February 23 - el BAUTISMO de BXXXXo

This isn't the best picture... but there was a lot of craziness going on.  I didn't even get a picture with Bxxxx0..... aaaahhh.

So these are all the missionaries that have taught Bxxxxo that got baptized yesterday.  He lives in Manteca so I was able to teach him the lessons again before he got baptized.  He is awesome!  

We showed up an hour before the baptism to set up the church, decorate, and organize.  Wipe all the fingerprints off the font glass, you know important stuff.  When we arrived we quickly realized that the font coordinator hadn't come and the font was empty.  Usually it takes over an hour, close to two hours to fill... I was a little panicked.  We didn't have keys to the font either.  I was hurdling the glass of the font to get it going but Hermana Cavazos wouldnt let me.  The Elders rushed over and they hurdled the glass to start the water going.  At this point we had 40 minutes until it started. :( So Hermana Gomez had the idea to find buckets and start filling the font by hand in addition to the water running.  So for 40 minutes all of us missionaries were running back and forth from the kitchen to the baptismal font trying to fill it...HHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA.  IT WAS THE WORST!!!  But hilarious at the same time. 

But it gets better.  President Jardine and his wife showed up!!   Seriously they thought it was hilarious, but we were able to bring it back together and I just felt so much peace and I know that Bxxxxxo loved it.  He has been taught for 2 years and some hard circumstances have led him to the church.  He is amazing and I feel like I am supposed to be here a little bit for him.  Reason? He is exactly like Grandpa Taylor.  They have the same mannerisms.  Don't know if that's true but I like to think it.  Regardless we are going to be good friends.  He said when I ever visit again with my family make sure to tell him so they can prepare some food for us.  They are awesome and you are all going to meet him and his wife!!! 

Memorable night regardless haha. 

Had to take a picture of all the trees because it is AMAZING!!! Picture these trees for EVER.  It is soooo pretty :) 

Some fun things is that I was able to talk to another missionary who is serving in North Sac right now.  She said that Bxxxa is doing amazing.  She said that Bxxxa is a visiting teacher now, and that she has been going to visit her person once a week.  She didn't know that she only had to do it once a month so she has been going as often as she could :) :)  She is so awesome!!!!!

I love her.  I guess her and her family are getting their patriarchal blessings and are excited!!

 

This is a picture of 

Elders Yi, Rindlisbacher, Campbell, us, Stone, Peterson, Weber

I think this picture is hilarious. CANDID. HA HA

I was able to go an exchanges to LODI again this week.  I love Lodi a lot. 

 I went with Hermana Moffett and she is inspirational.  It made me miss Hermana Skidmore.  But it was just a really happy day.  We ate a new chocolate bar I have never tried aaaaannnnnnnddddddd she gave me MY HOODIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am now the official owner of this Mexican made hoodie.  It is like the one dad has.  I basically cried I was so excited and I have been wearing it all week.  Its been fun! 

FEBRUARY 17 - HOLA FAMILIA!

HOLA FAMILIA!

Here's the weekly lowdown!

I am in love with Manteca CA.

I have a feeling that this is going to be one of my favorite areas!

It is a small farming town.  There is SO much agriculture. Rows and rows of fruit trees and almond trees and everything.  Seriously there is just so much land covered in food growing.  When we drive past I like to put my head down and look at all the tree trunks whiz by.  Good stuff.  

The people here are just so humble and hardworking.  They work in the fields.

The ward is also super amazing!

 

We did service for a family in our ward this week and we went and worked on their ranch.  Their dad isn't a member and he reminds me of Uncle Burke but hispanic.  Total sweet and rough cowboy.  I have been on my mission 7 months now speaking Spanish and I did not understand a word he said haha.  I will get there I hope!  

Manteca is a small map as well so I already have all the streets in the town memorized!  I am going to get my way around this place without a map soon!

There a ton of people to talk to, and almost everyone has talked to missionaries but they always are super nice to us. 

We went out to eat on Valentine's Day and I tried EEL!!!  We got the special couple deal (HA HA HA) Dia de Amistad! 

My companion is in the learning stages with her espanol and I know that this is my chance to really improve my teaching, and I am just so happy for this opportunity even though it might be rough sometimes.  

Remember you are all sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.  We have so much potential!  We can do anything!

Love it!

I hope you are all having a good week!!

Love ya!

Hermana Sheffer

09 FEB - ONE AND DONE

I am leaving Stockton.  

Yes I am a liiitttlllee bit sad.

First off because I was not prepared for this.

Second off because I love Stockton.

Third off because I haven't found a bullet shell yet.

Well I guess life goes on! ( with a higher expectancy outside of Stockton ha ha). 

Me with Jxxx Sxxxxxz.  I love his shirt and hat.  He wears this type of shirt all the time.  He is really awesome

I have been called to TRACY EAST, in the Manteca Zone.

MANTECAAAAA!!!
DREAM MAKAAAA!!!!

So I have traveled from North Sac down to the bottom.

I am really excited because I will be serving in the ward of Hermana Gomez! 

Also Hermana Skidmore served there!

My companera is Hermana Cavasos.  I don't know a lot about her, but she was in English work and got switched to Spanish work, but she knows Spanish pretty well.  So lots of good stuff.  

I think they are getting ready for the mission split because they are going crazy combining zones and and I am going to be covering 2 areas down there.  Just lots of crazy switches. Lots of crazy things.  But I am excited to just keep working on.  I know that Stockton has been good for me for a lot of reasons and I have had some of the best times on my mission here.  I am really sad to leave, but I am excited to start over again.  I am going to make Manteca my home!  

Our last picture together! District 5C Represent! I am going to miss her and Stockton!

Favorite memory of this week.  We eat dinner every week with a Hermana named Hermana Towns.  If I could pin her to a person I know, it would be Grandpa Sheffer.  Just genuinely good and lively and funny.  

She loves music so we decided to sing a song.  We were singing and she was like yelling because she was so into and waving her hands and telling us to sing louder.  "RENDIRE !!.....MI CORAZON!!.....EN SECRETA!!.......ORACION!!......GANARE!!..... EL GALLARDON!!.....EN SECRETA ORACION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I was yelling and the three of us were just yelling and getting into it.  Good times. 

Well that's it until next week folks! I am happy to be a missionary and I regret every time I feel sad because I know that everything is just to help me learn something about myself, and to improve!  I really want to improve this next transfer!  I want to become a real missionary, and I know I can do it.  I really want to be happy.  So I am excited for the times to come! HAPPINESS is coming my way.  I am going to choose it and all that jazz.

LOVE LOTS 

Hermana Sheffer

PS

I will wave at Juliana from CA.

My weather IS like that all the time.  I am moving to California for the rest of my life.  I LOVE it.

I can't believe Lizzy finished 4 years of drill team! wow.  Tell them good job!

Saying goodbye to the geese!

Last day in Stockton Yogurtland tradition!! ASL sisters and DANA.  She takes us all out last day of transfer!

02 FEBRUARY - Family traditions in spanish!

This week was great! We had a zone conference. We learned how to better use scriptures in our teaching. 

It was fun to see all of our missionary cars lined up in the parking lot and have some good times with all the other missionaries. We are an army of Chevy-Cruz-driving-Jesus-in-the-window-people (but not really in the window because we don't want people to get angry at the Jesus card/missionaries if we drive wrong and get honked at or something HA).  I am actually working on a card art project.  I have put a card in the window with a paper over it and am sun-dying the card. I am going to sun dye it logs of times so it will be layered.... hope that makes sense. It is going to be my planner cover. Here is my planner  cover now:

Our lessons have been struggling a bit. It is difficult to know what to teach and what direction to go. I know we are trying hard. I heard it takes an average of 7 encounters with missionaries before someone is ready to be serious enough to be baptized.  One thing I am really proud of this transfer is Hermana Shawcroft and I have talked to EVERYONE. Seriously everyone we see. Imagine that for a second. I am really proud of us.

In order to improve I am in the process of organizing mini lessons for every point in Predicad mi Evangelio.  I love doing it and I feel so much more organized in lessons. I also have a journal with each section sectioned off so I can easily find my notse again, and I don't have to search through a notebook. I also finalized a color coding system for my scriptures. I love study times!

I am also proud of us as we have been doing a role play a day. Role plays are a STRUGGLE, but we have don it. Now we have earned ourselves a visit to Dairy Queen!

We are teaching a lot of amazing people right now. I am so excited for their progress.  We were really excited because one of our investigators came to church (sweetest man ever) and he CAME EARLY. It was crazy. Good times! I want to say that Sunday's are GOLDEN. It is a testament to me that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he gave us a day of every seven to just rest and be with our family and have that time together. I LOVE SUNDAYS.

Craziest thing and saddest thing is that we helped a man on the street. We saw him struggling to move so we decided to ask if he needed help.  It was the closest thing I have ever seen to a living zombie.  He was completely out of it and shaking.  Along with some passerby's we were able to get some help. I hope he is able to improve! I love America because the paramedics were super respectful. It makes me sad but it was a good wake up call to what I am doing.

Something fun that I thought you would like to hear. Hermana Shawcroft and I play "Something In My Basket" in espanol! It is pretty good practice (not for the person saying si... no.... si... but for the OTHER person).  Sheffer family traditions translated into Spanish!

Also we went biking this week! 0ne lady we talked to was like, "Sorry we are Christian" and I said, "We are Christian, too!" and she was like, "HONEY NO YOU ARE NOT!" all super snappy. Hermana Shawcroft was so mad... she was like, "Don't tell me what I am and am not! (not to her... to me later).  Biking gave me some great tan lines, too! Ha.  Also some really cool old guy from Africa told us that we had found each other in our love of Christ, and we were sisters in Christ. He like disappeared around the corner and we saw him in front of every house we had written down to contact. HAHA he was like leading us to the houses.

Also we go to the gym in our apartment every morning and I am pleased to announce that for the first time in my life I ran 22 minutes straight! I already conquered my New Years goal! I am liking running more and more! 

Jxxe Sxxxxxz is doing good. His spanish is still really hard... like level 65 of Spanish... but Hermana Shawcroft understands him pretty well so that is good.

I did not have flapjacks for Groundhogs Day today but I did think about it! I am not sad that it is six more weeks of winter as I am enjoying here what it feels like in May and June in Richfield! I love California!

It is transfer week next week. I love Stockton a lot so I am glad my chances are really high to stay. 

Tell Elissa and Elizabeth good lunch at State and WOW about Lizzy getting Academic all region. Smarty dance short short pants!  What happened with the Super Bowl? Let's just say missionary work was a little hard to do that day but two men from Michoacan offered us some BBQ and tortillas! We ate outside with them. HA

I am glad things are going well in your super crazy lives. I am excited you get to drive to Las Vegas. Road trips are so fun. I love being in California and though humanity and myself test me sometimes, everything is going good!

Thanks for the emails and everything!

Love 

Hermana Sheffer