April 21st 2014

THis week, I was way excited to do the referral activity with the EQP and his young family. HIs wife is a convert and she is AMAZING. They are so in tune with the spirit. Every time I talk with them, I feel spiritually nourished. This family knows what's up.

As they prayed over specific names, and waited silently after the prayer. Brother Mazanis confidently circled two names on his paper saying the two he thought the least about were the two who were prepared. Sister Mazanis was a little more hesitant. She said her prayer had undoubtedly been answered and it was her grandfather who she had no idea how to contact due to some family drama/disconnection. We set goals with them and followed up the next day to see if they had been able to contact anyone. Sister MAzanis, miraculously, was able to get a phone number for her grandfather and talk with him!

We also did this activity with another family in the ward. We did with a dinner appointment, which we normally don't for this activity, but our district leader requested that we make an exception since they had visited the family the week previous and set it up for them. I was nervous about it because upon entering the home, it was full of attitude. I honestly wanted to smack some of the kids for the way they were speaking to their mother. They are very spoiled. I knew that it wouldn't work without the spirit, so the first few minutes I asked them about the aspect of the gospel they had the strongest testimony of. The one aspect they fall back on when doubts arise. It was really sweet to hear their testimonies, and they all received revelation for which friends were prepared, some unexpected, and some expected. I had to increase my own courage to stand up at the end and say "let's go" to contact the prepared people. There is power in acting in the moment, but it was very uncomfortable. It didn't work out and I felt pretty foolish. We heard from them later, and it actually made a huge impact in getting them to seriously think about what God wanted them to do. Each family member made contact with someone that night via social media/texting. It's a start.

I had my interview with PResident Hanks on Tuesday. That man is so incredible. As I was open with him, he shared some scriptures that change the way I think about feeling the spirit. He told me that he hand-picked me to be in the position I am in now. He is so inspiring as a mission president and always makes me want to be better.

On Thursday we were out with a member to see two of our investigator families. Both appointments fell through, so we decided to see a less active member. Didn't work out. Another less-active member. Didn't work out. Finally the member suggested visiting an active sister in the ward. We agreed. We decided to practice teaching the Restoration lesson on her. After a minute, her less active son came home, and told us that it had been a long time since he had seen missionaries. We invited him to join in the lesson. He did, and said that he wants to come back to church. We had no information on this man, but the member we were with had known him since he was a kid, and she was in tears as we left because the spirit was so strong, and it was such a significant meeting for him. We thought that was our miracle, but then the member took us to Chick-Fil-A. I inquired about a man's hat, and a few minutes later, we are talking about religion, and he set up the restoration perfectly, we went to a table outside Chick-Fil-A and taught him the restoration. He told us the Elders had played basketball with him just a few days earlier, and offered to teach him, but he turned them down. He said when he saw us, he knew it couldn't be coincidence to see missionaries in different areas in the same week.
God is in every detail of this work.

Similar experience on Saturday when we were out to see inviestigators in one of our further cities. Didn't work out, but we were able to crash a family get-together with a recent convert and lots of her family who are not members. They allowed us to share an Easter message and it was a sweet experience.

We've been working harder to invite as many people as we can to be taught. We had 47 unplanned invitations (basically invitiations to be taught that are not a result of tracting--people we see outside or in stores, etc). We want to work our way up to 70 unplanned invitations a week. Out of the 47 people we invited, six of them we've been able to teach the restoration and  get a return appointment for the second lesson.
I'm very excited for a freshman girl we met yesterday named Emma. She was outside playing basketball at a friend's house, and we prayed with her, talked a little bit about the church and asked if we could teach her. She said she was 'stunned' because it was so cool, and she was 'very interested.' She did cheerleading with some LDS girls. She readily gave us her information and invited us to come for a lesson next week. She's way cool.

I got some good time in with Scott (my bike) and that always makes me happier. I'm so glad it's warm. We can't use our car except for necessary missionary meetings that are out of town, now that our vehicle coordinator was released and with him our out-of-area miles program which means, we do not have many miles to work with in our area. We are left to biking and relying on members as there is a mountain in the middle of our area of about 8 cities. It's actually provided opportunity for us to get to know the members better, allow them to serve, and enable us to meet more people. Some places in our area are being neglected because they're too far for us to get out there, but I know that God is putting us in areas concentrated with those who are ready.

Our assistant Ward Mission Leader has instituted something new. He ordered 100 copies of the Book of Mormon, and we helped him to create an index of significant scriptures for people who have never read it. The members get to take the copies home, highlight the scriptures from the index, and as desired, write in a testimony, glue in a picture, etc to personalize the Book of Mormon. Then we get to go place them! It's pretty cool. The ward is excited about getting involved.

Last bit of news. I got a text from the sisters in Madison (my last area) and a lady I found outside and taught a few times finally came to church and is getting baptized!!!! I'm so excited. I love this lady. Her name is Catherine and she is awesome. I'm hoping that this will open the door for her daughter who is my age to find the gospel also.

Easter is amazing. Our older brother Jesus Christ is truly amazing for loving us so much, and making such a sacrifice. I know he lives and is pulling with us at every moment.

Steadfastly loyal,

Sister Liz Sheffer

April 15th 2014

I don't even know how to start writing about the week, so I want to brag on some of my leaders and fellow missionaries for a spell.

My sister training leaders LOVE TOAST, and love talking to people--everyone! The more awkward the better! It's fun to see them make mistakes and still love each other, love the work, continue working with good humor.

My zone leaders are goofballs, but lose sleep thinking over and praying over the missionaries in the zone and who we're teaching. They carry an incredible amount of love for us and our investigators out of a deep loyalty to the Lord.

Our new district leader was transferred here for his last 6 weeks before he goes home to Park City, Utah. I had never heard of him before, as he's shy and unassuming and flies under the radar, but he has served as a zone leader and every single zone he's lead has reached their baptismal goals. He's changed the way I think about and set goals. The Lord allows us to set goals, and will help us achieve them as we put forth all of our effort. He promised that we would reach our goal if we all continually prayed and worked our hardest, and that we may not all see baptisms, but as a zone, the goal would be met. We got on our knees in zone training and collectively came up with 6 baptisms for the month of May--we had already set 5 for April. President has raised the bar for what we can count as unplanned contacts--every contact we make has to include an invitation for us to teach them in their home. It takes some quick and deep testifying in just a few minutes to talk to random people and ask them if we can go into their home to share a message, but I love it. As I've given my all to find new investigators this past week, I've become happier. It is infinitely easier to be bold and courageous in contacting when I'm happy. It's invigorating, and even when I'm getting rejected and having to do it on my own when my companion won't talk to anyone, I get a spiritual high from testifying to people, and to find more and more people everywhere we're at.
Then we find people like Morgan--and feel an overwhelming love for her as she tells us of her hopes and how her life has fallen apart from some poor decisions on her part and on others' parts. I love her so much from just a few minutes of talking with her. She accepted the invitation, but doesn't live in our area, so other sisters will visit her.
Then we also run into random people who swear the know us--some guy remembered my face from when we went to Cracker Barrel for my birthday with Mally! Taught him the restoration, and he accepted the invitation to be taught more. He lives in Guntersville, but works here, so we will still see him some.
We meet other people who will allow us into their home to pray and tell stories of Latter-Day Saints they know and how they are the best people, but they are not interested in learning more or changing.
We help people wash their car in their driveways, and they tell us of how they love Latter Day Saints and how other missionaries have helped them move. We taught them the restoration, and they have invited us back, but wouldn't set a specific appointment with us. (?)
We meet all kinds of awesome people, but in the end, our number of new investigators for the week: 0. We get texts from the zone leaders, and 5 people in other areas of the zone have baptismal dates!!! I know that as I give my all in my own area, somehow it blesses the other missionaries in my zone in their area. It is certainly a team effort. I still hope and pray for success in this area, as I KNOW there are prepared people. I may never see a baptism on my mission, but I can surely contribute to them. I feel strongly about Anthony and his family. We had a really good lesson with him on the Plan of Salvation and got pretty serious. He wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom and bring his whole family with him. He says he knows it's true. He said he would come to church. He didn't, but we are exerting all our efforts to make sure this family comes to church for Easter Sunday. Please pray for Anthony and his family: Chey, Jacian, Trevian, and Jayvian. I sure love this family.

Steafastly loyal in Christ,

Sister Liz Sheffer

April 9th 2014

Neat experience. Sister Wells and I were trying to visit some people in a wealthy area and everything was falling through. Sister Wells suggested we knock a door with an open garage and a red van. I didn't even remember seeing that house and looked around for it, it was back around a corner we passed heading into the area. We offer the Savior's peace and blessings on people's homes--Us Sisters don't hold the priesthood, but since we're serving under a calling from the prophet who sent us with the priesthood, we have the authority to leave bless homes "in virtue of our calling as missionaries and representatives of Jesus Christ." It's a cool thing. We knocked and a beautiful woman opened, not seeming overly happy that we were on her doorstep. She agreed to let us leave a blessing, but wanted it done quickly and on the porch, so she could keep her dogs inside. As I offered the blessing, I felt overwhelmed by God's love for her. When we finished, she was crying, and through a choked-up voice, thanked us and said that it meant a lot--then ran back inside. We will definitely try to contact her again.

It is springtime, and despite the random cold waves and lots of rain, it is service time! I mowed my first lawn of the season. Still got it. I love to mow. One of my favorite things to do as a missionary. We went on team-ups with a sister from the ward, and after we were through with the appoinments, she introduced us to her neighbors who don't 'get the church,' but seemed to like us. The members from our ward who live next to them are going out of town for a few months, and leaving us with the charge of checking in on their neighbors. Member missionary work is the best! Service is going to soften their hearts, and open the way for them to receive the restored gospel.

One of our investigators was a referral from members who moved away. She is not progressing a whole lot, but has met lots of members from the church, and is getting involved in family history. She loves it! On Wednesday, we were asked to help pitch a Book of Mormon sharing idea at mutual. The activity after was volleyball. When I learned it was volleyball, I remembered these crazy less-active girls who were big into volleyball, and their mom was a coach. I texted them and told them to get down to the church to show the rest of the youth what was up. They did. :) That was cool. I digress, while at mutual I was talking to a brother from the ward, and he said his daughter brought a friend to activity day. I asked about her family, and he told me the last name--Funderburg--the same last name as the family history-loving investigator! Turns out it's her granddaughter who came to activity day, we made it a point to meet her and are working with the member family in getting to know and teach the rest of the family. Member-missionary work is the best!

Remember Amoz? 16 yr old kid. Pretty mature. We taught him again this week. He's the man! We still haven't gotten to meet his parents, but he says he wants his dad to get in on this. He was excited to hear the prophet speak this weekend.

Conference was awesome. So awesome. I can't say that there was one tlak that was my favorite. I loved President Eyring's--he in essence went through the first three missionary lessons, so that was pretty cool. I loved the threads of obedience, and just the focus on the reality of the Savior. He's real and he lives.

We watched the Saturday sessions in the trailer of my favorite sister in the ward. She's awesome! Her name is Elizabeth Schnitger. Special connection. Between sessions, we tracted the neighborhood. I got to leave a blessing in Spanish. I'm rather rusty, but it was cool. We're referring the family to the Hermanas.

Our neighbor/eternalgator Harold came to conference with us. He continues to read the Book of Mormon all the way through, the ensigns, he's still clean from his addiction, and for the first time since meeting missionaries 40 years ago he says he's seriously considering being baptized! He would say that all the time, but as a joke, now he is finally serious. He's come to mean a lot to me just as a neighbor. If he's going to be baptized we are going to have to officially give him to other missionaries since we live outside of our ward boundaries, but I'm glad we're neighbors and will never forget this man or the kindness he's shown to me when I was having a rough time as a missionary. God's plan is so perfect.

The gospel is true.

Steadfast in Christ,

Sister Sheffer

March 31 2014

So there's this kid who just returned from the Mexico Tampico mission. Fireball. His family is less active, but started coming off and on before his return. They invited us over for dinner and he invited a friend to hear the first discussion. During dinner, as we got to know the family and friend better, we learned that Sarah (the friend) and I share the same birthday, which was the day previous. When they learned that I didn't blow out candles for my birthday, the mother got excited, and stuck a candle in a Klondike bar for me and sang and what not. It's crazy how much that meant to me. She said it meant a lot to her to be able to do that for a missionary because birthdays were so hard for her when her son was serving. The discussion went well. Sarah is awesome. She is very active in her church, but feel the spirit, and wants to learn more. It helps to have a ward member encouraging the rest of the ward to get people in their homes for the discussions, and then to be an example. Member work is still the most effective, but with most members, we're trying to encourage them to give the last 2% needed to invite others to increase their faith. It's going to happen. The gospel essentials lesson was on missionary work yesterday, and the ward mission leader shared that when women find a recipe they love they immediately share it with all their friends, or make it for their friends, but they're hesitant to do that with the gospel. He asked "why don't we do that?" One of my favorite recently reactivated sisters in the ward exclaimed, "Yeah!!! Why don't we do that??? I don't get us!!!"

 

For our second time doing service at the senior living center, Sister Wells and I sang a hymn for them and then were asked to help do the ladies' nails. Sounds like fun, right? I never ever ever ever ever ever ever want to do that again. Haha. I'm no good at nails, but thankfully Sister Wells is, so I could remove polish and file some, do base coats, etc, and ask her to help make it look pretty. Ugh, the toe jam smell makes me shudder now just thinking about it. NEVER again. But I do love serving those people, they are so sweet, and I love hearing their stories and discussing perspectives on God and life.

 

We got a text from our district leader during our study hour asking if it was possible for us to make two cakes for district meeting which was to start two hours later. He concluded the text with, I have FAITH and assured us it was for a mind-blowing object lesson. We responded, "it shall be done, according to your faith." Sister Wells had one cake mix, and I came up with another one from scratch. It was pretty good. It was a memorable lesson on presentation to be used in our teaching as we contact people. I love having such faithful missionaries in my district to learn from.

 

It was incredible to me to watch a 6 yr old girl receive revelation this week. This family is AWESOME. The Youngs. They are very missionary-minded and set goals as families before we started working with them. We used the referral tool lesson which ALWAYS brings revelation. I helped 6 yr old Cora--who is pretty much my best friend, I LOVE this little girl--write her list of everyone she knew who she would like to see have the gospel. When we went back through the list, I explained what the spirit feels like, and asked her to listen to the spirit as I read the names again to see who she thought was ready. I would read some names, and she would say, "no....no...she's very nice, but not ready right now..." then I got to two names, and her eyes lit up, and she said, "YES!" because I was talking to him and he asked me if I could come over and play, and I said "no, I can't play right now because the missionaries are coming over, and he said, 'what are missionaries??!!'" She was SO excited, and I was SO excited, and when we gathered back as a whole group with the family to share the results of our list, every family member had written the name of someone from that same family Cora was talking about. Inspired? Absolutely. Time to INVITE.

 

Our neighbor/eternalgator Harold overcame a serious addiction! This has been years coming. A cause for much rejoicing! Another investigator, Brent, accepted an invitation to be baptized and is starting to read from the Book of Mormon daily.

 

The rest of our teaching pool is working like revolving doors. Anthony and Chey haven't returned our texts or phone calls this week, the British woman, June, dropped us. Sharon is awesome, we have an appointment with her and the family history specialist this week for which she's very excited. She wanted to attend the women's conference, but wasn't able to. Her husband doesn't like LDS faith, but lets her investigate.

  

We were able to team-up with members to get to the far parts of our area to teach some unbaptized members. It's hard that church is almost an hour drive for them, but they need the gospel and were very receptive. We also found less active members who still have such great testimonies and I feel could so easily be reactivated and feel the blessings in their life again. I'm excited to work with them, some even got excited at the prospect of coming out with us--as they invite others to come to church, they will come themselves.

 

 We had another exchange this week. This time I got to stay in my area. At the start of the exchange, Sister Christensen asked what I wanted to find that day for new investigators. I said I wanted three--a family with three baptismal candidates. We kept this as our motivation for the day as EVERY appointment/plan fell through. In the last hour, Sister Christensen suggested we knock a door. I don't knock after dark without an appointment as I've learned people do not appreciate it and are never receptive. If plans fall through for the evening, I normally try to call up a member--active or less-active to teach a lesson or find a public place to contact. She continued to say that she may have a feeling about a particular door--she wasn't sure if it was the spirit or not, but we would never know if we didn't try. We tried--the lady was not appreciative of us knocking on her door so late. We left, and she said, "just one more." I hesitantly agreed, and chose a door I felt good about. A man let us in, and called his wife--who was laying down in a room with their two kids--to come to the living room for a minute. We were surprised at how well they received us. WE shared the first lesson. The kids LOVED it. The wife did too. When we asked if we could come back the wife and kids simultaneously said, "YES". Family of four. Three baptismal candidates (the youngest is under 8). Three new investigators. God helped us reach our goal in the last hour.

 

The gospel is true, y'all, and I'm fixin to find more the Lord has prepared to receive it.

 

Be blessed.

 

Steadfast in Christ,

 

Sister Sheffer

March 24 2014

Hey y'all!


This week was pretty awesome. We got to meet with some amazing ward members. Some families are just too stinking funny. It's so important to remember to have a sense of humor. A little humor can go a long way, especially when things get tough and depressing, it's a uniting thing to get to laugh with people.

Tuesday we started volunteering for a senior center. When we got there, an elderly man was singing karaoke--50s and 60s songs--the good ones. Sister Wells and I sat in the back with some residents and tried to bump the energy a little. There was this precious woman up dancing by herself, continually attempting, with no success, to get other residents to dance with her. She asked us, and we couldn't refuse her. It was the end of the song, so I danced a little with her and sat back down. The resident ERUPTED, and urged me to go back to the front to dance some more. The karaoke man said, "What a treat! We've got ourselves a professional dancer here! I've got the perfect song!" In my head: "EEK! Dignity in my calling?" Then I thought about Ephraim's Rescue that we watched on Christmas--one of the last scenes is a young man miraculously dancing a jig on his injured feet to cheer up the saints as they are struggling with starvation and so much death. Of course, this situation was different, but I felt ok about it, and danced some jive to Mr. Presley's Hound Dog song. It felt SO good to dance! The residents absolutely ate it up. "I haven't seen dancing like that for 40 years!" We'll be volunteering there weekly on Tuesdays. Love it. Love it. Love it. They are so precious! After the karaoke party, we helped make these wild brazilian centerpieces. It was fun. We just never know what's going to happen when we wake up in the morning.

Later that day we tried to contact a less active member who was busy, and we had time to knock one door. I tend to get hints from the cars--VWs, Corvettes and Camaros have always proven to be good signs. So I found a VW and we knocked the door. SThe woman we met very much needed us. The church is true. We got to teach her and comfort her with some things going on. She knew that we were sent from God.

We did the missionary lesson we were trained to with a family I've wanted to work with since I came into the ward. It was such a sweet experience. Every family member was so loving as they wrote names of those they cared about who they would like to see have the gospel. The father prayed over who they felt was ready and we waited in quiet for a few minutes. I shared a distinct impression I had: there were two people who they could call that very night. Indeed they contacted two people while they were there who needed the gospel. The kids are now working with friends at school, and we continually follow up and encourage. This family is amazing! I love seeing their faith in increase as they exercise it.

We taught the British lady. Precious! We're going to get her to the General Young Women's Broadcast, as well as another investigator lady who wants badly to do her family history. So perfect a returning less active member just got called to be the family history specialist! He is so good and so excited to work with her.

The temple was amazing! So much revelation! Sister Hanks pounced on me in the last room and used the minute before my comp came in to tell me how much she loved and appreciated me for what I was doing, and pleaded, "You're so strong, and you just get it! Don't go home!!!" I won't ever do that until the Lord sends me home. It meant a lot to know that she was mindful of my situation and that she loves me. I have the most incredible leaders!

We met with the man who has been led away by anti. We answered some of his questions (which were pretty inconsequential) and testified to him. I feel that he is progressing, he stays in contact with us, and still wants to meet more as he "figures things out." He is so confused! He did commit to readingt he Book of Mormon from the beginning, so we follow up on that.

Mallie took us to breakfast on Saturday for my birthday. It was so sweet! Emma is the sweetest girl, she is SO special! I just love her! We arranging a lunch with her and her mother next preparation day. I can't wait to meet her, they would be great in the church! The present was so sweet!! I love my journals, they are SO perfect and gorgeous! The one from India is pretty awesome. I was also super excited for good pens, and for MANGOS!!! They make me happy.

My birthday itself, we didn't do anything. My comp 'forgot,' and I wasn't going to sell myself out on it, so no one knew. In a childish, immature moment, I thought "I only get one of these on my mission, and we could get a plethora of appointments with this, could I get some attention!" Of course, it really wasn't my day. It was the Lord's day. and it was a special day. The Stake President announced that the Monte Sano ward could get THEIR OWN BUILDING!!! (such a blessing!) if they can increase their growth, attendance, and tithing. This has the ward so excited! He spoke of the importance of missionary work, and called all 4 of us serving in the ward to come introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies. It was a neat experience. The ward is willing to do anything to get their own building, so we are increasing member involvement even more.

We had a great team-up in the afternoon and taught a family the restoration. The parents were pretty nervous to pray, but it is important and we are gently persistent with that, and the 11 yr old ended up giving a beautiful closing prayer asking God to make him a better boy for his parents. The mom is coming to the broadcast with us on Saturday. She rocks! I'm so excited to work more with her.

We did the missionary lesson with another family yesterday and i twas pretty special. I was a little worried that some of the members weren't taking it seriously, and that would effect the revelation they would receive as the head of the household prayed over their friends they felt were ready. During the prayer, the spirit hit and I got tingly all over the left side of me and knew that the next name spoken was the prepared one, it wasn't name, it was "the other families," and I knew that there was a family not on their list that is prepared. I get tingly talking about it now! After a few moments of quiet, I shared the impression I had with them. After another quiet minute, the mom said, "Do you know who I forgot to include on my list?"...she gave the name of a family, and all the kids lit up and started talking about them excitedly. I got tingly all over my body as soon as she said the name! The spirit was so strong! We are arranging dinner with them and the member family. So excited!

Well....the gospel is true.

Favorite scripture hero? Moroni has been a favorite recently because he seems so human with his insecurities, but he does the Lord's will anyway, and uses lessons from other heroes. I just started the BoM over again, and Nephi impresses me at both his logic, and his ability to immediately forgive. Idk, there are many.





Love y'all!!!
Have an awesome week!

Sister Liz Sheffer

Note: Below are pictures from Elizabeth’s birthday breakfast. Mally Hatch (not a member of the church but loves serving the missionaries) took her out to eat at the Cracker Barrel.  The curly haired girl is Emma who joined them and whose family Elizabeth and her comp will get to meet on their next p-day.

March 17th 2014

A Good SHEFFER Must Know His SHEEF

The email title comes from our infamous eternalgator neighbor, Harold. He comes up with all sorts of nick names for us, and had to call us to tell us about that line he thought up. While humorous, and it makes me laugh, it also has taken on some meaning as a representative of the Good Shepard.

Sorry, I didnt particularly enjoy last week's preparation day as we spent nearly all of it in doctor's appointments for Sister Wells both for her sprained ankle and for other regular stuff. This is why email time was cut in half last week. She is doing much better and not limping anymore. I did get to make lots of contacts in the doctor offices. Two in spanish. No new investigators from it, but one lady did give me coupons for a Mexican restaurant, lol.

We had zone training this past week. It was purely relaying and practicing techniques from Brother Donaldson and Brother Littlefield. It was awesome. Since Sister Millard and I got to attend the training, we trained with the sister training leaders. That was way fun. I get so pumped telling my fellow missionaries about the miracles we've seen come from these techniques. They work!

Yet another doctor appointment for Sister Wells, but this one was in Birmingham. This meant 4 hours on the road for a 10 minute appointment. After workout that morning, I got super dizzy (yes, Mom, I drank lots of water). By studies, I couldn't move without the rest of the room moving and spinning. I was pretty scared to drive. I said a pretty fervent prayer, and told Heavenly Father that I was the designated driver AND Sister Wells' right foot was sprained, so I simply had to drive that day, and couldn't afford to be unwell. I had already been sick this year, and simply couldn't be sick that day, and asked if he would please make me well enough to drive my companion to her doctor's appointment. After finishing my prayer, Sister Wells told me that we didn't have to leave until a half hour later than we had planned. I thanked Him and slept for those 30 minutes, and when I woke up, I was still dizzy, but felt well enough to drive.

Coming back, we decided to go contact that new family with the old corvette. He had something come up and couldn't meet with us when we got there. As we were leaving, Sister Wells told me that a less active lived next door to him--this was a house we had tracted and no one answered. They weren't on the roster, but she said on exchanges last week, they saw a relative and they ratted her out as having moved and not had her records transferred. I had no idea about this, so was excited to go knock again and try to see her. She is an older lady and hasn't been to church for a long time. She was someone I felt a connection too. We read the testimony of the three witnesses with her and she bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. She said she really had no reason whatever that she doesn't attend church anymore. We got her excited to come to a YM fundraiser the next day, get a blessing for health issues, come to church, and come out with us!!!
While we were in the area we stopped by another less active convert who had fallen away through anti-mormon literature. His wife is very anti. He was very nice, and tried to give us an anti book, and I simply told him that the gospel makes me feel peace, joy, and the spirit, and books like that make me feel confused and frustrated and I can't feel the spirit confirming any truth in them. He took it back, and after a while we left him with our number. We were very surprised when he called us the next day and asked if we could meet up to talk more. He seems pretty sincere, it'll be very interesting to talk to him again.

Our investigators have not made any progress this week. So sad.

We stopped by another less active family who hadn't been super receptive to missionaries. They had just finished eating dinner in their front yard, and you could tell they weren't particularly enthused we showed up, but I was in a real good mood, and was excited to meet them anyway. They talked to us for a bit, and after a while were clearly enjoying themselves. There are two girls, 12 and 14, and there was another 12year old not-yet-member friend hanging out with them. Super cool! We shared a message on service and they all enjoyed it. The 12 year old said we were the most fun missionaries she had ever met. We got them excited about coming to the Wednesday night activities. The father went inside and didn't talk to us at all, but the mother said they had just finished up volleyball season (she coaches) and said maybe they could get active again or something. Ah, yeah. The ward needs this spunky family.

We had one appointment with a less active family who has every intention to come back and to prepare themselves for the temple. They have a 5 yr old son who is quite the character. They always tell us they will come to church, and never show up. This week, I figured we should make them our last appointment for Saturday night so there was less time for Satan to work between our visit and church. After reading from the Book of Mormon with them, we got on the topic of prayer. The 5 yr old said he had a prayer that his dad would stop smoking! It was the most precious thing. The wife texted us that night and said she had a powerful prayer with her husband after we left and they were coming to church. I was super disappointed when sacrament meeting started and they weren't there. 10 minutes after it started, Sister Wells punched me in the arm and pointed to the back. They were walking in! SO happy! The dad was anxious to go after sacrament meeting (addictions are nasty), but the mother was insistent on staying for one more hour. He said he would come back to pick them up. She enjoyed gospel essentials, and her son ran out of his classroom having to use the restroom. We walked with her and watied for him. He marched out of the restroom and right past us. His mom asked, "where are you going?" He continued marching and said, "Back to my class!" She smiled and said that she supposed they'd just have to stay for the last hour. Unfortunately, the dad didn't agree and got him out of class, but they promised their son they would be back next week. Pretty sad, but it's huge progress for them.

The rest of the sabbath was awesome!! I decided it was a tracting day, and Sister Wells had saved a street that we drove by that didn't have a no coliciting policy like most neighborhoods in our area. One lady we talked to while tracting said that her British neighbor might be interested. We had met a British lady store contacting a while back and wondered if it could be the same lady. It was! She was so surprised to see us, and said "I guess we're just destined to meet!" She was busy at the moment, but we have an appointment with her this week. The next door we knocked on we found our BIE (Best Investigator Ever). Her name is Jessica. She is a beautiful girl around our age, who is going through a transition from nursing to attending UAH for marketing. She said she has never had a church family, or known how to pray, but she feels a need for it now, but has no idea where to start with so many religions and no religious backgroud. Restoration was perfect for her. I'M SO EXCITED!!! Looking at her, images were just flashing through my head. She is going to marry an awesome guy in the temple and raise a righteous family and make such a difference for so many people. I love her so much already. Didn't stop there. The next house there was a family who as soon as we showed up said, "tell us what you're about, we just moved in and are looking for a church." WE taught the restoration and are teaching them again on Wednesday. We prayed with a few uninterested people, then met another girl our age. She is engaged to a minor league baseball player whom she met at school as he had a scholarship through baseball, and she had one through basketball. She is finishing up nursing school and wants to go to Africa through Doctors Without Borders. HOW DO SO MANY AMAZING PEOPLE LIVE ON THE SAME ROAD??? She said she is totally down for taking the discussions, but she lives in Cullman for school, and only comes here on the weekends. We'll work it out.

God is so good. We taught another girl last night who is the granddaughter of a less active member. He set up the appointment, apparently unbeknownst to her, as she wasn't thrilled when we showed up. By the time we left, she had said her first prayer aloud, and was excited to have another lesson. She has an independent spirit and loved the theme of revelation in the Restoration.

Spiritual thought. I was getting really down on myself  thinking about people who had sacrificed for the sake of me going on a mission and feeling like it wasn't making a huge difference because I'm not super successful. This is the first time I've admitted this, but I've hit my 8 month mark and still haven't seen a baptism. I remembered a letter from the ZLs/STLs and they said I have a particular spiritual gift. I thought, "yeah, right, I'm not good at that." I heard it again, from someone else and thought about Ether 12:27, I thought maybe God had given me a strength for my misison, the more I thought about it, I realized I had it back in high school too and even before that. NOt anything that I'm good at, just a gift that God gave me. Now that I recognize it, I can use it with more confidence to be more effective as a missionary. Our lesson in gospel essentials yesterday was on honesty, and the idea of being honest with ourselves was a hot topic. We talked about how we often make excuses by being dishonest with ourselves. A common lie Satan uses is that we are not good at things, but it's important that we are honest with ourselves in the fact that we are good. We are GREAT. The Lord IS pleased with us, but we HAVE to do better! We are more likely to improve when we recognize the gifts God has given us and use them for the purposes He intended. He can't physically be here, thus He helps us to acquire some of His attributes for His work.

I love the gospel. It's true.

Steadfast in Christ,

Sister Sheffer

March 10th 2014

God loves us all SO MUCH. Crazy, irregular week. We got to go out with the Relief Society President to visit some less active members, always good.
We went out to find some lost sheep from the ward, and met very few of them, but tracted/street contacted and did meet some cool people. I saw this awesome, old corvette in someone's front yard and told Sister Wells I HAD to knock that house and talk to the owner. He was pretty cool, then we got to meet his adorable wife from Samoa and their darling little 18 month old boy. He said he wanted to raise his kid in church, but didn't want to raise him in the churches he grew up in where a preacher will yell and preach against other people and denominations. We introduced them to the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. They said they would read and come to church. This family is awesome, I'm excited to work with them more.

Thursday was the training from Brother Donaldson and Brother Littlefield. It was AMAZING. Such a tender mercy that I was selected to attend, and moreso than that, that I got to drive up and back with SISTER MILLARD (my MTC companion, LOVE HER!) It was great to spend time with her and to have a few hours to discuss the mission and all the lessons we've learned since the MTC. It was a sweet experience. I know God is looking out for me. I returned to a crippled companion! Sister Wells sprained her ankle walking down some stairs when she was working in Guntersville with Sister Millard's companion. She had to keep her foot elevated and iced for a bit, during that time, I completed our map of the area with all the members who we are allowed to contact. It helps tremendously to get a better idea of what is in our area, and realize the things we can do and who we can work with. We're still trying to figure things out. That afternoon we had exchanges and I got to work with a sister training leader in MADISON 2ND WARD!!!! TENDER MERCY!!!! I also didn't realize how much the STL and I had in common. We got to discuss challenges and how to work through them given our particular personality traits. It was amazing to be back in my old area and get to help since the sisters there are still fairly new to the ward. Walking between appointments, we started talking to a lady watching her daughter play with the neighbors. She was very nice, we asked if we could teach the Restoration, and she readily agreed. We taught using the techniques from the training we had just learned. She just kept saying "WOW," (it is an incredible message). By the end we asked if she would talk to her Heavenly Father and ask if the message we shared was true. She said she didn't need to--she already knew that it was true, and just thanked Him. She committed to be baptized at the end of the month. Miracles!!! Some people are SO prepared and ready for this gospel. They're just waiting for it. Brother Littlefield said that any given mission area (ward area) in the United States has around 17,000 people who will listen to missionaries, around 1,700 which would be baptized if they were found and taught. I know that's true. God said that MANY among all denominations, sects, parties, etc are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.
Such a tender mercy to get to see Mally! I just love that woman. The next morning, we swapped exercise routine ideas and I'm excited for the stuff she taught me--she is big into pilates. It was way nice to have a workout buddy. We did service that morning for some members, part of which included washing this thing that almost looks like a 4-wheeler, but it's amphibious and used by the rescue squad to get people out of water. So cool. Sister Kudlacek gave me a few minutes to cry in the car by the end of the exchange because I didn't want to switch back . I wanted to stay in my beloved Madison 2 area forever! Alas, God has called me to serve in Monte Sano. Bloom where you're planted.

When we switched back I was informed of an appointment we had with someone the other STL called from an old sheet of potential investigators from previous missionaries. That was an interesting appointment. She played ignorant and interested, then challenged us on where some thigns came from scripturally. They were easy to answer, but she said we couldn't take things out of context and asked if we could read the whole chapters there. We did and to me they were further strengthening the validity. She launched off on some interesting perspective, and then pulled out a triple, and numerous church manuals she has studied and said we were inconsistent with the Bible. Funny that every argument she used was further evidence to me that have a complete gospel. She did admit to being very impressed that we were gracious and listened to her and shared without getting contentious. So interesting that she will read so much church literature when she's so convinced it's not true...:) We're so blessed. We taught some other people we found to and from her appointment and those lessons went much better.

I met another one of our investigators, Brent. He's been through some hard things that have numbed him. We got him into the Book of Mormon. So cool that it answers every single concern any person could ever have. So cool!
W're also been able to strengthen some of the recent converts. Joining the church can be a rough transition, but they have so much to offer!

Sorry y'all. Time is being cut short by my companion. I'll keep y'all in my prayers, ask for prayers from y'all too. I need them.

Love y'all!!!

Steadfast in CHRIST,

Sister Sheffer