Letter 01-27-14

We had transfer calls this Saturday and Sister Short is moving! I am going to be in Oklahoma! (I will send the address when I get it--so if anyone wants to send me anything either wait for a tad or send them to the Mission Office please. Preferably the Mission Office because I will probably need the letters to cope better with this new situation--I've never moved before!) So the most amazing part of this this is that my new companion is the Sister that I replaced when I came! Her name is Sister Andrew and she is actually Marshallese! It was a shock because the trend for this area has been 6 months and I've only been here 3, but the Lord knows better! My new area is a walking area so I'm going to get nice and fit! (Yay!). I am so excited! I have only ever heard WONDERFUL things about

Sister Andrew (also, from the stories I've heard, she has a great sense of humor). I love the people here so much. I want to come back someday. I have made such friends. I love them all so much, but I know that God would not call me away unless it was right and I was needed elsewhere.  

So for this week I have some very exciting news! We had a baptism!!! The wonderful Young Woman's name is Gustina. We actually started teaching her the Sunday at the beginning of this transfer and I got to see her baptized! She is wonderful! Aww I love her and her family so much! They are just amazing! Every time we went over to teach Gustina something, she already knew it! She has been taught so well! Seriously most of the ward already thought she was a member--that's how amazing she is. We taught her at her aunt's home and the Spirit is so strong there! The first time I cried about leaving was when I realized that I wouldn't be able to go do Temple Baptisms with her. That made me very sad. She will do great though and I know Sister Smith will send me pictures.

Also, I am so excited! There's a wonderful couple here named Joe and Morita who just got callings this Sunday! They were so ready and so excited! Joey even spoke in sacrament! He did great and I don't know if I've ever been so proud of someone speaking (I think it was his first time, or one of his first). Morita taught the older primary children and she did wonderful as well! She taught them the 10 commandments using hand-signs and she told us she felt the Spirit. I am so proud of them both!

Off I go to Oklahoma; TIME FOR A NEW ADVENTURE!!!

Letter 1-20-14

This week on Saturday we have a baptism! Her name is Gustina and she is...aww she is just wonderful! We started teaching her the Sunday Sister Smith got here. She is the niece to a member. This member and her family (husband and children) are just so great! They bring Gustina to church weekly, they hold family prayer and scripture study, and they are just wonderfully active member missionaries. We can tell that their home is a place where the spirit resides every time we walk in. Basically, we thought Gustina was already baptized. She knows EVERYTHING. It's very rare for us to go teach her anything that she hasn't heard before--especially of the commandments. And there hasn't been a single thing that we have taught her that she isn't doing or isn't completely willing to do. I have no words to describe how wonderful she is. 

Also in that family, but on the father's side are 3 wonderful young women. Coleen is one of them. She wants to be baptized. We are trying to help her do so. She is also shining with the Spirit. We love them! Their whole family glows!

One cool thing I don't know if I've mentioned, but we have an investigator who still has her boyfriend back on the Marshall Islands and we sent him as a referral! Did you know that missionaries can submit referrals to anywhere in the world? We send them to our mission office and then they get sent off until they get to the correct place. ISN'T THAT AMAZING?!

Another thing: has anyone heard of Public Affairs Representatives? Let me just say that I hadn't and now I feel foolish. If I mentioned this before I'm sorry, but they are like the Superheroes of missionary work! Everyone--ESPECIALLY MISSIONARIES--should talk to their Public Affairs Representative. I seriously now consider the 3 first people a missionary should meet in an area are 1) the Bishop, 2) Ward Mission Leader, and 3) the Public Affairs Representative. They are amazing! They have the presentation "The Mormon Next Door" which explains the church in a more statistical way (great for people who want to know about the church itself), they have their ears out for public events that missionaries can participate in (and they make the publicity for the work missionaries do go to public good-will), they get missionaries in the paper (especially for doing service--service they can suggest I'd bet even), they get missionary work on good terms with political higher-ups and also other religions (our Public Affairs Representative said that we can organize like firesides with preachers of another faith on topics in which they and the church share similar views). The ideas are many and Public Affairs Representatives are the ones who make a large-scale goodwill attitude of the public to missionaries. They are the unsung precursor to missionary work. The idea to missionary work now is "We are One" and Public Affairs Representatives are a really big part of that. PS: the Public Affairs Representative that came to talk with us is names Sister Wheeler and she is amazing!

Well, I think that's all for today! 

Love you all!

Letter 01-05-14

So I have very little to write this week. I don't have much time, plus I'm tired. Did I mention I'm tired? But somehow it is still GREAT!

My Marshallese just keeps getting better! Praying for the gift of tongues really does work! As for now I'm still just replacing English words with Marshallese, but fairly soon I'm hoping to form sentences that make sense. I can read Marshallese so that's not a problem in teaching, I just can't form my own sentences....But I am totally getting there! God does provide!

Letter 12-30-13

So this week we had two baptisms on Christmas! Their names are Christopher and Natasha. We love them both so much! We are so happy they got baptized. 

We keep running into teenage girls like crazy. We have one that we teach who, on Wednesday, is going to tell us when she wants to be baptized. We have actually only met with her twice--God TOTALLY prepared her! :)

I loved skyping you all on Christmas--I was so excited I couldn't take it! Tell everyone I love them again please :)

Love you!

Sister Short

Letter 12-22-13

Things are going well with Sister Smith. She is driven just like me and likes to follow the rules even more than I do so we work well together. She has just finished being trained so she still super fired up. She is really good at asking the members for help with the language, and I really appreciate that. She also, every night before bed, tells me a "Sister Short, I love you today because..." statement which really makes me feel good. Also, she really is good directionally and with planning so that's great because I'm not-so-much. We are very very busy and it's a lot of fun! It's been a challenge because I am the one who knows about the area and so I have been taking the lead in a lot, but Sister Smith is strong, supportive, and involved so I don't feel lost. She helped me feel brave enough to talk to a random tall man playing basketball (it was dark out and we thought he wasn't wearing a shirt) because I thought I was getting a prompting. Sometimes the spirit nudges us to do things we normally wouldn't, and we have to be careful to follow these promptings. So Sister Smith helped me be brave. It turns out he was a really nice young man (wearing a tank top in fact--yes!) and we had a quick lesson and now he is being taught by the English Elders here. Sometimes the smallest things create huge ripples, and since Heavenly Father knows that, he sends the Spirit to guide us.

We are actually teaching a BUNCH of teenage girls right now. They just started popping up everywhere! Some are less-active, and some are investigators, but ALL are sweet and amazing. We have had Young Women just popping up everywhere and I LOVE it. I think this might  be the Age of the Young Women here. I love explaining to them and our other investigators that the good feelings they get when we come, and when they pray, and when they read the scriptures are the feelings we want to give to them always. Through Baptism (by proper authority) they get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which means that, as long as they are living how they should, then they can feel those good feelings (the Holy Ghost) all the time. So baptism is giving happiness. That's why we as missionaries ask everyone to be baptized--we just want them to be happy!

There was snow here, but it's all melted now. Winters here are starting out very mild it seems--it feels like a Utah November to me.

I am excited to announce that we have 2 baptisms on Christmas! They are cousins, but they have been raised like brother and sister. Their names are Janjan (nickname) and Christopher. They are 8 and 11 I think (momentary memory lapse...). We are SO excited!!!! These are Sister Smith's first baptisms so that's really awesome :)

Love, love, love,

Sister Desiree Short