Evelin and Danae got baptized on Saturday! It was awesome.

6-25-2012
Familia,

This week has been ridiculous. Mostly because of the heat. but I'm some how surviving it. I'm not really sure how. . . But so far so good. But if you don't hear from me next week, its because I've melted. Just a heads up.

Things are going well with the new comp. Her name is Hermana Rachel Milliron, and she is from Portland. She learned Spanish in school, and was in the advanced program at the MTC, so she already speaks a good deal. :) Its kind of a relief that I don't have to have someone that has no idea whats going on again. She can actually like participate in lessons. Which is kind of difficult now that I'm so used to teaching solo. :P But we're all adjusting. She definitely has that greenie fire, and it helps me get my butt in gear. In the training meeting pres kept going on about how he chose us to train because he knows we'll help the new missionaries get a good start blah blah blah, but really I know he chooses the missionaries that are super worn out to be trainers so that the greenies can make them work. :P

Evelin and Danae got baptized on Saturday! It was awesome. I'm not a cryer, but I ALMOST teared up during their baptism, and their confirmations. I can't explain why, just that the spirit was super strong. These girls are the best. You have to meet them. And you will, because this is a family that I am going to be in contact with for the rest of my life.

Surprisingly enough the baptism went off without a hitch. We had hot water, it filled in time, the drain was plugged, and all of the speakers showed up. :) After they were baptized I put in a movie for people to watch while they changed, and then I went out to wait for them to get out of the bathroom. When they came out and saw me the first thing they did was book it down the hall and gave me a big hug. They were so excited and happy. And then Sunday they got confirmed. I was playing the piano in sacrament meeting, so I was sitting up on the stand when it happened and could really see their faces. They were so sososososo excited. And the spirit was amazing. In Evelin's confirmation it talked about her serving a mission. :) After wards I asked them how it was, and they said to me, "I felt something hot in my chest, what was that? Was that the holy ghost? I felt that when they told me to receive the holy ghost." BAM. AMAZING. Love them. haha also- they had only been official members for like 5 hours when they started asking me deep doctrine questions. "who is god's parents? who does god pray to? when we're resurrected are we all resurrected, good and bad? when does that happen? Where did god come from?" They are 11 and 9. I'm pretty sure when I was that age all I ever asked was when I could get a puppy.

Besides the baptism this week has been focused on finding people, considering we just baptized basically our whole teaching pool. Luckily with the greenie fire, we were able to talk to a lot of people, and I got some old referrals contacted that really seem to have interest. One of them is named Graciela, and she is a 7th Day Adventist, but we had a super legit lesson with her and she told us a little bit about herself and she definitely has a lot of faith, knows how to pray, and how to get answers. And wants to read the Book of Mormon and know if its true. She's legit. I'm excited for her.

Also- on Hna Milliron's first day, she talked to a lady at the grocery store (GO GREENIES!) and we actually ended up getting her phone number, and gave her a call and we have an appointment with her tonight. Hna Milliron is super excited, considering it was her first contact and everything.

Okay, no more time. We're going downtown to go bowling, and I gotta go meet the elders.

Love you all!

Les quiero,

Shaelyn

fotos:

momma brown and baby milliron

baptism!

me and carla

me and my girl's!

I am getting a greenie tomorrow. Straight from the MTC.

6-18-2012
Familia,

Another transfer ending. Its kind of bizarre how fast time is going. Only four more left. I hope that I can die here in Melrose Park. I do not want to be transferred again. At all.

But, it looks like I'll be here for at least another transfer. I am getting a greenie tomorrow. Straight from the MTC. So that should be interesting. Hopefully she has tons of greenie fire and is stoked to go finding, cos as of this Saturday I will have baptized all of the investigators that I found when I first got put in here. . .

Speaking of baptisms. .  Imelda got baptized on Saturday! Over all it went really well. She is awesome. She invited her nonmember sister, niece, and daughter in law too. So that was really cool. The only thing that went wrong with this baptism is that the drain didn't get plugged all the way, so all through the service you could here it slowly sucking he water out. But there was still plenty for when she got baptized!

Danae y Evelin are still on track to be baptized this Saturday. They had their interviews yesterday after church. They were SO scared. They knew everything better than probably any other kids out there, but still were terrified. Evelin started crying right before. It was pretty sad. But of course they passed. And now all things are go for the planning. And because they have so many family members that are members, albeit inactive, this thing is going to be a party. Modesta said to expect like 70+ people. . . uhoh, the room with the font def doesn't hold that many. But it makes my part easy, because I don't have to worry about finding anyone to talk or pray! :) I love this family so much. They are the bomb. Danae wants to be the flower girl at my wedding and Evelin wants to hold my train as I walk down the aisle. :P So i guess we'll have to have a ring ceremony as to not disappoint. :)

Umm. I really don't know what else to write. This week has been pretty typical. We had a big zone conference on Wednesday, the last one with President and Sister Doll. It was fun, because half of the mission was there, but also pretty sad to here Pres and Sis Doll's departing testimonies. We all got a hug from each of them before we left.

Then the rest of the week was running from one appointment to the other, and baptism prep. Also lots of eating appointments. Poor Sister Raymond is super ready to not be in the Spanish program anymore I think. :) As for me. .  Yeah, not going to miss the English program that much either.

Sorry its so short this week, I'm sure I'll have more to tell you next time. Love you all. Hope all is well.

Les Quiero,

Shaelyn
 


fotos:

the beach! in pros. . . it wasn't in the plans

after a SUPER hot day in the city

Imelda Avalos, se bautizo el 16 de Junio

She is the first person that I have been able to find, teach, and be there when she is baptized. Like for the whole process. :) She is super prepared. I'm excited for her.

6-11-2012
Familia,

Well. I have successfully survived one week as a zebra. Wow. It was something else. I didn't think only one year of being in the Spanish program would make it so difficult to adjust back to the English world. But it sure did. I feel super super awkward at the English appointments, and don't really know how to pray in English anymore. . . Everything I say just sounds weird. But, only one more week and then back to puros hispanos! Hooray! 

The week was super super busy, because Sister Raymond and I are covering both the English and the Spanish wards. Everyday is basically booked, back to back appointments, and we've had to cancel or move different appointments because we've been double booked. Its been crazy. Every morning is even more difficult than usual to drag myself out of bed.

Soo. .  A recap of the week. Lets see. . .

Monday we went to the zoo. It was a very rushed, but fun time. Then I dropped Hermana Carlson off at the mission office, and Sister Raymond and I were off on our bilingual adventures. To push me right into the english program we had a dinner appointment that night with an old, white couple and ate beef stew and iced herbal tea. We weird. The whole experience. I felt the need to be like super proper. Blah.

And then right after that appointment Sister Raymond got her first taste of the hispanic culture. We went to the Sosa's house for our second dinner appointment (which she's not used to having multiple eating appointments). The Sosa house is trilingual. The Hermana is a member, from Brazil- who served a SLC visitor's center mission and learned English and Spanish. Hermano is not a member, and is from Peru and also speaks English. So that was good for Sister Raymond that they spoke English, but it was still a new experience just with the difference in how they interacted with us, and the food. Sister Raymond is THE pickiest eater in the world. So this week has been torture for her. Hermano Sosa LOVES to joke and play pranks. So when we got there he asks us if we want anything to drink, we said yes, and as soon as he says to me, "I got you the stuff you like" and winked, i knew something was up. He comes back with three beer bottles. Opens them and hands us each one. I took it, and being pretty sure he wouldn't actually give me beer, gave it a smell. Nope- not beer. Ginger Ale. :) So I happily start drinking it while Sister Raymond sits there just looking super super confused. She reads the label no less than 82 times. I said to her. "Its okay, this is okay to drink. Don't worry about it." And she says kind of nervously, "Are you sure? It has an alcohol warning. .. " Me: "Yeah, its fine. don't worry about it." She still just didn't drink it. And was super quiet the whole time. Finally when the meal is getting close to finished, I'm getting worried about her being super mad at me, so I ask in spanish how long we are going to keep this up, and finally the hermano brings out a ginger ale bottle and asks, "can you drink this?" she said yes, and he said, " well thats whats in your bottle." It took her a minute to figure it out and finally she got it. I think more than anything she was just confused and relieved I wasn't actually drinking beer. :P Welcome to the Spanish Program Sister Raymond!!!

For the rest of the week we've had many Spanish appointments that Sister Raymond has just kind of had to sit through, I feel bad for her. I can remember when I was green and only understood some Spanish, and how hard it was. And she really doesn't understand hardly at all. Some words here and there. But she is picking up on some stuff pretty fast, and can guess what we are talking about, even if she doesn't know exactly what we are saying- as long as its gospel related.

I've met some interesting people as well. One of the Sister's investigator's is a reverend from Ghana named Brother Mensah. And wow he is something. He is super philosophical and asks weird questions. Like at one point I asked, "Does that make sense?" And he was all, "How am I supposed to answer that?" umm. .  yes or no? so that was a trip. He says he is looking for an "empirical experience" and wants to know for himself blah blah which is good, but he refuses to pray about it. whatever.

As for the people I've been teaching they are doing pretty well. Imelda will be getting baptized this week! She is the first person that I have been able to find, teach, and be there when she is baptized. Like for the whole process. :) She is super prepared. I'm excited for her.

The Rivera's are also doing good. Unfortunately they were unable to make it to church on Sunday because they moved Saturday and were up until 4 am moving, and were exhausted and then Modesta had to be at the apartment all day waiting for the landlord. I called them to see why they weren't there, and Modesta was pretty worried and stressed because if the girls didn't make it to church yesterday that meant they can't be baptized this Saturday, but I told her it was fine, we can just wait a week. It'll be better so then I won't be so stressed planning three baptisms on one day, and she won't be as stressed with the move and the baptism. But the girls are definitely ready. Super ready. :)

Yesterday (Sunday) was pretty intense. 5 hours of church. Yuck. Luckily the first three hours were Spanish, which were terrible for Sister Raymond, but awesome for me, and then the next hour I was waiting with and for Imelda to get her interview, and then we made it English Sacrament. It was my first English Sacrament meeting in over a year. But I survived. Something interesting/funny from yesterday is that for some reason Sis Raymond had written into her planner that we had an appointment with someone named David at 4 pm. Well. .  neither of us had any idea who David was. So we missed that appointment obviously. Still have no idea who he is. . . But we were joking about it, like maybe we were supposed to find a David and thats why she wrote it down. Well, we got out of dinner appointment that night and still had an hour of work time left, so we decided to go find one of my referrals. Guess what? Her husband's name is David. And her son's name? David. So last night I got to teach two David's! And the Hermano wants his family to learn more and to get baptized. He can't come to church cos of work. . but we'll see what we can do about that. :) Thanks Sis. Raymond for telling us to look for David!

Alright. I think thats about all I've got for you this week. Its sure been an interesting one. Can't wait to see how next week goes. . .

Les Quiero Mucho!

Shaelyn

fotos:

Hermana Carlson and I at the ZOO! We found a moose.

Sister Raymond and I with Rodney, a quadriplegic member in the English ward.

The Cubs game was awesome! Surprisingly they won, I guess mormons are a good luck charm.

6-4-2012
Familia,

Well its been quite the week. Super fun, and super exhausting.

Lets start with Tuesday. The Cubs game was awesome! Surprisingly they won, I guess mormons are a good luck charm. Almost the whole mission showed up, so it was an awesome social event, plus a sweet Chicago experience. Then we had quite the adventure trying to get home. First of all, we all piled onto the L with everyone else leaving the game, make it down one stop and then get told the line is closed because of a fire. So the options are take a bus, which is ridiculously crowded and during rush hour, or walk to downtown (5 miles) to bypass the fire and catch the train again. So what do we do? Well obviously about 30 of us missionaries all walk into the city. It was a little missionary parade. And it was hot, and smoky, and super ridiculous. But fun. It took us about 2 hours to get to downtown, and then we had to ride the train back to cicero. Everyone had to cancel their night time apointments. We didn't even get home until 10 pm. But it was a blast.

Wednesday we went to a mini birthday party for one of the granddaughters of a recent convert. We went with the elders and we ate dinner (a ton of food) at like 8:30 pm. And Hna Carlson still isn't used to eating as much food as they give us, so when the hermana wasn't looking I took some of her tostadas. And then she poured us giant classes of vitamin d milk, ugh, and i downed mine, and then hna Carlson's as well. Super fast. Needless to say, as soon as we walked out her door I vomited in the street. Yay! And that made Elder Allen puke. Overall it was an awesome night. :P Gotta love the Spanish program.

Thursday night we went to MCM, the meeting we have with the crazy mission leader, and as usual it was ridiculous. But while we were there I got a text from President asking us to call him when we are in for the night. Obviously nothing good can come from needing to call Pres, so I'm pretty stressed. We get home and I call Pres, and of course he doesn't answer. Finally our District Leader calls us to tell us he talked to the English sisters in our district, one of whom is also a visa waiter, to tell us she got her visa. Which means Hermana Carlson got her visa. Finally Pres calls us back and tells us Carlson is leaving on Monday (today!) and that I will be put with the English sister who is also losing her comp. That means that I am now a zebra. We are covering two wards, English and Spanish, and my comp speaks no Spanish. Fetch. I'm going to kill myself. I do not want to be in an English ward. At all. Sorry Americans, but you just aren't as cool as Mexicans.

Saturday we had a baptism! YAY! Everything appeared to be going smoothly, nothing had gone wrong up to the point that we got there to fill the font. And of course I was super nervous, because something ALWAYS goes wrong, right? So I'm thinking something terrible is going to happen because everything has been so easy up that point. Luckily the terrible thing was just that the elders fetchin lost the keys for the font. So we were kind of out of luck for a while until Elder Findlay showed up and broke us in with his credit card. :P Liz showed up an hour early, all of the speakers came, we started boiling pots of water early, so the water was warm. It all went well. And the spirit was SO strong. It was amazing. Hermana Carlson and I went around to the side of the font to wait for Liz to come out, and after she came out of the water she just started bawling. They shut the doors to the font, and Liz came up the stairs and just stood there sopping wet and cried, telling us how good she felt. It was amazing. I can't even explain it. And then afterwards she bore her testimony and told us how the last week has been crazy hard, and she knew it would be because I warned her that Satan always works hard the week before a baptism, and the Bishop did too, but she still couldn't believe how hard it was. But she kept saying, no matter what happens, I WILL be baptized on Saturday. :) and she WAS! And she felt the spirit so strong! And then she got confirmed on Sunday and it was awesome. I love this woman so much.

Sunday was great too. The Rivera family came and Imelda again. They are all on track to be baptized next Saturday! :) We sat with the Rivera's and they drew us pictures again. :) They painted us pictures too between our appointments. Yesterday we went over to teach them and so that Hermana Carlson could say goodbye and they were soooo sad. Marlen, the 7 year old just hugged her and cried and cried and cried. She is such a sweet girl.

Oh and I forgot to tell you last week! Last Friday someone got shot outside of our appointment! We were at the last appointment for the night, and we heard the shot, but just thought it was fireworks, but then we went out side and there was cops EVERYWHERE. and they told everyone to go back inside cos the shooter was still out there somewhere, but instead Carlson and I booked it to the car and sped home. It was super exciting.  :P

Well I think thats about all the news I have for you this week. It was a great week. Next week should be interesting, being with the english sisiter and all. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Love you love you love you

les quiero,

Shaelyn

mas fotos:

Illinois Chicago Missionaries at the Cubs Game May 29, 2012

Cubs Game

 finally on the train home after the cubs game

matching day

Familia Arreguin

Familia Guerrero

 

Liz Rios, se bautizo el 2 de Junio, 2012

Familia Rios

Giordano's after the baptism

 

Familia Rivera

Man, this has been such a good week.

5-29-2012
Familia,

Man, this has been such a good week. I don't even know exactly why, but I love it. Just the difference of how I felt in my last area and how I feel here is amazing. I think I was in a definite rut, and the change of a new area and a new companion really helped me. Hermana Carlson is awesome. She has a ton of faith, is a hard worker, but also way way fun. We are always laughing. I am so grateful that her visa didn't come through so she could come here for now! I just don't want her to leave! In my interview with President yesterday (last one before we get the new pres) I told him if I could, and she didn't get her visa, I wanted to keep her another transfer. But then Pres told me that wherever she is next transfer will be a trio. .  and I DO NOT want a trio. . . So we'll see what happens.

Anyway, I don't have much time today to write because we are going to a CUBS GAME!!! YEAH! I am so stoked. Basically the whole mission is going, its going to be fetchin legit.  But I'll give you some quick highlights from the week. . .

LIZ: Still amazing, still awesome. We taught her the last things we needed to last week, and she completely accepted everything. She has an awesome testimony. I told her about the bap interview, and she got really nervous, but we went over the questions for it and I can't even tell you how prepared she is. Really, it was a you had to have been there moment, but I can just tell you that she is the most prepared person I have taught my whole mission. She knows, understands, believes. I can't explain it. But in church on Sunday the teacher asked her to give the closing prayer, and she did, and in it she gave thanks that she has the opportunity to be baptized and she just broke down in tears. After she finished praying she sat down next to me, I gave her a hug and asked her, "Hermana, estas feliz, o triste?" Are you happy, or sad? And she told me, "Estoy contenta. Bien contenta." I'm content, i'm really content. The spirit was so strong. Oh my gosh I love her.

MODESTA y FAM: CAME TO CHURCH!!! This is the first time this family has come to church in YEARS! I was honestly really suprised to see them there. But to back up, we had an appointment with them on Saturday, and we watched the restoration movie with them, and the 9 year old, Dana, was like super intently watching it, it was so funny. And they had all sorts of good questions after, and we were able to explaine about prophets and the restored gospel. And then Sunday, Hna Carlson and I pull up to the chapel, and she asks me, "do you see Modesta's car?" And I didn't, but I told her, don't worry its only 9 am, she probably won't even show up until 9:30.  Then we walk into Relief Society, and who is there? Right on time? MODESTA! YAYYY!!! Then we sat with her and the girls in Sacrament Meeting, and I got to help the girls figure out the hymns, and help them understand the sacrament, and then during the talks they drew us a ton of pictures on sticky notes that were super adorable. They drew picturs of us, and did hangman with the phrase, "Mrs. brown and Mrs. Carlson are pretty." haha I love those girls. Then yesterday we had another appointment with them. We started teaching them the 10 commandments, and then we got to a point that Modesta started telling me about the situation with her ex husband, so I left Hna Carlson to teach the girls, and kind of went to the side and talked to Modesta. Turns out that they are in a huge custody battle right now. Apparently he is a return missionary, and they married in the temple, but then some stuff went down and she left him. He hasn't had any contact with his daughters for five years. He hasn't called on their birthdays, nothing. Not even any effort. And now, all of a sudden he has a girlfriend who can't have kids, and he wants the girls. He hired all of these lawyers and investigators, and is trying to prove that Modesta can't take care of the girls cos she doesn't have enough money. Well I will tell you, those girls are some of the most loved children in the world. They don't have much, no, but they have food, clothes, a place to sleep, and a mom that loves them.  Please pray for this family, that they won't be torn apart. I promised Modesta that if she continued to do what was right, to return to church, keep the commandments and teach her girls the gospel, that they would remain together- but she needs your prayers. And mayber her name in the temple?  Modesta Rivera.

IMELDA: wasn't able to have a cita with us, but came to church. Still doing good!

Found a new family, Luz and Hugo- Luz is a less active and Hugo not a member. Gonna start teaching them!

Okay, seriously running out of time. Love you all! Hope everything is going awesome for you! Pictures next week, I promise. Lots.

Les quiero,
Shaelyn

Friday was my year mark! What?! So bizarre.

5-21-2012
Familia,

Wow, this week sure has been busy. Whitewashing is kicking my butt, but its also really awesome. We still don't have a huge teaching pool, but those we are teaching are so legit.

Firstly, Liz is still doing awesome. She is still coming to church regularly, keeping commitments, reading, praying, etc. She is the definition of a golden investigator. Last time we were over there her husband, Marco, told me that her new homepage is lds.org. And he wasn't kidding, she pulled it up and told me how she spends all of her spare time reading conference talks, watching videos, and listening to music. I just couldn't help but have this crazy grin on my face the whole time she was telling me this. She will totallybe ready for her baptism date in June. We are also now trying to work with her husband and the bishop to see if he can baptize her!

Imelda is also still doing awesome. I was a little worried because last week after church she booked it out of there before I got the chance to talk to her, and it was kind of an intense meeting- not much doctrine taught, just crazy members ranting. So I was scared that she might have gotten scared off. But no, I called her to confirm our appointment and she was all about us coming back. She told me she loved church because she loved how she felt. She told me she knew the Book of Mormon was true too because she could feel the Spirit when reading it. We taught her the restoration, and I asked her to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and she said that she would, even though she already knew because she could feel it. Melrose Park = land of golden investigators.

Last week we also found this super ghetto part of our area, called la selva- which means the jungle. Its a couple of blocks in Franklin Park packed full of Mexicans. We were walking around it at 8pm on a Friday night, and it really just hit me as I watched the same cop car circle around for the 5th time, that before my mission there is NO way I would ever be near a place like that, and now its no big deal. In fact, its like a golden find because of all the hispanics! :) But, anyway, we were going through our records, looking for former investigators that live there, and we found a record for an inactive, single mom with some daughters that are of baptism age, but not baptized. Her name is Modesta, and her daughters are Evelyn, age 11, Danielle, age 9, and Madelyn, age 7. So we dropped by, she let us in, and told us the reason she hasn't been coming to church is because to get there she has to drive through this area called Stone Park, where the cops are super corrupt, and will pull anyone over if they look hispanic, and she is illegal, so she can't risk it. But she said she wanted to come back, so she'd see if she could find another way. We set a return appointment, and came back and met her inactive brother, who said he also wants to come back to church. We taught the Plan of Salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and asked the girls if they wanted to be baptized. Modesta had already told us she wanted them to be. They said yes, and I tried to set them on date for like a month and a half from now, but Modesta wants to do it even sooner! So I told her we could, BUT they have to come to church every week for the next three weeks and we have to be able to visit 2x a week. She understood, and was all about that. So. . .  If all goes well, Evelyn and Danielle will be getting baptized the 16th of June!  Haha it was also funny because her brother had his son there, who will be turning 8 soon. And the brother kept asking the son, "Do you want to go to church? Do you want to be baptized? You have to tell your mom you are just coming to play with your cousins every sunday, you can't tell her you're going to church. its not really a lie, because you aren't doing anything bad. Are you doing anything bad? then its not a lie. Just don't tell your mom." Not that I'm advocating going behind parents backs for religous purposes, it was still hilarious.

Friday was my year mark! What?! So bizarre. We were going to celebrate, but instead I spent the morning puking my guts out. Maybe I was just remembering how I felt exactly a year ago. But Saturday we went to lunch at the place that Stephanie works with some of the elders. It was super fun. But I did have mini panic attacks all day thinking about how fast the time is going by. Ahhh. Its terrifying.

Umm. I think thats about all I've got this week. We are working hard though, meeting the members, getting some referrals. This area is awesome. And it doesn't help that I have the best comp ever. Can you say greenie fire?

So yeah. Overall. Awesome week. I hope you all had as good of week as I have, but maybe a little less exhausting. Dang I can barely keep my eyes open anymore. I am so tired. all the time. I know, its not really anything new, but still.

Les Quiero Mucho!

Shaelyn

fotos:

Elder Francis made it to Chicago!

Hna Carlson and I have to fit in as many touristy chicago things as possible before she gets her visa

Navy Pier

Happy Mission Birthday to me!

Transfers were Tuesday, and I picked up my foster baby, Hermana Carlson.

5-14-2012
Familia,

It was great seeing you all yesterday, even though skype only worked for like a second. It was fun talking to you though. Next time I'll be home! How weird is that?

Well, this week has been pretty good. Super ridiculously stressful, but over all it was okay. Transfers were Tuesday, and I picked up my foster baby, Hermana Carlson. She's from SLC and is waiting for her visa to go to Argentina. So I may have her for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months. Just depends.

After I picked up the greenie we went to the new apartment to unpack and clean. the majority of the day was spent going back and forth between the new apartment and the old one to get stuff I forgot or to give Elder Allen stuff he forgot.

The rest of the week has been trying to figure out the area. We stopped by a bunch of former investigators and a couple of less active members, with no real success so far. But we did stop by a referral the elders got a couple weeks ago but just never checked up on. Her name is Imelda and she is the mother in law of one of the investigator's of the english sisters. We stopped by Thursday, but she told us she was busy and to come back the next day. So we did, had a really simple, but good lesson with her about the Book of Mormon and invited her to be baptized. She accepted, and said she thought she'd be ready in a year, I told her I think she'll be ready in a month, so we set the date for June 16. :) We also invited her to come to church, which is always the hardest thing to get people to do, and she came! It was pretty exciting.

We also were able to meet with one of the investigators that the elders had before, Liz, who is on date to be baptized the 2 of June. She is really awesome, her husband was an inactive member, but they decided their family needed a church because they have an autistic son and its been hard on them, so they want church. So they basically referred themselves. She is golden. Really.

Saturday night we went to a ward Mother's Day party. It was a blast. Delicious food and great music. And Hermana Carlson got to meet a lot of the members. I am so grateful that even though I am whitewashing an area, I still know a lot of the members. Oh man, it would be so hard doing this without member support. I kind of hope I finish my mission up in this ward. Its a possibility.

Anyway, I think thats all I've got for you. Especially after just talking to you yesterday.

Les Quiero!

Shaelyn

fotos:

me and Stephanie, who was baptized last week

goodbye Hna Veliz :(

Hello Hna Carlson!

Hermanas Creson, me, Carlson, Gonzalz, Stassford, Veliz

Hna Creson, Me and Elder Hall

We love Fiestas!

The Westchester 2nd missionaries! Elders Allen and Lucero and Hermanas Brown and Carlson