Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. -Sandlot

Well,

It's hard to sum up all that this mission has meant to me these last two years. It has been a rollercoaster ride for certain, but it has been the ride of my life. I can't express how much the Lord has changed not only my life, but so many lives through this service. It's amazing what He can do with your life as you give it fully to Him. It has been absolutely worth it and then some. I would say that an experience I had this last week was what really sums up why I've loved being a missionary:

I was on an exchange with another elder in his area when I was told we would be going to a family who just days before had had their father been hit and killed by a car. He was perfectly healthy and had many years of life ahead of him. What also was cool about this was that the daughter and her husband who live in our area just happened to be there as well. As can be very well understood, they were still shaken up by the loss of their father and husband. As we listened to them share memories of the man and relate to us how good of a person he was I felt strongly impressed to share with them my testimony of the plan of salvation and a scripture that is in my patriarchal blessing. I shared with them the experiences of losing a brother and sister and having to learn for myself where they are now. I testified with all of my heart with tears in my eyes of the love of a Heavenly Father who gave His son that death will have no final sting. I know without a doubt that we will see our loved ones again and that they are busy doing much good in the spirit world. How blessed we are to have such incredible knowledge. How fortunate were they to know this too! That though we will miss them, we will be reunited through the power of priesthood ordinances and the redemptive power of the Savior. How incredible it was to be able to be the Lord's hands in this family's life. I know for certain that they were the sole reason that I was called to work in their area that day. The highlight of this experience was after the wife had expressed that she always wanted to serve a couples mission with her deceased husband as we were getting up to leave. It seemed that words came out of my mouth promising her as one of the Lord's servants that she will have that opportunity in the world of spirits after living out the Father's plan for her in mortality. How dearly I will miss these simple, but incredible experiences that happen more often than not as a representative of Him who sent me.

I testify to you that the Savior lives! He loves us more than you could ever imagine. His hand is always outstretched to you. Go to Him. He will heal you and make something of your life that is unique and beautiful. This is His church. He has given us a legacy of apostles and prophets to this day to lead and guide us home to our loving Heavenly Father. I know that this same father knows us all by name, all our heartaches, and difficulties of this life. He will guide you and help you. Trust in Him and go to Him in prayer. He always listens. This I solemnly bare my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thank you so much to everyone for the great love, support, and prayers that have been sent on my behalf. I couldn't have made it this far was it not for such wonderful family and friends. I hope and pray that my service has benefited you in some way as well. I look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

(p.s Thanks a million to Aunt Bertha and Grandma Jeri for the letters that arrived here this past week. Love ya tons!)

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: - 2 Timothy 4:7

Saying goodbye to the Osbournes

Gonna miss these guys, hahaha

Lexington Life

Hey everyone!

I can't believe how time has flown! I'm now staring at just three weeks left on the calendar. Super crazy. I still feel like I just got here. It's going to be bittersweet for sure getting on that plane, though i'm very excited to see friends and family again.

Before I continue, thank you so much to Grandma Jeri for the two letters and updates about Aunt Sherrie. It's very appreciated.

Things here have been very good here in Corpus despite difficulty in the work. Not having very many people open up to us, but we are still working hard and giving it our best effort. We know there will be someone that shows up here fairly soon.

We did have two very fun p-days where the first we went to the aquarium downtown and fed some stingrays and stuff. The second one was probably the most fun p-day of the mission so far. We started off by getting a tour of the Naval Air Base from one of the ward members that works there. He does instruction for the pilots and let us try this spinning chair that helps pilots who suffer from air sickness bodies adapt to the motion. We all started out doing pretty well until he had us do different head tilts and eye focuses. Needless to say, we all got pretty good motion sickness for a little bit, but luckily no one threw up. It was super cool.

After that we went over to the aquarium for their one dollar only day and met up with the missionaries in Sinton zone. So I got to spend some time with Elder Rosaschi again and watch a couple of the aquarium shows with their dolphins.

Then we spent the rest of the day on the beach (don't worry no one went swimming) playing soccer and hand-ball (basically ultimate frisbee, but with a soccer ball and nets instead) on the sand. It was so much fun and everyone really enjoyed it. I think everyone who participated was wiped out after running so hard in the sand for hours. It was also a very cool location with the U.S.S Lexington just down the way from us.

Well that's about all for this week. I will keep doing the best I can until I have to step on that plane. It's been a huge honor to be able to serve the Lord during these past two years. I've grown in incredible ways. I'm grateful that there is still a little bit of time.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Stay classy,

Elder Sheehy

U.S.S Lexington

Three more weeks

Beach Soccer

Leatham loves 'murica

One of the many oil rigs we saw go by.

A dead puffer fish I found on the beach

Elder Leatham and I at the aquarium. I don't know why I look like I'm glowing, haha.

stingray

some cool redheads they had

One of the keepers feeding the baby alligators

Nemo!

Jelly fish...jelly fish...jelly fish

Happy New Years All!

Happy New Years everyone!

Wow it's crazy to finally be in 2017. I never thought this year would come. I always said to myself "Oh I don't go home until 2017 so I have plenty of time.." Well here we are! It's been interesting to say the least to start my returning home plans and winding down. I still feel like I have forever left, but the things i'm doing tell me otherwise. I am being sure to give it the best i've got before jumping on the plane. It's been such an amazing experience out here and i'm going to miss it.

Not a whole lot to say this week other than getting a new companion named Elder Leatham from Heber, Utah. He's a super fun guy, so i'm grateful that i'll be able to spend the last month with someone's company that is enjoyable. The work was kind of slow this last week with a ton of unanswered doors being knocked. I believe that it's just the holidays and that things will go back to normal for the remainder of the transfer. We got to watch Finding Dory as a mission yesteryday. I liked it a lot and thought it was a pretty good sequel considering it's often hard to live up to the first one. We did have one cool miracle that came from incorrectly contacting a home that we thought was a former investigator. We found out later that it was the house next door we were initially looking for, but we met a super humble woman named Lisa who has been through a ton in her life already. I know that she is sorely in need of the gospel in her life and it was super cool how receptive she was immediately. I look forward to seeing if she will keep the spark and continue down the path to the happiness that she seeks and will find there.

Beyond that I just wish to thank the following people:

-Killians for the Christmas Card
-Rankins for the Christmas Card
-Grandma Jeri for the New Years card

Thank you so much for all the love and support!

I hope everyone goes out there and makes 2017 the best year yet. I know that if you center your life in Christ more this year that He will help make more out of you than you can imagine at this time.

Love y'all and stay classy!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

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. 

The Thanksgiving Plague

Hey everybody!

I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving!

Mine was absolutely nuts! We had four back-to-back appointments. I have never felt so stuffed in my life! Poor Elder Gallegos in our zone lost it after two and I had to run to the bathroom to throw-up the first thing the following morning. Of all the thanks expressed during this holiday I would say I am most thankful that this is my last Thanksgiving as a missionary ;P  No seriously though, it was great of the members to be so loving here.

It's been fun to keep getting to know the area here in Corpus. I dig being able to see the ocean every day so much. It's like the ultimate stress reducer for me.

I don't have a lot to report on, but I was able to get some good pictures around town, so I'll just move ahead to that. I hope you have an awesome week everyone!

love y'all so much!

Stay classy,

Elder Sheehy

And then a few minutes later he wrote...

Just kidding on the pictures :( I forgot my camera at the apartment I just realized. >.< Next week for sure though!

Corpus Life

Hey everyone!

So I had some changes the last week. I was transferred here to Corpus Christi with Elder Knutti and I am having a blast. It is super pretty here and the weather is perfect right now. My area butts up against the ocean, so I get to see it basically every day which is really cool. This is definitely my most scenic area I've served in. Elder Knutti is from Virginia and we get along great. I am SOOO grateful I've had such awesome companions in the mission. That has been a huge blessing.

I wanted to be sure to thank my Grandma Jeri before I get too far as well. Thanks for the awesome Thanksgiving package, we have been enjoying the good treats.

So getting here to Corpus was pretty nuts. It was only Elder Buzan and I in a van and we both have never been away from the border and had no idea where we were going. We left the transfer meeting with a GPS in the car and just set a course for Corpus assuming that we could call the Zone Leaders when we got close. Well about halfway there We both realized that no one had given us a cell phone and that there wasn't any numbers in the car for missionaries. We figured we were too far to turn back so we kept on going. We made it to Corpus itself with good time but started wandering around looking for missionaries. Usually you will be met at the stake chapel, but when we arrived there, there wasn't anyone to pick us up. We resorted to talking to a worker that was working on the roof and asked him where the other chapels were located. So we wandered around all over Corpus to the different chapels, but not finding anyone around. Well this went on until about seven at night going to places and looking for members (we found a ward directory luckily).This finally ended up with us knocking on a less-active woman's home who pointed us in the right direction and fed us some food since we hadn't eaten anything all day. Thank goodness haha. Elder Buzan and I thought we were going to have to go back to an area where we knew people as late as it was getting. That was a super crazy experience, but it ended up alright.

Well I'm loving it here and looking forward to spending the holidays on the coast. We are looking at probably 5+ Thanksgiving dinner appointments so that's going to be insane. Pray that I can make it through that day lol.

Well I love y'all a ton and hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I don't have any photos yet, but I'll take a bunch this week.

Stay Classy,

Elder Sheehy

(p.s If you would like to send me some mail or packages ;) my new address is:

5757 S. Staples #1507
Corpus Christi, Texas
78413

The mail should be safe here so feel free to send things straight here as opposed to sending them to the mission home and taking a long time to be brought up here to me).

Bye Bye Weslaco!

Hey ev'r budy!

So first thing first, I'm getting transferred! Definitely bittersweet for me. I am excited to see somewhere new and meet new people, but it will be hard to leave Weslaco a second time. So many great people and missionaries here. Also kind of a scary moment was realizing that this very well could be my final area i serve in. I heard (not confirmed yet) that I will be going to Corpus Christi. Super cool if that's true.

This last week was awesome. We saw a ton of success and things were just falling into place. We really saw the hand of the lord a lot blessing our investigator and our personal lives. We had a lot of fun meal appointments with our favorite members that were worried and now sad to hear of Elder Gonzales and I leaving the branch. We definitely went out with a bang, so I am very thankful to the awesome Weslaco branch members.

So the big highlight of the week was a baptism! Our investigator Juan that we have been working with was cleared by the mission president last Wednesday, so we got him prepped to go yesterday. He was super excited as he has been waiting for a couple of years to join the rest of his family in baptism. It was a seriously awesome moment. He was all smiles and seemed very very relieved to finally get there. I know he is going to be a very strong convert and will eventually become a great priesthood leader here. What a huge blessing to have been able to help him reach that desire and to have gotten to become so close with his family.

I hope you have an awesome week! Love ya guys!

Stay classy,

Elder Sheehy

Juan and his family :)

November...Where is my mission going?

Hello everyone!

 I can't believe that November is already here. I won't lie I had a couple of moments last week kind of freaking out that the mission is nearly over and I feel that there is still soooo much more I need to do and learn. Luckily there is still some time and I will use it to the best of my ability.

Before I get too far I want to thank my Grandma Jeri for a great Halloween card and I hope you had a very happy birthday.

This past week was awesome. Elder Peake with the rest of the district and I had a great time at meal appointments visiting and joking with the members. It's been a blessing to have so much time here in Weslaco. I love the members here in all the units to death. They are terrific people. Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting we heard so many powerful testimonies of the temple from these great people. I also felt impressed to stand and bear my testimony of eternal families and the incredible experience my mother and I had of taking my brother and sister Tyler and Tara's names through the temple before I came out here. I know without a doubt that they are in spirit paradise doing extremely well and helping out and working hard there. The whole purpose and joy of God's grand design is to see us all together as families in his presence again. I implore all that haven't been to the temple in awhile to bring a family ancestors name through and feel of the joy that comes from such an experience. I also implore those that haven't gone or unable to currently go, to work with your church leaders who love you to get a recommend and go. I miss the temple so much. The work there is real and you will feel no closer to God in any other place but His house.

We are seeing much growth and success with our investigator Juan currently and if all goes well with the final interview with our mission president (which i'm certain it will because of how golden of a man he is) he should be baptized very soon! I love this man and his family to death and I want nothing more than to see him join the rest of the family in baptism and go on to the sealing powers only available in the temple.
Sometimes he adds different details in his personal letters to me. Here's a part that made me sad...
Things are going great with Juan. He is an awesome guy that has a terrific family in some of the poorest conditions I've seen out here. Very very humble people. I wish so bad that I had money to buy them a new house that didn't have holes all over and cockroaches and mice running in and out. It's super sad.

I love you all so much and hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Sheehy

Some older pics that I got from Elder Peake's camera...

Elder Peake and I got to eat here a few weeks ago for a members birthday for all you can eat shrimp. Yes, we're spoiled :P

​Pirate birthday party with Elder Gonzalez and Barnett

​I thought this christian church sign was clever

​Yep, we found it... the Party spot. "Oh this is the party spot?... I guess I've been looking in the wrong place?"

Apparently the brother of Jared is marketing his glowing rocks now...

Yes, a real live snake got stuck in my companions tie... don't ask lol.