Hot dogs and French fries

Hey family!

So, I have been responding individually to some emails and the time got away from me! But I wanted to tell you about an experience I had this past week.

So, Heavenly Father works in many mysterious ways. About a week and a half ago my companion and I were walking back to our apartment after a long day. It was almost 9 o clock and we needed to be in our room soon. We were walking past a restaurant when I got the STRONGEST craving for salchipapa. (salchipapa is fried hot dogs and french fries covered in mayonnaise and mustard. Don`t judge. It’s delicious) 

so anyways. we were walking past and I literally stopped in my tracks, grabbed my companions shoulder and said, "Yo quiero salchipapa" (I want some salchipapa!) and she looked at me for a sec, got a big grin on her face and said, I was just thinking the same thing! But then I doubted for a minute and thought...no, it’s almost 9, Salchipapa is so fattening and I don`t want to gain even more weight, I`ll eat a sandwich or something in the house. But I literally could not stop thinking about it. My companion as well. So we were like, Well! What the heck! Let’s eat some salchipapa! So we sat down and started eating and when we went to pay the lady at the counter asked if we could come visit her and her family. We just kind of stopped and looked at her and were like, well yeah! of course! Are you a member? Turns out, She`s not. But her husband is (but inactive). And they attended church for a while a couple of years back but she and her kids had never been baptized. So we set up an appointment for the next Tuesday. That day we taught the first two principles of lesson one, God is our loving Heavenly Father and The gospel blesses families, and she told us that all of the words we said were exactly what she had been waiting to hear. She said she has been praying for a long time for help with her family, for her kids. We were able to testify that Heavenly Father loves her and her family and that he answers prayers. We felt impressed to tell her about our experience with the Salchipapa, and as we did she started to cry. We have had two lessons with them since, and we have family night tonight with them. Her and her two youngest kids came to church yesterday and my companion and I just fell in love with this family really quickly and are so excited to be working with them.

I know Heavenly Father answers prayers, and sometimes that means giving his missionaries strange cravings in the nighttime so that we can find those who are ready to hear our message. Salchipapa and a new family to teach? I`m not complaining :) 

I am super excited for Mother’s day! We need to coordinate what time and everything. What time will be best for you guys?

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Hermana Shelton

Hot dogs and French fries

Hey family!

So, I have been responding individually to some emails and the time got away from me! But I wanted to tell you about an experience I had this past week.

So, Heavenly Father works in many mysterious ways. About a week and a half ago my companion and I were walking back to our apartment after a long day. It was almost 9 o'clock and we needed to be in our room soon. We were walking past a restaurant when I got the STRONGEST craving for salchipapa. (salchipapa is fried hot dogs and french fries covered in mayonnaise and mustard. Don`t judge. It’s delicious) 

so anyways. we were walking past and I literally stopped in my tracks, grabbed my companions shoulder and said, "Yo quiero salchipapa" (I want some salchipapa!) and she looked at me for a sec, got a big grin on her face and said, I was just thinking the same thing! But then I doubted for a minute and thought...no, it’s almost 9, Salchipapa is so fattening and I don`t want to gain even more weight, I`ll eat a sandwich or something in the house. But I literally could not stop thinking about it. My companion as well. So we were like, Well! What the heck! Let’s eat some salchipapa! So we sat down and started eating and when we went to pay the lady at the counter asked if we could come visit her and her family. We just kind of stopped and looked at her and were like, well yeah! of course! Are you a member? Turns out, She`s not. But her husband is (but inactive). And they attended church for a while a couple of years back but she and her kids had never been baptized. So we set up an appointment for the next Tuesday. That day we taught the first two principles of lesson one, God is our loving Heavenly Father and The gospel blesses families, and she told us that all of the words we said were exactly what she had been waiting to hear. She said she has been praying for a long time for help with her family, for her kids. We were able to testify that Heavenly Father loves her and her family and that he answers prayers. We felt impressed to tell her about our experience with the Salchipapa, and as we did she started to cry. We have had two lessons with them since, and we have family night tonight with them. Her and her two youngest kids came to church yesterday and my companion and I just fell in love with this family really quickly and are so excited to be working with them.

I know Heavenly Father answers prayers, and sometimes that means giving his missionaries strange cravings in the nighttime so that we can find those who are ready to hear our message. Salchipapa and a new family to teach? I`m not complaining :) 

I am super excited for Mother’s day! We need to coordinate what time and everything. What time will be best for you guys?

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Hermana Shelton

10 months already

Buenas dias a todos! Espero que todos tuvieron un muy feliz Pascua (aqui no se lo llama esto, celebramos la Semana Santa) y que pudieron reflexionar en todo lo que nuestro Señor Jesucristo hizo por nosotros. 

Guess what? I got your package! Thank you!!!! Also, that same day I got the letter from Aunt "Ont" Peggy :) thank you! I loved all the candy, that bag of jelly beans was gone within two days. But don`t worry, its cause I was sharing it with everybody. None of the latinos here have ever tried any of that kind of candy so I had to introduce them to it :) Also, I love that skirt. In fact! I`m wearing it in the picture I`m going to send from our baptism this last Saturday. My companion also says "Gracias" for the letter from you Mom. It made her really happy, and Hermana Apaza is really excited for her beef jerky :) 

Miss Abby, you are a very creative little girl. Where on earth did you come up with those ideas for your show? I laughed, and laughed when I read that :) 

Well, Easter is celebrated very different here. They celebrate La Semana Santa (The holy week) and Thursday and Friday are the holidays that everyone has off from school and work. And they don`t really make any mention of it on Sunday. It was a little bit different, and every time I tried to explain Easter they thought I was the weird one :) 

This last Saturday we had another baptism! N. is the daughter of a recent convert in our ward. She is 26 years old, but is special. Due to complications at birth she has the mind of an 11 year old. We were visiting her mom who told us that she would like N. to be baptized, but that N. didn`t want to, because she`d been baptized in another church. Her mom has been a member for about 6 or 7 months, and N. never wanted to come with her on Sundays. But the first time we talked to her we invited her and the very next Sunday, she came! And loved it. And has been coming ever since, and told us that she wanted to be baptized. Well. We weren`t so sure because she is special, and we weren`t sure if she needed to be baptized. But we talked to President and he said that if she had the desire, and if she understood what we were teaching, then she could be baptized. So our zone leaders came with us to an appointment with her and her mom to see how well she understood, and the truth is, she understands very well. They told us that if she wanted to be baptized, she could. She was so excited. She`s been reading the Book of Mormon every day, and she loves the gospel principles class on Sundays. 

Her baptism was really special, there was such a sweet spirit there. 

Her mom, La Hna L., is really special as well. She is a recent convert and her testimony is SO strong. She has a lot of difficulties in her life. Her husband is on life support in a hospital in Tarapoto, her son is in a rehabilitation center for drugs, and her daughter N. has a lot of special medical needs (today she is having her 25th surgery). L. doesn`t have a really steady job, she bakes cakes one day a week and sells them to the other moms at her sons rehabilitation center. And that is just a few of the things she is dealing with, but she just continues on! For example. L. loves to cook. and she especially loves to cook for the missionaries. The problem is though, that she doesn`t have a lot of money. She is actually receiving help from the Church so that she has sufficient to eat. But even through that she continues to give, without holding back, to the missionaries. One day she told us that she asked Heavenly Father to lead her to a verse in the Book of Mormon to help her that day and she opened up to the verse in Alma about Amulek letting Alma into his house and feeding him, and how he would receive many blessings for his service.

(Alma 10:7-As I was journeying to see a very near kindred, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto me and said: Amulek, return to thine own house, for thou shalt feed a prophet of the Lord; yea, a holy man, who is a chosen man of God; for he has fasted many days because of the sins of this people, and he is an hungered, and thou shalt receive him into thy house and feed him, and he shall bless thee and thy house; and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee and thy house.) 

So she read us that verse and told us that it is a blessing for her to have us in her house. Another day we went to visit her and she ended up giving us this huge bag of fruit. We were sitting there and she just started packing up all the fruit that she had in her house, to give to us. And we were like, Hey! you don`t have to give us all of it. Leave some for you and N. But she just looked at us and smiled and said, ``I know the Lord will provide, don`t worry.`` And not even 15 minutes later when we were getting ready to leave her brother walked in with his arms completely FULL of....fruit! Enough fruit to replace all that she`d given us, and more. She just smiled serenely at us, and said, ``what`d I tell you?`` The lord always provides.

Wow. she`s basically incredible. We love going over to her house because you can just feel the spirit and love in the room so strong. Sometimes I feel like those I am teaching, are teaching me more than I could ever teach them, through their example. I absolutely love the Peruvian people. And I love this chance I have to live and learn from so many of them. 

What else, what else....Ah! this last week I completed 10 months. Can you believe it? I can`t believe how fast it’s going. This last week we had interviews with presidente and with him I talked a lot about personal conversion. It’s kind of been the focus in our mission this last month and my zone leader said something I really liked in our last district meeting. He said that our purpose is to invite others to COME unto Christ. We aren`t inviting them to "go find Christ" we invite them to come. Which means that we have to BE with Christ to be able to invite them to come experience what it is that we have experienced. I really liked that. And I have been thinking about that a lot, in where am I in my personal conversion. It’s something good to think about :)

Well, the time always goes so fast and once again I don`t have time to respond individually to ya`ll but thank you for all your letters and support!

Les Querio mucho!!!!!!!!

Hermana Shelton

fotos:

The baptism of N., Hna Aquino, Nayara, Me, and L.

Second foto, so this is me outside our house. It just so happens that we live right next door to the Movimiento Misionero Mundial, which is an evangelical church that sings REALLY loud at night. We hear their sermons every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday nights :)

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Hey ya´ll!

I was thinking about you today, and that it was your anniversary. Happy 22 years!

This week has been super crazy, as is the mission. Big news! Our ward this last week received 2 new missionaries. I am now serving in a ward that has 6 missionaries! 4 Hermanas and 2 elders. It’s been a little bit hectic rearranging the boundaries of our areas, getting all the lunches figured out (since we eat lunch with the members every day they now have to feed 6 hungry missionaries instead of just 4!) moving the hermanas into their new apartment, and moving the elders into the old one. But I think it is going to be really good for our ward. Our areas are now smaller (which is so great-we can walk to all of our area now instead of taking the bus 50 times a day) And we are going to be able to focus even more on helping the less actives in the ward, and helping the ward meet their goal of dividing into 2 different wards this year. All the moms who have sons out serving missions are really excited to have elders in the ward as well :) It’s been crazy, but super fun. Our ward is our own district now, and everyone is joking that eventually we are going to be ´´zona begonias´´ haha.

We are also doing an activity with the zone that will last several weeks. Two times a week we all get together to work for two hours in one area. It’s called a blitz and its awesome! We are going to work for two hours in each area of the zone and I am excited for when they all come to our area :) Basically what we do is we get together, go on exchanges to get the chance to work with a different companion, and then we just go and contact as many people as we can in the area. If we can we teach lessons as well and then  we all get back together and the missionaries of that area have like, 40 references to visit! It is a great way to find new investigators and to get the work moving forward in an area. It’s also always really fun to get together as a zone :)

Speaking of the earthquake in Chile, we didn´t really feel it. Some people said they felt a little bit of trembling, but not much. But it definitely freaked everybody out here. There has been a lot of talk about ´´the big earthquake´´ that is expected to hit Peru but no one really knows. I´m not worried :)

I love that picture of you dad, with grandma and all your siblings. Tell grandma I am thinking about her! I also loved that story from Elder Talmage. It’s so true. 

Part of being a member and missionary is just living in such a way that those around you want to be a part of what we have. Showing the happiness and being an example is the best way we have to share the gospel.

Jess, thank you for sharing your story as well. Way to be an example of doing what is right, even when it may be a little uncomfortable, and for choosing to be with friends that lift you up. It’s all worth it!

Well, we have to go. I am thinking about you all and hope you have a wonderful Easter! Also, I can´t wait for mother’s day, when we get to talk on Skype! Love ya´ll!

Hermana Shelton

Faith moves mountains

              

Mi Querida Familia,

I hope you all enjoyed Conference as much as I did! I also thought of all of you and that we were all watching the same thing, at the same time. Every single conference is special, however, I had an experience in this conference that will forever make this conference stand out in my mind that I would like to share with you all. 

Sunday morning I was just feeling super happy to be in conference, in Peru, as a missionary. We had been working all week to get as many people as we could to come to conference, and it had worked! We had four investigators there (two that we have been trying for WEEKS to get to come to church) An entire family of less actives, ALL of our recent converts, all of the missionaries in our zone, and a ton of members from the ward, and other wards, that I know and love. I just felt so happy being surrounded by soo many people that I love and that are so special to me, and I was so excited that we were all going to get to watch conference, and especially listen to the Prophet President Monson. It was a feeling that I can`t explain. I was just, happy. So happy. And then conference started! .... and the opposition set in. For some reason, the internet connection decided to go bad right at that moment. We were all watching it via Internet in our chapel, and we had watched it without problems the day before, but for some reason, in that moment it went bad. It would play for about 4 minutes, and then pause. then it would start playing again.....and pause. It was like trying to watch a youtube video that hasn`t been loaded. At first it wasn`t too bad, the pauses weren’t too long and we were able to get in most of the first talk, but as the conference went on, the pauses got longer, and the portions of conference got shorter. The feelings in the chapel changed from peace and happiness, to frustration, and anger. MY feelings had changed from happiness, to frustration and anger, and sadness. I was just praying over and over again, "Heavenly Father! we have worked SO hard to get all these people here, and we just want to be able to watch conference! Please bless the internet connection to start working, please, I just want everyone to have a good experience." and....nothing. About 40 minutes into the conference we were still trying to get through the first talk, when they refreshed the page and it actualized and jumped to the talk that was going on at that moment. We don`t know how many talks we missed, but at least we were caught up with the rest of the world. For about....5 minutes. And then it paused again. And just...wouldn`t work. At this point the stake president got up, and apologized and said they were trying all they knew how to fix the problem but for some reason, it just wasn`t working. He suggested we all say a prayer that we would at least be able to listen to the prophet. At this moment the internet just...completely went out. Many people got up and left, and a lot of people were in tears just...frustrated. (me included) when we decided to do something. Two of the hermanas in my zone suggested that we sing hymns to bring the spirit back into the chapel and that we all pray that the internet would come back so we could listen to our prophet. (This was about an hour and 10 minutes into conference)So we did. I played the piano and together we all sang "Nearer my God to thee" and "I Know the My Redeemer Lives" At this point, there weren`t many dry eyes in the chapel, but not because of frustration, but because there entered such a sweet and overwhelming spirit to the room. After singing the two hymns we sat back down in our seats and tried the internet again. And it came back! ....but for about 5 minutes, and then it paused again. But we knew that it was almost time for the prophet to come on so we waited patiently, and then all of a sudden we heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, and then, President Monson stood up and started talking. And guess what? The internet worked perfectly. Without a single problem. The spirit in the room was SO strong. I just sat there with tears streaming down my face as I witnessed a miracle and as I listened to my prophet. 

I want you all to know that I KNOW that President Monson is a prophet of God. I know that God hears and answers our prayers and that he is looking out for us. It was such a sweet and special experience being able to listen to the prophet knowing that we were witnessing Gods hand so directly. Faith has the power to move mountains..., and to make the internet work long enough to listen to the prophet. It was an experience that I will never forget. My heart is still tender thinking about it. I kept breaking into tears all day yesterday, and I`m tearing up right now writing about it. :P (If I know you at all Mom, you`re tearing up as well ;)) 

I was able to watch the three other sessions without any problems, but what I got out of conference was an even stronger testimony of the importance of listening to a modern prophet, and of God’s love for us. Many other things as well! I loved Elder Holland’s talk, and it really stood out to me that the apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. I am really looking forward to being able to read the conference talks again and get to hear the talks from Sunday morning. (I know you just sent a package mom, but once conference comes out in the Ensign, could you send it to me? :) I would love to read them in English.) 

Uncle Ryan, thank you for sharing your experience! That’s awesome! Keep it up :)

I know I wanted to share other things with ya`ll, but they all kind of pale in experience to yesterday. :) I`ll try and send some pictures from this week!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Shelton

Eating Shrimp soup at a member's house between conference sessions

My beloved zona Canto Chico (We have cambios today)