Merry Christmas!!!

This email is going to be a bit different, because:
1. We didn't think the library would be open today, so I didn't bring my journal with me when we left the apartment
and 2. Christmas is special, and so I want this email to focus on Christmas. So buckle up!

I love this time of year, so much. Everybody seems happier- although a bit stressed and hurried at times- and the Spirit is so strong. There are lights everywhere, decorations, family traditions, yummy food, and the whole world takes a step back to recognize the birth of the single most important person ever to be born on this earth- our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. However, after the season is over, we often forget and go on with our lives, forgetting the Spirit of Christmas that we felt. People! Christmas isn't just a once a year thing. Its a state of mind. Did people just forget about the Savior after he was born? Did the shepherds and the wise men travel to see the young Christ, and then forget about Him? No! Because Jesus Christ is so much more than just a beautiful Christmas story, and a lovely nativity scene.
It all started with a pure, young girl named Mary.



"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel... said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying...
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. For with God nothing shall be impossible.
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word...."
(Luke 1:26-38)
That is the beginning of the miracle of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine how Mary must have felt? Scared, maybe. Confused, maybe. But she trusted in the Lord, and let His will become her will. Think of how Joseph, who was also visited by the angel, must have felt. Perhaps much the same as Mary, yet he too allowed the will of Heavenly Father to become His will. He took care of Mary to the best of his ability, and brought Jesus Christ up as if he were his own son.
Then, we have the miracle of His birth.
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."
The Savior of the world was born in a lowly stable, laid in a small manger. His entrance to this earth was not grand, yet its something that we celebrate even now, thousands of years later. Because He is our Savior.
One question I pose to myself, and to you, is this: are one of the "inn" crowd, or part of the "stable" few?
The Nativity (A Bible Video called The Nativity)



Shepherds were told by an angel about the birth of the Savior, and immediately went to worship Him. The wisemen followed the star, and gave Him gifts when He was a young child. Thus, we have the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas. Everything points to Christ.
But does the story stop at His birth? No. What happened next is His miraculous life and ministry. He taught us to live a higher law, pleaded with us to follow His example. He healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, He brought the dead back to life. His life was lived for us. His life was for you. Jesus Christ is our older brother, our Savior, our Advocate with the Father, our Prince of Peace, our one true friend. His whole life shows this to us. He taught us to care for that one lost sheep. He is the Messiah.

Incredibly, people rejected our Savior, even Jesus Christ. They disregarded His many miracles, they disregarded all the prophecies that were fulfilled. They let pride rule their hearts, they let Satan influence them. They rejected the one person sent to save us all. His own apostle, Judas, betrayed Him, in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the garden where Christ prayed to the Father, asking God if there were any other way, and then, knowing that there wasn't, took on our sins, our pains, our sorrows. He felt everything we have ever felt. He saw us and what we each go through. And just after going through this, he was betrayed by Judas. Peter reacted as many of us might have reacted. As the guards stepped up to take his Master away, Peter attempted to defend Jesus by cutting off the ear of the guard. Yet, the Savior- right after suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane so intensely that He bled from every pore- stepped forward and healed His own captor.


What happened next is the greatest gift that has ever been given. Our Savior was whipped, a crown of thorns placed on His head. He was nailed to a cross on Calvary, through His wrists, hands and feet. He asked Heavenly Father to forgive the people who crucified Him. He made sure His mother would be cared for. Then, He died. The earth shook, thunder rolled, and all of creation mourned the death of its Creator. Christ's body was laid in a tomb. Three days later, He rose.
He lives! He is risen!


"His gift to us is what happens next. It is true, and He did it for you." -Rosemary M. Wixom
I echo her words. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He lived His life for us, He did for us, and He lives again for us.
Christmas is so much more than His birth. So, though the Christmas tradition of giving gifts may have indeed started with the wisemen, lets remember the greatest gift ever given- Him. His atonement. His life. Him.
His story doesn't stop at His birth, and Christmas shouldn't stop on December 26th.



Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas!!

I love y'all, and I can't wait to skype the fam tomorrow!!!
Remember to put the Christ in Christmas!

com amor,
Sister Kirsten Shell

8 Days Until Christmas!!!

Oh my goodness, Christmas is practically here! Hope y'all are ready for the weekly rundown because it was definitely a week of miracles.

Monday: The Brenham elders (Elder Hill, who is Sister Rainsdon's cousin, and Elder Anderson) came down to see what Caldwell e. We then tried to contact Amethyst, but no luck. She wasn't home. We stopped by the Gamble's to see how everything was going, and it looks really good. We helped Grace take some things over to Jenn's house and then helped make some ornaments there. I taught the girls some ballet moves, and told them a story about the "Special Ballet Shoes" (pointe shoes) and the time when Sister Shell got her first pair. After that, we went and ate dinner with Dan and Margaret. They're so sweet, and I love them a ton. Hilarious as ever too! And don't worry, Whiley wis like, and to sort of celebrate Sister Rainsdon's birthday which was Saturday, the 7th!

Tuesday: We finally contacted Linda, a woman Jason and Dan do some construction for. She has tons of animals, and there's a lot of work to be done at her place. She's super nice, and we told her to call us any time she needs servicas back to being a sweet dog.

Wednesday: We had Specialized Training, which was awesome. President Pingree said that he felt like he should share the story of the loaves of bread and fishes that were fed to the 4,000 people. He talked about how sometimes we aren't thankful for the few loaves and fishes we have, among other things. That really hit home for me because there are 4,104 people in Caldwell.
When we got home, we dropped off some cookies for Becky- red velvet, from that woman we met at the county Christmas thing. Red velvet just happen to be Becky's favorite! Heavenly Father really is in all of the little things.
Then we ate at Mary's. We got there a bit early though, and decided to take a walk on that old country road, hoping that maybe at least one of the houses wouldn't have a "No Trespassing" sign. Sister Paddock felt like she should bring a Book of Mormon. No luck finding any houses we could safely knock without fear of being prosecuted, so we turned around. When we were headed back to our parked truck, we noticed somebody sitting down by it, waiting for us. As we got closer, she stood up and waved. When we got there, she asked us why we were wearing skirts and dresses. We had a really good conversation with her, and handed her a Book of Mormon and a mormon.org card. She's currently in between faiths and has high moral standards. She's 16 years old, and her name is Chastity. She's a super sweet girl. After that, we had delicious dinner at Mary's. Chicken fingers, and rice. And by Chicken Fingers, I mean Soy fingers and rice. Tasted pretty good to me!

Thursday: We headed over to Beaver Creek. We read some of the Pearl of Great Price to Margaret, since its really hard for her to read with the way her eye sight is. After that, we visited Rosa and had a nice chat with her, and a prayer too this time! Then we went to the Gambles to do some service. We took out the floor in Henry's room, which was super fun. More wielding of the sledgehammer!

Sister Rainsdon, when the floor was gone, mis-stepped and fell through. She hit the 2 by 4's pretty hard. She got a good scrape on her arm, puncture wounds on her leg and massive bruises on her side. Thank goodness the actual ground was only about 3 ft under us, or it would have been a lot worse. Grace bandaged her quickly, and then we went over to Jenn's for dinner. Jenn took off the bandage and thoroughly cleaned all the wounds for Sister Rainsdon, and then re-bandaged it. Paige told me that she loves me and that she will really miss me when I leave.

Friday: We did some weekly planning (switched it up this week so we could do service) and headed out to Somerville. We were trying to find the Allisons, a new family that moved in. No luck there. So, we decided to try and visit some people we knew in the area. No luck there either. So what did we do? Knocked some doors, of course! People weren't too receptive, but they were very polite and nice. We did place a few mormon.org cards, and they all thanked us for what we're trying to do.
We headed back to Caldwell to eat dinner at the Arellano's, but Whitney called. She said she was in Bryan and was going to have her neighbor, Bill, pick up a pizza for us. He thought that pizza would be lame, and asked if it would be alright if he got us dinner at Mas Fajitas. She gave us his number, and we called, told him that would be okay, and asked him when to meet him there. Bill is a super nice, older guy who seems pretty well off. He lives by himself, so he seems kinda lonely. He was pretty nice to talk to, and we hit it off about Country music (I knew that would come in handy someday!). We talked to him about what we do as missionaries, prayed over dinner, and talked a little bit about what we believe. We also invited him to the Branch Christmas party the next day. He told us to call and remind him, and that he could probably make it. He also said he'd like to take us out to eat more often, so that's a plus!

Saturday: Friday, I'd grabbed a bunch of old contacts' addresses from the area book, and so Saturday we decided to try and find them. The first one we went to led us to a neighborhood. A nice neighborhood, kind of like the one we live in back home. Y'ALL. I didn't even know Caldwell had neighborhoods!!! This is an awesome, safe neighborhood we can tract in!! Halleluyer! It may or may not have completely made my day. If you'd been in Caldwell since September, you would understand how awesome of a find this was. No luck as far as the old contacts, but it was fun. We placed a few mormon.org cards and knocked a few houses in a few different areas. Then...
Christmas party! Bill came!! And so did the new family! It was a great success, and there were more than 50 people there. FIFTY WHOLE PEOPLE, Y'ALL!!!! And at the end, Sister Paddock and Sister Rainsdon gave Bill a church tour and a Book of Mormon while I talked with Margaret. Halleluyer! Awesome!!!!

Sunday: I gave a talk on how to "Magnify Callings." I'm not sure exactly what I said, so I guess that means that the Spirit was really speaking through me. Plus, I was on cloud nine because ANOTHER miracle.
MARSHA CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is a huge deal, people!! We haven't seen her in weeks, and she came to church, and she loved it! I'm super stoked about that. She's truly been prepared by the Lord. She really liked church too, and said she loved the open discussion classes that we have.
We also got to finally teach our youth Sunday school class with the 2 Allison kids! Tiffany (17) and Caleb (13). It was really fun, and I think they liked it. They seemed to open up to us, and it they both seem like really good kids. They're just trying to make it in their new town.
MARSHA CAME TO CHURCH!! Hee hee, I'm still giddy about that!
That night, we ate dinner with the Fosters. That was really fun! I love that family. Such good people.

Monday: Well, I made several offerings to the Porcelain altar yesterday. I'm guessing it was probably the flu. I felt super bad for Sister Rainsdon and Sister Paddock because they couldn't do anything. I slept most of the day, and today I'm feeling a lot better. So anyways, that's why I didn't email yesterday. Hope nobody panicked!!

8 days until I can skype with the fam! Woot woot!!!

God is a God of miracles, and this week just reaffirmed that for me. Ask for miracles, and He will give them to you.

Eu amo voces muito!

love,
Sister Kirsten Shell

Tis The Season To Be Jolly!

23 days until Christmas!!!! I love the Christmas season a lot! Especially this year, since it means that I get to skype minha familia!
Okay, here goes the rundown.

Monday: I got two packages!! Obrigada MUITO familia! One was a small Christmas tree, and the other had some sweaters (much needed) and other decorations. I also got 3 Thanksgiving cards! So, of course, I couldn't wait and immediately decorated our apartment while my comps took a P-Day nap. Now our apartment is all holly and jolly and Christmas-y and it makes me happy!

After P-Day was over we went to the Mitchell's house. They had a cute FHE about Family History and used the new My Family books that the church sent out.

Tuesday: We tried to stop by some less active members. One was the Douglas' home. We parked next to their home and walked up to the porch and knocked on the door. We started to feel a little weird but stayed there. Our records say that they are super nice and enjoyed visits from the senior couple, so we weren't too worried. Nobody answered so we went away and figured that maybe we'll try again another time. And we're fairly certain that the creepy feeling was because of this huge dog that was by the side of the house as we drove away. Good thing Heavenly Father protects His missionaries!
After that we went to the Gambles. Grace's dad was still in town, helping them finish the renovations on their home. Already it looked so much better! We talked with them for a while, and they were nice and fed us some lunch.
Sister Paddock started feeling sick, and my throat started to hurt. But, we continued and went on to dinner at Dan and Margaret's house. They had a yummy roast and veggies, and it made me feel like I was at Grammy's for Sunday dinner! We talked about a lot of things with them and answered a few questions that they had. Then, we headed home and went to bed.

Wednesday: I woke up with a scratchy throat, an achy feeling and a faucet for a nose. Its cold for a few days and look what happened! Sister Paddock felt pretty awful as well. But Sister Rainsdon had gotten permission to go to a baptism for her investigator in her last area, as did Elder Hill in our district who had helped teach her. We got a ride with the elders down to the Cypress area and attended the baptism. It was amazing. I love baptisms! It was wonderful to see somebody making that covenant with Heavenly Father.
By the time we got back to our area, it was time for dinner with Mary. She noticed we were under the weather and gave me some VapoRub to help me feel better. People around here really take care of us! After dinner and a great little spiritual discussion, we went home. Sister Paddock and I took some medication, I used the VapoRub and knocked out for the night.

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful day! It was pretty good for us. I felt tons better than I'd felt on Wednesday, so that was a little miracle for me!
We went and ate Thanksgiving Breakfast with Whitney and her family. It was fun to be around a lot of people, especially a family, because it reminded me of home. :)

Then, Jenn picked us up and we went to her in-law's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a huge feast with about half the branch there. We had yummy, delicious food and I felt stuffed all day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was another big gathering that reminded me of home. After the feast, we played Thanksgiving pictionary- the two teams tied- and made a craft. Indian feather hats! Hee hee it was pretty fun. All the kids were running around in the yard after that, arguing over who was chief and who was Princess Tigerlily.

When we got home, Sister Paddock was still feeling pretty sick and I was feeling sick too, so we took a nap. Then we started weekly planning, ended the night, and got some more shuteye.

Friday: We had Zone Meeting! They told us to bring something for a White Elephant gift exchange so we scrambled and grabbed some random things that we didn't need around our apartment. I don't even remember what I grabbed... Sister Kyles taught part of it and did an amazing job! I bet she'll be the next Sister Training Leader when our current one goes home after this transfer. That's just my top secret guess though- shh!
Oh! Elder Bell, one of our Zone Leaders, did something that was pretty hilarious. He pulled on a Santa hat that lit up and told us that sometimes, when we try to teach the Plan of Salvation, we sound a little bit like Buddy the Elf. He grabbed a piece of chalk and proceeded to charge into a monologue that went a bit like this;
"So right now we're all on a big adventure that Santa sent us on. So before this we all lived with Santa as his elves and we wanted to be Santas too because he's pretty cool so Santa gave us a quest to complete. So we went to the sea of swirly twirly gumdrops and got on a tiny iceberg and then we had to sing a top secret song, the special song of the narwhal to the narwhal guardian and he liked it and let you pass through but then you forgot it- but some people think we were actually narwhals at one point and not elves but anyways- so you sail across and get to the 7 levels of the Candy Cane forest and if you end up in the top 3 levels then you're good but if not then you are sent straight to the South Pole. But anyways then you have to find the raccoon and give him a hug and if he hugs you then you're good but if not then its the South Pole for you! And then you have to go through the Gutenberg gate and travel to NYC and you have to find Santa and if you find Santa then he flies you back to the North Pole and there's a party and you get a Santa hat and you get to live with Santa forever in the North Pole but if you can't find Santa in NYC then you get sent to the South Pole. Any questions?"
"Yeah, where exactly is the raccoon?"
"Well, he's kinda right here but I dunno exactly but somewhere in the forest but don't worry about it because you'll find him."
"How long do we have to get all this done?"
"Uhh, about a week I think."
Needless to say, we were laughing pretty hard. Especially since he drew out a diagram as he talked. Man I wish I had a picture! It was pretty entertaining.
I got a lint roller for the white elephant. Woot woot!
Then we came home and finished up weekly planning, and headed over to Whitney's for dinner. She had her brother's girlfriend and her friend over, and they were both 19. So we talked to them a lot about missions and answered some of their questions. One of them was actually named Kirsten, so it sorta felt like I was talking to myself.
Then, Sister Rainsdon got permission to go to another baptism on Saturday that the Spirit had been telling her that she needed to go.

Saturday: We got up, and car pooled with the Brenham elders again (because Elder Hill had also taught the investigator who was getting baptized and had received permission to go). We got down to Cypress and everything was just so happy. It was a part member family getting one step closer to becoming whole. They've been married for 11 years, and the husband went through 11 years worth of missionaries and it wasn't until this past transfer that he finally felt that he needed to be baptized. It was such a happy moment, and it was beautiful. I'm so glad I was able to go. It just makes me so happy when amazing, wonderful, happy, beautiful things like that happen. Its truly spectacular. There's nothing better.
When we finally got back, we went over to the Gambles for dinner and brought some service clothes. We weren't sure how we could help, but we felt like we should wear our jeans and tee-shirts. That was probably the best decision that night! They needed help destroying the kitchen floor so they could put the new floor in. That meant we got to use a sledgehammer and smash through the bottom of their house, then use crowbars and pry the leftover wood off of the 2 by 4s. Let me tell you, that was so stinking FUN. We each took turns using the sledgehammer. We got a pretty hilarious gangsta picture with us behind the wreckage. It may or may not be my favorite picture of the mission so far! That took a while, but apparently we actually helped them get it done faster. They want us to stop by a few times this week to help out so they can just get everything done before Grace's dad leaves Saturday. Needless to say, we agreed.

Sunday: Woke up sore... But hey, it was worth it! Church was fabulous! The branch is getting bigger, so there were a lot of releases and calls extended. Jason (Gamble) was released as our Branch Mission Leader :(  We will miss him!  But, Brother Crawford is now our Branch Mission Leader! We are super excited to have him help us out.
After church, we finished our studies and headed over to Brother and Sister Mitchell's house for dinner. We had some yummy food, and then Brother Mitchell talked with us about another new family that just moved in over the weekend! He also asked us about some less active people, and asked us to call him if he could ever be of service for missionary work. So we had an awesome discussion.
After that, we stopped by Connie's house to talk with her for a while. We saw her extremely fat cat named Cottonball again, and Sister Rainsdon was so astounded by how big it was! It was hilarious. We had a nice visit with her, got to know her a little bit better. At the end, we asked if it was alright with her and her husband if she was assigned some home teachers. She said that would be fine! We were pretty excited, shared a prayer with her and left.
When we got home... Well, back up. Our District Leader called right before we went in to Connie's house and asked for our address because he needed it for stuff. So we hastily gave it to him and went inside.
Fast forward. We got home and our door had tons of pass along cards, mormon.org cards and pamphlets all over it. On the back of a few mormon.org cards, they wrote "WE WERE HERE SUCKERS" and then they taped a huge sucker to our door right under the last word. I'm not sure why they felt the need to drive all the way to Caldwell from Navasota just to do a little prank... But it was kinda funny. So, when they called for numbers, we acted like nothing happened. They "nonchalantly" asked about our day and I told them what we had done, and told them we'd just finished at a less active's house and that we'd had a really good discussion with her. They said, "Oh, so you're on your way home now?"
"Oh, no, we're already home." And in the background I heard "They're already home! dang it!"
Then we gave them numbers. We may or may not get them back when we all have a Zone Activity on P-Day sometime. Hee hee.

So, that was our week, and it was pretty great! I love the missionary life, and I know this church is true.
Can't wait to skype the fam in 23 days!! When it gets closer, we'll set everything up.
Eu amo voces muito!

Sister Shell

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :)

Ti's the season to be thankful, and 'tis the season to smile!

Tuesday: Well. We woke early in the morning to take Sister Jones down to transfers. Can I just tell you how crazy that was?? Okay, so Monday night, we got a call at 11:15 from our Zone Leader who was also leaving for home. Naturally, we were all in bed asleep. So we listen to his voicemail in the morning. It said, "Hey, sisters, this is probably redundant.. But I just wanted to remind you that you need to drive down to College Station tomorrow morning so everyone can put their luggage in your truck." And we were all like.... whaaaaa? Because that was the first we'd ever heard of that plan! So Sis Jones, who was already FREAKING RIGHT OUT had to change our plans, and we had to get ready speedy quick so we could keep the timing of everything right. So we get down to College Station and the elders sandwhich everything into the truck bed, and then they ask, "You're picking up Sister Williams right?" and we were all like "... sure, yeah, no problem...." But once we got in the car, Sister Jones leaned back and said something like, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" and then we went and got her.
So we drove down to Houston just chatting it up, and towards the end of our 2 hour trip, Sister Jones and I sang For Good  to each other. I changed the words "my friend" to "my companion" and Sister Jones got mad and told me to stop trying to make her cry :P

We got to transfers, everyone unloaded the stuff out of the car, and took our last pictures with Sister Jones and said goodbye. They had a busy day of departing missionary stuff to do. It was kinda weird. Just like that... poof! There went Sister Jones! I miss that chicka. But Jenn called her the other day and told me that Jaesi Jones was doing pretty well- except that she couldn't talk about her mission without crying, and that she was homesick for TX. But everything else was good. Yay!!!
Then we found out that we were going to be in a trio again with Sister Rainsdon! So we loaded everything up, and then were told by the College Station people that they'd put some stuff into our truck and so we'd need to drive back through College Station again. So we were like... uh.... okay.... Which we did.

The New Trio: Sister Rainsdon, Sister Paddock, and Sister Shell

Oh goodness! I almost forgot. So, President Pingree was apparently looking for me at transfers! Well, he found me and shook my hand and said, so sincerely, "I am so sorry that your visa hasn't come yet." Then he proceeded to tell me what an awesome missionary I am, how I'm so loving to everyone, how I really help get things going, and how I always have the Spirit with me. He went on for about 5 minutes, and it was really humbling to me. I mean, President Pingree has put a lot of trust in me, and I'm doing my best to live up to that trust. I'm not quite sure what I've done to receive that trust or all that praise (because, really, I haven't done anything...) but it made me feel really good. Especially because I'd been starting to doubt myself a lot. So that really helped boost my confidence and my spirit. Leave it to President Pingree to know exactly what everyone needs to hear!
That night, we went to eat at Dan and Margaret's. Such amazing people! Before we left, we prayed that we'd be able to befriend Dan's sister (Margaret's daughter) Debbie a little bit more that day. And she sat and talked with us for 10-20 minutes, and we had a really nice chat! And when she wasn't sitting with us, she was helping out in the kitchen with finishing dinner, and would contribute to our conversations still! So I thought that was pretty neat.

Wednesday: We went out and saw Becky for a little while, which was awesome! She seemed really glad to see us, and said she missed seeing us. She had to leave for work fairly quickly but she told us to keep coming by. Score!! We tried to visit a few other people but... no luck. So we went ahead and went over to Mary's house, and saw an emaciated dog on the way. Sister Rainsdon had some fruit leather in her bag, so she rolled down the window and gave it to her. The poor thing. She was so sweet, and seemed happy, but sooooo hungry. It made me sad. And you could tell she'd just had puppies too. :( When we got to Mary's, we parked and chatted, and took a small walk that was halted when a large German shepherd started trying to follow us. We know how dogs are with missionaries...
Then, we had dinner with Mary. She read us an amazing mission story from a book she just finished called Journey to the Veil and it was so awesome. We had a quick spiritual thought with her, and then we left.
It was a fantastic day :)
Oh! And found out Sister Kyles and Sister Hansen were going to be training! Woot woot! Seriously, Sister Kyles in the bom-dot-com.  She's amazing.

Thursday: Yupp, you guessed it. Weekly planning. After that, Jenn picked us up to help us save on our miles and we helped her out at her house. We had yummy dinner, and her kids were crazy. Thomas and I were battling, then everyone ganged up on Sister Paddock. Which was lucky for Sister Rainsdon, because her hair is super long and gorgeous and I'm sure that they wanted to play with it... but Sister Paddock's kung-fu skills distracted them successfully.
After dinner, we had a quick lesson with them. We taught a little bit about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. Then we left with Jenn and went with her to Rex and Diane's, her in-laws, so she could get fresh milk from their cows and so that they could meet Sister Rainsdon. And oh my goodness, Diane has a beautiful Christmas village. It puts ours to shame, mom. It takes up several tables, and is gorgeous. It reminded me of home, which was nice :)

Friday: BRRRRRRR! I dunno if y'all know this... but its been down in the high 30's/low 40's the past few days and raining! ICK. Lets just say we layered a few things up, and lucky I have my raincoat! Holy cow.
Oh, and I realized that CHRISTMAS IS IN THIS TRANSFER AND I AM SO STINKING EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! :D
Phew. Anyway. So, at district meeting, we smashed some old videos (yeah, the kind that go in the VCR), and a coffee maker, to symbolize "smashing away" our investigator's obstacles for baptism. That would have been fun except for we went outside and it was freaking COLD. Poor Sister Kyles had on a short sleeved shirt, and so I hugged her the whole time to keep her warm.
After that, we visited the Farmers. They are such sweet people, and they were glad to hear that Sister Jones finished her mission and was home, and they were excited to meet Sister Rainsdon. They had their TV on the whole time, which was sort of distracting. I turned away from it and faced her completely but there was a mirror on the wall behind Sister Farmer! So I leaned forward and that helped. But she would randomly ask things about what was on TV (ex: What's the Hunger Games?") and pointed to the TV. From the tops of the heads I could see in the mirror, Catching Fire looked like a success. Nevertheless, I persevered and didn't watch the TV. We finally got them to turn it off at the end for a prayer. Woot woot!
We were supposed to have dinner at Whitney's house, but she felt sick so... McDonald's it was. Then we went to the church building so Sister Rainsdon could practice piano for a minute. Yupp, that's right, another piano player companion! Heavenly Father must know I love listening to the piano.

Saturday: Goodness gracious sakes alive, the cold continued! I wrote this in my journal "It appears to have rained throughout the night. I shall go see how cold it is.
Um, just an update- it is, in fact, COLD."
Then, I made a list of 100 things I'm thankful for during personal study. I'll send that in a separate email.
Judy let us in, and told us she hadn't read. So we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with her. Then, she told us that she wasn't in a state of mind to process all of this right now, and that she would read the Book of Mormon on her own, and to call her in a month. Yeah, Judy "broke up" with us, so to speak. Temporarily. But that's okay. I feel peaceful about it. Nevertheless, it came to pass that we went and got "breakup" ice cream anyway. That was pretty fun.

After that, we tried to visit Sister Arellano- Whitney- to see if she was doing better but no one answered. So we left her a cute little thank you card and went on our merry way.
After that, we headed over to the Gambles house. Grace's dad has been in town, and they've gotten a lot done on the place! By the time her dad leaves, they will have replaced the floor, moved the front door, finally insulated all the walls, and put up sheet rock. And who knows what else? It already looks much better than it did, which makes me so happy for Grace!
We had pizza with them around the bonfire, which kept us nice and toasty. We talked to her dad a lot about his mission, and then went home.

Sunday: We had an awesome day at church! The Crawford's were the speakers at our sacrament meeting, and they were amazing. I love that family!
Last night, we had dinner with them. They're so much fun! So hilarious, and just way awesome people. We had a good spiritual thought with them, and then left to go try to visit a less active. No luck. So we went to see how Whitney was doing and had a nice, long talk with her. I think she really appreciated us stopping by- her husband had to work, and she was alone with the kids. We had a nice chat and prayer with her, and then we came back home.

Well, that's it folks. All in all, it was a pretty crazy week. I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I really am going to send my thankful list, and I want everyone to add on to it. I know I forgot tons of stuff, but there's only so much you can write down in an hour and still have time to read at least a chapter in the Book of Mormon!

Eu amo voces muito! Tem um bom dia!

Sister Shell :)

Sister Jones' Last P-Day! :(

Thats right, folks. My companion has fought the good fight, and is at the end of her harvest. We're driving down to transfer meeting tomorrow and dropping her off, and then she's leaving on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday: We emailed and then we did some mormon.org time, and I read some in Portuguese. That was fun!! After that, we went to go see Marsha so Sis Jones could say goodbye to her. It was sweet. Marsha was so glad we stopped by. She said that she'd been thinking about us a lot, and missing us. She wants Sis Paddock and I to keep randomly stopping by since she's too busy to make an official appointment with us. Of course we agreed! She told us that we've really helped her become a better person, and that she is so grateful for all that she's learned. She is concerned that she isn't good enough to be baptized ("Y'all are so good, and I just don't think I'm there yet!"). So I have a feeling that we will be discussing that more next time. She is about halfway through reading the Book of Mormon for the second time. Woot woot!! So stoked. Marsha doesn't seem to realize that she's special- not many people we teach just do things like that without us constantly reminding them and begging them to!
After that, we went to an early dinner at Jenn's house. Allie begged to sit by me, and so Sis Jones moved to the other side of the table so she could. How sweet is Jonesy?
Next, we went over to the church to be around all the members at the activities that night. The YW surprised us with a cute little "Missionary Care Package" with a bunch of supplies in it. So sweet and thoughtful. I really love how caring everyone in this branch is.

Wednesday: We dropped off Sis Jones' suitcase at Jason and Grace's so it could be fixed- there was a problem with the wheels turning out funny. Maggie, their adorable puppy, got dirt and mud all over my shirt. Yay... Haha Luckily I had a cardigan I could button up over it, and no one knew! After, we visited Dan and Margaret and talked with them for a while. They are such good people. Sis Jones got to say goodbye, and we took a group picture with them.

Sister Jones, Dan, Margaret, Sister Paddock and Sister Shell

After, we went to Mary's for dinner and had Vegetarian Spaghetti! It was pretty delicious. I love Mary a ton. She's just so sweet and is so amazing.
Plus, Sis Paddock gave me 2 cute skirts that she didn't like, and I have already worn them! That was one of the highlights of Wednesday.
Oh! Funny story! So as we were driving to Dan and Margaret's, we always see this old yellow house thats abandoned and it always has the door open. Sis Jones told us she would hide in there so she wouldn't have to leave and go home. I said I wouldn't tell anyone, but that if President asked me to please tell him where Sis Jones was... I'd have to tell him! (See the White Handbook, where it talks about how your loyalty is first to the Lord, to your Mission President, and then to other missionaries). Sis Paddock just said, "I wouldn't tell him! I'd keep your secret!" Right after she said this, her nametag fell off. Hee hee! As she bent to pick it up, she shook her head at herself and said, "Chastisement from the Lord..."

Thursday: Weekly Planning! Sis Jones' last one ever! Even though it didn't really count for her because she won't be here... Oh well! We still planned out a fairly busy week!
After, we went over to Jenn's early and had a chef salad for dinner. That's right, folks. I had a chef salad for dinner. And I actually really liked it.
Who am I?!
After, we went to a Relief Society activity. Thank goodness, because without us there only would have been 3 sisters there! We made some cute ornaments and chatted it up together. Then we helped Jenn clean up. That was pretty fun.
Also, there's a donkey we always pass on the way to Jenn's house. A little brown and white one. We never see him move. We named him, "Cleetus, the Silent Guardian of Caldwell." We're working on a theme song for him.

Friday: We had District Meeting which was super fun! We had a lot of snacks to celebrate Sis Jones completing her mission.

Saturday: We tried to visit Judy, Vicky, and a referral named Falicia but everyone was either busy and not home. We went to a few other places in town... but no luck. Grr.
So, we went in to College Station a little early to get dinner and let Sis Jones practice for Stake Conference. All the missionaries did a few musical numbers. For the adult session, we sang our TX Houston Mission song as the prelude right before it started, and then we sang the EFY Medley in the middle of it. President Pingree was there and he spoke. I almost started crying! He just bragged on how awesome all of the missionaries sitting behind him were, how he would vouch for each of us individually, and how he would trust any one of us with his closest friends. That made me feel really good.

Sunday: We had the last Stake Conference session and it was really good. A woman from Montgomery spoke, even though she's not in this stake! But she was there as the LDS Family Services representative and talked about the different emotional and physical stresses of missionary work and how we can prepare for those things.
President Pingree and Sister Pingree spoke, as well as the Stake President, the Stake Patriarch and a member of the Temple Presidency. So good.
After, we went over to try and visit Dan and Margaret but they weren't home. So we went over to the Mitchell's and had dinner, and taught a lesson about the Holy Ghost. Its pretty cool. You talk about how you try to be very good and make all the right decisions and how you try to be clean, like the bowl of water you have in front of you. But the world around you is super dirty, and will try to get you to make bad choices and make you unclean (and you dump some pepper into the water). But, if you have the Holy Ghost with you, you will be protected! So you put a bit of Dish Soap (preferably Dawn, it works best) on your index finger and lightly put it in the middle of the bowl.... Watch what happens. Its pretty neat, and it makes you feel like a magician.
Then, we went over to Dan and Margaret's and visited with them for a while. Long story short, Dan ended up fixing Sis Jones' suitcase. It works now.
Then Sis Jones packed. What a jerk- can you believe that she's leaving us?! I'm really gonna miss her. Shes' been an awesome friend and companion for me.

Well, that's the week everyone!! Sorry if this email seems super rushed... They're kicking people off the computers a lot today because so many people need to use them and there just aren't enough computers!!
Eu amo voces muito!! Oh!! Got transfer calls- staying in Caldwell with Sis Paddock.

Until next week.. Tchau!!

Sister Shell's caption said, "Sometimes I just have to do a duckface picture!"

HAPPY BELATED VETERANS DAY!

Hope y'all had a good holiday yesterday! Thanks to all the veterans in my family for serving. I'm proud to know all of you.
And, you guessed it... The library was, once again, closed. It closes for literally any and every kind of holiday here. But thats okay!

Tuesday: Well, we went and saw a lady named Rosa today. She's Jenn and Grace's neighbor. Her husband passed away several years ago, and she lives by herself. She does have family living next door to her, but she just needs friends. So we had a nice, loooooong visit with her. She's so adorable and sweet. She told us to come by any time.
After that, we went over to Grace's for a little while. We had a nice talk with her, and she talked about how her dad is coming to town soon. He's helping them finish up some things around their house, so she's super pumped about that.
After, we were supposed to have dinner with Jan but she couldn't do it this week :( She's planning on going out of town for three whole months soon, so things have been kind of crazy around her house. We tried to talk to some other people but nothing really worked out.

Wednesday: So, we had Specialized Training! It was fantastic. President Pingree is such an amazing Mission President, and truly does receive revelation from God for the Texas Houston Mission. It was a lot about retention, and how we can make sure that those who are baptized will stay close to the covenants they've made. Before the Specialized Training, we also practiced for Stake Conference this weekend. All the missionaries are singing in the stake! We are singing our Texas Houston Mission song, the EFY Medley, Hark All Ye Nations and Called To Serve. Sister Jones is playing piano. What a good way to finish off her mission!
That's right, folks. This is Sister Jones' last full week in the field. And her last Sunday will be stake conference. She really does not want to leave her mission. She's actually kind of freaking out about going home. I'm really going to miss her.
After Specialized Training, we went on exchanges again. Our Sister Training Leader, Sister Jacobsen, is going home a transfer after Sister Jones and wanted to talk with her about how she's feeling, and get some advice for her own last transfer. We sure put her to work! We went straight to do some service that we promised to Mary- cleaning out the gutters. They didn't make me climb up the ladder, since I'm afraid of heights, but I did have to hold the ladder. I got very decorated by all the mud in there. Mary had to make us wash our faces before dinner! Haha, oh! When we went to go put the ladder away, we saw the chickens and oh goodness. I saw the fluffiest, sassiest looking rooster I have ever seen in my whole life. It took us 20 minutes to get a picture of him! I don't have a good one, but Sister Jones does. I'll have to ask her for it. Then, we turned around and all the cows were waiting by the gate because they thought we had food. We had to walk through them to get back to Mary's house. Boy were those cows TERRIFIED of us!

After dinner at Mary's, we went over to Dan and Margaret's to eat dinner! (Yes, you read that right, we had 2 dinners in one night). They really wanted to have Sister Jones over for dinner before she left, and that was the only night they could really do it. Dinner with them was so hilarious! We had each other cracking up a lot. After, we were leaving, and Margaret looked at me because I hadn't given her a hug yet and just yelled "SHELL!" And threw open her arms. Naturally, I obeyed my elders and gave her a hug.
Oh my goodness! I almost forgot!! When we left Mary's, we were driving on some old county road, and saw a huge creature on the side of the road! I knew it was a hog, but Sister Jones didn't believe me. We turned around and drove back just in time to see this massive hog scurry through a hole in the fence. Oh the excitements of small town TX!

Thursday: Weekly Planning! Sister Jacobsen went back to her area- College Station. During our Companionship Inventory, I may or may not have made Sister Jones cry because I was telling her how much I'll miss her and how much I love her.
That night, we had dinner at Jenn's as usual. Her children and I played "Doctor" and I had to bring each one of them back to life. Then it was my turn to pretend to be dead! Luckily I had Paige there, because she was able to bring me back to life. Phew! I don't know what I would have done without her!

Friday: We went over to help Jenn bake a LOT of things for "Grandpa Rex's" birthday party on Saturday. Her elbow has just really been bothering her lately, and she can't mix things for too long otherwise it really hurts her. So we made cupcakes, pudding, filling, frosting, pies. The works! Who knew I would learn so many baking skills on my mission? I'm just telling you, not I! Jenn is such a fabulous cook/baker.
After that we went over to the Arellano's for dinner and had a nice chat and spiritual thought with them. Whitney was pretty tired, and her husband got called in to work last minute. He's a Respiratory Therapist, but since he's fairly new at it, gets a lot of cruddy hours. Whitney told us that what Sister Paddock said to Bro A. last week really helped him make the decision to come to church that Sunday. I think that was really good for Sister Paddock to hear! And I'm glad that something one of us said helped him.

Saturday: We tried to visit several people but silly A&M had a game right in the middle of the day, so nobody really wanted to talk. We were going to talk to Vicky again but she had company over. We ended up deciding to go to Rex's birthday party, which was awesome. There were several nonmembers there that we had a good chat with, and we finally saw their chickens. Their cows... oh dear. Lets just say their cows were very entertaining. I'll ask Sister Paddock for our picture we got with them. Lets just say that it made Brother Crawford laugh super hard when we took the picture with them.
Towards the end of the party, Sister Paddock was NOT feeling well. So we ended up calling it a night early so she could get to bed early. She feels much better so it must have worked.

Sunday: Y'all. DAN CAME TO CHURCH IN A SUIT!!!! Its the first time ever! I mean, he always has nice slacks and a nice long sleeved white shirt and tie, but he now has an ACTUAL SUIT!! It made me super happy. Just... it was awesome. He's come a long way just in the short time I've been here and it makes me just amazingly happy.
We had another member of the high council come and speak to us, and Sister Paddock finally gave a talk here! She did such a good job. It was about how to become more Christlike, and I really loved all the things she said. I have very wise companions.
After we finished up our studies in the afternoon, we went over to the Crawford's to talk with them. They truly are amazing people. We got to know them a bit better, they got to know us a little bit and we had a really nice spiritual thought with them. Oh! By the way! Brother Crawford served his mission in Denmark- be sure to let Grandma Krogh know!

Monday: P-Day/ Veterans Day!! It was a fun day. We went into College Station, ate lunch at Denny's and went shopping. I got pictures printed out at Walmart and I got a Texas A&M shirt from a giftcard from Randy and Carrie's family- thanks y'all! Then Sister Paddock helped us find the mall. Oh man. Christmas is EVERYWHERE. Santa is already there. And he said hi to us each time we passed him. What a friendly man! Naturally, I didn't buy anything. You know how I feel about spending money. Still, it was a fun P-Day.

Last night, to change things up, we had dinner/FHE with the Branch President's family! Now, don't fall out of your seats folks! I, Sister Kirsten Shell, ate fish- white bass to be specific. It was alright. A little fishy. Meh. But still, I ate it! Please, hold your applause.
After that, we taught them a little part of the first lesson in Preach My Gospel. The Spirit was very strong, and I got to say the First Vision this time. It always makes me tear up.
After our prayer, we took a picture and then the Fosters took a picture with Sister Jones. It was a nice little farewell to her.

And now here we are today!! I hope everyone is doing super well! Eu amo voces muito! Also, I hope Grammy got my birthday card!!

love,
Sister Shell

Five Months Out Tomorrow!

Its crazy to think that I've already been out on my mission 5 months. Then I look at Sister Jones and think... that will be me sooner than I think! She's freaking out a bit about going home. As in, she doesn't want to AT ALL. She would much rather stay here and continue being a missionary for the rest of her life. But, alas, she knows that her time here is up. :( I'm really gonna miss her.

Monday: We carved pumpkins with the Mitchell's after dinner, and Paige was my helper! We did a pretty good job. It was a fun little game we played, actually. We started out in teams and grabbed a pumpkin. We cleaned it out, then set it back in the middle. Then we all pulled something out with instructions on it (ex: carve an eye! or carve the mouth!) and grabbed a different pumpkin. We kept rotating the pumpkins and carving different parts. They looked very cute and thrown together at the end. Paige was on my team, and we got very good at carving eyes and noses!

Tuesday: So, remember how I said I got sick on Sunday night? Well, if you don't... I did! I was still a bit sick on Monday, but by the evening I was feeling much better. I jokingly told Sister Paddock and Sister Jones that they were next.
One should never joke about such things.
And it came to pass that Sister Paddock got way sick on Tuesday. Because she felt so awful, we decided we'd better stay in until she felt better. We knew it would help her feel better faster, and we also knew that going out and doing missionary work would be unproductive when she felt like she might throw up any minute. Stomach bugs are not fun! Anyways, since we were stuck in our apartment, I studied. I read the Book of Mormon- in English and in Portuguese- and wrote in my journal, and read some more scriptures and did some things in Preach My Gospel, and read some more scriptures, and wrote a letter, and read some scriptures, and wrote in my journal. Finally an idea popped into my head! President said it was okay for me to occasionally contact Derrick to help him and encourage him. So I decided to send him a quick text! I just let him know that I still pray for him and his family, and that I hoped he was still doing well. He said, and I quote, "Thank u I need it. I am doing so good and I know this church is true!! Happy belated birthday!"
That made my day, and I felt soooo happy when I read that! I replied, saying that I was glad his testimony was so strong and asked when he was planning to get baptized. He said, it make some time because Chera and I have to get married first.  But, I attend church every week and I even started paying tithes so I'm staying active!"
It made me SOOOO happy that he is going to church every week AND paying tithing! Here's how the rest of the short conversation went;
Me: Gotcha. Thats fine because Heavenly Father will sure help y'all out :) everything will work out when its supposed to. I'm so happy that you're going to church and paying tithing even though you haven't been baptized yet! Heavenly Father will bless you extra for doing that. Does Chera want to get baptized too now?
Derrick: Yes!!! I'm so happy! Heavenly Father is really blessing me
Me: That's so awesome! I'm so happy for y'all! Heavenly Father really is blessing you for trying your best to choose the right. Goodness I'm so happy right now!
Derrick: Thank u for all your help. miss u.
Me: You're welcome :) I'm glad I could help somehow. miss ya too
Derrick:  :)
That conversation via text made my whole day! Seriously, it felt so good to read that and to know I really did make a difference in someone's life! I really, strongly feel like Derrick was one of the main reasons I needed to come to Texas. Even though... I didn't really do anything. I just gave him some info, and Heavenly Father and His Spirit did the rest. I guess Heavenly Father knew that we would understand each other, and that somehow I would be able to help him. I just feel so blessed that he gave me that opportunity.

Wednesday: Lo and behold, Sister Jones got sick and Sister Paddock stayed sick for today! I got a little stir crazy, sitting in the apartment again... studying my brains out, cleaning because it was something different, and furiously writing in my journal, reading President's emails that we've printed out, reading basically anything in the apartment, reading old letters, reading scriptures, etc. :P Let's just say... it was frustrating to not do anything. But it was best because towards the end of the day, they were both feeling a bit better. Thank goodness! We were able to go to Mary's for dinner and share a nice scripture with her. She is so humble and helpful. I love her so much. She asked us to help her clean out her gutters this Wednesday, so I'll let you know how that goes!

Thursday: Happy Halloween!!
Imagine my extreme excitement as this unfolds... Sister Shell wakes up, her companions are feeling better, she's super excited to finally get out of the apartment and do something fabulous today, she looks at what day it is... and her hopes plummet because she realizes that its weekly planning day and that they will be inside the apartment yet again for several hours. Just... just picture that.
Anyways, we went and dropped off a small talk about Patriarchal Blessings for Dan and Margaret and chatted with them for a few minutes. They were very grateful that we brought it over and were excited to read it and prepare some more for Sunday. After that, we went over to Jenn's for a "Halloween-o" dinner. We had "mummies" (aka hot dogs in crescent rolls), "eye balls" (frozen grapes), "albino bat wings and zombie guts" (chips and salsa) and "worms and dirt" (pudding and jello worms). It was pretty fun. We had to be in by 6:30 that night, so we borrowed Ephraim's Rescue from the Mitchells- a church movie that kind of goes with 17 Miracles. So we watched that when we got home. Needless to say, my eyes were a bit wet, and Sister Jones was bawling. Sister Paddock didn't cry. I didn't either, but my eyes did glisten. Still, it is such a very touching movie and I really loved watching it. Its inspiring what the Pioneer saints went through.

Happy Halloween, Sister Shell and Sister Jones

Friday: Zone Meeting! That was pretty fun. It was all about how to find people. We did some great scenarios for contacting people. Of course, they chose me and a sister named Sister Newhouse to go up and try to street contact Elder Hill, who was told that he was "a guy on campus, walking around and messing with his phone, and listening to music through headphones." Yeah, that was pretty interesting. The first time, Sister Newhouse may or may not have body checked him in an attempt to try and bump into him to start a conversation. Everyone laughed and we started over. This time, I just stepped right in front of him and asked him what he was listening to. He said that it was rap, and I asked if he ever listened to Christian rap. Long story short, of course he said we could stop by later and tell him more about the church and that was that. I'm just saying... it was rough for me, because I felt super awkward doing that. Oh well! It was also a bit frustrating to me because... okay so our zone only has 2 districts. The other district is all around A&M campus. So they have lots of opportunities to street contact and talk to everyone and stuff. But us out in Caldwell... well, we're in Caldwell. And our town is tiny, and not many people just go traipsing about the town. I was being a bit.... I can't think of the right word, but lets just go with negative. Because... well, how can this apply when we never have those scenarios way out in the boonies? It just doesn't happen.
Once again, Heavenly Father humbled Sister Shell! That night, we stopped by Judy's to teach her. She hadn't read any in the Book of Mormon, so we read all the introduction stuff with her to help explain it to her. Then we committed her to reading the 1st chapter this week, since she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. We walked outside,and a cute old man was out inspecting his grass, so we went up and talked to him. Good thing we'd practiced street contacting earlier! He walked away before we could really talk about religion, but I'm sure we'll see him again since we are always trying to stop by Judy's house.
Then... well, back up a bit. Before our lesson with Judy, we saw her next door neighbor outside, and I had this totally random thought; "If she's still outside when we get done at Judy's, we should talk to her!"
Fast forward. We got done at Judy's and just finished talking to the old man, and she's still outside. We got into Antonio just as I was thinking that we should go talk to her, and then Sister Paddock suggested it out loud. Sister Jones asked if that would be weird, since we'd have to traipse through her yard to the side of her house where she was sitting on some porch steps. But I said "We already look weird!" and Sister Paddock said, "Well, we're already here." and Sister Jones said, "Why the heck not, everyone deserves to be invited!" So, there we went, directly charging through her yard to where she was sitting on the steps. Sis Jones felt prompted to ask her about her huge, beautiful house. The lady started talking about her 108 yo house that is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Then her phone rang. We felt awkward but stayed. She got off, apologized and told us to wait a minute while she made one more quick phone call.  Then, when she was done, she told us more about her house and offered to give us a TOUR of the inside! Of course, we said yes! They've still got a lot of renovating to do on the upstairs, but its absolutely beautiful. We offered our help if she ever needed some more man power... well, woman power.. and gave her our number, conveniently written on a mormon.org card. She said she'd call us soon, as she's planning on staining the upstairs wood floors soon, and told us her name was Dawn.
It was really neat, and I laughed at myself for having such a bad attitude at Zone Meeting earlier.. Clearly we DO randomly contact people here in Caldwell! It was a pretty good experience for me :)
Then we went over to the Arellano's for dinner. We got to know Brother Arellano a bit better, and found out he's really been struggling the past few months and hasn't come to church since the beginning of the summer. We had a really good talk with him, and for some reason I felt prompted to tell him to watch Elder Holland's talk from the most recent General Conference. He said he would that night, and that he would come to church on Sunday.

Saturday: We went and visited the Farmers for a while, and met their home help lady! I can't remember her name... but she seems like a very lovely person. I really love Sister Farmer. Shes' so sweet and nice to us. I feel bad that they're just so sick. I can't really figure out how to help them right now. After that long visit, we helped Jenn deliver a cake. That was pretty fun, as her girls in the van were very entertaining. Except for Samara, who was, in fact, asleep the whole time despite the squealing and shrieking of her older sisters :P Then we went over to the Gambles and chatted, and ate dinner. It got dark pretty early so we were unable to do a whole lot of service this week there. This week we'll have to go earlier!

Sunday: Daylight savings!! EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP! Halleluyer! It was a really great Fast Sunday. We had a total of 37 people at church. Y'all don't understand- thats HUGE for us!!! AND as we started to sing the opening hymn, Bro Arellano walked in and sat down in the back!!! Halleluyer!! It made me so happy. We heard some really awesome testimonies, and all of the missionaries got up to bear ours. It was Sister Jones' last Fast Sunday in the mission. Her testimony was beautiful. Dan and Margaret got up and bore theirs too, and I felt so happy for them and proud of them. They talked about how grateful they were to the members and the missionaries who have helped them so much, and how excited they were to get their Patriarchal Blessings that night. Then, at the last second, Bro Arellano got up and bore his testimony!! What a FABULOUS day it was for me! I felt the Spirit so strongly. Even though Bro Arellano left after sacrament meeting, it was a step in the right direction for him and I was just so happy for him and his family. I'm so proud he got the courage to stand up and do that, because I know it must have been difficult for him to do so after all these months.
That afternoon, we went to a little get together at the Arellano's with the Gambles and had some yummy dinner, and talked. We left and tried to go visit Dan and Margaret to see how last night went for them, but no luck. I'll let you know how they felt about everything next week! Then we stopped by the Mitchell's since we were in the area. They're such wonderful people, and Jenn always knows how to make us laugh. What a good way to end the week!

Sister Shell and some of the primary children at church.

Even though this week was a little difficult for me, I still love what I'm doing. Its amazing that Heavenly Father is blessing me with this opportunity. I just feel such... love and happiness, and peace all the time.

This church is true. I know it.
I love being a missionary!!!

love y'all tons!!!
Sister Shell

Sister Shell her caption said "Just how I feel sometimes"

Officially old!! Well, oldER....

First off, let me just say that I officially have the best family and friends EVER! Y'all rock. You made my birthday awesome. Thanks for sending the love my way, and thank you so much for the presents I was lucky enough to receive. It was awesome. Lets just say, many missionaries were jealous of the love I got, and also super impressed that I didn't open anything until it was actually my birthday.
Y'ALL ROCK!

Tuesday: Zone Conference! And let me just say, it was amazing. We talked about so many wonderful things. President Pingree focused a lot on how to find people to teach, and gave some really cool insights. He also talked to us about the importance of the doctrine of the Godhead, especially in our mission where a lot of people don't really understand that Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost are 3 separate, distinct people. It was really amazing. We also learned some ASL so that we can maybe help the ASL missionaries find some people to teach! Who knew I'd be learning so many different languages for my mission? Anyways, Sister Jones did a beautiful piano musical number. And let's just say, I was a boss page turner. If I do say so myself. Then, we had departing testimonies- also known as "dying" testimonies- which is where all the missionaries who are leaving before the next Zone Conference get up and bear their testimony, and give advice and say things they learned on their missions. Sister Jones was the first one up, and she was amazing. Its so neat to hear the more experienced missionaries share what they know. After that, we sang This is the Christ as our closing song. Sister Jones couldn't really sing along for it. I barely made it through. There's just something about a bunch of missionaries singing that song as best they can, and with such apparent love for the Savior, and especially when you're sitting next to an awesome companion that's leaving you soon... The Spirit was really strong.

Wednesday: Was fabulous! We had an awesome lesson on the Evangelho de Jesus Christo- aka, the Gospel of Jesus Christ- with Marsha! She asked some very good questions and our answers made a lot of sense to her. She still wants to be baptized, but doesn't know when we can meet with her next because of her super busy schedule. Have I mentioned that she's one crazy busy vet? Because she is. And she's amazing. I don't think I'll be here to see her get baptized, but that's okay. Its enough for me to know that we've started her on the path, to know that we've helped her grow closer to the Savior.
Oh, and Marsha has some pretty adorable dogs. She has an Australian shepherd puppy named Junior- after her dog, his dad, who she had to put down. And she also has Junior's mom. They are so adorable. As soon as I squatted down to Junior's level, he was all over me, licking my face and hands and probably thinking "I LOVE THE MISSIONARIES!" Marsha warned that Junior's mom probably wouldn't come over and let us pet her. She was a bit hesitant with me at first, but I held out one hand as I petted Junior, and when she saw Junior super friendly and loving, she sniffed my hand and licked it. Then, not that much later, she was right up next to me, letting me pet her as well. It was fun to be able to be around really loving dogs again! Shoutout to Scooter- the best dog in the whole world!
After the awesome lesson, we went and did some service at Rex and Diane's. They have a gorgeous gazebo area that needed some fixing up, so we volunteered. After all, what are missionaries for?? It was a beautiful day, amazing weather and I loved it. So fun! Then we had dinner at Mary's. She's such an amazing person. I seriously cannot believe she's only been a member for 2 years. She knows so much, is the branch Relief Society President, and works at the temple every Friday. Talk about superwoman!
Then, we went and introduced ourselves to the new family that moved into the branch- the Crawfords! Let me just tell you, I'm pretty sure they doubled the size of our ward. And at least quadrupled the size of our youth program! They were super nice, and I'm super glad to have another family here!

Thursday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SISTER AMANDA HEDRICK!!!! That's one of my BYU roommates who turned 20 the day before I did. Hope it was amazing for her!
We did weekly planning. Woot woot! Probably the most boring day of the week. I get it, I get it. Its totally necessary. But also boring. And it takes up WAYYYY too much time. Blech.
Anyways, after that, we went and saw Dan and Margaret. They are just so humble and so amazing. I love them! We talked with them a bit, and asked if there was anything they'd like to know more about since they are still relatively 'new' to the whole Mormon thing. We talked a little bit about the Word of Wisdom, and cleared up some questions. Then Dan and Margaret said that they'll both be getting their Patriarchal Blessings soon! That made me super stoked. We talked a little bit about what that would be like, and told them that next time we'd bring over a few quotes and talks about Patriarchal Blessings to make sure they understand what exactly they are. They're so amazing. Seriously. I love them!
Then, we went over to Jen's house and helped make some homemade donuts, and stuff for dinner. I told Jen a few of my favorite dishes, so she made me some yummy lasagna! She's such an amazing woman. Seriously, I look up to her a lot. Her kids made me some cute little birthday cards, and we had family prayer together. They are just such an amazing family!

Friday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!! It was a pretty good day. I started it by opening the pile of presents my awesome family and friends sent. Seriously, I don't think I'll ever be able to say thank you enough for those. Y'all are too sweet. Be looking out for thank you cards soon!
We went over to Jen's on my birthday because she was super stressed about getting some things ready for the branch chili cookoff/Halloween party. We made some sugar cookies, some caramel and got a few more things ready for her to just throw in the car and go. We also cleaned a bit. So that was fun.
We tried to contact and teach a few people, but had no such luck. That's alright, because Whitney (Sis Arellano) wanted us to come over for my birthday dinner sooner! She had a cute little birthday banner up and made me wear a plastic birthday tiara. Not that I'm complaining at all! We had some croissants with cottage cheese/cranberry sauce, ham, cheese and lettuce. It was pretty good! Then, she dished out a few pieces of homemade pumpkin pie, and put some vanilla chocolate chip ice cream on top, stuck a candle in mine and lit it on fire. Then everyone sang happy birthday, and Sister Jones and Sister Arellano both snapped some pictures. Whitney's kids thought it was pretty fun.
My birthday was simple, different, and beautiful! I loved it.  Officially 20. Craziness.
Thank you so much to everyone who made my birthday so special. You'll never know how much it meant to me!

Kirsten following the tradition and modeling her birthday presents!

Saturday: Well, made it another year! Today was... interesting. It was pretty difficult for us because it was game day for A&M. And everybody shuts down for game days. Like "DON'T TALK TO ME! THE AGGIES ARE WAY AHEAD AND ARE WINNING SO I HAVE TO WATCH EVERY SINGLE SECOND! SHHHH I THINK THEY SCORED THEIR FIVE MILLIONTH TOUCHDOWN THIS GAME! OH MY GOODNESS, WHAT IF THE OTHER TEAM SUDDENLY CATCHES UP?!" Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But it was a bit frustrating after we tried to teach Judy who was watching the game and tried to contact some referrals whose t.v's were blasting through the windows. So we went back to our apartment and had a little heat to heart. I was frustrated because I didn't know what we needed to do, Sister Paddock was just having a bit of a rough day as a missionary, and Sister Jones felt a little anxious about going home. She doesn't want to leave at all, but people bring it up with her all the time. Annoying! Anyways. We said a prayer and decided to go to the park behind our church building to study out in the nice weather, and where people could see us. There were a few birthday parties going on, but nobody wanted to talk to us. That's okay though- we waved and talked briefly with a few people, and we definitely had copies of the Book of Mormon all over the table. I think some seeds were definitely planted. After that, we helped get ready for the Chili cookoff. We finished Jen's makeup- oh, and by the way, that woman doesn't even NEED makeup to look gorgeous- and then got a ride with her out there. We helped to carameled apples, make candy bags for the kiddos, and got to ride on the hay ride because a bunch of the kids reallllllly wanted the sister missionaries to come! It was a lot of helping so by the end it was nice to kind of crash by the bonfire for a minute before heading home. The Crawford family came, and it was a good intro to the branch for them. They are awesome, and I love them already!

Sunday: Well, I taught my first Relief Society lesson! I think it went pretty well. People contributed a lot, which definitely helped. Oh! And we had a high councilor and his wife speak to us during sacrament. They are so funny, and very spiritual.
I was also super tired because there was a MASSIVE thunderstorm the night before that kept me awake because of all the flashes of lightning and pounding of huge rain drops that I thought were hail on our window. Because I'm right by the window. Silly weather! Nevertheless, Sunday was a pretty good day! We again ate dinner with Whitney, who invited us over last minute, and shared a thought with them. They we went over to the Crawford house to see what they thought of church, and if they needed any help. Let me just say, Brother Crawford is pretty hilarious. I think that they're an awesome addition to the branch.
Sunday night, last night, I couldn't sleep because I felt pretty sick again. I think I got maybe two hours of sleep? Anyways, I already took a nap today so I feel better. Dumb Satan, attacking missionaries in any way he can! I don't like him at all. Grr..

Anyways, that was basically our week. I love y'all tons, and I love being a missionary! There's honestly no better way I could have spent my 20th birthday. The church is true, and I love the gospel!!

love,
Sister Shell

It's My BIRTHDAY WEEK!! :D

Almost 20 years old, and there's nowhere else I'd rather spend my birthday than in the mission field.

Sorry my email was super late last week! But at least I was able to send one off. Life has been pretty otimo since Wednesday. I guess I'll just pick up from there.

Found out that Jaymin got baptized 2 Saturdays ago! (I don't remember if I told you about him. He's a 9 year old son of some members that we were teaching. Super stoked!) And Cheyenne got baptized this past Saturday! (I'm sure you remember me mentioning a 10 yo girl who was bouncing off the walls whenever we tried to teach her...)

Wednesday: We taught Judy the first lesson! It went pretty well, which was awesome. She was a little confused on some things, but I think we were able to clear most of that up. She said she would read the pamphlet we gave her (The Restoration) to try and understand it more. She also agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon, and said she would write down any questions she had while doing so. She's such a sweet lady. I really love her!
That night we ate dinner at Mary's. Once again, somehow we had yummy vegetarian food. She's such a great cook. Sister Paddock shared a great spiritual thought with her, and we left for home. Can I just tell you how awesome Mary is? She is super amazing. She's only been a member for 2 years, and yet she's the Relief Society President here in the branch. What an incredible woman.

Thursday: IT FELT LIKE FALL! I mean, the kind where you can wake up and feel that the air is different. It feels... brisk. Yupp, brisk is the right word. Thursday was weekly planning, which was... fabulous as always. Since we were low on miles (due to the temple trip), we asked Jen to pick us up for dinner. She is amazing, so of course she did so. We helped her make dinner- yummy chicken noodle soup with biscuits. We helped make the biscuits and noodles from scratch. What an amazing cook she is! So good, in fact, that we didn't mess it up by trying to help out :P

Friday: We had an interesting district meeting. Very spiritual. We talked a lot about the Atonement, and about how to qualify for the Spirit. The people in our district our pretty cool. Although I did get mad at our district leader when he called one Sunday for numbers because he told me that my visa was never coming, then laughed and laughed and laughed because somehow he thought that was hilarious. Its not. But he kept insisting that I would never get my visa. Ever. But all is well, never fear! The lad apologized sincerely, so we're all good. Haha, :P so anyways... We gave Sister Kyles and Sister Hansen a ride back to their apartment (they walked to the church building we meet at) and got an extra nightstand they had. Thank goodness, because we needed just a little bit more storage space with 3 sisters instead of 2! What nice people I know.
We ate dinner with the Arellanos that night, and she was an angel and picked us up as well. We had yummy BLT's with guacamole in them. So good! Y'all, I like food. Who knew? Haha, anyways, it was fun. We got to know her husband, Phillip, a little more. He works night shifts at a hospital as a Respiratory Therapist, so he typically sleeps during the day. Hence we haven't seen him at church too often. But he's a really laid back, nice guy and has a strong testimony.
Such good people here in Caldwell! Then, we drove back that night to do exchanges. Sister Jones left, and our Sister Training Leader, Sister Jacobsen came here.
Saturday: Exchanges continued! I was super proud of myself that morning too! I was pretty productive- full, good workout in the morning, I read in D&C while waiting for my turn to shower, I had my makeup done and was dressed on time, and didn't even begin to doze off during personal study. And I studied Portuguese really well for a solid hour. It was AWESOME!

Saturday was interesting. So, we went and visited Vicky. She showed Sister Paddock and Sister Jacobsen her cat habitat that she's built onto her house for her 30+ Persian cats (who are oddly friendly for felines) and we sat out there, since we could feel the nice weather, and had a nice chat. Then Sister Jacobsen grabbed her scriptures and shared a spiritual thought that pertained to everything Vicky was talking about from the Book of Mormon. (Remember, Vicky was baptized several years ago). Things got a little interesting and antagonistic and the spirit was not there anymore.  I felt very sad about how things were going and tried to help the spirit come back into our discussion.  I told her how much we loved her, apologized if  we upset her, and thanked her for her faith again. Sister Jacobsen asked if we could say a closing prayer, and asked me to say it. We parted on good terms, laughing, and Vicky told us to come back soon. She also said to tell Sister Jones that she missed her!
Thank goodness for the Spirit, because I would not have known what to do if I had only my own thoughts and mind to handle that situation. Even though it hurt to hear her slandering all the things I hold precious and sacred, it was a testimony builder to me because I still felt the Spirit guiding me. And she didn't change what I know. All of it is still true- even if she doesn't think it is. And I still love her, and want her to be happy.
This gospel is amazing. Being a missionary is amazing.

After that experience, we went over to Dan and Margaret's for Margaret's birthday party! So fun. Barbecue, friendly people. I talked to Jen about what had just happened, and she helped make us laugh and feel better. I also asked a few members there about Vicky's Book of Mormon question, and got a few good answers. Members are amazing :) Then, we had some yummy, delicious, beautiful cake that Jen made and a closing prayer, and we were off!

To the Gambles we went, and we helped clear off part of their land. We piled huge branches and brush into the back of Jason's truck and then started a huge bonfire while Grace was watching Henry and finishing some online homework. We left and went home to finish exchanges.
And I felt sick that night. My stomach hurt, my body ached, and just... blech.
What a day!

Sunday: Woke up feeling a bit better, and we got a ride from Jen to church. She's awesome, as I've mentioned before. Church was amazing. And Dan gave his first talk! He was a bit flustered, but he did such a good job. It was about service in the Priesthood. He humbly talked about how he still has a lot to learn, but that he's trying to do as much as he can. He talked a bit about Henry B. Eyring and what he has said about Priesthood service, and then expounded. He's one of those speakers that  can read something off of a paper, then look up and expound on it. A LOT! It was so good. He talked about how if we quit serving others, we are really just losing ourselves and doing ourselves harm.
I've never heard a more beautiful, humble, simple yet powerful talk. It touched my heart.
We went back home, and since Sister Paddock and Sister Jones were feeling a bit sick too, took brief naps. Then we went and visited Connie Colley (a fairly recent convert) who is amazing, then dropped off a "Welcome" card to a family of 6 who are moving into the branch!! Everyone, including me, is super excited that they're moving in. We can really use them here, and I love them already!

Now here we are today, doing P-Day stuff and I just want to say... Thank you! I've already gotten some birthday cards and presents (which haven't been opened, don't worry) from family members and friends. What amazing people I know! Thanks for being so amazing, everyone! Hope everyone's week is just lovely! Next time I email, it will be as a wise 20 year old woman.

Crazy how time flies. I love you all! The church is true, and being a missionary is the best thing I've ever done.

love,
Sister Shell