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!

 

Missionary Life

This last week we had exchanges with our Sister Leaders, Sister Oliver and Sister Andersen. I stayed in Knightdale with Sister Oliver while Sister Zoolakis went to Zebulon. It seems like nothing ever goes according to plan during exchanges. We spent a lot of time trying to find a ride to our only appointment that night with a less active and her 6 year old son because our member had to cancel on us that morning. After calling what felt like EVERYONE we finally texted the Elders and asked if they really needed the car that night or if we could borrow it for a couple of hours. Basically we have the best Elders EVER and they let us take the car because they knew that Sister Rathavongsa needed us, and because their appointment that night was with our neighbor. (Did I ever tell y'all that we live about 4 apartments away from the Elders?) Elders Perse (per-say) and Hampton were life savers that night! (And every other day when we need to borrow something like their DVD player, pan, a bike pump, or an iron) 

Wednesday we had Zone Conference and we were able to watch Meet the Mormons. It is an amazing movie that shows different types of people around the world and how a belief in Jesus Christ helps them. I love all of their stories! I can't pick a favorite one. About half way through the movie our Sister Bernhisel came and got Sister Zoo and I. She asked us to come into the hall and to bring our planners. We were both really confused! In the hall we met Amanda. She is 19 years old and just decided to walk into the church and try to learn more! How amazing is that! She said she didn't have time to say and watch the movie, but we met with her later in the week and we were able to talk about some of her questions and introduce her to the Book of Mormon. She even came to our lesson prepared with a notebook to write notes in! She is amazing and I can't wait to see her again this week.

Thursday and Friday were filled with Weekly Planning, meeting with Amanda, less actives, and... not William. He canceled on us. 

Saturday morning we got a call from him canceling again because he feels like he really wants to focus on getting to know the Bible right now and he doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith. So we're starting in Genesis this week :)

Allean is doing well, but didn't come to church this week. This week was our ward's Primary Program and I got to be in charge of the Balloon! I got to stand in the back of the chapel and hold a balloon filled with helium. If the kids were singing loud then the balloon was high, but if they were singing soft, the balloon was low. It was fun! As always, there was a "sunbeam descant" during the chorus of the song where the little children were screaming the words they knew!

After church we went to the Salgado's for dinner and then to the mission home for a fireside which we had a less active and her non member husband come to.

Transfers are next week and my fingers are crossed that Sister Zoo won't be leaving me... but we'll just have to wait to see what happens. We get to go to the temple this Friday. YAY!!!!

Love y'all!

Sister Shurtz

A Week of Faith

Dearest Family,

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!! I cannot begin to describe to you my feelings bout General Conference and the chance that we have to listen to the inspired leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Tuesday we had a stressful morning with William. He called us and informed us that he just didn't believe and didn't want to meet with us anymore. After a long conversation on the phone we were able to talk about some of his doubts and concerns and he agreed to meet with us on Wednesday. 

After talking with William we were able to go teach Allean and invite her to watch Conference this weekend at Sister Caine's home. Unfortunately she wasn't feeling well yesterday so she wasn't able to make it.

Wednesday morning we had a Zone meeting and it was a lot of fun because some of the Sisters and Elders I have served with in the past are now in the same zone! It's the best! Sister Crane is also in the same zone. 

At lunch we got a text from William saying that he had to cancel, so we ended up going to Wake Med Hospital to visit the two young women who were in a car accident last week. One was in ICU with a lot of injuries, and the other has broken bones but is doing pretty good. It was so nice to be able to see them and their families and to see how the girls were doing. Now one is home and the other has made it out of the ICU. There have been a lot of blessings pouring out on these families and it is amazing to see their testimonies being strengthened in this time of need. 

After visiting the girls we went to a less active member's home because she wanted us to teach her six year old son. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We asked him to jump from one end of the room to the other in one jump and he just looked at us and said "I can't!" Then we used each of the components as a stepping stone to be able to make it across the room to symbolize getting back to Heavenly Father. 

Thursday was weekly planning and coordination meeting with LOTS of phone calls... that about sums up the whole day.

Friday we got a text from William asking us to call him. Once again he told us that he didn't want to meet with us because he can't believe things that we believe. But after another very long conversation on the phone he said we were able to "persuade" him to meet with us that evening. When you find someone as amazing as William to teach, you don't just let them walk away!

That night we had a lesson with William and Sister Kirkpatrick. It was AMAZING! We talked about faith and read Alma 32:21 & 27-28

" 21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

 27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

 28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."

With that in mind we talked about how we need to try living a principle of the gospel in order to know it is right. We invited him to go one week without drinking coffee and he was excited to do it! From today until next Monday he has told us he will not drink coffee, and if he needs something, he'll just drink hot chocolate instead. I know that as we follow the words of the prophets and keep the commandments we will be blessed in ways we never thought possible! I am so excited for William this week!

Right after our lesson with William we went to dinner at the de Camara's home. Their children are VERY musically talented! They have a 16 year old son who plays piano (even though he has never taken a single lesson), acoustic and electric guitar, and a lot of other instruments! He is amazing!

Saturday we watched General Conference at the church in the morning (or here it is at 12) and then went to the Robinson's home for the second session and dinner. Sunday sessions were watched at the church and then at Sister Caine's home. In every session we watched we wished that William was there watching it with us because it answered so many of his questions and was what he needed to hear! He had his son this weekend though so he wasn't able to watch any of the sessions.

Yesterday was also Sister Zoolakis's birthday! So we celebrated a little bit, but today we are buying her favorite ice cream to really celebrate it right! 

I love the gospel. I love being a missionary. I love the Savior, Jesus Christ and I know that He loves each and every one of us!

Love,

Sister Shurtz