It's the Final Countdown!

So...... I guess this is it? That's what all y'all's emails said. Apparently I'm coming home this week. It doesn't even feel real! I don't feel like this will or should ever end! North Carolina has become my home! My heart will always be full of all the people I have met and who have influenced my life for the better.

Weeks with Holidays are always interesting as a missionary. Usually they are full of visits with members, but not so many investigators because they are either busy or out of town. 

​We built a fort! :) I love Sister Badger! <3

This week we spent our dark hours re-writing the words to "The 12 Days of Christmas" and making signs to go along with our song.... it is posted on Facebook if you want to see what I'm talking about. We had a lot of fun doing it and I am definitely going to miss Sister Badger a LOT! We have become good friends.

Thanksgiving was fun! We had lots of food and ate with a really big family, the Coombs. Brother and Sister Coombs are so sweet! I feel blessed to have been able to spend part of the day with them.



Sister Coombs and me on Thanksgiving

 

As I thought about my many blessings on this week, I realized that I could honestly go on forever with all the amazing things I have in my life!

- family (I honestly think we have the best family in the world)

- friends

- the gospel (scriptures, prayer, the spirit, the atonement, temples, priesthood, etc.)

- technology

- nature

We are so very blessed to live where and when we do. 

We did get to see Allean and talk with her, but she is still feeling pretty sick so she didn't get to come to church yesterday. No one came to church yesterday. But I got to speak about "standing as a witness of God." It was really interesting to think about what that means. As a missionary it is something you do every day because you are talking with lots of people and you have a name tag on that identifies you as a representative of Jesus Christ and His church. But everyone can be a witness of God as they do the little things every day. As we stand as an example and do what we know God wants us to do.

Today we are going to see Sister Thompson one more time and then we finally have an appointment to teach Jay tomorrow right before transfer meeting. 

Love y'all so much and I am very excited to see you in a few days (or weeks... whenever you can make it Erin!) 

Signing off..... Sister Shurtz

Missionary Work Means Helping Members, Too!

Where to begin! We were on bikes this week... and it has been COLD! Luckily we got the car back today and it is starting to warm up. It is also lucky because I need to ship my bike home this week.

This week we did a lot of visiting teaching with our Sisters in the ward. It is a great way to remind everyone to do their visits and to get to know people in the ward that we don't know. We met a lot of less actives this week and a lot of active members that we just never get to see!

We went out to lunch with Sister Nichols this week and were able to hear about her story of how she joined the church 30 years ago. She said that about a month before she met the missionaries coffee started tasting bad. She completely lost her desire to drink coffee and her husband went from smoking 5 packs a day to not smoking at all. Talk about prepared!!!!

We had a lesson with the Parrish's after that and also with Allean. They are finally understanding the message we are sharing with them and why we believe it is so important to be baptized by someone holding proper authority, but it doesn't mean that they like what we are telling them or that they are ready to accept it. 

Everyone has been getting sick! Luckily it has avoided me, but every time we call someone I feel like they are sick or their children are sick. Sister Badger has been sick this week as well. Luckily she has only had a bad cold and not the stomach bug that's going around. But because of everything going around, we had a lot of cancellations this week.

Our neighbor/investigator Ruth came and asked if she could move in with us this week. She lost her job about a month ago and has been applying to a lot of jobs, but hasn't had any offers. She is pretty desperate and doesn't know what to do. It is so hard to be put in a situation where you are teaching someone who doesn't take what you have seriously until they feel it can help them financially or in a worldly way. She isn't really interested in our spiritual message, only our resources. 

Saturday marked my 18 month mark since I entered the MTC. It doesn't feel like I'll really be coming home in a week and a half. We did a lot of biking and while we were riding next to a main road, a man stuck his head out of the window of his car and yelled, "Hey Mormons!" We laughed pretty hard.

Sunday was wonderful! We had Jay come to church and so did Sarah Hearn! She drove all the way over to Knightdale yesterday to come to church and see me. She also packed a picnic lunch for us, but because it was still a little cold and it was raining, we just used a classroom in the church and had lunch together. I love her so much! We were able to talk a lot about how she can answer questions when faced with opposition about her new faith. She is an amazing example of being "truly converted."

Me and Sarah Hearn.  Love her!

That's about it folks! I am looking forward to see you soon and spending the holiday season together. I love you!

Love,

Sister Shurtz

I Love Being a Missionary!

Sister Badger and I Biking Through a Cemetery

Well I forgot my planner... so we'll see how much of this week I can remember. 

Monday night we had dinner with the Jones family. They have a 2 month old who is so cute and smiley! There are a lot of babies in the ward and it is making me really grateful that I get to go home and hold children again soon!

Tuesday we had a lesson with Ify. She is a new investigator from Nigeria and she is very VERY Catholic. She listened to our message and gave great answers to every question we asked her. When we tried to introduce the Book of Mormon to her, she refused to take one. We have a lot of members from Nigeria or who have a Catholic background, so hopefully they will be able to come to our next lesson with her. After our lesson with her we had knocked on a lot of doors of less actives or potentials in the area, but no one was home! I love being a missionary! That night we had dinner with the Moreno family and then headed to the church for our Relief Society activity. We had a craft night where we made lots of different things. There was a Sister from our ward who taught us how to level and decorate a cake. We decorated mugs and made some cute other little things and we made frames with a picture of Christ and "The Living Christ" in it. It was fun and Jay was able to come and have a good time. No we have not been able to teach her at all yet because everyone here has been getting sick. I love being a missionary!

Wednesday we had district meeting and then went on exchanges. Sister Andersen came to Knightdale with me and we had a great day. We contacted a couple of referrals and then taught Allean. She still isn't quite getting it.... but she's getting there! I love being a missionary!

Thursday we switched back and we had a good day. We stopped by a lot of houses and met a lot of less active members. We also had a really good lesson with the MacDonald family. They are a young couple who is expecting their first baby. They are so sweet! I love being a missionary! That night we had supper with the Cottle family. They just moved into the ward and they used to live in Pittsboro a couple of years ago! It was fun to talk about that little town and the wonderful people there. I love being a missionary!

Friday we went to the Kirby's home and spent all day with Skyla. She is one of the girls who got in the really bad car accident a couple of months ago. She is now out of a wheel chair and is using crutches. We helped to move her room back upstairs, now that she can get up stairs. We cleaned, organized, and decorated her room. I love being a missionary! That night we had supper with Sister Smith. She is the BEST! We had a really long talk with her about how we can get the ward more involved and excited about missionary work. We were able to brainstorm so many good ideas and then we took them to PEC this week and they liked them! YAY! I love being a missionary!

Saturday we went to a service project that a member of our ward was in charge of... only to find that it had been canceled because it was "cold"! I love being a missionary! It was about 30 degrees, but the sun was out and we had dressed for cold weather, so we were able to still help plant some flowers and it was beautiful outside! We felt like we could stay outside all day! After that we stopped by a few more less active homes, but no one answered their doors. I love being a missionary!

Sunday we had Jay come to church and it was pretty good. She gets a little bored... and I'll admit that it was a little boring today in Relief Society. In sacrament meeting we got to hear from my friend Daniel Whitt again! He came and spoke about how members and missionaries need to work together. After church we had supper with the Foster family and tried to contact some people. We had a media referral for someone named Renee who wanted a Bible. She was very sweet and open and we ended up giving her a Bible, our card, a Book of Mormon (With Matt's testimony in it), and an invitation to the Stake Nativity activity. I love being a missionary!

It doesn't feel real that I will be starting to pack up my stuff next week... and I can't believe that it is Thanksgiving next week and then time for me to be getting on a plane. I just KNOW that it is going to snow in NC that week and that I'll be stuck here forever! Pray for no snow until after December 3rd! haha Have I mentioned that I love being a missionary!

Love y'all bunches!

Sister Shurtz

I bike! I'm a biker! I'm biking!

Yay! Bikes!

 

Last Monday night our appointment canceled on us so we got to go see Sister Thompson instead! She is the sweetest and funniest woman and I love getting to go see her. Especially because she feels neglected by her family while she is living in an assisted living home.

Tuesday we had a lesson with Allean... who still thinks we are Baptist. We have told her so many times that we are not Baptists and we have even started calling ourselves "Mormons" to help her see that there is a difference.

That night we went with Sister Bartholomew to visit a less active member and then we went with Sister Foster to visit Sister Rathavongsa. We had a really good lesson with her and her son, Dylan, about the Plan of Salvation. Every time I get to talk about God's plan for us it helps me to be even more thankful that I have this knowledge and that it has helped me to have an eternal perspective in life. Knowing that this life is not the end that we really can be with our loved ones again.

Wednesday morning was Zone Training meeting... and it was my last one. There is a bit of a tradition in the mission to ask all those missionaries who are going home go bear their testimony at the end of the meeting. It is so strange to be in that position all of a sudden. To look around the room and realize I have been out longer than all of the Sisters and most of the Elders. Still doesn't feel real!

That afternoon had a lesson with a great new investigator named Paris. She is 23 and super cute! We taught her about the restoration of Christ's church and she loved it. She is reading from the Book of Mormon this week and she said that she will get baptized in January!

After our lesson with her we knocked on a lot of doors and walked around the neighborhood until it was dark. Then we caught a ride with the Bartholomew family back to the church for our coordination meeting and we had dinner brought to us by a member so we could eat during our meeting. It was a good day and we were able to meet a lot of people, including some less active members.

Thursday was weekly planning and then we had a lesson with Risha. We haven't had a lesson with her since the day I came to Knightdale 2 months ago! It was a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and temple work. She really opened up and seemed to like everything we were sharing. She is feeling a little pushed or rushed, so we are going to take it slower with her and make sure we are going at her speed.

Friday we had a lesson with Sister Prevatte and then we knocked a lot of doors. There is one couple that we met a while ago and finally got to sit down and talk with them for a while. The first time we knocked on her door a couple of months ago she was just about to leave and didn't have time to talk but wanted us to come back. The second time we went by, only the husband was home. The third time we stopped by she was sick and didn't want us to catch her bug. The fourth time we tried to see them he had just fallen off of a ladder and broke BOTH of his ankles. Finally this time we went by they had a few minutes so we could talk and ended up leaving with cookies and brownies to snack on. They are so sweet and we hope that we can have a real lesson with them soon.

Saturday was a day of biking and not getting to talk to anyone! No one wanted to talk to us... all day. But we rode our bikes a lot! Sister Badger almost got hit by a car once.... but we did get our tires filled with air and it is amazing the difference that makes when you are trying to ride a bike! I decided that riding a bike is like life. When you forget to read your scriptures or choose not to go to church or are too tired to say your prayers you let a little bit of air out of your tires. At first you don't notice that much of a difference... but over time it gets harder and harder to ride. Then, as you repent, do the things you are supposed to do, come to church and partake of the sacrament it's like getting your tires pumped back up. Suddenly you realized how hard it was before and how much you didn't like riding your bike. Now with your tires full, you can ride longer and faster and it is much more enjoyable. 

 

Sister Badger on Her Bike :)

Jay was sick this week so we didn't get to see her. Ruth and Allean came to church and stayed for all 3 hours! It was really great! After church on Sunday we went to Bishop Marriott's home for dinner. She had a baby two weeks ago and their 4 children are all so adorable! It made me really excited to see Baby Glabe when I get home... and all the other kids too! 

After dinner we went to the Young Women's Evening of Excellence. It was really well done and the girls did a great job with everything. They are all so sweet and there are so many of them! There were probably 20 Young Women there and I know of some that were missing. 

This ward is really great and I love serving here! I have finally started telling everyone that I'm going home in 3 weeks and it is so touching to see how much they care even though I've only been here for a couple of months. 

It is exciting to hear about ways y'all are sharing the gospel and doing your best to be examples. Keep on keep'n on!

Love,

Sister Shurtz

30 Days and Counting...But, Who's Counting?

Sister Badger and I in front of our apartment

So today is November 3rd... that means in exactly one month I will be on an airplane. How crazy is that!?!?

This week has been a little more frustrating, but still very productive. 

Monday we had supper with the Rutter Family. They have the best Halloween decorations! They go all out! It was so much fun to get to know their family and see how "missionary minded" they are!

Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Bernhisel. As I was talking with Sister Bernhisel she said that she wants to move Sister Badger around to a different area every transfer so she can get everything and everyone organized! And then she said that she wants to move me around every transfer so I can help all the Sisters because as she said, "Who can hate Sister Shurtz?" Then I showed her the back of my name tag which has a sticker for each of my companions. I informed her that out of 13 transfers, I have had 10 different companions. I think I've been moved around enough! She laughed and took a picture of the back of my name tag. 

Wednesday we helped the Primary Presidency decorate for the Trunk or Treat activity that night. There were decorations EVERYWHERE! There were spiderwebs and a giant spider and lots of pumpkins! It was fun to help decorate :) 

 

 

All Decorated for Trunk or Treat

After decorating we had a lesson with Allean. We asked her if she likes the church she has been coming to with us and her response was, "Oh yes! I love that little Baptist church we've been going to! It reminds me of my ol' little church I used to go to." We looked at her and said, "Allean, do you think we are Baptists?" And she said "Yes! Good little Baptist girls." So there in lies the reason why she doesn't want to be baptized... She thinks we are Baptists too! 

Here is a picture of me with Mary (Allean's daughter) and Allean

After Allean's lesson we went to contact a referral by getting Sister Badger's hair cut. She is very nice and actually came to church a couple of weeks ago but only stayed for sacrament meeting. While we were there we met a man who is deaf! It made my day! He lost his hearing when he was 11, so he is really good at reading lips and I wouldn't have been able to tell unless he told me. It was fun to use some of my ASL with him and to get to hear his story. 

That night at the Trunk or Treat there were SO MANY PEOPLE! Allean came and so did our investigator Jay! I think I forgot to mention that I gave Jay the Book of Mormon with Jenny's testimony in it :) They all had a good time.

Sister Badger and I dressed up for the trunk or treat. She was a rain storm and I was a rainbow.

 

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were days full or trying to find people on the ward list. We want to try to meet everyone, so in the process we are finding a lot of people who have moved or are NOT interested. But we did find a woman, Dawn, who is interested in learning more. Her husband is a less active member and we have an appointment set up with them for later this week. 

Saturday we also went to a stake baptism day and Jay came! It was so good, but she has a LOT of questions. William doesn't want to talk with us anymore. Amanda hasn't been answering her phone. The Parrish's are still stubborn. But Sister Badger is amazing and we are working hard. 

Hope y'all have a great week!!! 

Love,

Sister Shurtz

Knightdale with Sister Badger

Sister Badger is my new companion and she is amazing! She loves organizing, so we have been organizing a lot of things to help us work better in the area. As soon as we finish that we will be able to use all of our energy out there working! We were born on the same day, April 6, 1993. She is from Provo, and also studied at BYU. I'm so excited and blessed to get to work with her!

Tuesday we had a lesson with Allean. She is wonderful, but still doesn't want to be baptized again. 

Wednesday we had district meeting and then we biked to the library to do facebook time and then we had a lesson at the church with William and Sister Downing. We talked a lot about the blessings that come from the church and how we can know that something is true. I was able to share my testimony with him of eternal families and how I know that we can be together forever because of the Priesthood and the temple. Still to no avail, he did not come to church this Sunday.

Thursday we started our organizing of the area. We got a new ward list because there were about 10 families who moved into the area in the last couple of months. We got to start from scratch. I put the whole ward into my GPS and we found which area they live in and we are making lists that will make it easier to work when we are out during the week. Sister Badger is amazing! She reminds me of Erin with how organized she is!

That night we had supper with Sister Iacabone and her children. They are so cute and we found out that she lives right across the street from our investigator Amanda!

Friday we found three new investigators! One is named Jay. She was a referral from the Spanish Sisters. She is looking for more peace in her life. We had Sister Cross come to a lesson with Allean and then she drove us the 15 minutes it takes to get to where Jay lives. When she opened the door she had a very confused look on her face. Come to find out she had just finished praying for guidance, peace, and direction! God answers prayers!!! 

Our other two investigators are Brother and Sister Parrish. They are an older couple who live up the street from us. I think I've mentioned them before... but they were first given a copy of the Book of Mormon 60 years ago. Now they are in their 90's. 

Saturday we biked to the library again and then went to visit Amanda and a former. Amanda hadn't been answering her phone all week and we found out that it is because she got her wisdom teeth pulled! Ouch! We tried a lot more people that day and found some great potentials. That night we had dinner with the Kirkpatrick family and then went to the adult session of Stake Conference.

One of the speakers was a friend from my freshman ward at BYU. Daniel is in the Raleigh 2nd ward and just returned from his mission in Brazil. After the meeting I walked up to him and said, "Hi Daniel!" He looked at me with a REALLY confused face and said, "Didn't your hair used to be brown? What are you doing here!?" I responded, "Doing the work! What are you doing in my area!?" haha it was fun to see an old friend.

Sunday we had Stake Conference and Jay came! She was a little surprised by how different it was, especially because we were watching a broadcast to our building and there were some changes in the Stake Presidency. She is willing to come next week and give it another chance before she decides if she likes it or not, but the music is the thing that threw her off the most. We are a lot more reverent than she is used to.

After church we walked around our neighborhood and met a woman named Betty. She is amazing and is our new investigator also! She took a trip earlier in the year to Jerusalem and we were able to talk a lot about Christ's life. As we were explaining the Book of Mormon to her we told her it was a record that was buried to keep it safe. Her reaction was, "Did they ever find it!?" We were able to tell her "YES!" We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon with Avary's testimony in it and she loved it! Thank you so much Avary for sharing your testimony! It means a lot to Betty!

I love being a missionary! I love teaching people about Jesus Christ and being taught by other's and their amazing experiences. I love North Carolina! I feel so blessed to be here and be able to serve the Lord. 

Love y'all! 

Sister Shurtz

'Dying' in Knightdale!

Transfer News! Sister Zoolakis is leaving me... :( We kind of figured it would happen because she has been here for 4 transfers now. But that doesn't mean we are happy about it! This also means I will be ending my mission, or "dying" in Knightdale.

Monday was a half preparation day. We did a lot of walking and talked to a lot of people! We even had people come up to us and ask us questions! That's the best!!! After supper we went to visit a couple who live up the street from us, the Parrish's. John and his wife first talked with missionaries 60 years ago and still have their Book of Mormon's! They have never joined the church, but the only thing stopping them is that they are in their 90's and pretty set in their ways. 

Tuesday was Deep Clean Day! We had a couple of lessons in the morning with Allean and with Sister Prevatte. Then Sister Coombs took us out to lunch. After that we spend a few hours cleaning everything! The grossest thing was the seal around the refrigerator.... lets just say it was supposed to be white/cream and it was more of a green/brown/black color. We got out some bleach to try to kill the mold and it looks a LOT better!

This is the mold on our refrigerator...Ewww!

Wednesday we had district meeting and then had to go to a doctor's appointment for Sister Zoolakis. After that we contacted a referral. Apparently, he has been taught by missionaries before! He spent about a half of an hour trying to tell us what we believed and that we are a cult. Always fun to try to avoid a "Bible Bash" when everything the other person says is in a argumentative tone and every other sentence starts with "The Bible says...." 

After a few more doors, with much nicer people behind them, we had supper with the Bartholomew family. Brother Bartholomew is cousins with my old companion Sister Bartholomew! It is fun to get to spend time with their fun family! 

After supper we went to Sister Rathavongsa's home to help her clean. She had family coming into town this weekend and no one has ever taught her how to clean, so she was at a loss of where to even start. We spent a couple of hours on the kitchen while Sister Robinson, her visiting teacher, helped to organize and clean another room. 

Thursday we had a plumber come to replace a toilet that had a crack in it. Our landlady came as well because she knew we couldn't be in our apartment alone with a man. We sat and talked for about an hour while he was working on the plumbing. Our plumber is amazing! He is a musician and his home is like a museum! It is full of old instruments and all these amazing things! He is also the happiest man I'm pretty sure I've ever met.

After they left, we had time for lunch and to make some phone calls. After that Sister Chard came with us to visit Sister Thompson and give her a tape player so she can listen to the Book of Mormon now! On the way home we stopped on the side of the road to save a Box Turtle! 

The rest of the day was weekly planning and people canceling appointments. Then we spent a little bit of time ironing our dresses to go to the temple the next day!

Me and Sister Z

Sister Walser with me and Sister Zoolakis 

Friday we had Sister Walser take us to the temple. It is always so amazing to be in the House of the Lord and the Raleigh Temple is beautiful... even if it is a "baby temple" compared to the Seattle or Provo temples. 

This is our zone at the temple

 

After the temple we had preparation day. We went shopping and visited Allean. Then we went back to Sister Rathavongsa's home to help clean for a couple of more hours. 

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with our Investigator Amanda. We had a church tour with Sister Foster and was able to commit her to baptism! We don't have a date set yet because she is still a little unsure, but she is willing and open to learning as much as she can. It is amazing the difference a member can make in a lesson. They always seem to say the exact things that the person needs to hear!

That night we talked to William on the phone and told him that Sister Zoolakis is leaving. He committed to come to church! We were so excited to have him coming, a less active member, and Allean! That night I started feeling a little sick with a sore throat. 

The next morning I woke up and my head hurt, my voice was pretty deep, and my nose was running! William sent us a text that morning saying that he "wasn't feeling it" and wouldn't be able to make it to church. The end of his text was "Y'all don't be mad at me!" We were a little upset but we still had Allean come and two less active members that we weren't even expecting to be there! The Elders in the ward also had an investigator come to Sacrament Meeting! It was a great day at church!

After church ended all the missionaries met with Bishop Marriott and talked about how we can help the ward in their missionary work. It was a good meeting with a lot of good ideas. 

Right after the meeting we met William outside the Library for a lesson. We talked about Genesis and lots of different topics. He told us that he wasn't able to make it to church because he woke up with a terrible migraine and he was afraid if he told us that we wouldn't believe him! As we kept talking my voice got worse and worse and at one point he asked if he should call me Elder Shurtz today instead of Sister. We all laughed pretty hard! William is one of my favorite people and we have another lesson with him on Wednesday!

 

Sister Zoolakis and me with our investigator, William

He's one of my favorite people!

Right after William's lesson we had supper with the Benner's and Morris's. They are sisters in the ward who live next door to each other. They are a great family! After supper we went home and Sister Zoolakis spent some time packing while we watched "The District" and ate the last of the ice cream we bought for Sister Zoolakis's birthday two weeks ago. 

Being a missionary is the best! The leaves are starting to change colors and it is getting a little cooler outside. It's the best! I love being a missionary and I love talking to people about the Savior. Lately everyone has been going on and on about how everything going on in the world and I love being able to always tie it back to relying on the Savior, Jesus Christ, and that if we have faith in Him we will trust in Him and have no reason to fear.

Happy fall y'all! 

Love,

Sister Shurtz

 

Sister Zoolakis and me at church

This is Brother Thornton. Picture taken by an 11 year old girl named Asia. We love his family! But they all left before we could take pictures with them so we only got one with him. He's from Seattle!