I LOVE my companion!

Me and Sister H

I LOVE my companion right now. And not just because she's from AZ too. We have so much fun together it's unreal! She really makes missionary work fun. And I'm not training her- she's training me! We might have too much fun together.... yesterday the stake presidency had us stand at the doors of stake conference and hand out programs.. and there were some really boring times when no one was coming in, so of course we had to do something to entertain ourselves! We were cracking jokes and singing really annoyingly and being obnoxious.  The stake president comes over and goes- "Do I need to split you 2 up?!" I think he was joking but it was funny. Oops. We just have fun! She reminds me of Lauren...  And thank goodness I love her because the area is struggling right now. We will have 2 baptisms (Holly and Delaney) and 2 reactivations (Brody and Tara)  in May- but after that we will have absolutely no one to teach. NO ONE. Like we teach 2 or 3 lessons a week. That is pathetic. In Layton we'd do 20 or so.... here it's a harder area but even with H we'd teach at least 7 or so. I don't know what's going on because we are being so obedient and working harder than I've ever worked! Seriously we work HARD. We knock doors as a last resort because that is just not effective. We're still doing our monthly youth fireside- had one last night, and the turn out was not so good... lots of youth there preparing for missions (which is great) but no less actives or non members- which is why we set it up in the first place! We fasted yesterday that we would find new people to teach so PLEASE keep us in your prayers! Specific people we are working on right now- Kerr family,  Sababcheck family (spelled that way wrong), Bentley family, Brooks and Carly. I know we're going to find someone this week- I can feel it!

Holly's getting baptized on Saturday (if all goes according to plan) and Delaney next Saturday (again... if all goes according to plan). Brody and Tara are doing great. We've been trying to get them to say personal prayers- especially Tara. she just doesn't feel the need- ya know? Well, we randomly got a text from her this week saying Paislee (one year old daughter) has been waking up in the middle of the night crying from nightmares. Tara and Brody said a little prayer together before bed for her and Paislee slept through the night. This might not seem like a big deal to you- but it was life changing for me! I was freaking out and happy all day long, hahah - yayyy someone's actually listening to us! They have made SO much progress- it would blow you away!

Want to hear a missionary's nightmare story? seriously- get ready for this one. We were teaching an investigator named Sana. She lives with her mother in law who's an active member. Sana’s a partyer, she likes drinking and partying and having fun, whatever. She has kids. We bring a nice mom from down the street to her lessons and she brings her 2 little kids.  There's the background story. So we're teaching a lesson... the spirit’s really strong, she starts crying.... it's awesome. Then her mother in law goes, "can I say something?" "Uhh, sure" (expecting something spiritual). "I can't do this anymore," and she goes OFF about how Sana's irresponsible and she needs a job and she needs to grow up and take care of her kids and get her life together, blah blah blah.... Like, what?  Thank you... Sana starts crying- now out of fear and embarrassment... and runs out of the lesson. She BOOKED IT. So picture this- we're stuck in the living room with the sweet mom down the street, her confused little kids, and this mother in law who is STILL venting up a storm. She goes on for 10 minutes or so and then goes, "what do I do, Sister Shields?!" Heck if I know; you could start by calming yourself down, bro..... JK, I didn't say that. I had no idea what to say and H was in shock, I'm pretty sure. So I said something dumb like, "just pray!" HAHA. And the little kids were like, "Where's Sana’s mommy? Why was she crying?" It was so sad! Anyways, it was a nightmare. Then the mother in law asked if we wanted to stay for lunch. Uhh............. how about not? It was terrible! So there goes one investigator. And our homeless ones are still MIA. And Chad in the hospital who we were teaching- has like West Nile or something. LOVELY. But life's good- I got to do some hair today and we had a party in the basement. And the AP's love me and are making me an STL next transfer (girl zone leader) - woooo hoooo! Have a great week, don't cut up any of my clothes this week (CLAIRE).

Heidi

Doing hair in our basement on P-Day - me with my first companions

Some cool mission stories for Dad

Daddy -
I thought I would write you some cool mission stories just for fun!  I might have told you some of these already ... But oh well.

In Layton ... we were out contacting people in the basketball court one day and ran into a guy named Marauis.  He agreed to take the lessons and gave us his address.  A couple days later we decided to stop by and ask him when we could come back and teach him.  So a black guy opens the door ... I, being stupid, just started talking, going on and on and on ... "can we come back tomorrow and teach you?"  He looked all confused but accepted.  I asked how to spell his name and he goes, "C-H-R-I-S."  What?!  This was definitely NOT the same guy we'd had that really good conversation with a couple days earlier!  I didn't know how to be like, "so, uhh .... where's Marauis?"

We were totally NOT expecting him to show up at that appointment.  We were having a really bad day and decided to go get ice cream.  We were running late to the appointment already and didn't think it was even worth showing up for.  My comp goes, "wait - what if he's ready?!  What if it IS his time?"  So we went over.  He did remember about the appointment.  We taught him the first lesson and he accepted baptism right then and there!  CRAZY!  He's  now engaged and preparing to go through the temple (in 4 months). Yay!

We were trying to teach a girl named Amanda the importance of the Word of Wisdom.  She was also struggling with making a big decision in her life.  We told her one of the best places to receive answers is during sacrament meeting while they're blessing the sacrament.  She was SO excited to try it out!  She come into 9:00 church that Sunday and she looked terrible.  She sat next to me and told me she'd been partying the night before and was super hung over.  The talks in church that day were so perfect for her - like PERFECT.  Someone told their conversion story and how they were baptized ... like, it was just good.  She turned to me at the end of the meeting and says, "that was really good.  I didn't feel anything though.  I guess that's why there's the Word of Wisdom; it blocks the spirit."  Ding ding!!  She stopped drinking after that, yay!

Butch was like 80 years old and had been going to church for 5 years straight but refused to get baptized because of his smoking problem.  He'd had multiple sets of missionaries who'd tried everything to help him quit.  One day in a lesson we shared Alma 7:11 with him.  A couple days later, he told us he'd quit smoking.  When we asked him how, she said he memorized that scripture and recited it in his head every time he was tempted to smoke!

Delaney is 14 and knew nothing about the church.  Nothing. We went to temple square with her around Christmas time and we were looking up at the Christus.  She turned to me and said, "if we get perfect bodies when we're resurrected, why did Christ still have scars?"  I can't remember what I said, but she added, "I guess that just goes to show that he literally gave up everything for us."

I already told you the story of Brody and Tara and the Book of Mormon.  And multiple times we've gone to visit someone and they've driven up like right as we drive up - when we've been there like 50 times and no one has ever answered the door.  Weird cool stuff like that happens all the time!  Well, that's all I can think of for now.  Happy Birthday!

Love, Heidi

Hazardous fumes ...

Kim cleaning the black mold out of our bathroom with us!

Well to start...... This morning we were awakened by Kim barging into our apartment with all of Home Depot. We went to work on our bathroom. I don't know if I can describe to you how funny it was to see her take a crow bar to our baseboards in that tiny bathroom. And she was like, high off of bleach fumes hahaha. CLASSIC. This week we also put 2 investigators on date! Delaney (finally) has a set date and time. It's OFFICAL, GUYS. Saturday May 10th at 2:00 pm. We booked the church so no one can change their minds. Kim's trying to find her a baptism dress..... Delaney's like 6 foot (literally) okay? Kim's looking at 8 year old poofy baptism dresses... for a 6 foot 14 year old girl.... anyways hopefully we'll find a good alternative. Also- we put Holly on date! Can't remember if I've talked about her before (this isn't the Holly we live with). Holly is 23, her husband is an inactive member and they live with his active parents. I have been teaching her ever since I got in the area, when her mother in law called us up and said her daughter wanted to take the lessons. She's so solid and always has been- the only hold up was a little prescription drug issue. She did the 12 step program and is now good to go! She was scared to talk to her husband and tell him she wanted to be baptized- she thought he would be mad because he doesn't have good feelings towards the church. So I've been trying to get her to tell him for literally 3 months. She finally did and he said she could do whatever she wants. The only tricky thing.... if she was to move out of her in-law's- what's the chance she'd stay active? I don't know. She's adorable though and I could not be happier for her. She's being baptized on the 4th- that's TWO baptisms TWO weekends in a row! Yay! 

Brody and Tara came to church this week. They are the less active couple who I've been teaching forever who didn't start progressing until we read the Book of Mormon with them. The ward mission leader hooked them up with church clothes (perks of living in a rich stake) and they commited to come to the first hour.... ended up staying 2 hours- yay! Guess what the lessons were on? The Book of Mormon. How perfect is that? I was worried they wouldn't feel welcome... picture this: a ward full of picture-perfect Molly Mormon newlywed couples, 60+ year old couples, or 90 year old widows. That's the ward for ya. And Tara is tall and pretty with long hair and has some tattoos.  Then Brody is short, stocky, has red hair that he wears in a pony tail, a red beard, tattoos everywhere and gages. Surprisingly, Brody was talking to everyone! He made a bunch of new friends and was having the time of his life looking through all the cool stuff on the LDS tools app. I was shocked but like... okay, I'll take it! And they read their reading assignment this week! How weird is that? It's really cool to see people who obviously have never cared about church and know almost nothing accept the gospel and actually make an effort. I can't tell you how cool it is.

I LOVE my companion- we have so much fun together! Everyday's a party. Sister H (last comp) writes Holly (one we live with) and Kim, and has said her new comp isn't very nice to her and isn't very obedient... I think she really misses me- not to toot my own horn or anything. It's really kind of sad- I feel bad for her!

The hospital is on flu lock down so we haven't been teaching anyone there for a while.

A few days ago I ran into Charlotte Haws’ mom Rachael. They literally live 5 houses down from the Binghams (where I live) and I NEVER knew!

Easter was SO fun! Kim reserved us for Easter weeks ago so we spent the whole evening there. Jason made us a huge wonderful dinner of steak and vegetables and yummy things.... then Kim probably spent $50 on each of our Easter baskets. She's so funny.... Her 2 oldest girls who live in Salt Lake came down too and we got to hang out with them. They are both inactive and do not have good feelings towards the church so I tried my best to sneak spiritual stuff into the conversations. They are so fun though- I love them. With their 4 girls- it feels just like being home! Plus they are super into artsy stuff so we molded a bunch of cute stuff out of clay and drew pictures and painted and such... so fun. 

Being on a mission is so fun. Sometimes. Sometimes it sucks. Most of the time it sucks. But sometimes it's really awesome. Especially when people actually keep their appointments and open their doors for you and decide they want to come to church and decide to get baptized and tell you that you changed their lives and such... that's pretty cool. One thing the mission has taiught me- homes without the gospel CAN be happy.... but if a home has the gospel, it's guaranteed to be happy. Not perfect- but happy. And more peaceful than it normally would be. 

Note for all of the not-Mormon people who receive this email:
 if you want missionaries to NOT bug you do the following:

-have sprinklers in your yard on ALL DAY LONG
-get 5 ugly stinky dogs

if you want a sign that says "missionaries actually have some potential here" do the following:

-smoke weed with the windows open
-put a cross on your door
-mow your lawn on a Sunday

just random tips and tricks hahahhaha HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK. Someone go to the gym for me!

Heidi

New Companion!

It's a wonderful life in the mission! I have a new companion- Sister Hamblin - from..... ARIZONA! Yayayyy! She's fresh out of the MTC. She's from Eagar and her closest Walmart is Show Low, the closest mall is in Mesa, so that’s fun. We have identical personalities and we have so much fun together! I seriously love her. She's a hard worker and a great teacher. It will be a wonderful 12 weeks, America! I was thinking I was going to leave the area and was totally prepared to do so.... I was thinking this area was dead and I have nothing left to do here- how wrong I was. We did the math- we have 7 current investigators. 5 have accepted baptism and are SO close! All of the lessons we taught this week went so well... like almost TOO well, haha. We are teaching this husband and wife- Melanie and Sergio. they live out of their car..... long story- can't type it out right now. But last lesson I assigned them to read the intro to the Book of Mormon. This lesson they said they read the intro, the testimony of the witnesses and through chapter 5 of 1st Nephi. AND they did the homework assignment at the end of the first lesson. Like, what? It was unreal, I was shocked, hahah. But they accepted baptism so we should be close with them!  The bishop finally ok'd Jason to confirm Delaney- Kim's trying to pick a date.... blek..... it could be a while, haha.

(Later that day...)
So yeah- lessons are going well. My companion worked as a makeup artist in the Fiesta Mall right before she left so we have fun together. We did a lot of yard work this week.. Funny story:  the Bingham's (family we live with) wanted help in their garden. So we were manure-ing it and using one of those tillers to till it in??  Then they had us go through and pick the big rocks out. I picked up what I thought was a rock.... and then realized that this was definitely not a rock...... It was a small skull. Brother Bingham walks over and goes, "oh, there's Lola." WHAT?!  We had dug up the family's deceased dog! I was mortified, of course. And guess what me and Hamblin spent the next hour doing? Picking BLONDE WAVY DOG FUR out of their garden soil. I'M NOT KIDDING. Brother Bingham kept saying, "Sisters- don't tell Kolleen......" hahahha Kolleen... you have to know her. She's like Sister Doane. She is the sweetest, most sensitive lady you've ever met! So we met Lola- the Bingham's dog. Who died in 1991. Isn't that lovely? Then we found out from the neighbors that Lola did not have blonde wavy fur. So there's a possibility that we met another family pet. Me and Hamblin laughed about that for seriously like the next 3 days straight, hahaha. So that's what's new here.

I'm not saying this because I'm stuck up, but the members here LOVE me. like ADORE me. They keep saying, "you are meant to be in this area- we hope you never leave," "you're still here?! and training another one?! how lucky are we!" "we better invite all our friends to hear the lessons now before Sister Shields leaves!" "We just need to add your name to the ward list because you basically live here!" Lovely. I do love this area though! It's the best! I do like feeling appreciated though..... that's nice.  People think I'm way better than I am, that's for sure.

Robyn's baptism looks wonderful! AWESOME for inviting the friend. That's perff. And so does Kayla's prom....lucky duck.  I do love the mission though...

Hope everyone has a great week!

Heidi

We took Lacey & Scott, two patients from South Davis Hospital, to do confirmations at the temple

Conference Weekend

Breakfast with members on conference Sunday

Well, we just got the news of transfers tomorrow - I was CONVINCED i was going to leave the area because I've been here 4-1/2 months.... but I'm STAYING! This is really bittersweet..... I had totally prepared myself to go- I feel like I have helped the people we're teaching right now as much as I can- ya know? I even started writing goodbye letters and telling people I was leaving.... plus the work here is really slow guys, hahah - like really slow. I was looking forward to a fresh new start. The good news is- I love this area. I love the Binghams (who we live with) and all the members. I LOVE the Bleaks- I wish i could express to you the huge 180 change they've made over the past couple months. We got to go to the afternoon session of conference with them yesterday and Kim was like, all emotional because she thought I was leaving.... she kept hugging me and insisted on sitting next to me everywhere we went... then last night she said a verbal family prayer (probably the only one she's ever ever said in that house) about how thankful she was that me and Hyden were sent there to help them .... it was sweet. Anyways- it will be nice to stay here with them for a while. I guess that means they still need some foundation building before I can leave! Hyden is going to Layton and she's really upset and nervous, I can tell. She loves this area (I don't blame her) but she will do great. She's at this point where she only likes teaching selective people... (I've been there too). Like old people and being down at the South Davis Hospital KILL her hahah; she hates it. I used to be like that in Layton and then all of the sudden I got here and just love everyone to death. Which really helps missionary work- let me tell you! I hope I trained her well enough! I'm excited to have the opportunity to train again. I LOVE training. mostly because I can take charge..... hahahha, not gonna lie.

Probably 80% of our appointments fell through this week.... it was just lovely. We were supposed to go to Conference on Saturday with our investigator Holly (not the Holly we live with) but she backed out an hour before! Like what is this? And we can't go to Conference unless we have an investigator... but we still got to go to one session though, and that was awesome. Especially sitting next to Kim, who tells everyone around us (loudly of course) "these are our missionaries, my 14 year old daughter is being taught because she's not baptized because we were inactive." Way to lay it out there kim! Not to mention the fact that we almost died driving there in her Lincoln because she's the scariest driver I've ever seen.... and we were almost late because she had to stop at a gas station and pick up literally 15 bottles of Coke... on a Sunday..... and the metal detector went off when she went through security at the conference center so they had to wand her or whatever that's called.... she like, ripped up her skirt to show she didn't have any weapons in her nylons... Like you just have to know her, hahhahah! Her girls were so embarrassed but I was having the time of my life.

Side note on the people we're teaching- Brody and Tara are doing awesome. this past week at the lesson- Brody asked the ward mission leader, Brother Cook, if he could go to priesthood with him next week. Also Brother Cook brought Brody a gift certificate for Mr. Mac so he can go get a suit and he got Tara a gift card for Nordstrom. Like how awesome is that? Brody was crying when he handed that to him... which is weird- Brody's covered in tats and has gages, by the way. That was awesome though. Sio- haven't heard from him. Hope he's alive. Bleaks- REACTIVATED. Baptism in the future \m/ (that's the rock on symbol me and Lauren use all the time hahah). that's all the time I have for updates, sorry; but pray for these people please and have a great week! Wish I could be at Robyn's baptism!

Heidi