Holland Is The Man!

Hey everybody!

I hope everyone had a terrific week! Mine was a little crazy whitewashing into La Feria and training, and on top of that sick with a cold. It's been an adventure for sure. I love my new companion to death once again. I am seriously blessed with good companions. My "son" in the mission is Elder Rosaschi. Very humble, hardworking country boy from a ranch in Eastern Nevada close to Carson City. We've been working hard to get to know the members here and find people to teach. Thank goodness I picked up a GPS at the end of last transfer or we would be hopelessly lost, haha. We have met one super cool member named Brother Peavler who comes from Wyoming. Great guy that loves to hunt and gave us some amazing home smoked wild boar jerky. It is some of the best jerky I have ever had. They have helped us get acquainted well with the area so far.

Highlight of the week was an amazing visit from Elder Holland. Holy smokes, one of the coolest experiences of my life!  I haven't ever felt the spirit as strong as when he was here, not even in the temple. He is absolutely called of God and is an apostle of the Lord. I already knew that, but meeting him solidified that. I wish that it would have been recorded because my notes do it no justice. He is an amazingly loving guy.
 I have such a firm testimony that this church is true and that he really is an apostle of the Lord. I literally thought the heavens were going to part and that we would see angels in the chapel, the spirit was that strong. He complimented how amazing our mission president and his wife are and that we have a great mission. He said it was funny that instead of having to talk about obedience or the rules like most the missions he goes to, he would get the opportunity to speak about deeper, more meaningful doctrine. What he called graduate level doctrinal knowledge. He focused a lot on keeping strong after the mission and never turning back. He talked about how his mission meant everything in the world to him and how he was the first of his family to serve. Also gave us some really cool insight on the Holy Ghost and how we under appreciate or fully comprehend the divine gift of having the presence of a God with us so often as Latter Day Saints. He also spoke of how the Holy Ghost gives us the tiniest peek at celestial joy here in a telestial world.
He also gave us an apostolic blessing of the atonement and how like the Nephites that all went to Christ to be healed at his coming, we all will receive the opportunity and given time from the Savior to be healed of our weakness. Since, as he put it… we are all a little blind, slow of speech, and deaf in a spiritual sense in our own ways and have other physical challenges as well.
 I really wish that you all could have been there.

Other than that, it's just been a great week. Will have more to report on next week. Love ya guys a bunch!

Stay Classy,

Elder Sheehy

(p.s I don't know the address to our apartment yet, so just send all letters to the mission home for now. I will get it for the next email out)

Mijo Elder Rosaschi!

Meeting with Elders Holland and Robbins

If you zoom in really close, you might find Austin ;)

Baptism of Eliza and Draco! Two cool kids.

I love Bishop and Sister Jess. They were great to me and the other missionaries during my time in Weslaco. I will miss them a lot.

Saying goodbye to Randy and Cory Cuellar :(

I love and am going to miss Elders Mason and Fielding

Farewell to the Donna District

Don't worry, I'll wait until after the mission ;) haha

Exchange bike day with Elder Mason

First District meeting in Harlingen. We were the goats being rounded up by the shepherd.

Great missionaries I'm excited to get to know better.

How and why these dogs got up there...I don't know.

A memorial for Elder Walker and Elder Strong who passed away after getting hit on their bikes in Weslaco. I'm sure they are busy preaching the gospel in the spirit world.

I'm Training? What ?!

Hey everyone! I don't have much to report on this week other than I got some pretty big news today from the assistants. I'm going to be training this next transfer! Super nuts! I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure it will be a good experience. I still don't know where I am heading or who it is. They don't arrive until Wednesday because of the tornado up in the Dallas area. I do know that I am leaving and I'm going to have to say goodbye to Elder McIntosh, which is sad. He also has been a terrific companion. I have been really blessed thus far in the mission.

Before I get too far:

Thanks so much to Grandma J for the letter and I'll be sure to look for the letter coming from Grandma L. I look forward to it.

In other news, I've been under the weather this past week fighting off flu like symptoms and fever. Luckily through my efforts Elder Mcintosh and I were blessed with a couple of baptisms of some really cool kids that we have been working very hard to get to receive of this essential ordinance. I was so happy to see them finally get that opportunity after a long struggle of trials and obstacles in the way. Other than that I got to hopefully bless a bunch of people's lives that struggle with depression like I do. It was funny how every exchange I went on, all the people we came into contact with suffered from depression in one form or the other. It was a great opportunity to testify of the power of Christ's atonement in lifting our burdens. I know it, because I have seen it work in my life.

Love you all so much!

Stay Classy,

Elder Sheehy

What Up?!

Well I hope that everyone is enjoying their spring. I bet it feels much better up there in freezing Utah. Everything here is going well. Just out here working away and enjoying life serving the Lord. Doesn't get much better than that.

Before I get too far,

We have a lot of birthdays coming up and passed!

First,

Happy late birthday to Alexis and Colby! I miss you guys and am so excited to hear that you will be baptized soon! What a great choice!

also,

Happy birthday to Sharlyn and Jolyn! Love you so much!

and,

Happy birthday Jared! Love ya cuz!

So this week has been very good. Just been sharing a lot of laughs and enjoying seeing the other elders in my district have success with another baptism yesterday. It bring me more joy to see the others around me receiving those blessings then it does getting them myself. Something enjoyable from being great friends with all of them.

It's also been very nice having a car in our area now so we only hit the bikes two days out of the week. A huge blessing with the weather heating up more now. It's also very handy for the area that was given to us that extends down to the border. We are enjoying getting to spend time with new less actives we are finding and just exploring.

Something else that was super cool was that because of the area change we now have Julian and Mauricio my recent converts in our area! It's been so much fun to be able to visit them more and play quick games of basketball with them between talking to their neighbors. Something else that is very exciting is that we had a very good lesson with their mom and she accepted a baptismal date! I would love nothing more than to see their entire family united in the gospel. I love those kids to death and know they are going to be great missionaries some day. They also have the funniest little 3 year old sister that reminds me a lot of how Kyle and Brandy's Alexis was at that age.

Well, the gospel is true and through it you will find a lasting happiness unlike anything else this world has to offer. Though the world may continue to darken, because of the Savior Jesus Christ we have an incredibly bright future ahead. We only need to do our best and keep on the straight and narrow path.

Have a great week!

Stay classy,

Elder Sheehy

I Love Conference!

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone had a terrific conference weekend! I enjoyed it so much and was especially impressed by the incredible messages shared. The ones that stood out to me where all of Uchtdorf's (Wow he was on a roll this conference! Very glad that he was able to give three this time around, especially his final one about how even though we are broken, Heavenly Father will build us into something greater than we can even imagine), Elder Holland's, (Gave me a lot of hope that even though I am very imperfect in life and as a missionary, that Heavenly Father sees our efforts and blesses them), and Elder Hales (Very strong testimony of the holy ghost and sadly, what I believe will be his final conference address to us. I hope I am wrong however, but what a great service he has done for building the kingdom and the saints).

So this week was a blur. We had not only general conference, but very uplifting interviews with President Maluenda that brought me a lot of happiness in confidence in what I am doing. I am so glad that he is my mission president. My testimony just keeps growing of how inspired that calling is. He, through the influence of the spirit, has made such crucial and incredible changes to my life that words cannot express the miracle that has and continues to unfold here. What an honor it has been thus far.

So last Tuesday was a day of miracles for Weslaco. We had two companionship's have last minute baptisms due to the faith and teamwork of all the great Elders assigned around here and the inspiration of our zone leaders. What was even more of a miracle was Elders Mason and Fielding's baptism of their investigator Maria. She has overcome all odds to be baptized. First, she is terrified of water and has a dialysis machine on her  that cannot get wet or she can get sick and die (So the elders and Mcintosh and I devised a way to wrap her up and keep it safe during the baptism), she is in a wheelchair so was baptized sitting in a chair, and she was baptized without the knowledge of her family that has adamant disapproval of her joining the church. Everything went well, after many trials and she is now extremely happy. What an incredible example of love for her Savior and following him through so many difficult situations to join His church. We were all so happy to see her exit the font, a changed woman who will have such an incredible place in the kingdom of her Heavenly Father some day and a perfect resurrected body free from all the physical pains she goes through currently. Not to mention this was Elder Mason's first baptism after having gone so long and through so many trials to receive that privilege. We were all so happy to see my now very good (and so stinking hilarious. Think if Jonah Hill and Will Ferrell had a baby... That's Elder Mason) friend see his first bit of success. Though we already knew he has affected so many lives in a positive way.

So that was probably the highlight of the week. I look forward to working hard this month to help others receive this crucial ordinance to living with their families forever someday. We have two young grand kids of a member here that are looking good for a couple of weeks from now. I will be sure to give you all updates. I know that our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ are with us every step of the way out here and that they are lifting us and guiding us to make us the best we can be. We merely need to allow them to do so and trust in their loving arms that point us the way.

Have a wonderful week everyone! Love you guys so much!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

Matching with Elder Mason

Maria's Baptism! (left to right) Elder Rosero (our zone leader) Elder Fielding, Elder Mason

The one, the legend...Elder Mason