The Phone Call

Elder Shelley got to call home on Saturday May 11, we were having Beckham(his nephew) Birthday party so he was able to tell him happy birthday...It was so good to hear his voice. He will be calling us on Sunday at 3 and we will get to talk to him for an hour and a half.

Mother's Day phone call was bitter sweet.  It was good to hear from him, don't get me wrong but on the same note it made me miss him even more.

It was so good to talk to him, to hear his voice and to know that he is loving what he is doing.  He loves the people in Grants Pass.  He said that he has learned so much and grown up a lot.  He told me that he even makes his bed everyday (that is the only thing that we fought about when he was home and just so you know he has been gone for 2 months and I still can't make his bed.)  

With as much time as we got to talk to him each of us got to have some one on one time with him and then we put him on speaker phone and finished up the time.

It was the best Mother's Day gift I could ask for. 

The View from Elder Shelley's Apartment

Cinco de Mayo

So I sent Elder Shelley a cinco de mayo package and in it I put a bottle of homemade salsa which made him a little home sick. They were invited to a family's house and had a great dinner. They had gorditoes with beans, carne asada, queso and spicy fresh salsa. They were awesome.

It has been getting hotter and Elder Shelley is having a hard time sleeping because of the heat. One of the members in the ward had an extra fan and gave it to them. He sleep a lot better last night.

One of the investigators that they are teaching made a comment that made Atticus laugh he said " that we are all winners because we won the first race in life, against thousands of other sperm we were the one that reached the end first." That's what his mom used to tell him when he was younger.

Elder Shelley told me that if I know of any one that is going to Oregon on their mission to get them a care package that has a mask because of the weeds, chew toys to distract the dogs, shin guards because of the little dogs, he has been bit three times on the shins and some how not kicked one of them, a lifting belt to help all of the people move, some rain gear, a hacky sack, and a disk golf Frisbee.

They really enjoyed the temple. He said that it is a small temple but beautiful.

He is so thankful for all of us. He is experiencing a lot of crazy things in Oregon.

Saturday he will be calling us to setup a time to call on Mother's Day. We can't wait to hear from him.

Going to the Temple

Elder Shelley is only emailing and going to the store today but the rest of his P-day will be on Wednesday because he is going to the Medford temple. Hopefully that will be fun. Usually you get to go to the temple every other transfer, so about every three months. The next transfer day is on May 20. He doesn't know if he will be transferred to a new area but is hoping he gets a fun new companion.

Hopefully he will have a baptism this Saturday but he will see tonight.

Elder Shelley has never been so tired in his life mentally, physically and spiritually but he is having the best time in his life. He said "that when he gets home not to be alarmed if we don't see him for days because he will just be sleeping. A mission can be rough sometimes but awesome a lot of the other times."

He learned another game that you play with dominoes, it is called chicken foot. Elder Shelley and Elder Aragon went and shared a message with the empty nester's family home evening and they played chicken foot instead of Mexican train. He said it was fun but they need something to push to make a chicken sound like we have with the train. He can't wait until he gets home to teach us chicken foot. We love to play dominoes as a family.
Hopefully everything is going well, and tell Karen good luck on her mission...

Working Hard...

Elder Shelley and Elder Aragon have been working hard this week.  They are leading their zone for the most investigators and most baptizes on date.  They have 20 investigators that they are teaching and 7 of them on date to be baptized.  One of the guys they are teaching is so excited about learning...Elder Shelley said that it is so fun to teach him because he takes notes and wants to learn. Another guy they are teaching has been going through some hard times.  His friend told to find the LDS church and go. So he went to church last week and they have been teaching him.  
Elder Shelley is not liking that their car got sent to another area.  They are having to ride their bikes more.  He said that on Friday and Saturday alone they biked 20 miles.  When they are not riding their bikes they are walking but it gives them opportunities to talk to people on the streets.
He still loves the service hours he is putting in.  He did 10 hours just this weekend.
He ended his email saying "I can't wait until Mother's day because I will get to talk to you in person."

Only three more weeks until Mother's day. I can't wait...

At what point does this get easier????

Passed his Interviews...

Elder Shelley started his email this week with We had interviews with President Young and Sister Young on Saturday and I passed so I get to stay for at least a little longer. 

Elder Shelley and Elder Aragon are working with about 15-20 investigators right now and 4 of them on date for baptism. So hopefully there will be some baptisms coming up soon. They started working with this one guy that is so excited to learn about the church. He has been going to church and wants to be baptized. Elder Shelley loves seeing miracles like this on his mission. He likes going tracting because he is enjoying all the people he is meeting.  

Elder Shelley District.  Only one person changed.  He loves his district.

Looking for an address, made a wrong turn and  got a little lost!

He is glad he gets to stay a little longer because is just starting to figure out how to get around...and then he gets lost. He really loves the area.


I can't wait to go in a couple of years to see Grants Pass, OR.

The lesson plan for the Plan of Salvation. 

Elder Shelley challenged us this week to recognize all the ways that Heavenly Father has played a role in our life.  The example he gave was after a water-polo game we had just come out of the parking lot and was headed down the road.  The light was green and for some reason I stopped at the intersection.  Just as Atticus said "mom the light is green why" a car ran the red light going very fast and hit another car.  The car started on fire. We know that if I would not have stopped we would have been in the middle of the accident.  We were being watched over that day.

This week I took his challenge and made Stan and the kids also.  They each had to come up with 1-2 times Heavenly Father played a part in their lives before they got dinner on Sunday.  It was fun sharing them at dinner. I spent a lot of time thinking about ways that Heavenly Father has been there for me.  It's amazing the love he has for us.  

Right from Elder Shelley's email today..."Conference was awesome, I think this is the only time I have been able to watch all of the sessions and stay awake. I think three of the most important topics they pushed this conference was missionary work, faith, and obedience. You should write things down when you listen to what the people say. You might write down weird things but it is fun to have what you were thinking about. I wrote like six pages of things I liked and had impressions to write down. My favorite talks were probably Elder Jeffery R. Holland and Enrique L. Falabella of the seventy, they were both really funny. President Monson's talk about the fire was really funny also, especially his facial expressions. I also really liked the Priesthood session, hopefully dad and Alex watched it."

Elder Shelley got sick yesterday, Sunday, with a soar throat. He couldn't even talk really, He want to just sleep. He is doing really good now and can barely tell he was sick. He fasted and prayed that he would get better and he is better today. So fasting does work. 

 
He still hasn't gotten to ride his bike but their car is getting moved down to Medford, OR. so they will be car sharing with some other missionaries.  Now they will have to ride there bikes. It has been raining a lot and so he has been regretting biking because he doesn't want to get soaked. They hiked like 2 miles to go to this house and then found out the people were asleep. They talked to their son for a little bit. They will be driving up to their house because it was such a pain. The picture is of how far up the house is.

First Baptism

Elder Shelley had his first baptism (Christoper) on Saturday.  He said that is was awesome, he gave a talk and just when he said amen the ground shook and thunder rolled is was a really loud.  They usually don't get lightning and thunder so everyone was concerned   Elder Shelley confirmed Christoper a member of the church on Sunday during sacrament.

He had a great Easter.  He said "that he learned so much about the Atonement.   He has been very humbled lately by listening to people and having to understand things better so we can teach others."
They are always looking for service project or ways to help others. He likes the joy of helping others and feels it is much better than getting turned down at the door.  They have a new investigator that they are going to start teaching so his prayers are being answered.
He finally had time to build his bike so he is going to be riding more than driving.
Elder Shelley said...I can't wait to come home because I miss you guys so much but I will do as much as I can do to help here, my trainer (Elder Aragon) has a saying, "Get a straw, so you can suck it up."