Author Archives: Joy

Out on a WIM #12

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#12
Hello my wonderful family!!!!!!!!!!! How are you all? It sounds like you are doing so great! As am I! I love it here so much! I neva wanna leave!!!!!!!!! (That is a lie actually) But I really do love being a missionary. I love hearing from you all it brightens my day! OH YEAH DAD HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! I thought about you for a few whole minutes yesterday!!!! Happy happy Birthday Daddy I love you so so much! Thanks for being the best dad in the world 🙂 I can’t believe how hard working you are and how service oriented you are. You’re amazing! Thanks for your example to me.
 This week has been crazy… On Tuesday after District Meeting I went on exchange with Sister C. She is the new Sister Trainer Leader! It went really well. She is a great teacher 🙂 It was fun to kind of see how other people do things. We also didn’t have a car so we were walking all day. The experience definitely made me appreciate our car and the way we do things here. I felt so grateful when I came back to be where I am now. I love my companion, Sister T. I love the way we teach and the unity that we have. I love the people we teach. I now have like a new perspective. Awwww…. 🙂 It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have been struggling with getting people to church. On sunday we ended up driving to our investigators house just to tell him that we found a ride for him because his phone was not working! (sorry this email is all over the place)
 I had wonderful experience this week: So Sister T. and I have been teaching this chap named G. and we went to his house and he was not home……………………..…. That’s it. JUST KIDDING. So then we went and started talking to his grandma whom we have taught once upon a time. So we start talking to her and she starts saying how the Book of Mormon is confusing. So we started explaining things to her and she was saying how she does not want it to make sense. AS we were sharing scriptures with her and bearing testimony of it. I could feel the spirit there so strong. I started getting teary eyed. I could feel my testimony swelling in my heart and wanted at the very moment to just hand over my testimony and the feeling I was having to her. She then started to cry and talked about how her daughter (who died) used to read scriptures with her and we reminded her of her. I think she was also feeling the spirit though. I can’t explain to you what happened exactly but all I know is I left there with a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon then I went in with. It meant the world to me. I sure hope that she will accept the gospel. I feel like her daughter was there with us almost. It was crazy. Man I love experiences that I have. I wish I could share them all 🙂
Mom: I wrote you a letter today! Sorry I will send it soon. How are my emails? Is there anything more you want to hear that I don’t say?? Feel free to ask q’s! That was a nice gift to give to dad 🙂 Primary sounds great! I’m sure you are doing wonderful. Gosh I love you so much. Sometimes I miss giving you six hundred hugs a day. Thanks for all you do. I want to buy a bible here so I can have separate books! They have extremely thin bibles here. If there is money taken out my account any time soon it’ll probs be for that reason! Anyway I hope that is ok! I LOVE YOU!!! Have a great week! 🙂
Daddy: Hello pops!!!! How are you?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it went well. Hahaha I don’t even remember saying that. But I am glad you all still quote me and remember me! My week was great! Have fun playing tennis! I love pops! You are wonderful.
Anyway I love you all! You are great!!! Have a great week!!
Love, Sister Emily

Sunday Best!

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“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.” -Thomas S. Monson

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Misconceptions!

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When deciding whether or not you are going to do Family History, most people are quite overwhelmed with all kinds of misconceptions. I have given some ideas on where to start, and how to organize your Family History.

I’ve been overwhelmed too.

I found this wonderful article over at familyshare.com. It talks about misconceptions that people have about doing Family History. I thought I’d share it this week.

You can read it here!

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Myrtle!

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Do you ever give names to things that usually don’t have names?

Our family gives all kinds of names to all kinds of things. One thing we’ve given a name to is our dishwasher.

Her name is Myrtle.

Yes, you heard right, our dishwasher is a girl. Several months ago, for some reason, she started moaning as the wash cycle finishes, and also as the rinse cycle finishes. We may find out she needs a repair, but so far she just moans. Any Harry Potter fan will remember “Moaning Myrtle” the girl who was killed in the girls lavatory. Well, that’s where we got the name.

Well I better go and load Myrt! Happy dishwashing!

(By the way the picture above isn’t Myrtle, it’s Maude we saw her on the internet.);]

Out on a WIM #11

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#11
Hello! Oh sorry about the lack of words last time… It’s always going to be short when you get pictures because it takes so long! I’m deeply sorry about that. I hope you liked the pictures 🙂 Ahhh… Tell Tasha Bear that I love her with all my heart. You taught sharing time about families? Families really are so important. Nobody has a stable family life out here. It is so sad! I appreciate so much the way I was raised and my wonderful fam.

Favorite experience from this week: There has been many… I will tell a couple! So yesterday we went to visit this less active Sister from our Branch. And she was so cute. We talked to her about why she hasn’t been coming to church and tried to help her remember her testimony. She was telling us that her son has been killed and that’s why she joined because of the Plan of Salvation. I then committed her to reading at least five verses from the Book of Mormon each day. And I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I started tearing up and so did she. It suddenly hit me. I have always known that it was true but it just like punched me in the face. The Spirit was so strong. We told her that if it’s a desire that she has to make it back to church that we’d do everything in our power to help her.

Speaking of which…. I worry so much. I never realized missionaries focus on new investigators, less actives, recent converts. And it’s a continual effort from the missionaries and individual to keep going. One of our Recent Converts the other day said to us “what do you guys have to worry about, you don’t have kids?” And I was like WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA???? I swear I worry more now then I will as a mom. Ok prolly not. Anyway!!
Another cool experience. C.: Brother K. now… WE ARE PREPARING HIM FOR BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! August 10th is his date 🙂 🙂 🙂 We also are preparing N. To be baptized on August 17th!! AND D. ON THE 24TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEHAAAAA!!!!! They are all so wonderful.
This week I actually was STRUGGLING for a couple of days… It’s always darkest before the dawn?? I think yes. Or as dwight would say false. Optimum darkness is at approximately 2 a.m. Hahahahaha Anyway. Sister T. and I are opposites when it comes to being bugged. So long story short she kind of shuts down when she is mad or bugged and I want to talk about it. It was pretty rough… It sounds lame now that I wrote it out. But it was hard. I really love my companion with all my heart. We work so well together and we are very unified. She really is wonderful. I am grateful for her and her patience.
Funny Story: We were at an investigators house and she writes peoples phone numbers on her walls. SO we started writing down some of the peoples phone numbers from her wall and called them later on. We were cracking up laughing.
HOLY CATS. I LOVE being a missionary. It makes me SO happy. I love it here. I love sweating. I love the people. But really the people here are so much fun. Almost all have a great relationship with Heavenly Father too! Which helps! People are crazy when they say this is a hard area. It’s all in your attitude! I feel like it is home here for now 🙂 This is my temporary home. It’s crazy how when you are bearing testimony everyday and struggling it strengthens you. So I tell my wonderful Father in Heaven: GIVE ME MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB! (that is actually a song). Anyway don’t ever fret about me. I am in good hands. I am working hard and being blessed more than ever before! I hope you all are as well. If you have any questions you are welcome to ask me. I LOVE YOU ALL FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. Have a great week! And choose the right! I want to commit you all to reading at least one chapter in the Book of Mormon a day. And give everyone a hug and friendly hello from Sister Shelton 🙂 LIFE IS GOOD!
Love, Sister Emily

Sunday Best!

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               “With the demands made of us, we must learn to prioritize our choices to match our goals or risk being exposed to the winds of procrastination and being blown from one time-wasting activity to another. We are well taught about priorities by the Master Teacher when He declared in His Sermon on the Mount, “Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33, footnote a; from Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 6:38).”-Ian S. Ardern

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Always, Slow and Steady!

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Many years ago, my son Alex told me that when you’re overwhelmed, remember, “Slow and steady wins the race!” You can read about it here! I have always tried to use that mantra when it comes to Family History. I love Family History. I wish I could do it every day. I can, but not all day, which I would love. I can do it everyday for a few minutes here and there. I can do it every week for a few hours here and there. Sometimes I don’t have time at all in a week. That’s ok, because, “Slow and steady wins the race!” If I just keep loving it, and doing it when I can, and put it up as high as I can get it on my priority list, then I will keep moving forward. I will keep doing it, and I will be successful at doing Family History. 

turtle

So several months ago I quit doing something that I loved. It wasn’t really a good thing. I quit drinking soda pop. I miss it. I loved it, but I know it is not a good thing for my body, and I didn’t just drink it here and there. I drank it everyday all day. I felt like I couldn’t survive the day without it. If you followed my blog at all you might remember I have a thing for Diet Dr. Pepper. Mmmmmmm. But I don’t drink it anymore. I drink water. Aren’t you proud? I am!

What does this have to do with Family History? Well, I am at home all day. I do daycare. I can’t go to the Family Search Library, and when the kids leave I am tired. So I decided to spend the money that I was spending on soda pop on Ancestry.com. Yes, it does cost money to use Ancestry.com. That way, I can still do research and not have to leave my home. It has been very fun. I am doing a little Family History ever day. Some days I spend hours. Some days I spend less time. It makes me feel good to have given up something I love for something better.

Slow and steady wins the race!!

Out on a WIM! #10

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#10
Hello Family!! How are guys?? It sounds like you are doing great 🙂 Crazy at home like it is here!

Monday: I got my skirt fixed by a member. My dignity is still missing somewhere under that porch….

Tuesday: We had Zone meeting and said goodbye to Sister S. and Sister D. 🙁 We had a great day! I also got the pictures you sent mommy 🙂 Thank you! The O.’s only give mail on Tuesdays so sometimes it might take longer.

Wednesday: Zone leaders took our car to go pick up the new missionaries!! We didn’t have our car so we did lots of walking. I am getting pretty brown out here! We met the new Elder for Christ Church he is on his last transfer. His name is Elder A. He is legit!

Thursday: Great lessons! One of our investigators put on Sister T.’s shoe in the middle of the lesson and I burst out into laughter. It was pretty crazy.

Friday: ZONE CONFERENCE!!! We got to see and hear from Pres. and Sister M. and Elder Cornish from the Seventy came with his wife. They are all so wonderful and very humble. I love them so much! They taught a lot about member work which is one thing that is difficult on in this area!

Saturday: I had my interview with Pres. M.! It went great! After that Sister Cornish came out teaching with us. We had two wonderful lessons with her 🙂 It was a lot of pressure but then we got out and it was so chill! She is great.

Sunday: We had District Conf. which is like stake conference. It was so great and then we said goodbye for now to the Cornish and M.’s!!

(Sorry i am typing as fast as i can) This email will be short! But you guys got pictures 🙂

Hahahaha I am glad you guys enjoyed my painful story. There are six elders here and eight sisters! And yes we do see the missionaries from our island often! Yes Elder Briggs (Keaton) and I email every week and write letters when we can 🙂 He is doing great! Still the Zone Leader! He has almost been out a year! AHHHHHH I love him. Anyway I am sorry I am almost out of time!

Ah! I wish I could tell you guys every thing that goes on but there is no time for anything I feel like. I love every single one of you. Thanks for your support and everything you guys are the best. I am doing wonderful! I am working hard and learning so much everyday and I am typing so fast that I messing up like crazy. Sorry for whoever has to fix this for the blog! Hope you liked the pictures!! LOVE YOU!! Have a great week! Love, Sister Emily