No big deal, but I met a cat with thumbs!

Monday: So after emailing, we went and said goodbye to Sean, and introduced him to the Brenham elders as well! Also, Sean 2 apparently doesn't like being called Sean 2. And after a long discussion of throwing out names, we decided on Seanykins. Why he likes that better I'll never know... I packed up and watched the mail lady NOT deliver my packages. She left a slip. How rude, right?? So, we found out we could get them at 7:30 in the morning from the little window in our Post Office, so thats what we resolved to do.
I called Jenn and told her to brace her kids. They were pretty sad. Since I still didn't have a camera, Sister Paddock took some pictures for me. She's hopefully sending those to me today.

Farewell Mitchell Family!  Thank you for everything!!

Tuesday: We were a few minutes late for transfers because I had to pick up my packages, which I loved!!! Thanks mommy and grammy :)
The building we met at for transfers was SWAMPED so as we were stuck in a crowd of missionaries, Sister King ran up to the car and said, "Sister Shell! I'm your new companion!" So, we pulled Antonio into a spot, took some last pictures, moved my stuff into the other car (whom we have named Sheldon) and took off.

Farewell Sister Rainsdon and Sister Paddocks

Sister Loo (also a visa waiter), Sister Walker, Sister Shell and Sister King (new companion)

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. Unpacking, meeting tons of new people. We tracted into a someone named Morgan who sounds supppper interested. Oh, by the way, I guess I should tell you where I am! I'm in the Sam Houston 1st YSA Ward! Yupp, serving in the YSA ward. I feel like such a stalker because we have to seek out YSAs specifically at stores and stuff. Its kind of fun. You feel like such a ninja/spy/detective person! We had dinner with a visiting teaching group, and I shared about miracles using 1 Ne 3 and 4. They seemed to really like that. In all honesty, it sort of felt like a Girls Night Out. Kind of fun, but very strange as a missionary.

Wednesday: Was fabulous! We visited a girl named Alanna who has the most beautiful blue eyes. She's a member that we hadn't met before, so it was fun getting to know her. Then, we went to Lonestar college to a Christian group called "The Mission." That was super cool. They had a sermon thing all about love. At first Sister King and I were super confused, and then we realized that Valentine's Day was coming up. So the whole lecture on love made sense. Then, afterwards, we met a bunch of people and the group and talked with them. This guy, John, asked "What makes Mormons different?" So, we headed over to a picnic table to tell him a few things that make us different.
This is where it gets cool.
So, we started to talk with John. Then, all of a sudden, one of the leaders of the group came over and joined in. And before we knew it, tons of people started flocking over to the table to listen! It was incredible. I felt like one of the 12 apostles of Christ talking to a multitude. It was just so neat! We taught part of the first lesson, about the Restoration, and they were asking a lot of questions that could have led to Bible Bashing... but it didn't. It just didn't. Nobody was arguing. It was just a big question and answer session, and a big discussion. We cleared up a lot of misconceptions, which was really good. John and one other guy took copies of the Book of Mormon. Two more people took Restoration Pamphlets, and a couple more people asked for our number so they could text us any Mormon questions that they have.
It was seriously so cool. I felt the Spirit the whole time, and it was amazing. I felt and knew that the Lord was helping us. There was one part that was funny, and where it definitely could have turned south. We were talking about Joseph Smith and Stewart, one of the leaders, said, "Well, what if I came to you and claimed I'd had visions and seen angels and that I was a prophet? What would you do?"
So, I looked at him and said the first words that came to my mind, "Well, I'd pray about it and ask God about it."
He nodded and said, "Hmm. Okay." Crisis averted! Booyah! Halleluyer for the Spirit!
Then we visited a member named Benni. She's adorable and awesome. Then, we had some really yummy crispy chicken sandwiches at Wendy's. Then we met with Jennifer and gave her a copy of what I call a "Letter from our Heavenly Father." Its amazing. I got it from Sister Kyles in my first area. I'll have to send y'all a copy!

Thursday: We had an awesome church tour with a guy named Brady! Apparently the missionaries here haven't been able to meet with him for 4 whole months! Yeah, long time, right? But he was able to come to the church and get a church tour. It was awesome. We had a recent convert named Ashley there, and they connected and she was able to bear her  testimony a lot. The Spirit was just so strong, especially when we were in the chapel talking about the sacrament. We ended it in front of the baptismal font, where he told us that he felt that this was right and agreed to be baptized, as long as it was in April so that he could have time to prepare and stop doing a few things, and just be ready. I can't wait to teach Brady some more because he is just so prepared.

Sister King and Sister Shell being silly while waiting to give a church tour.  

Then, we started going through one of the ward lists looking for YSAs that both the YSA ward and the home ward don't know. We found a potential investigator named Zach. He seemed more interested in the activities, but at least thats a start. After that, we talked to a YSA about faith and shared Elder Holland's talk called "Lord, I Believe" which is AMAZING! I recommend it to everyone who struggles with faith. Because it helps so much with that. AJ, the member, asked us a few questions and really opened up to us. The Spirit helped us to help her, and we left her a copy of the "Letter from our Heavenly Father." Also, her cat named Ernie... yeah, he has THUMBS. Legit thumbs. He can grab things and everything. Like... whaaaat? Ernie's a pretty sweet cat. And I don't even like cats!

Sister King and Ernie the cat!!

Then, we had dinner with a girl named Alissha (Ah-lish-ah) who has dark red/brown, curly hair and is crazil awesome. She served a mission in California I believe. Then, we tried to find another YSA on the ward list. And here's where it gets crazy. We knocked on the door and a man opened and we told him that we were from the YSA ward and were looking for someone on our records. He's all "Oh, yeah, the missionaries! I've trained my dog to chase off people like you!" All joking around because his dog is this tiny poodle who is so happy to see missionaries that its ridiculous. Then, we heard his wife yell, "Who is it?" and he calls back "The church people! Do we let them in?" and she goes, "Of course, of course!! Come in!" So we come in and sit down for a minute and talk. We're having a good conversation, joking around with them. Their daughter, Nicole (14) is doing dishes in the background. The man mentions that his dad was a mission president in South Africa and we're all like "Whaaat?? How awesome!" Then, he tells us that that's where he and his wife met. So Sister King asked the wife "Oh wow, so is that where you got baptized?" And the man laughed and the wife just said, "Oh, no, no. I'm not a member of your church." Awkward! So we ask about the YSA we're looking for and find out that he's off at college somewhere. So, Sister King says, "Well, we'll write that down. Thanks for letting us know! Since we're here, could we share a spiritual thought with y'all before we left?" The husband says, "Well, I'm sure Nicole wants to hear one." And calls his daughter in.
Sister King opened up and started introducing. It was some scripture in Helaman. She said that it was from the Book of Mormon, and the dad stopped us. "I'm going to quiz my daughter. Nicole, whats the Book of Mormon?" At this point, we can tell something is a little off. She awkwardly answers "Some book that Mormons believe in. Like the Bible." And then the dad lets us go on.
So Sister King continues "Right, so this scripture is about strengthening your faith in Christ-"
Then, here's where it got crazy. "WHY do I need to care about Christ? Give me one good reason," says the dad. "Believe in him like believe he existed, believe he died for us, believe he's literally God's son? Believe what?" So we answered and said all three. He went on and again said, "Give me one good reason why I should believe."
Both of us said, "Well, there's a million reasons..."
He said, "Go on! Name one!"
Sister King said, "We can find peace, and joy and comfort by turning to Him, He atoned for our sins-"
He cut her off again. "So God is all knowing right?"
"Right!"
"And you are telling me that he couldn't come up with a better plan than to let his Son come here and be killed? That was his best plan? To let them KILL his son?"
Sister King said, "That is the only way we could return back to Him. The only way we could be in His presence again."
He didn't stop there. He went on for a few minutes about how its pathetic to believe in something like that. He talked about how he'd left the church when he was 14 and never looked back, and how he'd taken his kids to church once and made sure it was a fast and testimony meeting so they could see how pathetic everyone who got up was. But I think that was his mistake. Because his son got baptized, and his daughter wants to be baptized. He tells his children that turning to Christ will make you weak.
The wife jumped in and stopped her husband. "Okay, this isn't for you. This is for Nicole and Nicole wants to listen. So stop." So we finished our spiritual thought from the Book of Mormon and testified of Christ. She really liked it, you could tell. Nicole wants to believe but her dad won't let her. He said some more way anti-Mormon things after as well. It was so sad to hear him talk about the Savior that way. My Savior, his Savior. So very sad. He told us that he'd hoped he'd planted a seed and that we would turn away from the church, so that maybe we wouldn't be so brainwashed. Essentially, he was hoping that he had planted a seed of doubt. We shook his hand and left.
But here's the cool part.
The Spirit wasn't there. It wasn't in that room because he was not allowing it to be there. But it was in my heart. The whole time, my heart was pounding out of my chest and the Spirit was whispering "You're okay. What you know is right. He is wrong. Stand strong. Jesus Christ is the Savior. You're okay. What you know is right." Just over and over again. He didn't sway our faith at all. My faith was not shaken. In f act, it was boosted. Because the Spirit testified to me that what he was saying was not truth. The Spirit testified that what I knew and what Sister King was saying was the truth. We stood tall, we stood firm. We were undaunted. We were not shaken. It was like in the scriptures, in the Book of Mormon, when they're talking to Korihor or Nehor or Sherem. It was like talking to Korihor, and defending our Savior.
It was amazing. After we got a bit emotional about the experience- NOT because we were shaken, but because we had both felt the Spirit so strongly in our hearts and because we felt so sad for him and his family- I rolled down the car window while going home and yelled "You didn't get me Satan!"
It was pretty hilarious.
But Satan did try to get us. The man, that dad, was very sneaky. He pretended he was a member until we tried to share a spiritual thought. Then, he tried to tell us that what we were saying was wrong. He tried to shake our faith. But he only succeeded in strengthening it. So that plan pretty much backfired.
Jesus Christ IS our Savior. It is not weak to turn to Him for help. He loves us, even when we do not love Him. He loves us and wants us back. Turn to Him. He is real, and He is there for you. I know this. I love my Savior, and I will always defend Him.

Friday: That morning, during Personal Study, I came across Jacob 7:5 which related perfectly to what had happened the night before. It says, "And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken." Now, I'm not saying I've seen angels. I'm not even saying I've heard the voice of the Lord. But I have heard the voice of the Spirit teaching me, and I have felt that angels have been protecting me. And I could not be shaken. "But behold, the Lord God poured in his Spirit into my soul, insomuch that I did confound him in all his words." (verse 8)
And that's all that I'll say about that. It was just such a cool experience for me, and such a miracle.
That morning, we had an amazing district meeting. It was about sacrifice, and inviting people to church. We talked about sacrifice for a while, and that was cool. But my favorite part was when we talked about the sacrament and how important it is. We went into the chapel, and Elder Duvall said some very profound things. Here it is in summary, "Every week, on Sunday, during sacrament, we attend a funeral service for our Savior. Because the bread and water literally represent His body and His blood. We are in the Savior's tomb and he is right there, under that sheet that they use for the sacrament. He is literally right there, under the veil. And each week we partake of his body and blood, and use His atonement. Each week we are cleansed because of what He did for us. So with that in mind, isn't inviting someone to church just as important as inviting somebody to be baptized?" He said some other very profound things, but I don't have my notes with me. It was amazing.
After that, we correlated with the Assistants. Oh, yeah, I forgot! We're serving in the Assistants' ward. So we met with them to coordinate things, and to talk about a "Why I Believe" fireside that is going to be amazing.
After that, we volunteered at a place called NAM and helped put out food and put away food and sort things. Its like a food bank I guess. That was fun.
Then, we had some quick dinner and visited a girl who got baptized about a year and a half ago who is struggling. We gave her a "Letter from our Heavenly Father" which she loved, and I know Diana felt the Spirit. It was so strong. Her brother was so grateful that we came to help her.

Saturday: For some reason, it was just a really off day. We went and learned some ASL from the ASL elders. We're doing this partly so that if we come in contact with anybody who is deaf, we can communicate with them and get the ASL elders more people to teach. And partly because one of the elders who's deaf was feeling a bit lonely and isolated, and wanted more friends. That was pretty fun. It felt more like charades, and it was hilarious. They're funny!
Then, we tried to find a few people and ran into some Spanish elders! That was fun. One of them was my first Zone Leader in the mission, so that was cool.
After that, we contacted somebody named Tony who seemed pretty interested. We tried to visit a few more people but didn't really have any luck.

Sunday: We met with one of the home ward bishops and discussed the YSAs from his ward. He gave us some people to look for and try and find, and helped us update our records. Then, we had a Relief Society presidency meeting that we were invited to for the YSA ward, so we went to that.
We had church, and I saw some people from Montgomery who go to the YSA ward now! So that was pretty fun. Tender mercies from the Lord are everywhere :)
We had 2 investigators at church, Erik and Julie. Julie was only able to stay for sacrament meeting, but thats the most important part and she hasn't met with missionaries in months, so that was fabulous. And we had someone who was baptized in August but hasn't come to church in a while come! Julio! After church we had a "Munch and Mingle" thing where I got to meet some more people.
Then, we had a meeting with ward missionaries and mission leader and got some plans for the "Why I Believe" fireside finalized. So that was pretty cool. Then, we had some delicious dinner with the family and extended family of a YSA and it reminded me of home. We shared the thought about miracles using 1 Nephi chapters 3 and 4 and they seemed to like it, and one of the men there had gone to Brasil on his mission so I hear all about Brasil!
Then, we tried to visit some people but again, things fell through. Oh well. Life as a missionary. #yoso (you only serve once).

All in all, this week has been fabulous, I love my new area, I love my new companion and I love being a missionary!!!

com amor,
Sister Shell

Sister King and Sister Shell's Valentine's Day Dinner