JULY 20th - "We are one with the Savior in doing the will of the Father"

JULY 20^th:

HERMANA SHEFFER Says....

"Hello family, this week was a really good week.  It was good because I saw lots of opposition in all things and I was able to appreciate the good. 

 Oh ya! 

This week we had an Missionary Leadership council (the Sister Ttraining Leaders) and the Zone Leaders) and we decided what the vision for the new California Modesto vision was going to be!  I felt like I was making history! 

We decided on:

"We are one with the Savior in doing the will of the Father".

It is kind of long but it has lots of meanings.  The “We Are One” part is important because the two  missions are actually very different!  For example, the Fresno mission had  A TON of rules…. from hair parts to how you say things, to every missionary having to run 20 minutes every morning.  So I was like...... ah man..... because in the Sacramento Mission we lived more by principle.  Like we were free to choose how we lived each rule, which I think is more beneficial because you make your own structure if that makes sense.  I don't feel like I am going to completely fall apart after the mission, I am hopefully going to still have a bit of that structure.  But we are going to work to be one.  And we talked a lot about consecration so I like this vision.  It encompasses a lot. 

It was fun because President and I are buddies after spending time in the hospital together, and he always tells me I, “say exactly what needs to be said."  Haha.  He is a workhorse holy cow.  I want to be like him when I grow up.  He wakes up every morning at 4:30 to pray and read his scriptures! 

Wowzers.

We have been working really hard with the members in Manteca lately.  We are trying to work through them, and not just go out tracting.  And this week we finally saw some good results from it.  We got 2 referrals and one of them came to church with their cute 3 year old boy Alexander the Great.  I made him a paper crane to help him be quiet in Sacrament meeting and he loved it.  He liked primary a lot. 

Our investigator fell asleep though in Principios del Evangelio so hopefully he still comes back next week!  Another was a friend from their Zumba class.  We were only there for 20 minutes in her house, but she was so nice, and I felt the spirit really strong. 

I am excited for the upcoming weeks.  It was a miracle though because the first mom of Alexander called us, and wanted a church tour.  The next time they walked 1.5 miles to get to the church because they just moved from Queens, New York (where HNA Cuesta is from) and don’t have a car.  So I am happy, and excited.

I heard that you actually can pick me up from my mission, and the Stake President releases me over the phone.  So I think you coming here is still an option.  We will talk later of these things ha. 

For Hna Cuestas 18 month mark, and my 12 month mark we went to a Thai restaurant and I had Thai food for the first time!  It was SSOOOO good.  I loved it!  I had a curry and Phad Thai.  I loved looking at all the pictures and I think Avatar artists must have been influenced a little bit by Thai culture because a lot of things looked similar. 

I also got the adorable whale package.  You are just perfect!  Those penguins were gone in 3 days.  It got here right on my year mark day.  

So the opposition of this week is that we had lots of weird experiences spiritually.  Almost everyone we talked to was talking with Satan if that makes sense.  It was a really weird week, that didn't particularly please me.  I think that something weird is going down haha. Ghost stories coming to life. I will tell you more in my letter!  :)  I seriously will hopefully get it sent today.  Sorry.... Writing letters takes me a long time lately!

I am so proud of you two for stopping to drink pop.  That must be really hard, but there are a lot of benefits I am sure.   Thanks for ordering all that stuff.  And local news is always interesting!  I am so excited for the Baldwins trip!

I did get to sell fireworks at the museum, and it was really fun.  

All the old people there love us.  They said they have a project for us to sort out and take pictures of all the clothes they have in their attic.  Picture Anne of Green Gables, and Pride and Prejudice and probably the 20s.  So we are going to see if we have some time to help with that.  So COOL. 

The missionary work is exciting, and my favorite parts of the day are in the morning when I get to read the scriptures for an hour.  I am reading in Matthew right now, and I am almost finishing Alma in espanol!  I love my scriptures! 

Exxxxo finished the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Grande Price, and JSH yesterday!  He has now read the standard works..... that is more than me haha!  He is waiting to get his patriarchal blessing. 

I am still in love with Manteca, but I want to work with members more because our investigator that came to church..... no one talked to him.  It was the worst.  It reminds of when only 1 person came to Exxxxo's baptism and that drives me crazy.  So I am going to see how we can help, because I understand both points of view. 

Anyways thanks for the emails everyone! I am going to print them out and write letters today!  I love you all and thanks for the birthday flashback"!

Hermana Sheffer.