Ola!!!!

Wow, second P-Day in Texas already!!! everything is great here, even though its pretty hot!!

Last Monday we surprised our zone at our zone activity with a bunch of squirt guns Sister Kyles' mom sent her... It was quite fun :P

Tuesday, we had a tragedy. We were trying to find a referral in a neighborhood and it was HOT in the car. Like, I was sweating up a storm. Anyways, I had taken off my watch so the sweat wouldn't gather around the band and forgot, and got out of the car to stand watch as Sister Kyles backed up. Later we realized that I didn't have my watch. We looked everywhere and couldn't find it!! So we drove back to the neighborhood and to the road, got out and found it!! There it was, smashed into pieces in a lovely and abstract road decoration... haha! Sister Kyles felt so bad, but it didn't get me down. I'm getting the same watch at Target (pronounced Tar-jay) today,  so all is well! In fact, I thought it quite funny that I literally lost the time...
We also had another appointment with Jamie, Richard and Jacob (our little investigator family) that night. Richard said that he likes it better when a preacher stands up and preaches from the Bible, so they're going back to his church for a while. Jamie and Jacob realllllly liked church, but Richard is the head of the house and they all want to stick together. I think if Richard had a better connection to someone in the ward then he would be fine with it. They still want us to teach them though, so that's what we're doing!

Wednesday was fabulous. First, we went to Sister Lisa Calderon's house. She's pregnant and needed help cleaning. She has been less active but they've come to church the past 3 weeks and she now has a calling! She is growing more and more spiritually. She has 8 kids and loved having us over to help! Then, we went and visited a Brother Mike Nasan (sp??) who was baptized in 2008 (or 2011 he isn't sure) and hasn't come to church since. He's had back surgery, and no one from the church he was attending has even checked up on him while our ward has visited him almost every day. He said "That just shows me that this is the true church." When his back doesn't pain him as much in the car he said he'll come to church! We're going to teach him to help refresh his memory. We had a great dinner with the Eaton family- Hawaiin Haystacks YUM! After, we felt like we should go visit Lisa (the woman we tracted into my second day here). We went over to the Hellman's first, her neighbors and also members, and asked Sister Hellman to come with us. She was so willing even though it was last minute! We said a prayer before we went over and after the prayer, Sister Elliott immediately said, "We need to get a Book of Mormon from the car." So I grabbed it and we went over. She came out to talk to us and the first thing she said was "I was thinking about y'all earlier today!" We told her that we were too, and inroduced Sister Hellman. We had a good chat, and I introduced the Book of Mormon and gave it to her, and told her it would help her in her life. She thanked us for it, and we prayed with her. The spirit was so strong, and all the sisters knew what was about to happen. Sister Kyles opened her mouth and asked her to be baptized. Lisa said, "Well, y'all know about my religious background, and I'm a long way from that right now. So no, not right now." Sister Elliot just smiled and said, "When the time comes though." And I said "When you ARE ready." Then Sister Kyles said, "We know that right now you aren't ready, but when you come to know these things are true, will you be baptized?"
AND... Lisa nodded and said, "Yes." And we hadn't even taught her ANYTHING yet!!
BATISMO!! It was awesome. Sister Hellman bore her testimony, Lisa thanked us for coming by and we set up a time to come back on Friday. And though Lisa is a long way from baptism right now, I know that she will get there. She really is an amazing woman.
Heavenly Father is working little and big miracles every day.

Friday we went back and taught Lisa, and she still doesn't understand how God loves us but still lets bad things happen to us. We helped her as best we could but eventually had to leave. We are going back this week to explain the Restoration more fully to her, and bringing over a copy of the Joseph Smith movie to watch with her.

Saturday, I made my companions sing Happy Birthday to Brayden while we ate slices of cake that some members gave us! So we celebrated your 18th Brady-Boy!! Haha, we'll sing for everyone else too, don't worry. I hope you got your card and liked it Brayden!! I thought it was pretty hilarious and that it was a good fit for you.
Some members took us to Outback Saturday night for dinner!! It was AWESOME! The members here really are stellar. Then, we helped a family move back into the ward- the Zaradas. It was fun, and the kids teased us missionaries about wearing pants. It was a little weird, but they needed a lot of heavy boxes and chairs and stuff picked up and moved, and its just easier to do so in jeans. I taught some of the kids some Portuguese words, and they were running around yelling them. Also, my companions now know the word "BATISMO!"

Sunday was AWESOME. We read a talk about becoming a "Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister. It really is one of the best things I have ever read, and everyone should go read it. It can apply to any calling, and any person. One of my favorite quotes from that says, "Our all is a small price to pay for His all." And it is so true. We need to give ALL of ourselves to the Lord, and not hold back. If we do so, we will become "consecrated" and we will  be blessed beyond measure.

I love this gospel and I love missionary work!!

I'll try to send pictures in a minute.... Love y'all!!!


Also... PARABENS PARA ELDER SEARS!!! :) So old.. 2 whole decades!! Hope its a great one :D

love,
Sister Shell

PARABENS PARA TANNER too!!!!!! Eleven woot woot!! Hope your birthday is awesome buddy!!
Don't worry, this isn't illegal. We got back on the computers to email our President and Sister Kyles said I could send a quick little message and a few more pictures. I just had to write a little more. We got a referral last week for a man named Derrick and made an appointment to visit with him today. We met with him at 2, and he was prepared by God. He was so ready to hear the message we had for him. We asked him what he expected from us, and he said that he wants to learn more and wants to learn everything he can about our church and about Christ. We told him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy and was so excited to start reading it. We talked about Joseph Smith and he accepted the story of the First Vision without any hesitation. He felt good about everything we were telling him. While we were telling him about the Book of Mormon and about prayer, I had this pounding in my heart and I knew what I had to do. I looked him in the eye and said, "Derrick, when you come to know that these things are true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper Priesthood authority of God?" He didn't even let me finish the question. As soon as I said, "and be baptized" he immediately said, "Yes, I will." We told him about the blessings he would receive, and that Satan would not make it easy for him but he is determined to do the right. He is coming to church on Sunday, we're meeting with him again on Saturday and we will set a date for his baptism then.
Y'ALL. I INVITED SOMEBODY TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!! AND THEY SAID YES!!! THE FIRST TIME WE EVER MET WITH HIM AND TALKED TO HIM!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

It was the coolest moment, and you know what? I wasn't scared at all. I have the Lord on my side, and with Him, all things are possible. He told me to do something, and I did it. Because Heavenly Father told me to do it, I felt no fear. The Lord wants us to be bold, and he wants us to act and follow what he tells us to do. We have no reason to fear.

Those are the kind of moments that make everything about a mission worth it. It was amazing, the Spirit was so strong.
This church is true.

I love my life!!

Sister Shell

Sister Kyles, Sister Elliott, Sister Shell

Houston, we have a Missionary!!

Hello, everybody!!!

I'm typing this email up from Montgomery, Texas!!! I love it here. The people are great, the place is great, the food is great my companions are fabulous. Yes, that's right, companionS. Sister Kyles is my trainer and she is training two newbies at once- Sister Elliott and I!! She's doing a wonderful job, even though she was nervous at first.

Here's a brief overview of what the past week and a half has been like.

Saturday, July 13, 2013:
Irmao Paulich did a really cool thing with our District, since it was the last official class we would all be together for. He had us each come up and sit in a chair in the middle, and then we went around the room saying nice things about that person. Then the person in the middle said what they learned while at the CTM. It was a truly wonderful and spiritual experience, and it made us even closer than we already were. Man, I miss those missionaries!

Sunday, July 14, 2013:
We sang Nearer My God to Thee (my District) as the special musical number in sacrament meeting. I looked up and one of the new elders had tears streaming down his face. The Spirit was so strong. Elder Ross in a different district accompanied us. He's not quite as amazing as Elder Sears at piano, but he made up a pretty good arrangement.
After our devotional, we all went back to the classroom because the sisters all wanted Priesthood blessings before we left for the field.  We wrote everyone's down. It was such a spiritual experience. When I was getting my blessing, I felt like I literally had a wall of power around me as the elders surrounded me and put their hands on my head. That circle was a conduit to heaven. I received a blessing from God through the power of the holy Priesthood and the inspiration of the Spirit. It was exactly what I needed. There was such a powerful Spirit in the room as, one by one, each person in my district asked for and received a blessing. I'm so thankful for my district. It was such an amazing experience, and I'm so glad to know all of those worthy young men. It was one of the most spiritual moments of my life.

Monday, July 15, 2013:
Sister Goimarac left me :( At about three in the morning, we walked Sisters Goimarac and Jacobsen down to the travel office. We said goodbyes and the it was just Sister Paravan and me as companions for the day. Sister Goimarac left the sweetest card for me in my journal. That day, our district was cut in half. It was bittersweet. It was fun to get to bond with everyone else a little more, but we were definitely missing all those who already left. We had one last prayer with what was left of our district outside and that was it. I can't wait until I meet up with those people again.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013:
I dropped of Sister Paravan at about 4 in the morning. It was weird being the only person in my room. I hung out with Irmao Durf-Durf's new district for the day. I  didn't really like being one of the last ones to leave. Only Elder Underwood and I were left, and it was kind of a sad day of waiting. Still, I learned so much and I'm glad I was able to go to another amazing Tuesday night devotional! Sister Kropf (sp???) our Sister Training Leader slept in my room that night so she could help me leave at three in the morning. What a sweetheart!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013:
I LEFT FOR HOUSTON! Haha, it was so fun. There were so many missionaries leaving! I got there, got my ticket and turned in my key and then pulled my luggage over to a huge Uhaul type truck. They had two of those for luggage, and then to transport the missionaries they had two charter busses. We got to the airport and to our gate without any incident. I was able to talk to my family at the gate as well!! It was so amazing to hear everyone's voices and to see how they were doing. Mom, I'm sorry it cut you off before you could say bye :( I would have called right back but there were a few elders waiting and I wanted them to have a turn. I hope you understand.
I met my Mission President, who also happens to be President Pingree- the father of Mary Pingree, who was in my BYU ward and is currently on her mission in Washington!! Crazy, huh? I feel like he really cares about me as an individual, and he told me that he doesn't think of me as a visa waiter but as one of his own, and permanent. That made me feel very needed and wanted. I stayed at their home that first night with some other sisters. Their kids are just so adorable and awesome!! To quote the musical Annie "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Okay, so its been crazy busy ever since I reported to my area. I'll try to remember everything!!
Thursday, I met my companion. President Pingree had everyone meet in the chapel and called us up to the front one by one to meet our companions. My companion is Sister Kyles! Sister Elliot is too, but we didn't know that at the time. For some reason the papers President Pingree got had her down as an Hermana, which is cool but she doesn't know Spanish. So she told him and she was put with us. I'm so glad she's with us because she is simply amazing!! Thursday is also when the first miracle happened. So, my trainer and her companion drove two other sisters to transfers. So after transfers, we had to give 5 sisters a ride home, 3 with suitcases- two of us had 2 suitcases and 1 carry on and one of us had 1 of each. Somehow we fit it all in the car. AND made it home safely.
Friday we felt that we should go knock on the door of the Hartnetts, a less active older couple. We had such a good time speaking with them, shared a message with them and committed them to come to church Sunday! Unfortunately, they were not able to make it to church. We are going to stop by their house either today or tomorrow to check up on them. Also, we felt that we should go knocking on doors in a member's neighborhood. We were invited in, finally, by a woman named Lisa. We talked to her about God's love. Her main thing is "If God loves us so much, how come so many bad things happen to the good people? If he loves us, why hasn't he answered my prayers?" She was very upset at points. Not at us, but just with things that have happened in her life. I felt so bad for her and was praying in my heart about what I should do when I felt I should say something and found myself asking "Could we leave a blessing on your home? Is that okay?" And she seemed so relieved and said yes, and told her son to come over while we prayed. We left a blessing on her home and she (and her son) definitely felt the Spirit. She asked for hugs and told us we could come back. She also has severe medical issues, and is going through a divorce so her husband took her car and she has no way to get to the doctor. We told her we would find her a ride and she was so grateful. She's a miracle, and a greater miracle waiting to happen.
We had a non member family at church with us yesterday! Jamie, Richard and Jacob. Jacob is Jamie's son, and Richard is Jamie's boyfriend who lives with her. They are such sweet people and really liked church. I asked Jamie what she thought of sacrament and she said, "It was different, but it felt very familiar." I wanted to leap for joy!!!! They had a great time, and Jacob made a few friends with some of the boys in the ward.

All in all, I absolutely love it here and will keep you updated.

Gotta go!!

Love,
Sister Shell :)

Last P-Day in the CTM and I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!

Ola!

Last Saturday we did TRC over skype with a native Brazilian woman! She was a member and was very nice, and we had a simple lesson with her. It was hard to understand her, but I understood most of what she said! Woot woot! She also said our Portuguese was really awesome.

Last Sunday I finished the Book of Mormon. Even though it was technically the fourth time I've read it all the way through, it felt like it was the first. It has never been so exciting, or enlightening, to me. There are so many things in there that I've never noticed before. I love the Book of Mormon, and can honestly say its my favorite book. It has really helped me through my mission so far. I'm going to try and read it every six weeks on my mission.

Monday, something super cool happened. Irmao Duerden pulled us sisters aside and asked if we wanted a new investigator for our last lessons with him, because our investigator that he was currently portraying was so committed and progressing nicely that it would be more beneficial to recieve a new one. We felt pretty cool about that!! Also, ELDER KOHLS GOT HIS VISA ON MONDAY!!! He is leaving on Monday for Brazil!! It was the coolest moment ever. We had a mini party, and we were all so happy for him. I think he was a little shocked but he was also super happy. We've all been waiting anxiously for our reassignments to see where we're going and are maybe a little tiny bit envious that Elder Kohls already knows whats going on for him. Also, Elder Morgan is a hardcore LOTR fan. He beatboxed the LOTR and Star Wars themes for us. I tried to record him doing that, but he caught me and refused to do it until my camera was off... Obey with exactness!! I also got a letter from Sister Sears and Syster Miller!!

Tuesday we paired up with Irmao Durf-Durf's new district (who are also in our zone) to do street contacting. First the "older" district did a street contact. It went pretty well and as we walked away we heard them talking about how awesome ours was. Then the newbies did theirs and it was adorable. And it was so fun to see how far we've come and to know that they'll come just as far as well. Then they split us up and paired somebody with the "old" district with somebody from the "new" district. I was paired with Sister Yankura and she did so well! She asked me how to say a few words, but other than that didn't really need my help. I was super impressed. She was so grateful for my help, even though I feel like I didn't do anything!

Our devotional that night was so awesome. Elder Kendrick, a general authority, spoke to us about personal revelation. It was really good, but the best thing was the end. He said he felt inspired to give us a Priesthood blessing. I love that. He got a prompting to bless 3000+ missionaries, felt worthy to do so and ACTED on that prompting! We all should live that way. He promised that we would feel the comforting influence of the Holy Ghost as we qualified for it, that we would have our knowledge and understanding quickened, that we would master our respective languages, and that we would have a fond remembrance of truths recieved throughout our lives with an INSTANT recall when we needed them.

Wednesday we taught the newbies of Irmao Durf-Durf about Preterit and Imperfect past tenses in Portuguese. They picked it up and were so grateful! Then we helped them learn how to teach to investigators needs by having one of us sit in the middle and having them ask us questions in Portuguese to figure out what lesson to teach us. I was one of the "investigators" and it was so fun! Irmao Durf-Durf was so grateful to us. It was so good to feel needed like that and I'm glad we were able to help!

Yesterday, Thursday, we had our 8 hour in-field orientation. It was tons of fun and really spiritual.
Unfortunately, even though we were all super excited, we recieved no reassignments.

Today has been fabulous- rainy and cloudy and gorgeous!! We have not recieved our reassignments yet but I will email you AS SOON AS WE GET THEM! I promise. Our District Leader told us it was alright.

Until then!

Love you and tchau!

Sister Shell

Oh my goodness I am shaking right now!!!!

We were in our room, taking our P-Day nap, and some sisters knocked on our door and said "This is room 259 right? There are some elders outside that say they have your reassignments."

I woke up, put on my shoes and was out the door in about .02 seconds!! We booked it to the classroom and our District Leader, Elder Morgan, handed them out one by one. Here's what mine says:

Sister Shell:
At this time, we have not yet received your visa to travel to your mission. You will be serving a temporary reassignment in the TEXAS HOUSTON MISSION until your visa  arrives.

...... THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN!!!! Haha, but in all seriousness, I'm going to TEXAS y'all!!!!

District with all their Temporary Reassignments

Sister Goimerac and Sister Jacobsen are going to the Colorado Springs Mission and Sister Paravan is going to the Massachusettes Boston Mission!!!!

Also, it doesn't have a Mission Home address for us.... So I'll let you know what that is as soon as possible.

TEXAS. 'MURICA.

Haha, in all seriousness, I am so excited and ready to serve these people! It will be such a neat and great experience. What can I say- the South must need me!!

Oh, also, mom I got a haircut today. I think its pretty cute- here's a picture!! And also one of Sister Goimerac and I anxiously waiting for our calls.

New Haircut

Awaiting the Reassignments

I'm kind of in shock.

Texas. WOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!! Here I come!! Honestly, I am so happy right now!!!!!!!! I'm going on an adventure!!!!!!

Tell everybody I'm on my way!!!!!!

Sister Goimerac, Sister Shell, Sister Paravan at the 4th of July Devotional

Apparently everyone finds Kirsten's thumb peculiar and wanted a picture of it! HAHA 

Happy companions after an awesome discussion!

Happy Belated 4th of July

Ola meus queridos!!!

(Again, some accent marks are missing... silly computer!!)

Well, last P-Day was pretty great. We got some sad news after I email y'all- Irmao Durf-Durf is no longer our teacher. Because of some scheudle conflict, he is now teaching a district of newbies. Its alright, though, because they're right next door to us and also in our zone! Plus, our new teacher, Irmao Mummey, is actually Sister Jacobsen's cousin!! He's pretty cool. But it was also awesome because I got a lot of letters, including one from a pretty good friend in Brazil!! .... Guess who?? And I also got one from Sister Barnes (: She's so sweet!! Please make sure she knows how much it meant to me!

Lately almost every night we've been doing a get-to-know-you/sharing-time thing in ur district. Its more like "tell us stuff about yourself and then we'll interrogate you." Its pretty fun. I already did mine and it was super fun (:

Also, last Sunday, Sister Goimerac and I were called to be sacrament meeting greeters!! I'm so stoked, because that means that I'll get to know all the people in my zone so much better! Also, as if that weren't cool enough, Sister SHERI DEW spoke to us in Relief Society last week!! It was so super amazing!!! It was such an awesome meeting. We also watched the Legacy that night. Such a good and inspirational movie.

Monday was our last class with Irmao Durf-Durf :( But it was fun! We committed Jairo, his investigator, to baptism!!!!! It was a really sweet moment (: We took a group picture with him too, but only one of us has it.... I'll try to get it to y'all!! We also did the 6 am workout and it was such a great way to start out the day!!!! We also started teaching other missionaries in our district as our investigators on Monday. So far its going really well, even though one of our investigators, Estavan (aka Elder Morgan) can't read!

Sister Shell and Irmao Durf Durf

Tuesday was an amazing day. We taught Marcos, and basically just went over what we had taught. We asked him about his questions, his doubts that he had. He said he liked the Book of Mormon and felt good when he read it, and said he kept meeting with us because he liked what we taught and our faith, as well as the Spirit we had with us. We had already asked him to be baptized, but he said only if he got an answer. Well, we talked more about  baptism and asked what his concerns were. He explained that when he was 15 he was baptized in the Baptist church and felt like he committed to a church, an organization, and didn't really agree with a lot of the church. I don't know where it came from, but I felt prompted to tell him that in our church, when you are baptized, you commit to following God's commandments and you commit to following the Savior's example, and that you promise with God and not an organization only. Sister Goimerac jumped right in after that and shared her testimony about baptism, as well as a few other things, and then I felt prompted to ask him how he felt. He said that he felt peace, but that he was nervous still. I was again prompted to tell him that the peace and happiness he felt at that moment would be with him continually after he got baptized, and that Heavenly Father would help him. That seemed to help him feel more comfortable. Sister Goimerac asked him to be baptized in 3 weeks, and he said that that was really soon! We promised him God would help him prepare. He asked how, and we explained that God would answer all his questions and prayers, and would bless his life. He thanked us for our faith and agreed to be baptized.
MARCOS IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!! OTIMO!!!!!! Honestly, I was so happy. It was amazing.

Wednesday, a bunch of newbies came!! We got 10 (I think...) new sisters in our zone!!! Super exciting. It was fun to see Irmao Durf-Durf greet them in the classroom right next to us and remember how we felt when we first got there (: Tuesday night, he wrote on the board and asked us if we would write them welcome letters since there's 12 of us and 12 of them! It was super fun (: I wrote to a Sister Evans. Hopefully it helped her feel welcome and less overwhelmed (: Also, we got an anonymous gift of Guarana!!!! Even though I never drink soda, I took a few sips. It was very soda-y. But the taste was really good! I just need to get used to carbonation I suppose.
While the newbies were doing their orientation in the computer labs, we passed by and Irmao Durf-Durf was taking one of them back to the claswsroom. He isn't allowed to speak English to them for the first few days, and he told me to introduce myself to the newbie, so I did and asked his name, forgetting he didn't know any Portuguese... But it's alright, we communicated! And I told him what my mission was and learned he's going to Sao Paulo North! So that's cool. ALL OF THAT WAS IN PORTUGESE!!! It was pretty phenomenal. Then, later in the day, Sister Goimerac and I were getting a drink of water and Irmao Durf-Durf's classroom door was open. He called me over and started telling somebody in the classroom that I spoke French. All I could think was "CRAP, I hope they're not French because I can't remember ANYTHING!!" He pointed out a sister and so I said "Bonjour!! Comment ça va?" (oh my gosh it let me do an accent mark!!) and she answered, and she's not French. Thank goodness, because I couldn't think of any more French words!! So I just said that I didn't remember French because speaking Portuguese is more important now. Irmao Durf-Durf said, "And Portuguese is better, right?!" and so I agreed and said, "OF COURSE its better!"
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW AMAZING THIS IS! THIS WAS ALL IN PORTUGUESE AND I UNDERSTOOD IT ALL AND I REPLIED IN PORTUGUESE!!! IT WAS A GREAT MOMENT FOR ME!!!

So Thursday. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!! It started off pretty awesome. Irmao Dureden had us all go outside to practice street contacting. He "randomly" picked two missionaries in our district to be the actual missionaries and assigned the rest to be investigators. The missionaries were supposed to go around and talk to all the investigators in our district. Elder Lewis and I were the missionaries. At first I did NOT like the idea and thought it would be scary because, I DON'T KNOW PORTUGUESE....  But I actually liked it and turns out, I do know some Portuguese! I know enough to laugh and talk and have a conversation with people. Every person I talked to I was able to set up an appointment with for the next day!!! Talk about otimo, right???
I would not have changed yesterday for the world. Even though I did miss my y'all, I would not have had it any other way. At 7:40 we had a special Fourth of July devotional. This man whose name I cannot remember spoke about our country and about how the gospel is also a message of freedom. Then, we watched the movie 17 Miracles. I'd never seen it before. It was beautiful. I cried like a baby. So touching and inspirational. The pioneers were truly amazing people! By the time the movie was over, we were all wiping our eyes and noting that it was already past 9:30. Then President Nally got up to conclude the meeting and announced that after the closing hymn and prayer, the missionaries would be allowed to stay up and watch the fireworks from BYU's Stadium of Fire!!! I almost started crying all over again, I was so happy! The closing hymn was Carry On, and the Spirit was so strong. Plus, Sister Goimerac and I hit the HIGH note, the HIGH high note at the end, so it was pretty otimo. Then we booked it out the doors and got the best standing place EVER to see the fireworks! And I wouldn't have changed it for the world. As I sat there watching stuff that was happening at BYU, I wondered if I wanted to change that moment. If I wasn't at the CTM, I probably would have been at Calloway Gardens with my family, or maybe even watching the Stadium of Fire in the stadium with some friends or roommates. I did not want that option for a minute. That was a truly once in a lifetime experience for me. I watched fireworks celevrating the United States of America, celebrating freedom, along with THOUSANDS of other people my age devoting their lives to God and His message of freedom. There's nothing quite like singing the Star Spangled Banner (to the best of your ability) with thousands of the Lord's called and chosen while the finale fireworks go on and then bursting into almost endless applause. I truly love this country!
Oh, some funny things. Some kid, when a bunch of fireworks went off in a row, yelled "YEAH! 'MERICA!!! BALD EAGLES AND STUFF!!" Needless to say, it was pretty hilarious. We also got everyone to start chanting "USA! USA! USA!" Haha, I'm pretty sure there was nobody else ANYWHERE else that was as excited and pumped as all the missionaries at the CTM were last night!

Sisters sporting the Red White and Blue

Watching Fireworks

Wow, time has flown by! My hour is up for today, so I'll try to send out some letters later!! Plus, next week we'll get our reassignments if our visas still haven't come!!! WOOT!!!! :D Plus, only a week and a half left.
Holy cow.

The gospel is true, the church is true, I love my life!! Its beautiful.

love,

Sister Shell

P.S. I'm definitely praying for Grandma that she gets better soon. Also, Collin so his arm will feel better. Sorry it got broken buddy! And tell Zach and Logan parabens (that means Congratulations) on their advancements in the priesthood!!! I'm really proud of them :)

Closeup of the beloved name tag!

Classroom activities

Cute Suitemates together again at the MTC

Officially Halfway Through The CTM

Ola!!!

Today has been muito interesting already because the fire alarms went off at about 6:29. I still had a minute of sleep. I needed that! Oh well, I suppose. There was nothing wrong, except for maybe the fire alarm malfunctioning...
Oh, and we have also decided to speak Portuguese all day today! Even though I'm speaking some Portenglish.... I'm still trying!! Haha

Okay, so the broadcast on Sunday was pretty amazing. I know that none of you really saw me in the choir. Thats because we ended up being on the second to last row in the very middle. Literally, I sat right next to an elder. There's one part where you can see my suit jacket and some red hair though! Its during the opening song. So go look and tell me if you can see which one is me!! Irmao Durf-Durf (aka Durfee) said he thought he caught a glimpse of my hair, so you probably can too. Most of the apostles were there, but the First Presidency, for some reason, was not. I'm not quite sure why, but it was amazing all the same. It was so cool to see how crowded and full the Marriott Center was. If any of you have not yet watched the broadcast, I encourage you to do so!! It was so cool.

Well, our investigators Marcos and Jairo are progressing pretty well. We found out that Marcos works with a church organization. For his job. EEP!!However, he said he read the chapter we assigned him and thought it was "interesting" although he wasn't too sure about its validity, because it was in the Book of Mormon. We tqalked about his concerns and questions, and he's very concerned about "proper authority" so we talked with him a lot about that. Since he knows the Bible very well, we read about Jesus Christ's baptism and asked him why he thought Jesus went all the way to John the Baptist to be baptized. He considered the reasons before saying that it might have been because John had the proper authority he was wondering about. We assigned him to read another chapter in the Book of Mormon before he left. In our next lesson, we followed up and went back to the first lesson because we felt that we needed to go back over it. The Spirit was so strong in that room when I told him the First Vision story. Instead of looking at his phone or his nails, he was intently listening. We both testified and then read him Moroni's promise to him. Then, we asked him to be baptized. He told us that if he gets an answer from God about our church being true, then of course he will be baptized. We told him that God would answer his prayer, and testified and promised blessings. He also thanked us for our faith, which I thought was cool. So I'll update you on Marcos more next week! Jairo is a very humble man. We have been teaching him, and he is learning a lot. He's a Catholic and has never questioned his church. We asked him if he had ever asked God if his church was true in prayer, and he said no. We taught him how to pray without recitation and he said he would ask God which church was true. We had him practice saying prayers without recitation by saying the closing prayer. He said the most heartfelt yet simple prayer I have heard in a long time, and it was such an amazing experience for me. I know he has been feeling the Spirit when we teach him.

That's throughout the week as far as teaching goes! So, Monday night, it rained as we were leaving our classroom! It was so awesome!! We ran and put our stuff down in the room and then went out and had a dance party in the rain behind our building. I wish I had pictures, but as Sister Goimerac said, "You can't really capture moments like this!"

Tuesday, we did a killer workout during our personal fitness time and I'm a little ashamed to admit that my legs have been sore alllllll week.... Also, our devotional that night was with Janice Kap Perry! She has written many songs in the Children's Songbook and some hymns as well. She is so amazing! At the beginning, her husband introduced himself as "Brother Janice Kap Perry" and spoke to us a little bit. Then, she was talking a little bit about their story and told us his first line. Apparently he turned to her in a music class and said, "I was just thinking- those lips look like they're made for something much better than playing clareinet." If that wasn't hilarious enough, right after she said that, he sprang up from his chair, walked to the pulpit and kissed her! And I don't mean a little peck on the lips either. It was hilarious! Of course, he got a standing ovation from all of the Elders. I hope when I'm close to eighty that I have a relationship like they do! And as he turned away to sit down, Sister Perry said, "Oh, I think I'll tell that story again!" so he kissed her again! They're hilarious. Her comment after that was "I know that man like a book, but today I don't know what page he's on!" They were pretty hilarious.

I also did a journal entry in Portuguese the other day! That was pretty cool, I suppose. The grammar is probably horrible but I had fun with it! My favorite lines that I wrote are "Eu quero dancar, e eu quero dois macacos!! Nao, eu PRECISO dancar e eu PRECISO dois macacos." Hopefully that actually makes sense in Portuguese. It amused me.

We had interviews with our teachers this week about life at the CTM. I had mine with Irmao Durf-Durf, and it went fine. It was all about whether or not I was adjusting to the CTM, how I felt I was doing with Portuguese, how my companionship is going, etc. Mine was the shortest interview in our class. I guess that's just because I don't complain too much!! haha.....

Well, I'm officially a little more than halfway through with my stay here at the CTM! There are some days where I go "HOLY COW, I've been here three weeks!!" and then there are other days when I go "Holy cow, I've only been here for three weeks..." As one of our Relief Society speakers noted, "The days are like weeks and the weeks are like days!" Oh, she was so cool. She was born in Brazil and had all the Portuguese speakers stand up and she spoke to us. We were on the front row at that meeting and she made eye contact with me and smiled at me. Because I'm just that cool. Her name is Sister de Agostini (sp??) and she was awesome. The first thing she said was "I feel like I'm standing in front of a host of angels."

I love going to the temple each week on P-Day! Its so awesome. Its such a good refresher during the week for me. Like a rejuvination. (I don't know if I even came close to spelling that right.......) And I can't go wait to go today!

Sister Goimerac and I are still bffl and it seems like everyone can tell. Irmao Durf-Durf even mentioned that in my interview to him.

I can't really think of more to say right now, so I shall proceed with sending pictures!! Love you all!

Tchau tchau!

Sister Shell