Christmas?

Picture: A "C" For Christ :)

 

We were talking to a former and we said that we had a Christmas message that we wanted to share and she said, we don't celebrate Christmas because that is the birthday of a pagan god. So, that was that. :) I have always thought it was funny that there are so many different traditions that come up around this time of year, but I think that my favorite one is the New Year. There is such a peace that comes from Christmas, but I have seen that it is often over shadowed with others things, so, that I sometimes lose sight that it is suppose to be about Jesus. The new year on the other hand is something that helps me to look over the things that I have done in the last 12 months and reveiw what I want to do in the next 12.

 

So, because next P-day will be on Tuesday the 1st I've decided that I will come up with a few things that I would like to do next year and write them next week.

 

As for this last week, I was great because we got the car back and it looked like nothing had happened! I was so happy and it was at the right time because people started to go out of town so we didn't have people that we could get ride from. We are so happy, I feel so free!

 

We have been able to do so many good things! Oh, the greatest part of this last week was that we had investigators come to church! I was so happy! There is a lot of good happening up here! Oh, and I almost forgot. Last week I didn't get my email sent out it seems, I pressed send, but I guess it didn't go. . . But we were on trade-offs and we were using a different computer so I don't know what happened there.

 

I love yall and I am happy that it is such a great time of the year. I hope you can enjoy the snow for me:)

 

-Sister Sheffer(2)

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Oh happy day!

1:The Bishop's wife made these, her daughter was wearing them and she let us try them on!

2: Yes, this is me and a hairless friend. . . :)

 

Wow, so this week was amazing, we had our mission Christmas party and we had the ward Christmas party. Something that I have thought was amazing about the ward that I am in is that there is a lady that decorates and she hasn't just done the Relief Society room, but she did the entire church it is so beautiful, I wonder if I can take pictures.

 

Anyway so this week was full of parties. For the Christmas party I was in the talent show, I told some stories from childhood of my time with Dean and Angie's family. Everyone laughed and most people I saw throughout the day after that kept thanking me for sharing my talent. I think that the best one was called missionary life, it was a song that an Elder wrote, I recorded it, maybe I can send it in an email. . .

 

For the ward Christmas party we were told that the missionaries would be singing Silent Night, I thought they were joking, but after the food was eaten the little Ross boy came and informed me that it was time to go to the front to sing. Well, we recruited some people including Sister Weeks the recent convert and Andri the daughter of a member who is looking to get baptized soon, that is when she can get up and make it to Church. . . We are working on that. :)

 

I hope that you are all doing well, I know that I have been so blessed to know all of you and I hope that if there is anything that I can do, send a letter, picture, ANYTHING. that ya'll will let me know! I love you!!

 

-Sister Sheffer 2

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Sorry, the Computer wasn't working

This is Haylee, she is the little Angel who has been giving us rides after school, she is super great!

 

So we have been riding the bike to the library and we have been walking places too, but Haylee has been giving us rides and going to lessons with us, she is a super great missionary who is really good at sharing her testimony with the people that we meet.

 

We have been doing really well at getting new invistigators, I just hope that we will be able to keep them and help them grow closer to Christ!

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A sad week. . . yet bitter sweet.

I am actually really happy still, but I have been given some hard things to over come here in St. Marys.

Everything was fine, until I asked Sister Crowton to ask Heavenly Father help me feel his love--bad idea--next thing I know a truck comes and takes off the car's bumper. That night my camera's memory card gets erased and I learned the next day that because I was in a wreck I need to get checked out by a doctor and I have to go to the E.R.!! WHAT!

We won't hear about the car until today/Monday is what we where told and we won't be able to get the police report until Wed. so we have mostly been walking around and my legs are sore. I think my prayer has been answered. I'm SORRY! I won't ask for it again!!! :(

But on the plus side we are getting more members to help out with missionary work. They are really great here. We have been so blessed! I just wish I had better shoes, I would show you a picture, but . . .

I have been able to continue teaching the Ducks, but they are so far away that I'm not sure that we will be able to get out there anytime soon. I wonder what will happen they are set for the 29th, but they haven't come to church yet. they have been reading.

I am so excited for this month there are so many things that we can invite people to and I hope that we will be able to get to them ourselves. . . :D We did make it to the Christmas devotional by the first presidency last night! I was super happy and the Ducks came and sister Weeks too!

Oh, and the sisters sister Crowton and sister Scott were up here last week too! Sister Scott is companions with Sister Crowton who is our sister leader and they do trade-offs here. Sister Scott's family had sent her a Thanksgiving package and it made it a few days before Sister Scott was coming! So exciting! It was great!

I have been so blessed with so much love especially Katie, so amazing!!!

I love all of you so much and thank you for all the warmness that you have given me!

--- <3 Sister Sheffer

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Thanksgiving!!

My new companion is Sister Richards and she was one of the first sisters I met when I came to Florida because I stayed at her apartment when I was waiting to see where I would be going for my first area, which means I was there around this time last year and now we are companions! I love it! Oh, and she was my sister leader too! So we are doing a lot of good work here. She was in her last area for 7 months and she is missing all of those wonderful people, but she let me know that she will be back to visit before to long. :D I think it is so wonderful that we can make so many good friends while we are doing the Lords work.

This week was a wonderful day for Thanks giving! We were invited to come to two dinners--well we were invited to a lot more, but we only went to three of them. We had so much fun and so much yummy food! We have been working with a family that is part member and the 15 year old and the 12 year old set a date to be baptized last night! I am super happy! I can't wait! Oh, I also can't believe that the month is almost over. . .

As a missionary it is so easy to stay in the routine of doing things because there is nothing else that I have to be doing between 6-10 am and 9:30-10:30 then the day starts again. :) If I'm doing all of that right then I will be more ready to teach and testify and that will bring more people to Heavenly Father. The people here are so good and each on has their own talents and thoughts of good. I hope I will be able to learn well from them and help them learn from the Spirit. I have so many blessings.

I love you all and I want you to know that I am thankful for your example to me.

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http://mormon.org/Christmas

So we got calls last night, Sister Scott will be heading to a new area and another Sister will be here. Sister Scott will be missed, but I will be getting a new friend soon. :D

This week we had our last district meeting before our district leader and one of our zone leaders headed home, it will be so strange when we get the new leaders.

We have been working on talking to new people, but now that Sister Scott is heading out I feel like I need to get to know people better. She is super great at talking to everyone, I have to work on that--but I am good at listening!

Okay, so I really wanted to tell everyone that there is a really great campaign going on right now at http://mormon.org/Christmas !! This is something that the church started doing last Easter and it is a page for everyone to just talk about what this holiday season means to them. I love it!! There are so many e-gifts on it too! If I were a facebook missionary I would have a hay day!
Check it out if your get a chance, it will be up until Dec 26th! I am so happy that there is so much good that can come from technology!!

Oh, I also wanted to say that this area is so great! I met a sister who is Japanese and the Elders had gone over there and they said that it didn't go so well, but when we went over there I said a few things in Japanese and asked her how to say different phrases and she invited us over to dinner! I am so happy that I have been able to meet people. Who would have ever guessed that I would be here to share the gospel with so many different people?

There has been a lot of colder here I am a little surprised.

Okay so the next transfer will be on Jan 2nd so I will have p-day on Monday until Jan. 1st. :D

I love yall!!! Stay amazing and let me know if there is something I can do for you!

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SO HAPPY!

The Daughter of a recent convert was baptized this last Sunday and it was there that another one of their friends said that they would like be baptized as well! I love this family. This is an amazing area. I am so happy to be here. And to see all the amazing miracles. This week has been full of a lot of member present lessons. The power of member missionary work is unmessured, I am happy to be able to teach the children of the Lord knowing that they already have friends ready to answer or look up any of the questions that they have when we are not around.

 

We are well taken care of here when ever we have need of food or anything else they are always looking out for us. We are so blessed.

 

We are also looking forward to Thanksgiving! It will be so great!!

 

I love yall!!

Beautiful Days!

This week was super great! I have had a cold the entire time, but we still were able to have a baptism and there are a lot of people that we are working with. This area has a lot of great members I know that I say that every week, but every week I get surprised again at how great they are and how much they think of others. 

When we were at the baptism the daughter was watching really closely, so after the baptism when I heard the bishop tell her, "9, you are out of my jurisdiction you need to talk to the sisters." I knew what she was going to ask before she opened her mouth. Her date is set for Nov. 11th.

I am so excited for all the great things that we have been doing here and that will continue to happen here because of the faith and work of the members here!!

So, for Halloween, we really didn't do much, but we got to pass out candy, we were visiting a sister in our ward and she let us go and get the door whenever people came. It was fun to see all the different kinds of people! We were also thinking of swapping name tags, but since my companion already gets called by her last companions name we decided we shouldn't :D

Well, I hope all is well with all of you, I've been praying for yall!

Oh, and it has been super cold here because of Sandy, but I think that it is starting to warm up again. We were so close to that storm. . .

Love, Sister Sheffer (2)

Halloween!!

Picture one: They don't let us hold babies, but a little pumpkin man should be fine. . . right? :D

Picture two: I finally straightened my hair, look how long it has gotten!! :)

Okay, so this week has been a good week, I have been so excited for the ward party and trunk or treat! We made little pumpkins from a kit that a member gave us and we wrote mormon.org on the back and we gave each child a choice, pumpkin or smarties. when it got closer to the end of the night we ran out of pumpkins so it became, Picture of Jesus (pass along card) or smarties. One girl said, "Jesus please!" Then she kissed the picture!! It was super cute!!

There was also a chili cook off and there was one chili that looked super good, but it was super spicy hot!! It gave me hiccups! My companion Sister Scott laughs at me when I get hiccups after eating hot things.

The people here are so wonderful! I do not think I have heard so many people say, "Come over and we will feed yall dinner too." I love it, but I think I am getting bigger than I thought I could.

This is an area that we share with a set of Elders, it is really weird to go to a house and the people are like, "Yeah, the Elders were here earlier today." but it is good because there is a lot of work that gets done. (but they say they don't get fed as much as we do. . . )

I love you!! I hope you are doing well and let me know if there is anything I can do for you or anyone who needed a prayer!!! I'm so happy to know so many people who are there for me!! I love yall!

MISSIONARY FORCE!!!

Pictures: Sister Scott and I had our first Kendo lesson at Chantay and Joe's house!! SOOO wonderful!!

This area is supper great! There are so many people who are really good at working with their friends! At least that is what I have seen :)

Kandi is a lady whose daughter was baptized and she sent us a text saying that she wants to meet with us so she can work towards baptism for the first of November!!! She is going to be so great!! We are also working with Chantay and Joe. They are working towards baptism too!!

I wonder what will happen!! :D

Oh, and Kathy was baptized this last week! She was also confirmed on Sunday! She is so great and she is reading a lot! I love her! I'm so excited for all the good that she will be doing and all the things she has and will be learning!! I love it!

We have been working and I have been working on getting to know the area before we have any trade-offs with the sister leader, but that is going to be tomorrow and I still feel totally lost here. This area is pretty big.

Oh, I heard that there will be a lot of new missionaries coming into the mission, President Barry was asked, "How many more missionaries would you like to have?"

He answered, "40"

"Oh, we were hoping that you would say 100."

:D I am so excited! There will be such great forces at work in the next couple months!!!

I love all of you! I pray for you to be able to have missionary experiences so you can share in the joy!!

<3 Sister Sheffer!!

St Marys!

Picture 1: Sister Scott and I
Picture 2: Sister Scott turned onto this road and said, um . . . "I don't think this is the right one." As we almost ran into the trees. . .

HI! Everyone! How are yall?

I am back in Georgia. I am in Saint Marys, Georgia the second oldest city in the united states. I am so blessed! :D I have been here before on trade-offs, but I will be getting to know that area a lot better. My new companion is Sister Scott, she has just finished training and she has been doing so well. We are working with a wonderful lady named Kathy who is in her seventies and she is getting baptized on Thursday! We are so excited. this area is doing very well on finding people and getting the converts, but there are so many that they have to be careful not to lose them.

I have been getting use to the new area, I still feel lost on the places, but I will get the hang of it, at least I'm not driving, then we really would all be lost.

I am so excited to Halloween! Sister Scott and I are planning on doing a Mormon.org Trunk for the Trunk or Treat! We will be giving out pass along cards!

Oh and we are teaching a woman who reads Hindi so we gave her a book of Mormon and she reads it and we read ours, then we talk about it. she is scheduled to be baptized on the 27th!

I wonder what will happen????

Love you!!

Conference!!

Picture 1: Our 18 year old Ward mission leader

Picture 2: Watching Sunday Morning Session with the girls!

 

When the announcement came Sat. Morning we were sitting right in front of our 18 year old ward mission leader who was called two weeks ago. We turned around and he was in shock! He left the room and called his mom, then the bishop. He was in too much shock for the rest of the session! He started his papers on Sunday!

This changed the world forever. I have seen FB posts (since my comp. is a FB missionary) of girls who say, "Sorry boys, I'm going on a mission!

 

I have noticed that after conference, I have been calmer in lessons and I have felt more power as we teach. There is such a great spirit in missionary work right now and we are all a part of it!

 

This week is transfers and that is why I am writing on Tuesday, every time transfers is here President moves the preparation day to Tuesday.

 

I am being transferred. Sister Knickerbocker is staying here and a sister from the Temple Square mission is coming!!!

 

I have come to notice that there are a lot of things that we as a people do that don't really make a lot of sense to people who are not Mormon, an investigator walked out of the Sunday evening session after hearing the talk about doing work for the dead, she didn't have a full understanding of it, but she said that she knew that people would not get a chance to hear about God, but we all have our chance in this life and, "I believe in a loving God."

 

What she said goes right with the doctrine behind baptisms for the dead, but she couldn't see the connection. I invited her to read and pray about 1 Cor. 15. I wonder what she will think and feel about it . . .

 

There is so much that We know that They don't know, is the thought that Elder Carden of the first quorum of the seventy said to us in Zone Meeting. We are here in the places that Heavenly Father puts us to share the good news!

 

I love it! And I love all of you so much! Thank you for your prayers and support!

GENERAL CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK OCT 6th AND 7th :)

Picture: this is the last district meeting for the transfer

 

This week has been interesting, Ricky blessed the bread!! Then he went to the singles ward. So, he is all in right now!! And he could serve a mission in a year or so!!

I have been so blessed to be in this ward! There are many people who are working on missionary work and there is a girl who came to church with a member and she has asked her mother if she can take the discussions!! So great!! I have been so blessed to see the ward grow while I have been here, but more importantly I feel like I have come to better understand how to work with a ward. :D

 

We have a new ward mission leader!!! Spencer  will be learning a lot before his mission next year. So exciting!!

May the Lord continue to guide me to stay true and faithful!!

 

Transfers will be on the 10th of Oct. and everyone is thinking that I will be going, so I have been running around like crazy to get pictures of people, but we'll see if I get them all. (because general conference next week people won't be at church.)

 

Oh, and can I just say, I loved the Relief Societ Broadcast!! It was so amazing and powerful, this new presidency is going to do great things! And their talks on the atonement were amazingly power packed!!

 

SOOO excited for conference!

11 Days and a few hours until GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! :)

Picture 1: Like my new Bangs!! J/K I think it is cute though. . .

 

Picture 2: Trade off in Atlantic Beaches with Sister Heckle and Sister Reik!! I love them!

 

Hi, so I go no emails this week, but Melz sent me a letter!!! So happy.

 

This week has been crazy all full of trade-offs and then we had the first Sister conference I have ever been to, I didn't even know that they existed!

 

This Sunday was also super cute because it was the primary program and in this ward there are three children in primary that sign so all the children learned some songs in sign so that they would all be able to sing together and one of the songs every one was silent and all that was happening was signing. So powerful! I love children!

 

Oh, and Ricky received the Priesthood! He came to church in a suit and everything! He said that it was from prom. :D I loved it!

 

Sadly Sandy will not be getting baptized any time soon, she is going down hill in her health and she isn't remembering things and so she will have to get the opportunity later. . .

 

This week I have been able to see all the Sisters in the mission! There are 18 younger sister missionaries and they are all wonderful and I'm so happy to be serving in this part of the vineyard with them!

Zone Conference and Trade-offs!!

Picture 1: Yes, that is a Mormon artist's picture on the back of the sign for Corpus Christi a Catholic church :)

Picture 2: Sister Crowton, me, Sister Knickerbocker, and Sister Paton

 

This week was so great, but it was full of things that took us out of our area for hours and hours. . . We had Elder and Sister Cardon come, he is a member for the 1st quorum of the seventy and they spoke with us for zone conference. We/the sisters did a musical number and it was nice, but the best part of it was learning different things. The Spirit was great!!

 

Sandwiching the zone conference was a trade off to Gainsville FL and then Sister Crowton came and we did a trade off here.

 

There is also something else that my companion and I have had to deal with, something that I had never imagined I would have to deal with at least while I was on my mission. FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE!!!! I was so surprised when the office called and let us know that the Landlord wanted to talk to us, the lease it up and we are moving, we have been looking for two weeks and we have only two options, neither of which feel right, oh well . . . STRESS!!!

 

It was a great week though and Ricky was able to be confirmed this last week and the Secretary called him out of class and when he got back he said, "I'm getting the priesthood next Sunday!!" I was so happy for him! He will be able to go to the temple after that!!

 

Sometimes I wonder why missionaries are not allow to go in this mission, no matter what!! :'(

 

Well, I will keep working!! And as "Elder Sheffer" always writes Wise Woman Still Seek Him!!

 

Love yall!

Ricky!

SO Exciting!!

We had a Baptism!!!!! Ricky was so great! And is so great! What an amazing thing to see, someone who really does want to come to Christ! I hope tha the will contunie to get the help that he needs in his life always! We are also still working with another investigator who has a baptism date, Sandy who is 79 years old. I love her!

We are also working on trying to talk to more people and just inviting everyone to act and do what they already know is right. I want to make sure that I teach them all that they need to know!

Okay, so we had a member come up to us and tell us that she has been having missionary experiences and we had challanged the family to write down one missionary experience they had in the next week. She ended following up with us after Ricky's baptism! She had had two and she said, "I was careful to record them down so I wouldn't for get." then she explained about how she was going to continue to work with a family!! I was so happy!!

We also had two trade-offs I have learned a lot from other sisters. I really think I need to start communicating better, that is something I need to work on. . .

 

I love all of you thank you for all you do for me!!

Fwd: Diciple NOW and FOREVER! Sorry for got to blog it last week. . .

All, but two of the sisters serving in the Florida Jacksonville Mission

 

This week was transfers, I wasn't transferred, but Sister Mathis went home and Sister K is a Sister leader so we went to the leadership meeting afterwards. There were twenty new missionaries coming in! It was good to go, I always feel strange though when the departing missionaries give their departing speeches, it makes me feel like I might be up there one day, but Sister K and I have decided that we are never going home, that way we don't have to think about those things, here in the FJM they talk about how we are disciples NOW and FOREVER so we will never stop being missionaries, we will only be transferred. I like that.

 

I have been working on focusing on trying to talk to everyone, we were also told that tracking works in this area, but every door that we were going to was not happy to see us, until I was walking and thinking, Heavenly Father if this is what you want us to be doing right now I need to have something happy happen, and the next house we went to was super nice and she gave us three referrals! I know that I am out here to help people see the Lord's influence in their lives. The Lord is drawing us to him as stated in 3 Nephi and the only why for us not to be drawn is to fight it, we are always inviting people, but those who are willing are the only ones who will come. I got the feeling this week that as a full time missionary I am here to teach those who are looking. I know the Lord will help inspire the members here and help us to be lead to those elect.

 

Ricky is still working to be baptised on 9/9/12 and we have another working for the 9/23/12! This ward is also fabulous! So exciting! I love it!!

 

I love you all too!!!

 

Stay amazing! :D

This was an interesting week.

This was the week of my birthday, and there were many thing that have shown me that the Lord is in this work. I received a call on Wed. from the mission mom, Sister Barry and she informed me of Arden. I cried for a long while and then went to work. in that afternoon we received 4 refferals, contacted three taught one member present and two other lessons and got four new investigators. When I told Sister Barry that the next day she said that the Lord must be telling me that this was his will. I will miss her and I hope to get a picture of her soon, but I know that she is watching over us and she is a choice daughter of God.

 

There was a district meeting on Thursday. I had gone throughout the week looking at the empty mail box and thinking, oh, I guess I won't have any mail to open on my birthday after all. Then at the end of the meeting the senior couple the Elliots announced that they had been by the office and had gotten all of our mail and the district leader handed me a card that everyone in the district signed!!! it was so sweet. I had one big package from my parents with earing and fruit and nut mixes! I was super happy!!

 

I felt like the Elliotts had become the Santa of birthdays!! So blessed.

 

Okay and I am so out of time, but I wanted to tell one more story. On Sunday we met a lady that is so funny and she is really amazing, but she says that if she ever gets a really good looking doctor at an office then she will dance and sing, "I'm too sexy for myself!" We both bused out laughing, we hope to set a date with her on Wed. :D

 

I really love ya'll so much and I know that the plan of Salvation is real and that we are all preparing to meet God in our own lives in our own ways.

Not much time sorry. . .

This moth was on our car it was great!

 

We had a very good week. We have a person--Ricky who is still working towards baptism and he is being fellowshiped really well with the young men of the ward. In fact we are planning on going to a volley ball activity with them tonight! So great!

 

We have been giving Book pf Mormons to families and inviting them to write their testimonies in them, then if they have someone they want to give it to they can do that or they can give it back to us and we can find someone who can get it. We have had people asking for more Books of Mormon and the reaction of the friends they have been giving them to has been of gratefulness so wonderful.

 

I have been wondering what is going to happen lately. We have been having really great missionary experiences (my companion played the Organ in Sacrament meeting for the first time ever--she didn't even know she could play the Organ!) I'm so happy to see the wonderful changes that are happening in this ward.

 

I love you!! I hope you can keep being a wondrous strength for me. I couldn't be here without y'all!!

Romney Visited and we didn't even know about it.

I love how huge the flag is!

 

I went to Ross! I was surprise that it was a lot like the one in Orem. My companion picked out the cute shirts and I was super happy that I found the jacket because we wear jacket to all meetings, (oh, and dad missionaries in FJM also are suppose to have parts. :D)

 

Okay, so my companion is a facebook missionary and so we got onto facebook and saw something that we had no idea was going to happen. Every time someone brought up Romney we always say that we are politically neutral and so the conversation usually changes, but we hear his name to day and when we got on facebook we see that he was visiting downtown St. Augustine, today! I was shocked, but that is what happens when you are a missionary, you don't ever know what is happening even right next to you.

 

It was so funny!

 

This week was really good we taught 25 lessons one of the reason that happened was because we had the sisters from Middleburg come and work with us for 24 hours, I was companions with Sister Santos and she was so wonderful, she is still learning English, but that doesn't stop her from teaching! So wonderful!

 

We even had an investigator walk 45 min. to come to church, he had to go home early, but he said he would walk back to come to a lesson, we got a member to go pick him up and they became fast friends, I love member missionary efforts it makes everything so much lighter!

 

 

Hi everyone!

The clouds here are so amazing! I love them! Everyday almost it rains at one point or another. So fun!

So, my companion is a facebook missionary again and it is so interesting that we have actually been teaching people online and we have been able to help people make mormon.org profiles and link it to their facebooks so people can click on it and learn more without having to actually talk to people first and getting people to look at mormon.org is really effective too! I am just so amazing at the many different ways there are to share the gospel! So great! We are so blessed to be in a time where we can use technology in so many good ways! To battle against the adversary!!!

So this week we had a lot going on, but we didn't really get to meet many new people, so, on Sunday we were visiting someone and my companion asked, "have you knocked on this door." And I told her no.

Almost as soon as the women had answered the door my companion pulled out her hymn book and sang Nearer my God to Thee. The spirit was powerful and the woman was in tears, she said that she had said a prayer that day because she had felt that she had gotten more distant from God and didn't know how. We then blessed her home with a mighty prayer for her children and grand children. She said that it was the best timing.

I know that God knows us and he is watching over us often through other people.

I love ya'll and thank you for your letters Kami, Teri, and emails! Shelia, Bert, Nick, Grandma Sheffer and Grandma Duncan!

If you can--I LOVE PICTURES!!! E-mailed pictures, snail mailed pictures, fried pictures ;) I love them ALL!

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Hi everyone

The clouds here are so amazing! I love them! Everyday almost it rains at one point or another. So fun!

So, my companion is a facebook missionary again and it is so interesting that we have actually been teaching people online and we have been able to help people make mormon.org profiles and link it to their facebooks so people can click on it and learn more without having to actually talk to people first and getting people to look at mormon.org is really effective too! I am just so amazing at the many different ways there are to share the gospel! So great! We are so blessed to be in a time where we can use technology in so many good ways! To battle against the adversary!!!

So this week we had a lot going on, but we didn't really get to meet many new people, so, on Sunday we were visiting someone and my companion asked, "have you knocked on this door." And I told her no.

Almost as soon as the women had answered the door my companion pulled out her hymn book and sang Nearer my God to Thee. The spirit was powerful and the woman was in tears, she said that she had said a prayer that day because she had felt that she had gotten more distant from God and didn't know how. We then blessed her home with a mighty prayer for her children and grand children. She said that it was the best timing.

I know that God knows us and he is watching over us often through other people.

I love ya'll and thank you for your letters Kami, Teri, and emails! Shelia, Bert, Nick, Grandma Sheffer and Grandma Duncan!

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HI ya'll

picture 1: This is my Zone!

picture 2: This is a stree in Atlantic Beaches! Liahona!!!! :D

 

So this week we have been in our area for about two days. No, we did not go AWOL and steal the car, but we did end up going to Orange Park, Atlantic Beaches and Gainsville, FL.

 

Zone Conference was this week and I found out that one of the people that I taught for the two weeks that I was in OP has been baptized!! It was Kevin the one who I said reminded me of Alan. AND he has the priesthood!!! I was sooo excited that I jumped for joy! I knew that he was going to do it even when everyone else said he wouldn't. I love being right about things like that. (I said ya'll in my testimony--it was weird).

 

In Beaches we were on a trade off. I was with Sister Heckle and we had a blast. She is so sweet and she is good at teaching too. Even though she is new to the mission field she seems to have most everything under control and she even fixed lunch for me! I love her!

 

We got one evening in our own area and we really didn't get to do a lot. I was sad, but we did try, but the next day we did weekly planning and then we headed of to President interviews and then another trade off with Gainsville.

 

I was with my trainer Sister D and she is doing so well. Because she and Sister Mathis we white washed into the area and the streets are confusing and they are over the singles ward so they cover a stake, it took a long time planning, but the day was full of meeting people, teaching with the scriptures and leaving blessings with the students there. The students are open to learning so that is nice, and they even come to church, praying is a little foreign though.

 

Such an exciting week!

I love ya'll and I hope you are doing well!

 

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New Companion

So, I was right. My new companion is Sister Knickerbocker who has lived many places, but her family lives in Idaho! So wonderful!

 

I hope that all is well with everyone. I'm getting excited to see what more will happen in this area, I love the people here.

 

I have been working hard on making sure that I talk with everyone. I have much to still learn.

 

We have been working a lot here, but I have a feeling that something big is coming, I just don't know what . . . something amazing!

 

I love ya'll and I hope that you will all be well.

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Not much time . . .

Okay, so we are so late, and we don't have much time to write so no pictures this week. I love you all and things are wonderful here. We have been preparing for Zone Conference and we have gotten six new investigators and one date and many other wonderful things.

 

Transfers is tomorrow and sister Mathis is leaving (I told her hi for Katie) :D

 

I will have a new compaion in this area and it will be interesting to see who I have a feeling it might be Missy's friend sister Kinkerbocker from Toole. What an intheresting thought! I love you all I will try to write more next week!!!

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17 Miracles

This week we had a wonderful activity! We were able to watch 17 Miracles with the ward and everyone! We'll it was just the first activity, but we did have some people show up and they all loved it. For those how have not seen it. . . see it! So amazing! But it is the stories of the people who came by handcart. The Mission President approved us to watch it as well so we shared that this is the month that we celebrate pioneer day and a short quote and watched it. :D

 

I also had another wonderful surpirse! After district meeting the Zone leaders opened their trunk and I found that I had six letters waiting for me! I love it. So much love to receive!

 

We have been working with new people and we even had a wonderful member invite us over for lunch to share the gospel with her friend. I love the members here they are becoming more missionary orented and they are willing to help all the time, I'm so happy to be serving here. Such a wonderful place, all I need to do is keep treking (I'm like a pioneer! Really though after watching that movie I feel like I'm on my own journey to zion as I go though my mission and my life and I am helping all those around me as long as they are willing to travel as well.)

 

I hope all is well with everyone and I thank you for all the support and prayers you have given me.

 

I love ya'll!!

Sister Sheffer.

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Last week of June

Picture one: from the fountain of youth

Picture two: me and Kim (I love her!) 

We went up to Georgetown for trade-offs again and I was able to see Kim! (my recent convert)

 

There is much that we can learn from others. . . I went to Atlantic Beach's as well, (I think that was the fifth time that I have been there and I have never really had it as an area) Sister Mccraken says that it will be my area one day. I loved it though and the new sister, Sister Heckle is so wonderful and we got so see many wonderful people. I had such a wonderful time of working with the other sisters.

 

In our own area we didn't have much happen though because we were not here, but the Bishop asked us to speak in sacrament meeting and it was so lovely! I spoke on mentoring (having members read with investigators every day in person, or through skype or phone. Sister Mathis spoke on the ward mission plan and what members can do to be a part of it all. People kept telling us how much they liked our talks, it was wonderful.

 

So, this month I am out of money (Walmart charged my card for all of it instead of splitting it) The thought of not getting any food was in the back of my mind yesterday, then we went to the Wood's house and she said, "The Spirit has been telling me that I need to get you some food." and right there she gave us hot dogs and buns--which we took and ate at the church, then she called us today and asked, "I'm at the store, what can I get you?" Such a wonderful blessing.

 

The church is true and the Lords' promise to his servants is also true (where they have no need to worry about how to get food and what to wear). I love Him!

 

I love all of you too!

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June!

I was able to go to George Town GA this last week! And I got to see Kim! It was so amazing and strange to see all the places I had spent months in. Because Sister Mathis is a Sister Leader we were able to go!

 

We also had a sister leader come to visit us and it was amazing! After one day we had three new investigators and we had two more later that week from what we did durning tradeoffs! I love it. We have really been working on getting out and talking to everyone! We have been counting it and reporting it.

 

I don't have much time because we went to the doctors this morning, don't worry everything is fine and I hope you are all doing well.

 

Oh, side note. I drank from the fountain of youth! I will live forever! (through Christ--after I die) :)

 

I <3 you all!

 

Sorry no pictures this week, I forgot my camera, but this is from my comp's camera!

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Rain

The sign is as you leave a parking lot of a Baptist Chruch. So great!

 

I think it has been rainy everyday out here since the tropical storm. (my shoes are always wet from the rain.) It might start out nice one day and then it will start to poring down. The work here has been moving slowly and I feel like I need to learn a lot here because I am having a hard time.

 

I like to think of a song when it rains, "at the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark." Yesterday it stopped raining just as the sun was setting and there was a beautiful double rainbow. It was so perfect. I have so much that I will come to understand and it is through the scriptures and the gospel.

 

I guess all I can do sometimes is to just keep swimming.

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June week 1

I have been able to meet with many wonderful people this week and we have been able to see many members that we had hope to meet with.

 

Oh, Transfers are Wed. and I will be staying with Sister Mathis, this is her second to last transfer. Sister Fitu will be heading home. So strange!

 

My area is right next to the Ocean so, it is pretty cool (weather wise).

 

We have been talking to a lot of different people this week and it is so intersting to listen to them. So many different stories. We were even able to listen to an after death experiences. (I love those they are so amazing!)

 

I have so much more to learn when it comes to missionary work and how we can bless people's lives! I have been working on my finding. :D 

 

We have an investigator, Mimi, who lived in the forest of Hawaii for a year by herself. She said it brought her really close to God and she realized that we really don't need all the things that we have in our lives. She is so amazing and she was like, "Oh, so the Book of Mormon tells of how the Native American's learned about God." I love it!

 

I love ya'll and I hope you are doing very well!

 

 

Picture 2: this is the fortune that a woman in our ward got. She laughed. (She is from Germany) :)

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We missed you

How are you doing?  We think of you often.  Drop me an email and let me know whats going on.  Are you getting the newsletter.  If not let me know.

Love you all lots. GMA

St. Augustine downtown

This last Monday close to the end of P-Day we went to downtown and it was wonderful. So old and it made me feel like I was in a very old town (which is true I guess because it claims to be the oldest town in the US)

 

This is the first week that I have been able to actually stay in my area all week. It was interesting, then we got a text from President asking if we would come to the priesthood leadership meeting, it was my first priesthood meeting ever and the brothers kept asking if we were lost. It was interesting. President wanted us to be there because he wanted to do role plays--or real plays as he likes to call them--with all the leaders to help them understand the power. He always says, "It is like that saying, when the student is ready the teacher will appear, I like to do it the other way as well, then the teacher is ready the student will appear." It was fun, I only wish there were more leaders from our ward to role play with.

 

I think I need to become more of a teacher so that more students will appear, but we are building our teaching pool and I know there are many things that we can continue to work on here.

 

A member passed away recently. He was a recent convert and I was just able to meet him before he passed. He will be missed.

 

There have been many struggles and many things to work for, but there have been happy times and joyous times as well. Mission life is so strange.

 

I love ya'll and I pray for you! Stay amazing! Oh, Katie, thank you so much for emailing me those amazing pictures I love them soo much. (I took a picture of them with my camera so I will always have them with me!)

 

picture 1: The Bridge of Lions is behind me (I'm trying to point to it, but it looks like thumbs up. . .)

pic 2: Yes. That is a pirate ship. They also have a fort that was built to defend against pirates. The University and light house are also very close. So amazing, yet just out of my area so we can only go on P-days 

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wedding and baptism

I was emergency tranfserred on thrusday to Saint Augustine FL. I was there for three days and on Sunday there was a baptism and Wedding. Carla was able to join the church and marry Taylor (who is a member). It was amazing!

 

I have been so blessed to beable to see my family yesterday. I wish that the viedo feed had worked better, but it was so amazing to see Eiden walking and to see how big he was and to see how everyone has changed in the past six months or so! There is so much light in this world and it is always nice to know that I do have people who are behind me.

 

I have been so blessed to be here and I continue to hope that I can do my best!

 

I wish there was more to write, I'm just getting to know this area. I remember the night before I went to St. Augustine I looked at the board in Orange Park and said, "Hey I actually know all of the people on the board."

 

Hopefully I will learn quickly all of the people here. The ward was recently split so there are not as many people as there use to be. It will still be some time though and I hope to help as best I can.

I love ya'll and don't forget, I love Pictures!

 

 

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