Letter 03-10-14

Thank you for the Garmin! I will need it so I am so glad I asked because (drum roll please) I am getting transferred! I am going to a little town called Henrietta OK. We are shotgunning (it is a term that means both missionaries in the companionship are new to the area) Elders (now they get Sisters) and my companion is Sister Lowe!

Yes, pause for a second, think it through, wait for the penny to drop

SISTERS SHORT AND LOWE

Haha you can laugh now.

I am so excited!

I will have to write more in letter-format because I'm almost out of time.

So I'm leaving Thursday and packing all week.

Time for a new adventure!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Letter 03-03-14

The Book of Mormon

It really all comes down to the Book of Mormon. We want someone to accept the church? Start them reading the Book of Mormon. We want to reactivate someone? Get them reading the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is the strongest, most undeniable witness of the Church. Why do missionaries teach the Restoration first? So people can understand the importance of the Book of Mormon in their conversion. The Book of Mormon IS a miracle and people feel God in that book if they care enough to look. I have found that if I can convince someone to read and ponder the Book of Mormon daily then I don't even worry about them--THEY WILL COME BACK. If they keep reading then either they have to come back or they have to deny the Spirit and they stop reading. The book is too pure and good and full of the Spirit for it not to change the honest seeker of truth. It is our proof. The story of the Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith is too big a claim to be somewhat true. It must be true or false, and reading the Book of Mormon tells us that. The Book of Mormon is full of goodness and truth and light and Jesus Christ--why in the world would a wicked person write such a book? They couldn't. Therefore he is a Prophet of God. Everything is held up by that one little book. Want motivation? Just start. Want more happiness, purpose, peace, joy? Just start. Just pray often and start.

So, my question is this; after all God has done to give it to us, how are we going to answer God when he asks us about how much we loved His gift?

For those of you that may not be doing well with it, or those of you that haven't read it, I would say there's no better time to start than now. Mormon.org has free copies you can request. 

Letter 02-24-14

Dear Everybody!!

My mom sent me this in her email to me this week and I want to show it to all of you! (My comments are directed towards Latter-Day Saint Members specifically.)

   

Thought for the day - 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people".  We are a covenant people and great are the obligations which go with that covenant.  We cannot be ordinary people.  We must rise above the crowd.  We must stand a little taller.  We must be a little better, a little kinder, a little more generous, a little more courteous, a little more thoughtful, a little more outreaching to others.

I love that! We are a peculiar people! Sometimes I think we fall into the trap of wanting the unique blessings the Gospel has to offer, while still wanting to be "normal". We don't want to stand out, we don't want to be weird, we don't want to disregard the social norm. Well guess what? We don't have that right. We are a "peculiar people". Now I'm not saying we need flaunt ourselves. Pride was never meant to be in the equation. I am asking everyone to think about themselves and to consider whether or not we, through our everyday actions, show that we are ashamed of the Lord our God. Do we remain firmly and lovingly loyal to the Jesus Christ who has gathered us as his own? Do we awkwardly mumble answers to those who ask us "Wait, you're Mormon?", do we feel we have to toe the modesty line to be attractive, do we feel we need to compromise to be acceptable? We do not have to. Standing up for what we believe--loyaly, RESPECTFULLY, gently, and WITH OUR TESTIMONY--is not wrong. Using pride, overbearing words, or in any way acting like we are better IS wrong however. We are blessed. Period. Everyone who wants to reach for it may be a member of our church and share in everything we have. We can show love. We can share our testimony, and we can show humble thanks to God for making us a peculiar people.

This is my personal testimony. (I wrote it fast so if I need to rephrase things, expect that next week please.)

Love,

Sister Short

Letter 02-17-14

God can make things work out! Sometimes annoying thing happen, but God can make them used for good! Like my story for this week is that there was a man that tried to bash us--though I call it "softball bashing" because it isn't like yelling or anything; it's just being like confrontationally disagreeable and not listening. Anyways, it wasn't bad or anything it was just I suppose sad and annoying to me. But the thing was that I was thinking about what he was saying and I thought through the logic of it and came up with the answer. Of course, the man probably wouldn't be open to my answer, but I felt like I could explain it and I understood why this was important and whatnot. But anyways, so later (the next week) we went into this lesson with this amazing new investigator. She expressed a concern that was answered by the answer I had figured out based on this other man's comments! So the opposition of this man allowed me to think through this certain concept, and then God sent a person who was ready to hear the explanation! It was wonderful! And I believe that if we are willing, God can use our thoughts and experiences to His advantage, but only if we are willing.

Letter 02-02-14

Sorry I'm going to send you a letter later because I only have 1 hour on the computers in this area.

Love,

Sister Short

{Desi sent some pictures but she hasn't told us who is in the them yet}

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!