Coolest week ever!

Hello Everyone,

Well its been a crazy week! I have a new companion, sister Borges. She is awsome :) She is from Santos, Sao paulo. She has 8 months in the mission. She is very outspoken and crazy but very sweet. She used to be a professional soccor player but moved to become a physical education teacher. Im excited to work with her!  We went to Cuiabá this last week and it was such a cool experience. As many of you may know, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the quorm of the twelve along with seven other general authorities were in cuiaba this past week. We as missionaries wernt going to be able to see him or meet with him. but then at the last minuet they decided it would be good for the missionaries to have a fire side with him and they said we would be comming back to cuiaba on Friday to meet with him on Saturday. But then when we went to our zone conference on Tuesday, president Reber stood up in front and told us that instructions had come from chruch headquarters instructing that only the missionaries serving in cuiaba would be able to go (which is not me), becasue they were worried about us riding the buses so much. My heart sank because I had felt that many of my questions and doubts would be answerd in the fireside with Elder Christofferson, I couldnt keep my tears from comming. It was a hard thing for all of us to accept. After the meeting we all went to take pictures and president Reber took me aside and asked me if I had enough clothes to stay in cuiaba until saturday. I said I could make something work and he said that Me and My new companion (sister Borges) if we wanted to, could stay in cuiaba and work in her old area and be able to go to the fireside on Saturday. I could not wipe the smile off my face! I knew Heavenly Father had answered my prayers and I knew that I would get something amazing out of the meeting and I did :) It was so amazing just to be in his presence and to feel his testimony of our lord and master Jesus Christ. I learned  so much about faith and trust. and I learned who I am. I learned that I am not to back down to anybody or anything. I know the power that I hold as a representative of Jesus Christ. Satan may have power to nip at my heels and it may hurt a little bit but I have the power to crush his head. I know that the faith to move moutains isnt standing in front of a mountain and wishing hard for it to move. Faith to move moutains is grabbing my working boots and my shovel and putting my faith to work. Moving that moutain one shovel full of dirt at a time. I know that when I have the faith to act, things will work out, Heavenly father will give me strenghth and will cheer me on. I know Jesus is the Christ. He leads this chruch personally. I know that with him on my side I can do anything. I love him more than anything else. I will forever be his servent and even when I am forced to take this tag off my chest his name will forever be written on his Heart. I will preach His gospel in all places at all times to all people. I challenge you all to do the same. I love you all and miss you :) Thank you so much for prayers and support! Love Shelby

4/20/2015

Hello Everyone!

Well this week was a better than last week thats for sure! No more throwing up or eating strange things so that was a blessing :) Well I kind of have sad news. My Companion, Sister Taraveira is going home. She has a pretty serious problem with her esophagus so she will be going home, to get better medical help and have the support of her family. We sure will miss her but shell be back in the mission in no time! In the mean time, Im not sure whats going to happen with me. Im pretty sure im staying in Rondonopolis. but ill let ya´ll know next week what happened :) Ill probably get a new companion here in a few days. This week we are all traveling to Cuiabá for a zone conference. We will leave tomorrow afternoon and come back on Wednesday night. So that should be fun :) This last week we had an activitiy in the chruch to invite our investigators and the members, so they could get to know each other. We had America night and of course the other sisters put me in charge of it. So I got to make brownies for everyone! I havnt gotten to bake for so long! it was super fun and turned out really good, everyone loved them and wanted the recipie. We also decorated with Red White and Blue and I felt like I was at a party for the fourth of July! When I went to explain the game, I started to explain in english, joking around and everyone looked at me like I had corn growing out of my ears, others who knew english yelled Keep going! It was fun :) We have been working to find new people to teach and have found a few families who are great. I love doing this work! I love comming closer to my Heavenly Father. Serving a mission has really helped me to under stand how he feels about us. We were all once with him in our home in heaven. We knew him and he knew us perfectly. Then came the call. The call to serve a mission on earth. We would have to leave our beloved home and we would have to leave Him. and im sure the scariest part for Him and for us is that there would be a chance that we wouldnt come back. Can you imagine how heart breaking that is for Him? Im sure he misses us and wants us to come home. Heavenly Father doesnt have email, or even snail mail, he doest have skype all he has to communicate with us is prayer and the prophets. Can you imagine how much it hurts when we choose not to pray or when we dont listen to his prophets? Those of you who have children can probably imagine a small part of how he feels, especially those whose children have served a mission or moved out. You think its not easy for us? Imagine being in Heavenly Fathers shoes. I know that I always want to be one of his children who communicates with him I want to be one of his daughters who will return to live with him. I know at the end of this mission on earth I will be able to run into his arms and tell him how much I missed Him and how thankful I am that he never gave up on me. and that he was always there for me. I testify that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us. He knows you more than you know you. and he wants you to return to live with him. I love you all. thank you for your prayers 

Love shelby

April 13, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well Here I am in Rondonopolis! Its been an intersting and fun week. My companions name is Sister Taraveira and I think I said this last week but she is from Capo Verde, Africa. Shes super fun and energetic, and Im excited to work with her. Here in Rondonopolis its a branch not a ward but its super strong. We go to chruch in a rented house. However here its not just one branch its three since the city is huge. Its definatley hotter than Campo Grande and Im missing the cool breezes. We had a really quiet but interesting week. We have one lady in our branch that is also from Africa and she fed us lunch the first day. And im proud to say that last Tuesday I ate my first Chicken foot soup. It was actually pretty good, I avoided the chicken feet and went for the more normal looking peices of chicken. Then on Thursday I had a migrane and while we were at the house of one of our members he was showing us this tree bark drink that supposedly helps you digest better (that I think he makes himself... haha) and he let us try a little bit... it was extreemly bitter and I had to down a sleeve of crackers to get the taste out of my mouth. afterward we went to teach a lesson and I took a turn for the worst. I think it was a combination of my migrane and the tree bark drink, but I started to get the cold sweats and my head started to pound harder. When it was my turn to talk, it was supposed to be the most spiritual part of the first lesson, I taught a few sentances then looked at sister Taraveira and said ``I need to go to the bathroom`` then ran. When I got to the bathroom with my hand covering my mouth I searched frantically for the door, but there wasnt one. but I didnt have enough time to be embarresed. I ran to the toilet and tossed my cookies twice. When I was done I searched for the cord to flush and of course like the door, there wasnt one. I ended up having to explain to the poor lady and apoligize but she was very nice about it and assured me that it was ok, for the rest of the evening we went home and I slept it off. But that was the excitment for our week. :)  Im getting to know my investigators and ward members. We have a few cute families that were teaching right now. One is walter and vivianne and their two kids. They are super fun to teach. Their son Victor is 3 years old and during the lessons he runs around talking and yelling then all of a sudden he´ll stop and grab your face with his hands and smile then go back to running and yelling, haha :) its a little hard to get through a lesson but its fun. Their daughter Yasmin is content to have my hymn book and sit on the floor at my feet and sing the hymns, how she thinks they should go. Yasmin loves comming to chruch and loves primary. Their Mom, Vivianne wants to be baptised but Walter still has alot of doubts so she wants to wait for him. We have been teaching them alot about faith and trust in God. We have tons of other people that were teaching I just cant remember! I guess thats how it is being the first week in a new area. Here Im learing alot about enduring to the end. Its kind of funny because I used to think, well if I just make it to my year mark, or when I have a year and three months in the mission everything is just going to be a breeze, smooth sailing! haha :) Im not really sure why I thought that, we all know thats not how things work:) We face different challenges and difficulties in each phase of life and we have to learn how to overcome them. But Heavenly Father promises us that as we become stronger and learn more we will be able to face these challenges with a sound mind and  peace in our hearts. So even though its a little hard being in a new area, starting all over again I have a peace in my heart that everything is going to be alright. Im tough :) Im amazed at how much ive learned so far and how close I am to my Father in Heaven, now instead of depending on me, I depend on him. I know he loves us and wants us to be happy. Im so greatful to be doing this work and to be helping his children come unto Him. Im sorry its a little short but our week wasnt that eventful! I love you all! 

Love, Shelby

Happy Easter! I'm being transferred!

Hello Everyone :)

Well its transfer time again :) I have been released as a sister training leader and have been transfered to Rondonopolis! Its a city about five hours away from Cuiabá. I will be leaving Campo Grande 8:00pm (My Time) and will get there around three in the morning. So Ill be able to sleep a little bit :) I love the bus :) I cant remember the name of my new companion but she is from Africa. She speaks english and is apperantly very loving and nice so im sure we will get along great :) Im excited for my new adventure! Ive loved being here in Campo Grande and Im going to miss it so much! Jardim Irma was by far my favorite ward! I loved getting to know the people here and Ive loved teaching the wonderful people in this area. Im going to miss them! How weird it is so say good bye to people you know you will probably never see again. As I was saying goodbye to One of our recent converts, Valmir he said well sister, I guess ill be seeing you in the next life. I almost cried. but at least we know we will be able to see all these people again someday :) 

Sister Manchego and I had a great transfer together, we had so much sucess and are unable to count how many blessings we recieved. This last week we have been teaching a man who was a referal of Valmir. His name is Joseir. I loved teaching him becuase he was so humble and was so respectful and best of all he truley had an interest in what we were teaching him. He had never learned how to pray so we taught him and we helped him memorize the steps. We also gave him a book of mormon to read. He learned how to read only a few months ago so he still has some difficulties so we gave him a homework assignment with some questions so he could get the most out of what he read. He also came and watched conference with us and loved it! The entire time he made comments about the truthfulness of the words of the prophets to sister manchego and told her he was planning on attending the normal church services this up comming week. :) HOW COOL!!!! Im so thankkful Heavenly Father has blessed me with the opprotunity to teach and get to know these people! Its so amazing to be able to look at them with through his eyes. 

Conference was wonderful, it was all in portugese, but I was able to understand better than I could six months ago so that was exciting :) Easter was good too. We didnt do alot, just watched conference and worked. But feveryone gave us lots of chocolate! lets just say that I wont be looking at chocolate for awhile :) Im so thankful for my many many blessings. For the opprotunity to serve this mission. I know Christ lives I know that this is his church. He died for us and he rose again so that we too will be able to rise again and over come death. I know Heavenly Father loves us and is willing to go father than we can ever imagine to help us but I know that we have to let him in. I love you all and I hope you have a good week :) Thank you for your prayers! 

Love,

Shelby