it was like 90 degrees outside. And we finally got back to bed at 5 am. Just to wake up in an hour and a half. BOOOO.

Yesterday was Millie's, and we had a good day. I set up a surprise party for her with Modesta and her family. Millie thought we were going to someone else's house for our dinner apointment, and I told her we just needed to stop by Modesta's really quick to pick something up, and then they had cake for her, and roses, and a super nice dinner. So it was fun.

Yesterday we also went over the the Chicago 2 Spanish ward to help with a fireside about missionary work. They apparently have some young women in the ward thinking about going on missions, so we shared some experiences and bore our testimonies. It was the first time I've ever given anythin even resembling a talk without preparing anything. And it was in Spanish. But it was cool. I had a good time, and loved meeting some of the members of that ward.

We also met President Fenn this week. He seems . . intense. Other than that. . I dunno. I'm pretty nervous for changes that I know are going to happen here.

I think thats all I got for you this week. Love you all!

les quiero,

Shaelyn

edit: yesterday was Millie's BIRTHDAY. forgot to write in that in the story

fotos:

object lesson prep!

coco frios

me and my kitties! and kiddies

4 am gas station adventures.

pictures you wanted of my new hlj ring

Send me some prayers this week, that we can find those people that are prepared, the elect.

7-2-2012
Familia,

Well, its been a pretty slow week. After all of the baptisms this past month, we spent a good deal of time just trying to find people. We've been going through the area book a lot, looking up old investigators, and also trying to follow up on some referrals. But no real luck right now. We still have a couple of progressing investigators, that will hopefully be baptized in July, so thats good.

Last Monday we had a pretty good day, we got 4 new investigators and set 2 people on date for baptism, all after 6 pm on pday. :) 2 of those new investigators is the lady Hna Milliron talked to at the store her first day and her husband, Carla and Berto. Holy cow, are they interesting. Like I can't even explain them beyond saying that they are the definition of the term "Jesus Freaks." Very, very nice people. But are going to have a hard time accepting what we've got to tell them because the Bible doesn't specifically say, "And Jesus will go the America's and visit the people there, and their records will be known as the Book of Mormon, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the church you should join."  So. .  yeah. But they're nice. Want to hear about Jesus. But if we don't call him "Our Lord, Jesus Christ" They don't think we really have accepted him as our Savior. . .  They promised they'd read and pray though, with open hearts.

The other two investigators we picked up we found looking for a bogus referral. Esmerelda and her daughter, Perla. They don't seem to have much understanding of what we're saying, but accepted a baptismal invite. . . And then bailed on the next appointment. We'll see how they go.

BUT! I've been praying a lot that we could find those people that are prepared, the elect. So that we're not just finding all of these people, teaching one lesson, and then they disappear. And I got a call this morning from Liz Rios (got baptized like a month ago), and she told me she'd been talking to her sister in law a lot, and she wants to learn more. I really hope this is what I've been praying for, these kind of referrals are the ones that I've seen the most success with.

As for the weather here. . . oh man. INSANE. Thursday it hit 105 plus humidity, and then yesterday we had Illinois' version of a hurricane. We got out of church, and looked at the sky, and man did it look scary. BLACK. I got in the car, and the Elders loaded their bikes up onto the bike rack, so we could maybe beat the storm home. No such luck. It started downpouring like CRAZY while the elders were putting the bikes on. Like I have never seen rain like this before in my life. We tried to leave, and got a block from the church, and I couldn't see a thing because of the rain, and there were trees in the road, and it just wasn't safe. So we went back to the church to wait it out. We got SOAKED just running from the car to the church. and then the power went out. . . and finally it all calmed down. There are still trees in the road, and a lot of traffic lights are still out, but our power at home was only out for like a few minutes. and all is good.  I didn't get any pictures cos my camera was trapped in the trunk with the bikerack all loaded on it. But I'll try to get some from Hna Millie.

Well, send me some prayers this week, that we can find the elect. And keep up those prayers for Modesta and her family. They DEFINITELY need them.

Love you all, so much.

Les Quiero,

Shaelyn


fotos:

THE BEACH

what we do. dig giant holes

you asked to see my scripture cases. here they are.

happy hour at sonic! love the blue coconut!

beachhh

hello

stormmmm

mia the dog with the diaper