Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Happy Earth Day!

First off I want to say how proud I am of my lovely sisters! So exciting to hear that Chelsey is officially a RDH! YAHOOO! All of her hard work is paid off! Also, so great to hear that Callie got into the Mayo Clinic and will be able to continue to learn and become an amazing nurse she has always been destined to be ;) and of course how can we forget that Brittney will be going to Nationals in Tennessee this June for HOSA. Wow....I have a lot to live up to with the examples my sisters are setting.  So happy for them and ALL of their accomplishments. Shine bright my darlings. ✨💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻✨

Had a bitter sweet week this past week. Three of our five investigators in our teaching pool dropped us. It was very sad, but we have planted good seeds in their hearts and when the time is right they will know where to go...darn agency. :) It wasn't sad that they decided to stop meeting with us, what was sad was that they withheld countless blessings from our Heavenly Father. We were talking with one of them about the Plan of Salvation. She told us how her and her family are bitter towards God because of the recent passing away of their loved ones. We bore our testimonies of how we know that death isn't the end that there is more life to live and how our families can be together forever. The spirit was so strong yet she didn't accept it. She just wasn't ready, it wasn't her time. We will keep in contact with them just to check up on them and let them know that we are here and ready to help and teach them when they are ready. 

Although we had to drop 3 of our investigators we were able to see several miracles. We were able to get in with a less active/part member family, the Miners. Such a sweet family. We have a return appointment next Sunday and will be taking Sister Allen the Primary Pres with us to help the kids get back into primary. I love the members in this ward. They are super chill and are so willing to help us. We have been able to help get them excited to do missionary work. More of the ward is on board with helping us find and teach investigators! We are super excited to see what blessings and miracles await as we keep working hard with the members in finding and fellowshipping! 

Oh my gosh we had zone conference this past week and then it hit me that I only have one more left....ugh....when the departing missionary's where bearing their testimonies I couldn't stop crying!!! It is going to be very hard to leave when it comes time to....oh well I will cross that bridge when I have to, right now I am going to act like I'll never go home...sorry mom! I am never going to leave Oregon!!! 

We were able to volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank this past Friday and boy was it fun! I loved it!! We all looked like cafeteria ladies with our hair nets, aprons and gloves. At the end of the shift we were able to send off almost 2 tons of food and per person, we were able to feed 210 families! So neat. We will be going every Friday to help out. We were able to talk with several members of the community which was a lot of fun. They know we are the Mormon Missionary's now! 

After church on Sunday, we were able to help out at the Faith Cafe (like a soup kitchen) and was able to serve dinner to the homeless. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed talking and visiting with them. We will be trying to go every Sunday if our schedule permits. I loved it! 

Well that's pretty much it from last week. We have a couple of investigators that we tracted into last week that we will follow up to see if they are really interested. (Keeping my fingers crossed). We also have another "eternal investigator" that we will be teaching more along the same lines as Rob Collins. We will teach the missionary discussions and hope and pray that it will go somewhere...we just never know when they will be ready, but I have faith that God knows and that as we love and invite miracles will happen! 

Now to end this email off with some spirituality!! 

So I have been going over the conference talks and I loved the talk on "choices" by our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I loved how he talked so simply and with great power! It reminded me of how my day to day decision really do determine my destiny. I loved how he compared it to the book "Alice in Wonderland." 

"...Most of you are familiar with Alice in Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You will remember that she comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each stretching onward but in opposite directions. As she contemplates which way to turn, she is confronted by the Cheshire Cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path shall I follow?” The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.” Unlike Alice, we know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life..."

"...May we choose to build up within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary--a real faith, the kind of faith which will sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right. Without such faith, we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish our goals..."

My favorite part was when he said, "May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong...if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice." 

I know that choosing the right isn't always easy, but choosing the right is ALWAYS right!! Sometimes that chooses that we have to make are between what is good, better, and best! Always remember to turn to prayer whenever you are having difficulty knowing what path you should take. I know that as we put Christ first in our lives that we are ALWAYS making the correct choice. He will never lead us down the wrong path. Follow him. Although it is a simple request it isn't always easy, BUT he will help us. I am grateful for the gospel and for the knowledge I have of the atonement that whenever I choose poorly I can always, Repent, Reset, and Refocus my sights on my Savior. He is the light and the way! 

I hope everyone has a great Earth Day on Friday...always remember to recycle and to wash out all of the cans and bottles that you do recycle ;)...dang the inner Oregonian is coming out...#hippy #takeCareoftheEarth #GoGreen! (I am not a tree hugger! just got to take care of our planet! Ha)   

Love you!!!
Elder Shaw

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