Love Y'All!

This week we met with a lot of people it feels like!

Tuesday we gave a "friend" at the library a copy of the Book of Mormon. We tried once before but he said he didn't want it. This time we gave him a copy that had Maddy's testimony in the front of it and he took it without any protests! Thank you Maddy for your testimony and for being willing to share it. I'm sure that it has touched Jeffery and helped him to feel the spirit. 

Wednesday we had district meeting, followed by exchanges. At district meeting we met the new senior couple who just arrived from the MTC. It is so great to have them there and to give new insights. For exchanges I stayed in Shallotte with Sister Ashworth and Sister Bartholomew went to Wilmington with Sister Avondet. Miracles always happen on exchanges!!! We had a last minute lesson with Michael and had a member come! The member, Sister Skipper, was able to connect very well and also be very bold about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and quitting smoking. 

Thursday we had a lesson with Brother Evans, a new investigator down in Calabash. I had a very stressful morning trying to find someone to come with us, after our member had a family emergency come up and had to cancel on us. We ended up having Brother and Sister Cheney (our amazing Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionary) come with us. It was one of those times when you could tell that it was all meant to be. They connected with Brother Evans much better than our other member would have been able to. We had an amazing lesson talking about prayer and how much Heavenly Father loves us. We had a little bit of time between then and dinner but hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we stopped at a local creamery and had some really good ice cream for lunch. As I was eating mine I thought about how much like Renae I am! I got a scoop of coconut and a scoop of peanut butter and chocolate. You would have REALLY liked them Renae!

That night we had dinner with Sister Lavin and the Fish family. As soon as we were done we ran to the church to set up volleyball. We had about 5 people come and some of them brought their kids. It was a lot of fun and we decided to do kickball this next week so that the kids could be more involved in the game. 

Friday we went to Hazel's, a non-member, and vacuumed her floors for us and she fixed us lunch. She spoils us!!! She is in her 70's and she is from England. She made us French Toast, sausage, bacon, and coddled eggs. SO GOOD! After that we went to a member's home and washed her big windows. We were a little concerned when we would look at the towel and it was black! Then she explained to us that their fireplace had gotten soot on everything! It was different to have the inside be dirtier than the outside.

Saturday was a crazy day! We started in the morning with a visit to Sister Wright (the Gladys Knight referral) and we took a laurel, Angelique, with us. We taught about the Plan of Salvation. She had a lot of good questions! She keeps on saying, "I'm just here to learn, I love to learn". She then told us that it would be really hard for her to go to our church instead of hers because her WHOLE family goes to the Little Prong Baptist Church. They had also told us in past visits that her husband is an assistant pastor there. Her granddaughter, who is a member, was in town this weekend and came to church so we got to meet her and talk with her a little bit. 

After seeing Sister Wright on Saturday morning we went with Angelique to see Brother Neverov and we read in Mosiah 4 about how to have more peace and happiness in our lives. After that we had to HURRY home to Angelique's because they were throwing a surprise party for her dad. We got to help set up and then stay for lunch/dinner. The Apple's are a really fun family! 

Sunday we had lunch with the Leggett family. We had fried fish, friend corn bread, coleslaw with blue cheese and apples in it, and cake and ice cream for desert. That night we went to see Sister Coffey because it was her birthday! She is the sweetest lady and I love getting to see her! 

Yesterday for Preparation Day we took a nap and then did our cleaning and everything. After that we went to a local market, Holden Brother's to get some fresh fruits and veggies. It was so fun and WAY better than Walmart! Not to mention we didn't have to deal with all the people at Walmart. It's officially tourist season here and there are people EVERYWHERE! It's great because there are more people to talk to... but it's also really annoying because there are 3 times as many cars on the road and there are so many people at church that our little chapel doesn't have enough seats! Not enough seats and it's impossible to be able to tell who is there and who's not. I shouldn't complain about having so many people, but it makes it hard when you're looking for someone in a crowd that large. 

Hope y'all had an amazing weekend and a great Memorial Day. 

Love Y'all!

Sister Shurtz

The Beach!

This week has been pretty low key besides the fact that I finally made it to the beach!!! 

Monday we met with Ryan for a few minutes and met his friend Nate, who we think looks a little bit like Josh Groban. We are still struggling getting Ryan to really be committed to anything and this week will be our "do or die" week we feel like. 

That night we had a miracle happen! We went back to our apartment to see make some phone calls, but remembered that we're not really supposed to call members on Monday night. We decided to send out a mass text about an activity we were hoping to have later in the week to play some volleyball. We had SO many responses it was unbelievable! We had people who haven't talked to us in a couple of months text us back and say they would come! 

Tuesday we had district meeting and interviews with President and Sister Bernhisel up in Wilmington. It was a really good meeting focused on our purpose as missionaries. Afterwards we went to a bagel place for lunch and they had all kinds of bagels! I got an apple and cinnamon one with plain cream cheese. They put SO much cream cheese on it! I bought another bagel to use up some of the cream cheese and there was still enough for another one!

Wednesday we did service at the library and had a good visit with a less active member before dinner and coordination meeting with the Cheney's. (Our ward mission leader and his wife)

Thursday we got another referral to visit! Brother Evans is an older man who's friend just joined the church up in Wilmington. We talked for a while about the Book of Mormon and I gave him a copy that had Ethan's testimony in it. As he read it he smiled so big! He loved it and afterwards he looked at me and said, "he's only 10 years old?" Thank you Ethan so much for taking the time to write your testimony, because now it is helping Brother Evans to learn more about the church and about Jesus Christ.

Thursday night we wanted to do a volleyball activity... but there was a really big storm that night, so only one person came. It was still fun, but we really want more people to come so we can have members help fellowship our investigators in a non-threatening way.

That night the storm was SO loud that it kept me away from about 2:00-4:00 AM. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy in the morning. There was constantly POURING rain, booming thunder, flashing lightening, and howling wind! Usually I love storms, just not when I'm trying to sleep and can't sleep in the next morning.

Friday turned out to be beautiful! The sun was out and it was warm, but not hot or humid. That night we had the annual ward beach party on Ocean Isle Beach. I finally saw the ocean! It is so pretty and the sand is full of shells! We had a lot of less active members come to the activity and it was very well attended by both the Shallotte Ward and the South Port Branch. It was also fun to be able to work together with the South Port Elders (Elders Allen and Cluff) to talk to each other's less actives and members. It really made me miss getting to work with Elders on a regular basis in the same area. 

Ocean Isle Beach!!!​

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Saturday we did some service for a member by vacuuming their floors and cleaning their blinds. They fed us lunch and then we went to visit Brother Nemerov. He is so great and has so many wonderful questions! I love him. :)

Sunday was a crazy day. Both Sister Bartholomew and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting at church. After church we had lunch and studies and then we visited a couple of people before dinner. After dinner we had an appointment to see the Smigiels, a less active family. They are so wonderful and their dogs are all so cute!!! 

Hope y'all have a great week! Love you!

Sister Shurtz

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you who I didn't get to skype with yesterday, "Happy Mother's Day!" I have so many amazing women who have influenced me to help me become the person I am today. Most of all I would say is my Mom, Renae, and ALL my amazing sisters! I have loved that throughout my life each of you have been there for me when I needed you. I had Erin and Mom at home when I was in Elementary school. I still remember the day Erin left for BYU and I was crying so hard because I didn't want to see her go! Jenny was in Wenatchee right after mom passed away and she took over as my "mom" as I ventured through Middle School. Renae was there for ALL the Jr. High, High School, and College drama. And Melinda moved back to the valley just in time for my last two years of High School. I am so grateful that even though there is a big age gap between us, I still had time to be influenced by each of my sisters.  

Skyping with Grandpa and all y'all was so special! I was so happy to be able to talk to Grandpa for a little bit. I love and miss him so much!!! Talking with y'all also made me realize how little time I have left here in North Carolina to serve the Lord. Only 6 months! 

This week we had a great week with teaching three new investigators! Two of them were referrals from the Gladys Knight: Saints Unified Voices concert in Chapel Hill last month. It is such a blessing to have that resource to find people who are prepared and have open minds and hearts and have already had a good experience in a church building and with it's members. We received a little package that contained a CD, Book of Mormon, and a Restoration video about Joseph Smith and the answer to his prayer. So their names are Sister Wright and Sister Jones. They are sisters who live just a few minutes away from each other! They went to the concert because one of them has a granddaughter who is a member of the church and invited them to go. They are really open to learning and Sister Wright is very interested and has some great questions.

Wednesday we had a Zone Meeting up in Wilmington, about an hour away from Shallotte. On our way home we stopped by Michael S., our other new investigator's home for an appointment and we had Brother Benoy come with us. They were able to relate to each other so perfectly! Brother Benoy did most of the teaching and his testimony is so powerful! Members are an amazing help in lessons!

Thursday we helped the Evans move and clean. Their daughter is getting married soon and will be staying in their house so they moved just around the corner into a smaller place so it wasn't too stressful. Sister Evans has a hard time seeing, so we were able to help sort through things and put them away for her. 

Friday we spent all day in Ash, which is a little town about 30 minutes to the North of Shallotte. We saw some less active members and that is also where Sister Wright and Sister Jones live. It's pretty "country" up there!

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Saturday we had a couple of lessons and did a lot of planning and organizing to get ready for Sunday.

Sunday I sang in church with Sister Sanchez. I believe this link will take you to the song http://www.defordmusic.com/.../a-mothers-silent-prayer... But I can't go there, so I hope it works! haha It's a beautiful song and the words are so wonderful.

After church we went to see the Coffey's. They are some of my most favorite people I've met in North Carolina. They have such strong testimonies and they love the Lord with all their hearts and they trust in Him at all times. Brother Coffey had an accident years ago that has left him with some health problems. He lives in an assisted living home and we go and visit him and sing to him every week or so. It makes our day to see him smile!!! He has a hard time communicating, so getting a smile from him is the best!

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Hope y'all have the best week! 

Love,

Sister Shurtz

Surprises are Good!

So this week we had an AMAZING surprise!!! But it wasn't until the end of the week... so you'll just have to keep on reading to find out :)

You definitely know that you're next to the beach when people use shells in their yard and drive way to fill in holes!

Tuesday we had deep clean day. We cleaned our apartment for a few hours and did some organizing. That day we also went to lunch with some of the Relief Society sisters. Once a month they go out to lunch and whoever wants to come... or remembers to come... meet at a restaurant and just have fun together. Sister Bartholomew and I ordered some pasta and a monte cristo sandwich... that was deep fried! You know you're in the south when they deep fry sandwiches! It was really good... but really not good for you! We also snuck over to a Sister Strickland's apartment and decorated her door for her birthday! 

Wednesday we had our last district meeting with Elder Mortensen as our District Leader. He will be going home tomorrow and Elder Allred is going to be our new District Leader. He is a lot of fun and I'm excited for this next transfer, especially because Sister Bartholomew and I are staying together! She has already been here for 6 months! By the end of this next transfer it will almost be 8 months... but we are SO excited to get to work together for a while longer... and excited to not have to drive for 3 hours to and from transfer meeting up in Raleigh. 

Wednesday night we met with Sister Sanchez to go over some music that she wants to sing in Sacrament Meeting. I will be singing a duet with her this Sunday on Mother's Day! I wish y'all could be there to hear it because it is really pretty. 

Thursday we did service in Calabash at the thrift store and on our way home we had great visits with Brother King and Brother Coffey. They both live in an assisted living facility and they are just the sweetest! It is hard for them to communicate, so we just sung them a song and you could just see their eyes light up!

We also tried to do a volleyball activity... but no one showed up. But Sister Bartholomew and I figured out how to set everything up and we found someone with a volleyball! 

Friday we met with Sister Sanchez again to go over the song we are singing with our pianist, Brother Cook. And then we went to the Library and did service until we had dinner with Brother and Sister Cheney. Brother Cheney is the Ward Mission Leader and this is the first time I've met him! He's been in Utah the whole time I've been here! He's so fun and loves to crack a joke. It's good to have him here.

Sister Bartholomew and I in Ash next to a corn field!

Ok, so it's finally time for the surprise! On Friday we got a call from our Zone Leaders telling us that Elder Andersen is in Raleigh and wants to meet with all of the missionaries in the Raleigh mission tomorrow!

That means on Saturday we got to drive for 3 hours up to Raleigh and meet with Elders Andersen, Piper, Parker, and Martinez. We all got to shake his hand and listen to his amazing and inspiring counsel. We are so very blessed to live in a day when we have Prophets and Apostles to lead and guide us and visit with us! 

 

We've done lots of road trips together! They're the best! She's the designated driver and I'm the designated photographer!

Yesterday we got a new bishop in the Shallotte ward. Bishop Carroll has been serving for 6 years now and is ready to be released. Bishop Fish is going to be amazing and his whole family is so much fun and always so willing to help with whatever we need. We are so excited!

We also visited with Brother Nemerov, a less active member, and really get to know him better and help him to understand the importance of scripture study and prayer. He always cuts some flowers for us now when we come! Last time it was azaleas, and this time it was roses. He is so sweet and I love visiting with him. 

Hope y'all have an amazing week. I'm sorry I missed Apple Blossom! But there is always next year. Happy late birthday Melinda!!! And Happy Mother's Day to all of you who have been amazing examples to me over the years.

Love y'all so much!

Sister Shurtz

​There are LOTS of dirt roads that we venture down in North Carolina!

 

Time Flies in Shallotte!!!

Another week come and gone! I can't believe I only have 7 months left in beautiful North Carolina! Transfers are next week too! We don't know if Sister Bartholomew is going to be staying here or leaving. She has been here for 6 months already. Our district leader is definitely leaving because it's time for him to go home!

Tuesday we taught Ryan about prayer and the importance of scriptures. He's had a lot going on in his life the last week or so, and he is waiting for things to get better. We were able to really talk with him though this week and got to know him a lot better. He likes really odd pets. He has had sharks, eels, lizards, and all sorts of strange fish. I was making a really grossed out face the whole time he was talking. Especially when he was talking about how his lizard was so big it ate his neighbor's cat!

Wednesday we had a great district meeting! After that we had a meeting with our ward missionaries, all two of them! Have a mentioned that I haven't met the ward mission leader yet? He's been in Utah the whole time I've been here! But he comes home this week, so I'll finally get to meet him. After our meeting we did service at the library putting away TONS of kids books. That night we had dinner with Sister Jesmer and her husband who is not a member. They are the sweetest retired couple ever! They live in a very quiet neighborhood and they have a lot of wildlife that comes through their back yard. Deer, birds, alligator, owls, and 3 different kinds of squirrels. 

Thursday we went to Calabash, a small town right on the boarder of South Carolina, to do service in the thrift store. After service we had dinner with Sister Capitano and her family. She is so fun and has two adorable cats... I got my cat fix while I was there. She made pizza which was SO good! 

Friday wasn't too exciting. We did lots and lots of phone calls. Lots of weekly planning. And no one we tried to visit was home. 

Saturday morning we got another media referral! Someone had gone on Mormon.org and ordered a Book of Mormon. We had an 18 year old girl, Angelique, come with us to deliver it and to go visit Brother Nemerov. The man who wanted a Book of Mormon had just written a paper on Mormonism for a seminary class he was taking and he wanted to know a little more about what we believed. He had some very interesting questions! He said he is really busy over the next month, but wants to go on a tour of our church building in June. We hope that it can happen before that! But for now he has a Book of Mormon to read.

We went to see Brother Nemerov and he told us that he enjoys us coming and what's even more is that he said he prayed this week! We could see that he is so much happier, even though he can't see it in himself. We talked about why he decided to join the church and it was a really good opportunity for us to get to know him better and to help him realize that he already knows what he's missing in his life. Can't wait to visit him again.

After Brother Nemerov we went to see our investigator Ronda and talked about the Book of Mormon and the Bible and they showed us their pigs, bees, chickens, and quails. Those hogs stink!!! I never knew how big those hogs can get! They are at least 5 feet long, and 4 feet tall! It was a learning experience for all of us. 

At church on Sunday we were told that we will be getting a new bishop next week. Bishop Carroll has been serving for almost 6 years and has been amazing! Some of our less active members came to church, but none of our investigators. Hopefully they will next week. After church we had a really great visit with a woman who just had her name removed from the church. We were asked to go and visit her and ask her if she wanted her children removed as well, but she said she wanted them to make that choice for themselves. They are super nice and hopefully the family will be coming to a beach party the ward is having in a couple of weeks. 

Well, I think that's everything from this week. The weather is slowly getting warmer and today it is starting to get humid too! Yay for East Coast summers! I am SO blessed though to be in another full time car area!!! I know, I know... I'm so spoiled!

Love y'all so much!

Sister Shurtz

P.S.- Could y'all invite Grandpa over for Mother's Day so I can talk to him too? I sure miss him and feel sad that he couldn't call me on my birthday like he wanted to. And give him a hug and kiss on the cheek for me!

#BecauseofHim

Happy Easter! First thing I want to tell you is that if you have not seen the "Because of Him" website, you should go look at it right now! http://easter.mormon.org/  Especially the video about Christ.

Monday we met with a member and his nonmember wife. We talked about having spiritual gifts. It was a really good reminder for me that we all have individual gifts and talents and that is because we have different things to do in our time here on Earth. It doesn't matter if I'm not very artistic, or if I don't know how to speak a different language. What matters is that I have unique things about me that will help me to be able to accomplish everything that God needs me to. And I know that you all do too. 

Tuesday we did a couple of visits, but at about 4 I got a really bad headache. It came out of nowhere! We spent the rest of the night at home writing on cards, updating the area book, and watching some church history videos. 

Wednesday we had district meeting and Sister Bartholomew and I were asked to teach for about 10 minutes on why using the Book of Mormon is so important in teaching. We started by speaking in different languages for about a minute. I spoke some Norwegian that I had learned from being with Sister Frampton for a week last October. Sister Bartholomew talked in Chinese after that. And then we had an elder read 2 Nephi 31:3 "For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understandin." We explained that sometimes people hear our message and it is so foreign to them it is like another language! We then talked about the spirit and how it teaches people according to their understanding. And nothing brings the spirit like reading from the Book of Mormon.

After district meeting we had exchanges with our amazing Sister Leaders, Sister Doty and Sister Ashworth. That night we had dinner with the Woods. Sister Wood is from Scotland and has the most amazing accent! They are so sweet and have an amazing love for the gospel, as so many amazing members here do.

Thursday we had dinner with Sister Lavin. Her daughter's family is also in the ward and were also there. They are the sweetest! They helped us make a card for a woman, Patti, that we have still not met! We filled it with references to our favorite scriptures that brought us comfort. We took it to her house, but she was asleep so she didn't answer the door. We called her a little later to let her know we left the card there, and she was so sad she had missed us. We can't wait to meet her and teach her the gospel! Her health just needs to get better first. And it needs to stop raining because there is a HUGE puddle in front of her house every time it rains because the drainage is messed up. So she can't go anywhere and we have a hard time getting to her when that puddle is there.

Friday we had dinner with Sister Martinez, a less active member, and her extended family. We had very traditional Mexican food, including mole (I guess that's how you spell it?). We read a scripture with her from El Libro De Mormon, but that's about all we did other than eat. It was hard for us to communicate with anyone other than the kids.

Saturday we went to see Brother Nemrov, a very less active member. He reminds me a lot of grandpa! He's about 70 years old and his sense of humor is EXACTLY the same as Papa Joe! We read scriptures with him and invite him to pray and come to church, but he doesn't really want to... yet. We also had dinner with Hazel, the woman from England this week. She made us ribs and mashed potatoes! It was very messy... but so yummy! We also met with another less active member, Sister Grantham. She is a nurse and is so sweet! She also has the CUTEST little German Shepard puppy! It was fun getting to know her and hopefully she can come to church soon.

Sunday, again no one came to church. But we did get to sing in sacrament meeting! We sang with Sister Sanchez "I Heard Him Come." We practiced it once before we sang it, but everyone said it was good. Blessings of the spirit for sure! 

Hope y'all had great a Easter! Love you!

Sister Shurtz

Shallotte Miracles!

So this week has really been an amazing week of miracles!

Miracle #1 - I took a nap on Preparation Day and it was amazing!

Tuesday we had "Fun Zone Conference." For the first half of the day we had our usual meetings but after lunch we all changed into "activity clothes" and we played different sports for about 3 hours! We had about half the mission there playing together. We played Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, Capture the Flag, and Soccer. It was fun but we all definitely got a good work out. Maybe too good of a work out because Sister Bartholomew and I were sore for DAYS! 

Miracle #2- On our way back from Zone Conference we tried to contact a referral, Tavia. We ended up getting a phone number for her from her dad because she wasn't home. Before we could even get off the porch a man named Michael came and started talking to us. His question was, "What are you advocating?" We told him we were there for Tavia and we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We started talking and gave him a Book of Mormon. After a few minutes he handed it back to us and said that someone else would need it more than he would. As hard as we tried, he would NOT take that book from us! As we were about to leave, Tavia came home! We started talking with her as well and we shared a scripture with her, while Michael was standing a few feet away smoking. After we shared the scripture Michael came over and took the Book of Mormon and stuck it in his pocket! He gave us his address and phone number and hopefully we will be able to meet with him this week.

Wednesday we did more service helping to organize and sort through some things for an older couple who are moving to Virginia. 

Miracle #3- We met with Ryan! It has been really, hard because of his work schedule, to find a time that we can meet for a lesson. We had Sister Cheney come with us and we taught him outside in the beautiful sunshine. 

Thursday we did some service at the thrift store and invited a woman who works there, Kathy, to come to church with us. She said she would try to make it and was very happy that we had invited her. We also talked a lot about the organization of the church.

Miracle #4- we have had 3 media referrals in one week! That is something that isn't very common at all! Basically when someone goes on Mormon.org and orders a Book of Mormon or a Bible, we get notified through a text message on our phone that we need deliver a book to the name and address given us. On Thursday we went to deliver a book to a woman named Janet. When we found the house we were immediately greeted by little, yappy, dogs, as per what usually happens in North Carolina. We had a good conversation and talked about how she wanted the Bible for her friend who was going through a hard time. We will be meeting with them this week, hopefully.

Thursday night we had a really Southern meal! We had fried shrimp, hush puppies, and slaw... and it was all SO good!!! Sister Skipper was born and raised here and is very good at cooking all things Southern.

Friday we had lunch with Hazel. She is 82 years old and is originally from England. She is Catholic and is not interested in learning about the church, but loves to feed us! She took us to a Chinese Buffet and we had a really good conversation and meal. That night we went to help set up for a yard sale for the couple who is moving to Virginia. 

Saturday we met with the mother of a less active member of the church and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon with Megan's testimony in it. She loved Megan's testimony and said it was so sweet. 

Miracle #5- That day we also met a man named Gregorio who we should be teaching this week! He was excited about the Book of Mormon, but we have a little bit of a language barrier because his first language is Spanish. Luckily we have amazing members who speak Spanish and are willing to help us teach.

Sunday, no one came to church. But we are holding out hope for next week! It is Easter after all!

Miracle #6 - Last week we gave Patti, a woman who was referred to us a couple of weeks ago, a copy of the Book of Mormon with Jaya's testimony in it. When we went to drop it off she was sick and in bed so we gave the book and treats to her roommate. She called us the next day and told us how much she loved the goodies and how beautiful she thought Jaya's testimony was. She said it really touched her and made her feel so good!  

Thank you so much for all your wonderful testimonies! This week I am especially grateful for Megan and Jaya's because I've seen them touch people and help them to learn more about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. 

Y'all are amazing and I love you so much! Thank you for all the birthday cards!!!

Love,

Sister Shurtz