Monday, August 24, 2015

Record breaking transfer!

For the first time since my trainer I will be with a companion for more than a transfer (I know...I am a terrible missionary . . . missionary's just can't stand me ha). Also, for the first time since my greenie area I will be in an area for more than 3 months. I am super excited to be staying here for one more! We have a lot of good things happening so I am thrilled to keep working hard and giving my all every day. Hopefully we can get some baptisms! ;) It would be great for the ward. They haven't had a convert baptism in over 2 and a half years! Would be nice to get things rolling. How are we going to get one?  We have a couple of ideas. This week we finally got the list of all of the part member families in the ward (21) and we will be contacted them. We are also working very closely with the ward and the auxiliaries and getting them involved with the work by taking them out with us to lessons, having family nights with them (where we come over to their house for 15 to 20 minutes, share a lesson, and then invite them to exercise their faith by inviting their neighbors or those that they know to hear a message about the gospel), and by being supportive and helping them they best they can to fulfill their callings. We shall see how it goes. We have a couple of people that could possibly be baptized this transfer so we will keep trying with them and hopefully get them to the waters of baptism. Exciting stuff!!!

Also this coming transfer I am super excited! 7 out of 9 of the companionships in our zone will be training! (sadly Sister Anderson won't be here . . . but I hear that she will be white washing into a spanish area out in the country . . . Canby! Not exactly sure though, wherever she goes she will do so good!) So exciting to be surrounded by that wonderful greenie fire!!! I am pumped! Our zone has been doing fantastic! The APs called us last week and asked if we could be a pilot zone for the mission! They told us to focus on getting our progressing investigators baptized and also to keep finding new people to teach. We shall do our very best! I love these wonderful missionary's here!

This past week has had its ups and downs. We had 8 lessons cancel!  :/ Ouch that was rough . . . but on the bright side we were able to have several service opportunities! On Friday we were able to be involved with a function called "Hoop Camp," where children with disabilities come to play basketball and just have a great time! I was in charge of checking in all of the volunteers and then after that I watched a boy named Joey. Joey is a gem! He is 11 and is the funniest and also one of the most stubbornest kids I know. I was able to shoot hoops with him and keep him occupied for 6 hrs. It was quite the task, but boy did I love it! Such a sweet kid. I just couldn't keep my smile off of my face the entire time! I love serving my brothers and sisters. They are such choice spirits! Felt so much love for them!

Had several funny yet awkward/funny stories this week . . . most seemed to happen in the car. The first one was when we were driving and I was stopped at a stop sign and saw some cyclists coming so I was being nice and stopped, thinking that they were going to pass . . . it was so awkward they just stared at me, gave me a funny look, and then turned the other way . . . awk. Then after church, we got into the car, but then I saw someone who we needed to talk too so I got in real quick, started the car, and then instead of pressing the break I pushed the gas real hard and the engine roared . . . that isn't the awkward part, not only did everyone look at us, but all of the young women were several yards away from the car so it looked like I was reaving the engine at them . . . super awk . . . I laugh super hard though! Then we had a lesson with a part-member family this week, but while we were teaching, their dog kept farting and it smelt soooooo bad . . . I was dying . . .I needed a gas mask or something! I couldn't breath! I just kept laughing at myself because of the smell and the looks and faces that were coming from Elder Kaiser! hahaha! So funny! Also I love the members that we live with, Mama Morris and Brian. I have been scaring Mama Morris so much this week! It has been hilarious! Hiding behind doors, around corners etc. So much fun! Feels like home. Love the Morris's! They treat us like family!

Today we will be cleaning things, getting things ready for the new missionary's, going to the transfer swap to welcome the new missionary's, and hopefully getting a break in between. Its gonna be crazy!

Scripture for the week!!

Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

What do you treasure? Is your heart in the right place? Part of my heart will always be in Oregon! :)

I love you all! I appreciate you all! Have a wonderful week! Have a laugh here and there, smile, work hard, and live life to its fullest!!!

All my love and more,
Elder Shaw

Monday, August 17, 2015

Wow . . . It's Monday again! 

Time keeps flying by! We had another busy, yet awesome week!

On weds we had zone meeting which went fantastic! We were at the church from 8-6!! We had interviews with president from 8-10 and then from 12-6, with zone meeting from 10-12. I had my interview with president at 8 and then while other members from the zone where having their interviews, Elder Kaiser and I sat down with each member of the zone and went through their area books, talked about how their area was doing, and helped them the best that we could so that the work will continue to move forward in their individual areas. It was awesome! Not only did they learn a couple of new tricks, but I did as well! We have fantastic missionary's in the zone...we are so blessed.



Overall zone meeting was great! We had awesome training and we all left the meeting feeling energized and pumped to continue our service in the lords work. We received a call from the AP's the following day after zone meeting, and they told us that the zone is doing awesome! Our stats were double some of the other zone's and they asked what our secret was.... Flushed face We told them that it was nothing that we were doing, but that we have amazing missionary's in the zone and that we are just working our butts off. :) Real neat to hear from them though....I guess we are doing something right!



We had several miracles throughout the week! We took a priest out with us on Thurs to go with us to lessons and while we contacted people. There was an investigator that was going nowhere and we were having a hard time contacting him and setting a time where we could teach him a lesson. We felt the prompting to go visit him and by our surprise we found him sleeping outside! Just chillin! We followed the spirit and talked about the Book of Mormon and gave a little intro to it. The spirit was so strong! We asked him several questions and ended up having a great discussion. After the lesson he paused and for the first time in forever he opened up to us. He talked about how he and his previous wife were investigating the church. His wife's sister was a member and one day they went with them to the temple, but weren't allowed to go inside (since they didn't have a temple recommended). Long story, but they got super offended and stopped investigating the church. We were able to explain to him that in order to go inside the temple, we need to do all that we can to be worthy to go inside; we need to be interviewed to make sure that we are worthy. After talking about other things we were able to clear up his objections and issues with the church and then we were able to invite him to the visitors center and to church. It was so cool!!!


The rest of the week we were able to contact several other investigators and have lessons with them. A part member family, the Horvaths are doing great! Daniel is super solid! Hopefully we can set some dates this week! We also contacted some of the less actives in the ward and reported back to the ward counsel yesterday. The ward is getting fired up for missionary work! We are soooo excited! Its gonna be a great week!

Quick thought for the week:


Alma 13:24 "For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory."


May we work beside the lord and help prepare the hearts of our heavenly fathers children for the savior's coming. Share your testimony, love and serve others and I know that you will be prepared for that day too!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Keep on keeping on! ;)

All my love and more,
Elder Shaw

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Busy with exchanges and meetings!



We had an exchange with hillsboro on weds to thurs. I stayed in Cornell with Elder Beard. I love him! He is so great. He only has 2 weeks left and then he is home...crazy. We were able to contact several people, teach several lessons and of course...have fun! Then on Fri through Sat I went over to the Glenco ward with Elder Stone. Really fun to go on another exchange with him and to be companions again. Had several awesome lessons! There was a man who was once excommunicated that we had a lesson with, and he was the sweetest guy. He pledged to stop drinking and has been clean since. He has the desire to change and to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. Such a sweet experience to watch and see someone change their lives for the better. 

Dog Walker!
Also on my exchange I was able to walk a dog for the first time!! Her name was Dolly and she was a spaz! She was literally walking me! hahaha! NEWS FLASH: LDS missionary getting dragged across the streets of Hillsboro by a dog, causes several accidents and received minor cuts and bruises from the incident. haha! 

We then finished the week with several lessons with part member families in the ward. It was great! On Sunday we had SPC at 5:30 and then after we had to drive to Lake Oswego for a visitor center fireside that we were in charge of. It was incredible. We invited Karen to speak, a returning member that we have been teaching, and she shared an awesome conversion story. She has grown so much! Then we had a man who left the church when he was little, bear a sweet testimony of the atonement. He was an alcoholic, and while so, his son committed suicide. He had a rough life, but then 3 months ago, while he was going through his son's things came across a Book of Mormon on his son's bookshelf. He began reading it and several minutes later, missionary's knocked on the door. Ever since he has been working on getting worthy to partake of the sacrament and yesterday was his 1st day in a while where he was worthy to partake. What a great day it was for that man. It was incredible! The spirit was so strong! It is goes to show that as we open our mouths and share our testimonies not only can we get strengthened, but so can others around us! 


Challenge for the week: 

Bear your testimony! Whether it be over social media, your family, friends, or at church. Open your mouths and watch your testimony strengthen as you share it.

Mosiah 3:24 "And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright testimony against this people.."

Sorry it is short this week! I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love you!
Elder Shaw

Monday, August 3, 2015

Happy August everyone! 

Can you believe that summer is nearly over . . . that was fast. I hope everyone had a great, productive and fun filled week! I know mine was.

So this week we had an exchange with the AP's on Tuesday. I stayed in Cornell with Elder Menlove. We saw several miracles. We talked with everyone! We didn't let anyone pass without talking with them about the gospel. We ended up getting a new investigator who has a young family that we will be meeting with this week! We are super excited!! The exchange was awesome! I learned so much and have been working hard on applying the things that I have learned.

On Wednesday and Thursday we took care of several zone things like supply orders, stats etc. before MLC on Friday. We also visited as many people as we could because we wouldn't have that much time left in the rest of the week to do so. Wednesday and Thursday flew by.

Friday we had MLC. It was crazy! Such a different atmosphere. A lot of new leaders in the mix. It went great. We talked about exchanges, our 90-Plans in the area, district meetings, zone meetings, and the majority of the conference was getting ready for the 31 new missionary's that we will be receiving at the end of August. Crazy . . . 25% of the mission will be out 3 months or less and only 25% will have been out for a year or more. Super excited for the mission to be swamped with "greenie fire!" We went over several trainings and talked about things to help change the culture in the mission. President told us that the zone leaders are the culture keepers in the mission and that we have to set the example and have our areas and ourselves be top notch. I guess I must be some things right because we got a couple shout outs from president and from the AP's. Just doing my best everyday . . . that’s all I can do! :) It was great though to see other missionary's at MLC I love chatting with them and seeing so many friends.


P-Day Fun!
On Saturday we had DLC which was awesome because a lot of the stress that I was feeling was relieved. I sometimes forget that there are people around me to help ease the burden of some things. Anyways we got a lot of business and information out and delegated things. We have a lot of things this week. We have exchanges on Tuesday and Friday, district meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, SPC on Sunday and also our Temple Visitor's Center fireside on Sunday night that we are in charge of. Keeping busy that is for sure! :)

Had a great week though. Surprisingly we were able to teach 20 lessons! Yay!

For P-day today we are at Mama Dewey's house for a BBQ! We will be chillin with the zone and playing some games. Should be loads of fun!

So my sister sent me a jelly bean game for me to play, and oh my gosh, Bean Boozle, it was hilarious! 

I hope everyone has a great week! Always remember who you and what you stand for! Always remember to never quit! Y'all are amazing!

Here is a scripture to get everyone through the week. I love it so much!

Hebrews 6: 10-15

     10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love,
     which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to
     the saints, and do minister. 
     11. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to
     the full assurance of hope unto the end:
     12. That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith
     and patience inherit the promises.
     13. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no
     greater, he sware by himself,
     14. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
     multiply thee.
     15. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Remember that as we do our very best every day and endure, our Heavenly Father will multiply our work so that we are able to do all things.

Love you all!
Elder Shaw