Elder Rhett Aaron Shaw

BOO!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!....crazy to think that October
is almost over...less than two months till Christmas!!! 

We are serious about Missionary Work!

This past week was great! Josh and Aaron are set for baptism on the

21st of Novemeber. (keep forgetting to get a picture with them and

their family, but I keep forgetting :/ ) Drew keeps opening up to us.

I am sure that he will get baptized right after his son's do. ;) He is

so solid. We had dinner with their family last week and I had a really

good discussion with him about the word of wisdom (a small hurtle). He

had a question about coffee and I simply told him that I see it as an

act of faith; Heavenly Father wants to see if we will obey him when we

don't understand the reasonings behind all things. When we trust the

Lord and give some things up he in turn blesses us so much more! HE

WILL BE BAPTIZED!!! Time will tell! They are moving in to their new

place this weekend. We will be able to meet with them more because

right now they are living with his grandmother who hates "mormon's,"

and want us to come over and teach in her home. We are super excited

for this wonderful family!

We were able to find a couple new investigators this past week by opening our mouths and talking with the people we meet...I am likeing it more and more...We had an exchange on Friday this week with
Oregon City 1st Elders. I went over there with Elder Casey. HE IS SOOOO FUNNY!!! I was laughing what it felt like every minute. Over the 24 hr period we tracted for 9 hrs!!!! That was the most that I have tracted on my entire mission. It was great for the most part. Thank goodness that most of the people here are nice and friendly (...may be my charm...haha JK!) While street contacting we talked with a man named Jim and had a great 
conversation about the gospel and the Book of Mormon. 
He was active in another faith and wasn't interested at first with what 
we had to say. But then I listened and asked him about his faith and 
helped stir some curiosity and had him consider the message we had 
to share. It was great! At first he was very standoffish, but then he was 
left with a good taste in his mouth about the church. I noticed that as 
missionary's really see other's the way our heavenly father does and 
love the people that they become more likely to accept or consider your 
message. We need to show that we care. I also learned to make sure 
that we smile! WE ARE SHARING "GOOD NEWS!'' I have found through 
experience that as we physically show how much joy the gospel blesses 
us with that people are more likely to be interested in what we have to 
share. We live in a gloomy world, brighten it with your smile and joy! A 
smile goes a long way. Share with others the many blessings that we 
enjoy by living and accepting the gospel!

On Saturday, We had the pleasure of hearing from Elder Manyes of the Seventy. (He spoke in last conference). It was great!! We talked about how we can demonstrate good leadership skills and how we can best help these young missionary's that we are training reach their highest potential. It was empowering! He then opened it up for questions. It was a wonderful meeting! I learned a lot. Here are some short thoughts that I felt prompted to write down:

Try to always be optimistic and have a positive attitude

Leadership can be a lonely place to be, you are never alone. You always have the Savior by your side

Never lower your expectations or your effectiveness will decrease

Leader learns the 1st time and applies it immediately

How much faith do we have and how hard are we willing to work!

On Sunday we had another DLC with our district leaders. Our zone is
doing AMAZING! We have been having at least 2 baptisms each week 
in our zone of 24 missionary's in 12 areas. I don't know if I said this
already, but our mission goal is to have each area have a baptism
before Christmas. We are well on our way.

It was a wonderful week! I hope everyone was able to bear their
testimonies of the Savior last week and that we all will continue to
do so! I love this gospel and the opportunity that I have full-time to
share it with others.

Guess who I saw on P-Day?

Short Thought for the Week:

While in my studies this week, I came accross a CES Devotional that I
loved. It was by Kathy Kipp Clayton and was titled, "A Regal
Identity." It talked about understanding who we truly are: we are of
noble birthright and have value and worth. There is a story that I
would like to share from her talk:

"...Some years ago my husband, our youngest son, and I lived in
Argentina on assignment from the Church. Our son and I particularly
made something of a career of visiting local sites of interest in our
free time. We had a few favorites. Among them was a wild and wonderful
zoo unlike any zoo we had ever seen before. Rather than wander past
cages of sleepy animals and admire them from afar, the Lujan Zoo
invited visitors to enter the pens and pet the animals--even the most
notoriously wild ones. We couldn’t resist that invitation. Following
the trainer, we made our way into the enclosure prepared for the very
large, very intimidating lions, and we petted them while they seemed
to fully ignore us.

Once we had safely left the enclosure, I asked the trainers how in the
world they could have convinced those giant beasts not to eat us.
Their answer was fascinating to me. They called my attention to the
several little dogs who likewise inhabited those pens. They told me
that one of the things that they had done was to raise the lions with
those dogs constantly at their sides. When the lions were very small,
those yappy dogs were bigger than the lion cubs. The dogs believed
that they were in charge, and they chased the lions mercilessly and
nipped unkindly at their heels. The baby lion cubs became accustomed
to cowering in the corner and behaving as if they were terribly afraid
of the pesky little dogs.

When the lions grew, they continued to cower in the corner and fear
the small dogs. With the flick of a paw, any one of those large lions
could easily have sent those dogs flying clear out of the pen, but the
lions didn’t see themselves as they really were. They were painfully
unaware of their regal identity. They were stuck and limited by a
mistaken notion of their potential. They thought they were small and
weak, so they allowed pesky, persistent dogs to control and intimidate
them. I fear that we all have some pesky little dogs that squash our
confidence and keep us cowering in figurative corners.

You undoubtedly have pesky dogs that are uniquely yours. We all do.
Don’t let them define you. Behave as the regal children of God that
you are. That is your birthright. If your behavior doesn’t currently
match the level of your regal identity, make changes. With the help of
heaven, you can do it. Your divine identity is lasting. Just because
those lions weren’t behaving in brave, powerful ways didn’t make them
cease to be lions..."

Always remember who you are. As you do you will find strength and help
in making righteous decisions because you know who you truly are.
Never lower your standards for nobody. Always shoot for the very best!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween and a fantastic week.

I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support!

Love,
Elder Shaw