Monday, July 27, 2015

Semana 22? I think

Let me just say first, two weeks is way too long to go without hearing from him. Fortunately he explains why he didn't write last week...

Hey Everyone!

Well everyone, first off sorry that i didn't get to email last week. I was sick with a fever for a couple of days and was told to stay in the apartment. Luckily I am doing well now and things have been going very well for me.

Secondly, Thanks so much to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and things. Big shout out to: Mom, Dad, and Em for the package and letter with giftcards and the sweet Chicago Blackhawks T- shirt. Super cool to hear they won the cup again! Aunt Sherrie for the planner and card, Aunt Bertha for the card, The great letter from the Hermansens, The card and package with yummy trader Joes stuff from Grandma Lorraine, and Grandma Jeri for the package and card with more socks, (seriously these things are like gold in the mission), macadamia nuts, that cool waterbottle, and more cologne and hair stuff. You guys spoil me so much. I am truly blessed and will have to take you all out to dinner or something to repay all of you. Especially thank you for anyone that sent giftcards or cash. That goes a long way in not only helping me out, but other missionaries that don't have as much to buy things that they need. It was seriously an awesome birthday.

I guess I will recap the highlights of the last two weeks, not a whole lot with being sick in the apartment but here we go:

7/14-  My birthday was great. With all the packages and cards everyone so generously sent me and the cake and ice cream the zone gave me, everything was awesome. Birthdays on the mission are exactly how they should be though. Not a lot of time to think of myself and paying forward the love others show me to the people I work with.
The work after zone meeting went really well. We set a baptismal date with a super promising, humble younger woman, as well as gave two blessings. I have learned to appreciate and love the priesthood more and more every day out here. It truly changes lives and it is a huge honor to hold that responsibility. The highlight was definitely helping give blessings to two people that are struggling right now. Those were probably the best birthday gifts I received that day.

7/15- This day we learned about the crazy history of El Cenizo and Rio Bravo from a former drug trafficker haha. Man it sounds like this place used to be super scary, but according to him it's slown down a lot with all the work in the oil fields opening up. The guy is an incredibly great guy now that turned to christianity and started a family and turned his life around. We haven't had much time to teach his family yet because they are gone a lot, but they are so wonderful and very open to hearing the gospel.

7/16- A great day of interviews with President. That man is incredible and so in tune with the spirit. He helped give me some great advice and really put me back on track to being the absolute best missionary I can be. I won't lie this past month has been a little bit of a struggle with lots of little trials, but I have kept a good attitude and President Maluenda helped me so much with what he told me.

7/17- Unfortunately didn't have my camera on me, but during an interview at the church for one of the sister's investigators we found the biggest nastiest spider in the church. Not sure what kind it was but I swear it could have been a baby from Shelob the spider on Lord of the Rings. It was super sketchy trying to kill it and get it out of the church because of how big and fast it was.
We also met an incredibley humble, prepared woman named Claudia. She has such huge desires and has battled head tumors many times. In fact the doctors are giving here two more years to live right now. We had a great plan of salvation lesson with her and taught her about how life doesn't end at death. We bore our testimony of how the gospel can bless not only her, but her children so they can grow up to be strong fathers and mothers in Christ's church. The challenge is going to be getting her husband to open up as he isn't a huge fan of us. We will for sure do everything in our power to help her recieve the gospel and ultimately baptism if she continues, regardless.

7/19- 7/23 - Felt very sick during church and felt a fever coming on, went home and had to stay in the apartment according to the Mission nurse's orders. Not super fun, but I kept a good attitude and studied scriptures when I was able.

7/24 - Went to a mission call opening for a member's son here. He got called to Washington (can't remember the city name) Spanish speaking reporting to Provo in a month which is super cool. Man it feels just like yesterday that I was opening my call so it was a strange experience.

7/25- We had a branch pioneer day activity where we ate food and watched 17 Miracles. Wow that movie is good. A real tear-jerker but such a strong spirit you can feel when you watch it. I love and so deeply appreciate the pioneers who sacrificed so much so that we can have the gospel so strongly around the world now. We really have no room to complain during our tough times after watching that. Recommend it to everyone that hasn't seen it.

Well, I love you all so much. Thanks to everyone for all the love and support. As always, you are constantly in my prayers. The mission is amazing and I am learning so many life lessons out here every day. I know without a doubt that this church is true and that God is involved in the smallest details of this work. I hope everyone doesn't take this amazing gospel for granted. So many have suffered and died that we could have it too. Please continue to read, or rediscover the Book of Mormon. It is such a huge blessing and has so many answers to questions and prayers.

Stay classy y'all,

Elder Sheehy


Elder Chacin and I in front of the church we meet at. (such an awesome companion)

Thanks so much everyone. I am way spoiled and very blessed.

Just a typical Rio Bravo house.

The friendliest pitbull in south Texas. I love this dog so much. I wish I could take it and many other of the dogs here home. 

Monday, July 13, 2015

Semana 20

Well it's been a great week!

First off thanks so much to all the birthday wishes and letters/packages that have been sent. I really appreciate all that you do for me and I really am spoiled, haha. So far I have gotten a letter from Grandma Jeri (actually 2, as one that was sent to Mexico City finally got to me which was funny), and a letter from Mom and Dad. I will let everyone know what got here safe and sound.
He said he should be getting a delivery from the mission home tomorrow of anything that was sent there. I have been worried about if he will have a good birthday, he made me feel better today when he said, "I know I will be having a great birthday, no matter where or what I'm doing." :)
Things are going great here and I love my area. It's definitely a little piece of Mexico.

Tuesday- Had a fun district meeting where Elder Chacin did an object lesson of having a vision in the mission and "building up" our areas. So to illustrate that we made little graham cracker and nutella walls with our "Samuel the Mallonite" on top and saw who made the best tower by chucking marshmallows at them. It was a lot of fun and really tasty.

Wednesday was super windy and we were on bikes so it was kind of funny trying to peddle up and down the hills of El Cenizo.

Saturday as a zone we played some soccer in the morning for daily exercise and it was a ton of fun. There are a lot of Elders here who are really good at soccer so it was really competitive. It was also a very busy bike day with a lot of grinding. It felt good to go to sleep that night and that is the best feeling in the world as a missionary. You know you did good when you feel like that. We were actually going so hard that we didn't have the opportunity to stop and eat. So we came home starving and a tender mercy of the lord was a call from one of our investigators that randomly wanted to drop by a bunch of hotdogs mexicanos that were super good. I can absolutely testify of the scripture that says "take no thought of what you will eat". Our Heavenly Father definitely takes care of us missionaries. This work is absolutely true. I see those kinds of things on a daily basis.

Love you all so much and hope that everyone has a wonderful week. Thanks again for all you do.

-Elder Sheehy

A funny side note...
A friend from our ward was traveling to Laredo today for his work, He sent me this text when he landed, "Stacie, I am sure Austin has lots of people to teach, I think my plane dropped me off on the wrong side of the border. I'm the only white guy in Laredo." :)

Monday, July 6, 2015

Semana 19

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a great week and a great 4th of July! We had to go into the apartment at 6:00 on President's orders because people are crazy in South Texas, haha, but I heard some good fireworks. :)

I got transferred here to Rio Bravo and it also covers the little town of El Cenizo and it's a great little area. Kind of sketchy right here on the border and I can see Mexico every day so that's kind of cool, but I love the people here a lot already. The terrain is a lot more rolling and has kind of a more country feel to it which I like. My new companion Elder Chacin is such a great guy. Extremely charitable, and always has a smile on his face. He was born in Venezuela and moved to Kearns, Utah when he was 9. So he speaks both Spanish and English fluently which is a huge blessing for a gringo like me.

So kind of interesting Elder Stone was at transfers as well which was really great to catch up with him. He is doing great and really enjoyed Brownsville. Kind of funny, but he is actually now in my old area in La Joya. So maybe he will follow me around in the mission? He is going to be awesome there and I got him up to speed about all the awesome people like Tim and Javier that he should go visit.

This new district is really cool. Elder Chacin is actually the district leader and the other two companionships are sisters, what we call a "Relief society district" haha but its great. One sister (Hermana McArthur) is from Oahu and can play a ukelele (spelling? haha) really well, another from Wisconsin, and then there is sister Saramiento from Chile. She is super funny and has a really thick accent.

I have already met some great people here so far. A brother and sister named Eliseo and Anna. They have some great potential and I see them being baptized here pretty soon. The members here LOVE to feed missionaries which is great so I don't really have to ever worry about dinner. They are fantastic cooks as well. In fact yesterday we went to a member in one of the sister's areas that is an ex chef that worked at some fancy hotels in Cancun and Chihuahua when he was younger. He made some incredibly good chicken cordon bleu and a spicy Mexican soup for us.

So a great funny quote that Elder Chacin said at our first district meeting when talking about an investigator: He was talking about one of the investigators kids who got in an accident and instead of saying he got put into a cast for the break, he accidentally said "He got put into a casket". Super funny and Elder Eskelson (He is now my Zone leader here! I lived in the same apartment with him in La Joya. Super awesome to see him again) replies, "Boy, that escalated quickly" We all cracked up at that one.

So, it's been kind of a bad luck week. Sorry I don't have more specific details of experiences. Not a big deal though because I know that trials of faith come before blessings, So I am still in good spirits about things. I've been pretty sick with a fever and head cold this week, but Elder Chacin has been taking good care of me and gave me a blessing that really helped me out. On top of that we have also been experiencing car issues and sliced our tire on some piece of metal scrap, so we had to change a tire in the middle of the hot sun on the 4th of July, that was fun too, haha. Like I said though, things are still very good.

Love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week. I don't have any pictures yet, but I will have some next week for sure.

Love,

Elder Sheehy


And here'e another part I loved on my personal letter...one of those parent "pay days" :)

Hope everyone is doing well. I miss you guys a lot and think and pray about you constantly. Thanks for raising me so well in such a great home. I can't tell you how much sad poverty and broken homes I see here. I am so grateful for what we have. Have a wonderful week!

He also sent his new mailing address. It is another missionary apartment that lives in Laredo, because as he put it.... "The area I am in is actually much more sketchy than the last. In fact the letters I will have you send to another Elder's apartment in the district because Rio Bravo is really hood, haha"

1917 S. Milmo #8
Laredo, Texas 78046

P.S. His Birthday is coming up on July 14, if anyone wants to send him some love♥
(letters only. packages still go to the mission home.)