For my very last transfer I am being moved.

10-22-2012

Familia,

Well, I guess the big news of the week is that I did not survive transfers. Nope. For my very last transfer I am being moved. To serve in the Bloomingdale Spanish branch. I'm not really sure where I'll be serving, if I'll be in Bloomingdale or what, but I guess I'll let you know next week. I'll be serving with Hermana Moffat. I'm going to be completely honest. I really don't want to go. I do not want to be changed for my last 6 weeks. I feel like this is my home ward! I've been here for 9 months, and to get moved to another area for only 6 weeks? I won't even have time to get to know the branch. Its been heart breaking saying goodbye to people. Last night we had like 5 appointments to say goodbye, and today we have 6. On a pday. and because they are farewell appointments that means we get fed. So. . . expect to be rolling me off the airplane. :) Packing is going to be so crazy. I have no idea how I have accumulated so much junk. But I managed to pack up my desk last night, and tonight is going to be everything else. Oh man. . I'm basically probably just going to give anything extra I don't want to send home to Millie, or the other sisters serving in the English ward.

So aside from transfers, this week was pretty good. I think. I can't really remember what else happened. . . Regular appointments i guess. Yesterday and today are full of goodbyes, which is really sad. But during those goodbyes last night we were able to set three people on date to be baptized!

Alejandra Armenta, who is part of the Armenta family that we have been visiting forever finally prayed about being baptized. We asked her to pray about being baptized on Nov 17. She did it, and felt good about it. But she is still scared, and was super hesitant to set a date. But I just told her we needed to show God that she trusted him and wanted to be baptized by setting that goal, but that if the day came and she still wasn't sure or ready, she didn't have to be baptized. But she totes will be.

And then we finally got the Luarca kid's mom to give them permission to be baptized on Dec 1. They are such a legit family. The kids are so freaking smart. When we asked them how they felt when they prayed to know if they needed to get baptized, the 12 year old told he he felt "confident." BEST ANSWER EVER. They are awesome.

So yeah. I'm really sad to leave. Its turning out to be the hardest thing ever. My poor little heart is breaking. The worst is going to be saying goodbye to the Salgado's, who are my family now, and to Imelda. I'm the first missionary she ever met, so its gonna be super hard on her, and I just love her to death and thus its gonna kill me.

We have to come back and visit these people. I keep telling people I'll come back, and they all tell me everyone says that but then no one really comes back. We have to. Okay?

Well, Love you. Have fun in Hawaii. I'll let you know how Bloomingdale is next week.

Les Quiero,
Shaelyn

Luarca's

 

my new hair?

 

me and Esmerelda!

 

millie and i :)

 

us and Esmerelda

 

millie, lucero, and i

 

the economy in Melrose Park is still struggling apparently

 

best guitar ever. pink and glittery? yes please.

 

familia Aguirre

familia Aguirre

 

familia Arreguin

familia Arreguin

 

Alejandra Armenta

 

Graciela Nunez

 

Familia Avitia

 

The Westchester 2 Missionaries

 

packing party

packing party

millie and i :)

 

hair dying! 

 

 

 

"so tell me, where does this book come from?"

10-16-2012

Familia,

Well, this week has been good. We had some pretty good appointments and are seeing some great stuff. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to write today, so I'll try to sum it up pretty quickly.

We had an appointment with the referral miracle we had from last week. His name is Efrain and he is awesome. I called him the night before our appointment to confirm, and I left message asking him to call us back and let us know if there was going to be a woman at his home, cos if not we needed to bring one. He never called us back, so I was a little worried he was just gonna bail, but we go to his house for the appointment, and he comes right out with his jacket on and everything and was like, "there's only 4 men here, wanna go to the dunkin donuts down the street?" and he was to his car faster than we were! So we met him there, and didn't even have to direct the lesson cos the first thing he says to us when we sit down is, "so tell me, where does this book come from?" talking about the Book of Mormon. He told us he is looking for something. That he feels empty, and that he feels hungry. But not for bread or water. haha After the appointment Millie and I got in the car and just looked at each other like, "did that really just happen?" He seems super legit.

We are also teaching that family from Guatemala I told you about, the Luarcas. The kids LOVE us and are so stoked to get baptized. We're still waiting on permission from the mom unfortunately. But they are reading the Book of Mormon, and love it. They are really smart kids.

Something super cute that happened this week: A granddaughter of a member called us (her mom isn't a member) and asked us to pray for her brother cos he was in the hospital. She's 6, and her brother is 8. So we prayed with her over the phone so her brother would be better. :) it was adorable.

Well, thats about all i've got time for. Hope all is well!

Les Quiero,
Shaelyn

fotos 

 

temple pictures

 

 

 

the salgado kids all decided they wanted to go on a car ride.

 

 

more fotos

 

more of the temple

 

 

me feeding a kitty treats

 

 

me pretending to be dead while small children revive me  

 

This week was pretty good. We started off the week awesome, getting 7 new investigators in 2 days, and then finished off the week the best way possible with general conference.

10-9-2012
Familia,

Hey. Sorry I forgot to tell you I wouldn't be emailing yesterday. I completely forgot. But before I forget, I won't be emailing til next Tuesday again. We have zone meeting on Monday. Also, I'm not really sure at what time we'll be emailing, because we're going to the temple. First time in a year! yayyy.

This week was pretty good. We started off the week awesome, getting 7 new investigators in 2 days, and then finished off the week the best way possible with general conference. lets start off by talking about general conference. Cos that was awesome. First of all, Saturday was a nightmare. Due to a plethora of unfortunate mishaps we were late to both sessions on Saturday. So I missed the announcement from Pres Monson. Oh man when we finally showed up and one of the elders passed me a note telling me that girls could go on missions at 19 and boys at 18 I almost turned around and punched the elders that made us late. I really am interested to see how things change. Unfortunately I probably won't be in the mission when we really get to see the changes. I do know a lot of girls that are suddenly having to do some serious praying about what to do. My favorite favorite talk was Elder Holland's. Of course. Man, that guy is SUCH a baller.

The beginning of the week though was def the highlight. Tuesday we found a family we've been looking for for weeks. The parents are both inactive members, that haven't been to church since they moved here from Guatemala. The hermano's sister is also an inactive member that we've been visiting. Non of these people are in the ward records so its kind of a miracle we even know about them. But anyway, the parents are inactive, and they have three kids, Edgar who is 10, Jenny 8, and Rosemily 4. The hermano is super stoked for us to come and teach them, and wants to come back to church. He just quit his job so he can come on Sundays, but he can't drive. His wife, that can has started to go to a different church and seems a little bit hesitant to have us come over. But the kids are awesome. They have basically no gospel understanding, but they are super eager to learn. We got them some Books of Mormon last time we were there, and asked if they want to get baptized. They really want to, and their dad wants them to. We just have to see if we can get permission from the mom, and then all things go.

Tuesday we were also finally able to get in with another lessactive partmember family we've been looking for for a while, also from Guatemala. We are really working hard at getting the hermano to come back to church. He says he wants to, and that he wants his daughter who we are teaching to get baptized, but he just hasn't really put in the effort necessary. And he daugther, who is 11 has been pretty standoffish towards us, until this last Tuesday. Finally we made some progress with her. We watched the restoration movie and taught her how to pray and she was actually participating and gave us hugs as we left.

Wednesday we had another finding miracle. A few months ago we had a few extra minutes before an appointment , so we parked down the street from where our appointment was so I could make a few phone calls. While I was doing that, Hermana Milliron saw a hispanic woman go into the house we were parked in front of and got super excited. She asked if we could come back and knock the house. I was like, "okay, yeah, whatever." haha and then we went to the appointment. A few weeks later Millie all of a sudden started wanting to try that house every time we had a free minute, so we did. But we didn't find anyone at home. We tried like 3 or 4 times. But then Wednesday we had about 15 minutes before an appointment, so we stopped by this house again. I told her it was all on her to do the door approach, since she was the one that was so intent on knocking the house. A woman answered the door and Millie said, "Hi! We're missionaries and we're here in the area sharing a message with families about Christ." and then instead of saying she was busy or no, like I expected the woman just stood there and looked at us expectantly. Like, "Okay. tell me your message." I had a brought a Book of Mormon up to the door, and decided to try a new approach, that some zone leaders and told us about a while ago- basically teaching truths right there on the door step. So I told her we had new scripture that talked about Christ and his dealings in the Americas, and asked her if we could come in for just 10 minutes and tell her about the Book of Mormon. She said yes, and she totes surprised me. I almost asked if there was another time we could come back, since I was expecting her to say no. So we went in, and met her two daughters, and taught them about the Book of Mormon. They seemed pretty interested and agreed to read it and pray about it. We have another appointment with them this week.

The rest of the week went pretty well. We are trying to meet with people more often and have shorter appointments. Its working out pretty well so far. The Armenta's are letting us come by and read with them every couple of days, and we're trying to get in with other families as well to teach them more often.

Oh, another cool story. Last week we made a goal to receive a referral and we didn't really know where it was going to come from, but we set one in faith and hoped for it to happen. And the next day we got a referral from church headquarters! we NEVER get church hq referrals, so that in and of itself was a miracle. We spent all of that week trying to find him. Stopping by his house and different times, and calling, but nothing. Then this week, we were kind of like, okay this is it, last try. And we stopped by in the morning, and no one answered, and then I called and left another message. and within half an hour he called us back. He has family members that are members of the church, and he told me he really wants to meet with us to learn about the Book of Mormon, and learn more than what he already knows. So we have an appointment on Thursday with him. :)

So things are starting to pick up, I really hope they continue this way.

I hope all is going well for you. I hope Morgan starts feeling better!

Love you all.

Les quiero,
Shaelyn

fotos:

city fun

 

 

 

new boots

 

 

service for the Salgados

 

She can barely walk because of her arthritis, but she still does everything she can to come to church and everything. She is the best.

10-1-2012
Familia,

Its fall! It has officially started to get cold here. And the leaves are changing. Also its super dark by like 7 o clock. Which makes working in the evening a little more difficult if we don't have appointments. People don't really want to talk to strangers on their doorstep when they live in a shady part of town and its dark. Luckily we've only been out knocking once after dark so far, and I don't plan on making it a regular thing.

This week was pretty normal. We managed to find some new investigators. Kind of. We refound them really. There is a lady and her daughters that we contacted back in July that we taught once and then lost contact with. The one lesson we had with them was kind of a disaster. We were teaching way over their understanding, cos the hermana really has like no religious background and also is just kind of. . well, slower. But this time we found them, set up another appointment and went over and it went so much better. We were a lot more prepared and taught at a much lower understanding level. Which was good because it really got her little girls involved as well. The hermana can't read, so we are going to start reading the children's Book of Mormon with them.

Other than that we had most of our regular appointments. We have decided to start reading with the Armenta family every couple of days to help them read, because they just can't seem to find the time to do it themselves. So we are just stopping by for 15 minutes every couple of days and reading a chapter. I'm hopeful that this will help them finally get their answer if the Book of Mormon is true.

We had a good lesson with Graciela, our investigator who is a Seventh Day Adventist. We're a little bit stuck with her, and don't know how to continue. She understands what we're saying that the church was restored, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that we have a prophet today. She's reading the Book of Mormon and believes its true. She just is very comfortable in her church. And believes that as long as we are following Christ we will all be okay. Which is true. . . we just need the proper authority to be baptized and all that. So we'll see if we can get her to understand that. She said she wants to come to General Conference this weekend though, and she's excited for it. Pray for her, and for us so that we know how to teach her.

We went to the General Relief Society broadcast on Saturday. It was awesome. We went with Imelda, and she loved it. Its the first conference or anything she's been able to see. They talked a lot about pioneers, so this next week when we visit her we're going to talk a little bit about that. Imelda is so awesome. You guys have no idea. Like I can't wait for you to meet her. Last Friday when we visited her she was asking what else she has to do to be prepared to go through the temple when she has a year as a member. She can barely walk because of her arthritis, but she still does everything she can to come to church and everything. She is the best. She is also trying really hard to help her family and to get them interested in the church because she knows how much it will help them.

This last week we did the new way of planning that Elder Aidukaitis taught us, and it was super intense. We basically are supposed to plan our whole week in advance and fill every blank spot with appointments and stuff. Even if we don't have any appointments set up yet. So we're like planning, and being like. . well. . umm. I hope we can get an appointment with this person at this time. But it was awesome and because we did that those appointments are all falling into place. Tomorrow we have 8 appointments set up and confirmed! Its gonna be a crazy week.

Well, I think thats all I've got for you this week. I hope everything is going well for you!

Les quiero,
Shaelyn

 

 

 

 

 

Elder Aidukaitis talked a lot about how there are people here in the Chicago area that are prepared and waiting, and we need to find them.

9-24-2012
Familia,

Well, this week has been interesting. Last Monday we went to Cheesecake Factory during pday and Millie got SUPER sick on the way home. We think she got food poisoning or something. But either way, she was out of commission until about mid wednesday. It was almost some weird blessing that I also still have bronchitis, so while she was puking her guts out I was just knocked out due to cough medicine all day. Luckily she is now feeling better, and I'm slowly starting to be able to breathe.

Unfortunately, due to both of us being sick, I really can't think of anything exciting I have to tell you. For the rest of the week we had our regular appointments, but not much time for anything else.

Saturday was pretty awesome. We had a zone conference with a visiting authority.
Elder Aidukaitis of the seventy was there, so it was a huge conference. Two zones met in the morning, and then three zones, including my zone, met in the afternoon and we all ate lunch together in between. So we got to see a ton of missionaries and then get some awesome spiritual guidance. The conference was ballin, and I loved it. Elder Aidukaitis talked a lot about how there are people here in the Chicago area that are prepared and waiting, and we need to find them. I have been thinking about that a lot these last couple of months. He didn't really give me more advice than what I already know on how to find them, but at least he reassured me that I'm on the right track.

Yesterday was a good day. At church a lot of people we weren't expecting to come, showed up. And even one of my former investigators from when I was in Cicero! Lupe Torres, who I was teaching a lot when I first got here, but that disappeared and the elders haven't been able to find her, just randomly showed up to church. and it was AWESOME. After church I took some new cough medicine that completely knocked me out. It was bad, but after I recovered from that we convinced one of the Armenta girls, Alejandra, to go the the young single adults family home evening, and it was AWESOME. I mean the family home evening was kind of weird because the lesson ended up being some weird deep doctrine about cain and bigfoot and nonsense. But at least she made some friends, and we were able to have a really good talk with just her about baptism, and what she was feeling. Why she isn't ready, what she needs to feel ready, etc. It was really good. She still does want to get baptized- but she wants to be really sure about it when she does. We said thats fine, and that yes- we do want her to be baptized TOMORROW, but we don't want to rush her either. She is aware of what she needs to do to be sure, and she is willing to do her part. So yesterday was pretty awesome with that.

This week we are gonna freaking find some people to baptize. Thats the plan, and thats whats going to happen.

Weather here is okay. Definitely all of a sudden its fall. Millie is freezing to death, but I'm surviving. Luckily someone super smart sent me a million scarves last year. :)

Well, I hope everything is going well for you. I love you a ton.

Les quiero,
shaelyn

sorry i haven't taken any pictures lately.
a few weeks ago the bank built a fence around our parking lot cos they were mad at the landlord for not paying. or something like that. so thats the only thing i got.
love you!

 

 

 

pictures from millie's camera.

 

 



with the arreguin fam after hna passed her citizenship text.

 

 

when millie got food poisoning

 

 

and us in hats.

 

 
 

So overall, we didn't have a bad week. Hopefully the next one will be better. :)

9-17-2012
Familia,

This week has been okay. Surprisingly successful given i've been on drugs since Thursday. Thats right, I'm sick again. I know its super surprising. I have bronchitis once again. The nurse practitioner was floored when i told her I've never smoked nor did I grow up in a home with smokers. Maybe bad lungs are genetic?  Either way, the drugs they put me on basically make me a zombie missionary. So Hermana Milliron is being a pro missionary and i'm just following her around. But we had some good appointments, and picked up some investigators that had disappeared for a couple of months.

The investigators we found were Graciela and her daughter Lizette. I can't remember if I've told you about them, but they are super awesome. Graciela was a referral from a member in Aurora. She is a seventh day adventist and the single mom of 2 kids. She has a TON of faith and has seen some super legit miracles.  Its a little difficult teaching her though, because she is super super busy. So the last time we saw her was in July. Also its difficult teaching her because her beliefs are so close to our beliefs that its a little difficult to really help her understand how we're different, and what it means.  Like she believes in prophets, and believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, she just doesn't believe that that means that there is only one true church. But she is a super sweet lady, and I love visiting with her. I feel like I learn a lot from her whenever we visit.

The Armenta's are good. We finally had a little bit of a breakthrough with Patty and figured out a little bit of whats holding her back from being baptized. She basically feels like she's half Catholic, and half Mormon, because her dad is Catholic, and her mom Mormon, and she likes what she learns at our church, but she just doesn't really have any desire to get baptized any time soon. Also our ward mission leader confusing the crap out of her with the stupid stuff he says doesn't help. But she and her sister still want to learn, are still at church every week, and HOPEFULLY will finally start reading the Book of Mormon.

Imelda finally has been feeling a little bit better and made it to church! So that was a miracle.

So overall, we didn't have a bad week. Hopefully the next one will be better. :)

I love you tons, hope all is well.

Les Quiero,

Shaelyn

So I'm still a missionary!

9-10-2012
Familia,

Umm. Well. So I'm still a missionary! I really have no idea what to write in these emails anymore. I remember back when I was in rockford and all the old missionaries would complain about how they hated emailing and had nothing to say, and were sick of pdays. I thought they were crazy, but now I understand. I just don't know what to say. And we're scraping the bottom of the barrel on fun pday activity ideas. Going to the city and not spending money can only be fun for so long. :P

This week was good. Pretty normal. We kind of had two pdays which was sort of cool, and also exhausting. Monday we got half a pday for shopping and stuff, and then Tuesday a full one. So by Wednesday we had super bad pday hangovers. But we worked through it. We had all of our regular appointments, and once again got fed way too much. The families are doing well. The Armenta's still aren't reading the Book of Mormon, so we're trying to figure out how to help them do that, but they are still regularly attending church.

We are visiting a less active hermana who's son died about a month ago, and she's finally starting to not be the saddest person I have ever met in my life. She has actually come to church the last couple of weeks and wants us to read the Book of Mormon with her every week.

Liz is still awesome. She hasn't been able to come to church for forever because her mother in law fell down a full flight of stairs and she's been super busy taking care of her, but we finally got an appointment with her and she's so solid still. She is sharing the gospel with her friends and was super stoked when we showed her the new spanish mormon.org site.

Imelda is still out of commission because of her super bad arthritis in her knees. I'm trying to get the ward more involved with visiting her too, but so far I think its still just the us. But she's so awesome, and wants to get back to church asap so she can continue preparing to go to the temple in a year. And she keeps telling us how much she wishes she had found the Church when she was younger. Man she is so so awesome.

Finally got to visit with the Rivera family again this week. They've been super busy, with school starting and Hermana Modesta working way too much. But Evelin got sick and had to have an operation to stop nose bleeds, so Hermana got some work off. It was really good to see them, I've missed them a ton.

This last week we also helped an hermana in the ward, Hermana Arreguin study for her citizenship test. It was SUPER stressful. But she passed!

Okay. I think thats about all of the news I can think of to share with you this week. It was really a pretty normal week. This next week we're going to start trying to track down some inactive members. We have a ward directory and I don't even know half of the people on the list, so we're going to try to see if they even still live in the ward, and if so whats going on. Hopefully we'll be able to find some new people to teach in the process.

I hope everything is going well for you, that school and work and all that is good.

Love you tons!

Les quiero,

Shaelyn