Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hey everybody!

I hope everyone had a great week and a super fun Christmas time. Mine went great with a lot of love shown from all of you! So thank you to the following people:

-Brooklyn Hermansen for the card (Stay warm in your new area!)
-The Knighton Family for the card
-The Hermansen Family for the card and cash
-Steve and Kim for the card and cash (Happy birthday to the both of you too this month!)
-Grandma Lorraine for the package (love you!)
-Kyle,Brandi,and the twins Alexis and Colby for the letter
-Aunt Sherrie for the card and giftcards
-Grandma Jeri for the card and again for the packages
-The great relatives from the Stallings family that wrote me cards: Olivia, Laila, Eliana, Holland, William, Emily, Roman, and Brooklyn

Thank you so much everyone for making my last major holiday in the mission wonderful. I look forward to spending the next at home.

First bit of news is that I received notice that this will be my final area and that Elder Knutti will be leaving and coming in to be my last companion will be Elder Leatham. I'm excited to go out with a bang and finish strong. There is a lot of good that can be done here.

Some of the highlights of Christmas time this past week were going to a delicious Christmas eve dinner where the member family served us five different fillets of salmon smoked on different wood planks (soo good), looking at lights around the city in this very warm, winter-time city, and getting to wake up early on Christmas and dress up as santa for a member family to deliver presents. It was super funny at how excited they were and how sad they were when they thought I was leaving. We also were given permission as a mission to watch Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. I don't know if it's just that I haven't been able to see good movies for two years, but it seemed like that was a super good film. I enjoyed it a ton and look forward to getting to see the next one when it releases. We are also getting excited to watch Finding Dory on New Years Eve. Our mission president was super cool to have done that.

Despite all these things, I hope that everyone felt focused on the true meaning of Christmas. I think that this was my most significant Christmas in this regard on the fact that my testimony has grown significantly of the savior and His loving atonement. As well as this will be my final one spent in the full service of Him whom I was called to represent. It has been such an honor and privilege to have been His hands in lifting others and being able to completely focus on Him and others. It will be fun getting to leave the rest I have on the table during these final six weeks.

Thank you so much again everyone and have a happy new year!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

This is what Christmas looks like on the Gulf

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is staying warm wherever they are at and that they are enjoying this terrific holiday season. I love how the world seems to stop at least a little and remember the Savior Jesus Christ. It's been a blast being able to serve as a missionary during this time.

Before I get into the previous week I wanted to express my gratitude to all those who have sent me cards, letters, and/or packages. I am so grateful to have so much love and support out here even when there is so little time left for me as a missionary and it would be easy to forget.

Thank you so much to:

-Grandma Jeri for the wonderful packages and card you sent. The whole apartment has been very appreciative of that and you've made this Christmas better than ever.

-Richard and Eilene Stallings for the great family card.

-Aunt Sherrie for the card with the generous gift cards.

-Aunt Bertha for the card. It's always great to hear that you are doing well.

-and the fam for the package and card. I look forward to opening them soon :)

I don't have a lot of time to write, but I will say this past week has been crazy. We woke up on Thursday with the news that due to a chemical leaking out of the nearby oil refineries, none of the water in Corpus was safe, haha. So we tried to run over to the store to grab some extra water and the line was clear out the door just to grab water, not even purchase it. So luckily we had a good amount already and we had some great members help us out. Over the next couple of days we had to have the South American mission experience of bathing with water from gallon bottles. It was super cold!
Luckily they got it all cleaned out by Sunday so we are back to normal.

Things have been surprisingly cold around here with the windchill and humidity dipping temperatures into the thirties. I know it's no Minnesota (shout out to Brooklyn Hermansen. Hang in there!), but it cuts through the layers we have on, on the bikes pretty good. I wasn't expecting cold like this. We are crossing our fingers that we will be able to see the first snow storm here since 2004. That would be super cool.

Other than that we have just been doing as missionaries do and grinding away, trying to find some receptive people. Corpus is tough, but it's been a fun challenge.

I look forward to talking to the family here next week and hope the everyone has a very merry Christmas. Be sure to keep your eyes open to opportunities to help others out. This is a great time of year to reach out a helping hand to those around us.

Love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

Just a short one this week

Hey everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful week and took the opportunity to see the fantastic Christmas devotional. The spirit was super strong through the powerful messages that were shared. I invite all to check it out if you haven't already.

Things are really cooling down here and rainy (Hallelujah). I am really enjoying the jacket/sweater weather, as it now is finally feeling like Christmas time around here.

I don't have a lot of time to give details of the past week, but we saw a lot of cool miracles happen in finding new investigators. All I can say for the time being is that the power of prayer and fasting is real as we saw them answered.

I also wish to thank these individuals for the Christmas cards/letters sent to me in the previous weeks. You guys rock! Thank you so much to:

> Grandma Jeri for the letters and giftcard
>Aunt Arva
>Steve and Wynette Ellis
>Dave, Keri, Kendal, and Alyssa Witbeck

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Thank you so much again.

Well I will have to end it there for this week, but I hope everyone continues to enjoy the holiday season and participates in the church's #LightTheWorld campaign. I know you will feel closer to the savior by so doing.

Love y'all!

Stay classy,

Elder Sheehy



Hey mom!

I'm so glad to hear from you again. It becomes more and more apparent, every week it seems, how much I miss you and can't wait to give you a hug again. Thank you so much for being such an incredible mother.

I also can't believe how the time continues to fly on by. I am really enjoying the Christmas campaign of the church too and getting to share it with everyone we meet. I know it will be super successful if people choose to really participate. The Christmas devotional was wonderful and a very spiritual experience for me. I received a wonderful quiet assurance again that Christ really was born, died, and lives again for each of us. I would invite you to really pay attention to what the spirit says to you as you watch.

Woah! Crazy cool news on the calling! You are going to do an amazing job! Don't worry at all. I know that our Heavenly Father qualifies all whom he calls. I will be sure to pray for you as you transition into this great opportunity to grow for you.

Things are definitely improving on the relationship with the ward members. I love this area. We are seeing a lot of cool miracles as we continue to try and be better every day.

I would definitely say things are safe to send here because packages are held at the apartment office and need I.D. verification to be released to the owner. However, there will be ample opportunities to get things from the mission office too, if people feel more comfortable doing it that way.

Have a wonderful week mom! Love ya lots!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

Christmas by the Bay

Corpus Pier

Shrimp boats

 City of Corpus Christi

The monument to Selena, the Tejano artist who had a movie made about her played by Jennifer Lopez

Cool yard of one of the members

Thanksgiving Day soccer

We played with Sinton Zone, where Elder Rosaschi is currently serving. I missed him a lot.