NEW ADDRESS

Sister Emily Adelaide Sheffield

JUL 08 INDOJAK

2023 N. 900 E. Unit 811

Provo, UT 84602

Historical Event and starting the List of Positives!

Selemat pagi keluarga! (Good morning fam!)

 I don't have much time (surprise surprise) so I am going to try and email as much as I can-- ignore the spelling and punctuation mistakes as usual.

Last P day's funny moments: Sis J and I put a load of dirty clothes in a dryer and I had poured soap all over them before we realized. We both forgot our temple recommends and had to run back to get them and in the process sis j left elder barrus's family name that she was going to do but there are no accidents in the Lord's kingdom so it felt right that I did work for Jane Porter and sis jibson must have needed to do the work for the temple name! I had never been so touched by a temple session. I was so activiley listening and thinking of questions and was so touched by the spirit of gratitude that I started to cry. I love the temple! We taught that night and it was a different reaction from both of us. I have to say, sis jibson and I really compliment eachother for how different we are. We each teach each other so much and grow from each others' testimonies. We bonded a lot that day over some hard times and it was nice to really come to understand each other deeper.

The next day I ran into Brother JT Alston who teaches here remember? I got your breadsticks that day and everytime we opened the box, the entire room would smelll like garlic! They were so delicious even if I got them a day late (PS the mailroom throws away all food they smell or notice so it is a small miracle that those breadsticks were safe!)

Elder Johanssen And Elder Web with Sister Jibson and me

We taught TRC on Saturday which is when you teach real members (who speak Indonesian) about gospel principles. I realized that my Indonesian comprehension is much much better than my speaking (which is good and bad). I feel so awkward asking people soul searching questions but I realized that the first word of our missionary purpose is Mengundang (Invite) and invitations ARE questions! I am trying to be a better missionary every day but some days I feel a lot farther from that goal than others. This is also the day that Sis Jibson and I discovered our magnificent talent of lip singing! I sing, she does a perfect imitation. We've had a lot of fun singing Savior Redeemer of My Soul for strangers with our newly discovered talent. Our district had a good ol disney singing break that night. We are getting so much better at focusing but our weakness is singing and story telling (whoa I just realized that those are both probably my fault since they're my favorite things to do... hahaha anyways!)

Our district, teachers and the Indonesian elder in our old classroom with the Indonesian flag

Sunday: toast reminds me of home. The Music and the Spoken Word did a special patriotic program for memorial day and it was so neat. Our RS speaker didnt come so our RS presidency all spoke about J.Smith. SIs Hacking gave her entire talk on Liberty Jail! I realized that Indonesia could be my liberty jail. It will be so hard and the conditions may not be top notch but it can become a temple for me. Oh-- news of that day: Sis Jibson and I are the new Sister Trainging Leaders for our zone! Fancy shmancy eh? That night we had a devotional by Elder and Sister Allen. It was phenomenal. Brother Allen scrapped his entire talk when he got to the pulpit because we were going to be watching the recording of Sis Monson's funeral. He spoke so elloquently by the spirit and at the end had us sing Come Come Ye Saints with a recording of MoTab. It was powerful and I still get goosebumps. Death is simply coming home. All is well!

Our districts and teachers in front of the map

Monday: It was our last full day at the MTC Main so we had a lot of fun (we still work hard too if I don;'t make it sound like that. Just know that I tell the funny stories because telling you about the 6 hours of studying and 6 hours of class isnt usually entertaining.) I came to the realization that our old zone leader Elder Mead is Parker Daniel's brittish twin. It is like the parent trap in real life. Elder Mead said something was the bee's knee's and I couldn't stop laughing! PS! I forgot to mention that Elder Wood and his comp elder heiner are the new zone leaders! Keren! (Cool!) We had both our teachers come to lunch with us even though it was memorial day and they were considering calling in sick. I dearly love both of our teachers and they care so much about us and the people of Indonesia. We had an elder from Indonesia come take a picture with us as well.

Tuesday: MOVING DAY! We packed up all of our suitcases and the classroom and headed to "MTC West Campus"! I love packing :) I just can't get over what a miracle all of MTC west is! We are so lucky to have classrooms and nice dorms and a way to watch devos and catered food and computers (kinda) and everyone has had to work SO HARD to pull it all together. We were told probably 50 times that we are pioneers and that this was so historical. What about my mission hasn't been historical! Starting with the age change to being the first 110 missionaries in the new campus. It's amazing how much can change in a matter of a couple years! We sang "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" as our opening hymn and everyone had a good chuckle. They took our picture which I fwd to you. We made a list of all the positive things about west campus and it is really an awesome list. We live in Wyview (which is SO much nicer than MTC housing) with all the sisters from our zone. It has been so great to bond with them more. Sister Blanchard and Sis Nilsson going to Greece and Sis Patterson and Sis Johnson going to Madagascar. Love them!

"Old" classroom at MTC main

"New" classroom at Raintree

Our classrooms are in Raintree, in apartments. The 2 Malay districts have the bedrooms, 1 bedroom is a teaching room and the living room is our classroom. They set up a divider as our classroom wall. BUT we have 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a balcony and a doorbell! Cool eh? (Just some of the things on the positive things list) The set up is kinda cramped but we did some rearranging so hopefully our teachers approve when they see it today. It has been raining at Raintree a lot as well hahaha (3 laughs for you dad!) We have meals in the club house and it feels like a private campus with only your zone eating with you. We didnt even think we would get hot meals so it has been so miraculous to have catered meals. It also is a blessing to eat normal portions whereas at main campus you get as much food as you can possible grab. We have had a lot of laughs as we are getting used to the differences here. By the way, don't worry- the pool is covered and the hot tub is empty ;). They broadcasted the devo to the Wyview chapel for us and they had a camera on us to show to the main campus a few times. (More talk about us making history!) Sis and Elder Zwick spoke to us about becoming more Christlike and I so enjoyed it! He compared it to when he was building the Portland Temple. One insight that elder wood shared with us: when they were building the portalnd temple's foundation, they had 9 inches of rain a day for months. they had to entirely redesign the foundation and drill all the way down into bedrock. elder wood compared that to our 9 week stay at the mtc instead of 6. There are no coincidences or accidents in life so the Lord must desire for us to build a stronger foundation. Our district is so capable of being flexible and making adjustments that we will be able to change to raintree without a blink of an eye. (another postivie thing! we will be closer to the stadium of fire on the 4th of july!)

Wednesday: We had a Gen Authority come speak to us at main campus! On our way up to main campus the shuttle was 40 minutes late, we lost 2 elders, we were interviewed by deseret news (check that btw! someone said we were also in a video and some pictures...) and we were told that we would be hosting 40 new missionaries at west campus. Elder Funk talked to us about the importance of bearing testimony about simple truths. This is the Lord's church. We ate a quick lunch and came right back to west campus where we hosted. We hosted Elder Caulford from Ogden and Elder Nick Miner! Crazy right? So now there are 150 at west campus. It is really hard to stay disciplined here but we are learning to be much better at exact obedience and not being idle (D&C 60:13 is our new district motto). We still have a small sand volleyball court here too! It was tradition for our zone and that will stay the same.

Today we came to main campus to email and go to the temple. I am dying to run into Sis Jensen or Elder Tafunai but it'll have to be a miracle from the lord at this point. I feel so out of place at MTC main now! Mazing how just a few short days can really make me realize that I belong where the Lord has sent me- west campus.

 We didn't get mail for 4 days (how do we survive? hahaha) but when we got it yesterday it was so good to hear from you all! I love hearing about what everyone is up to. Thanks Dad for your letter too. It was really inspiring. Mom you always send the best things to make me laugh! Good luck planning youth conference! You should check out the chapter in preach my gospel called Christlike Attributes because that has some insights about becoming DISCIPLes. (discipline is one fo the subheading i believe). I think I covered everything (which is good because I have now gone over my email time by exactly 1 min and 22 sec... 25... 27... Obedience brings blessings but exact obedience brings miracles, I know).

Kasihmu selalu! <3

-Sis Sheffield

I ALMOST FORGOT! Here is my new address!

Sister Emily Adelaide Sheffield

JUL 08 INDOJAK

2023 N. 900 E. Unit 811

Provo, UT 84602

First round of missionaries report to temporary MTC at Wyview

First round of missionaries report to temporary MTC at Wyview and Raintree.
This news story shows Sister Sheffield and her District walking by (1 min 44 sec into story) also shown in the photo gallery of pictures, photo #3 if you don't want to watch the whole thing. Click on the first sentance to see story.

Another article is found on:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865580846/Temporary-MTC-opens-LDS-Church-projects-47-percent-increase-in-missionaries.html?pg=all

Week TWO

May 23, 2013

Halo

I need to start writing down what I write to you in letters because I never remember! So I'll try to not repeat myself and still tell you everything in the 20 min I have left. (That in combination with the fact that I deal mainly in a foreign language means that my english and spelling have really suffered. Pull out your Urim and Thumim folks! This is going to be a scatterbrained letter.)  First off, I am feeling much better! Just a cough and I haven't been sick to my stomach since week one! FUNNY STORY!  My district did the tower challenge last week. That means we ate an entire tower of cereal in one setting!

 We even got our teacher Bro Meek in on it! I only had 3 bowls of fruitloops but between the 11 of us, we ate 68 bowls of fruitloops!!!! But... we got way busted! 

Bro. Meek showing that we really did eat the entire tower.
Look how big it is!

There was an employee totally cheering us on but then a manger saw us and she went off about something or other. She wrote down our names and our DL got a talking to by our like district president. But it was funny: she said, "what would your mothers do if they were here?!" I was like, don't ask me lady! My mom would be helping us! Haha. So that was pretty entertaining. Apparently it is un missionary-like behavior. We were so proud though haha. So we had another amazing Sunday. I loooove going to music and the spoken word with all the sisters in the MTC before R.S. That night we had Sister Mary Ellen Edmunds come and she is my new idol! I LOVE HER! Sidenote: you should look for some of her books and audiotalks because she is hilarious! She talked about how we need to be positive, after all, we chose the plan of happiness! We need to be happy because it makes Mr. What's-his-no-face, mad and being happy will make the spirit want to be around us. And since she served in Indonesia twice, I know that anyone who serves there is destined to be AWESOME! Haha it was so fun to hear her talk about it and talk about being there when they first got the Kitab Mormon. I am STOKED to go! Meeting her was a treat too because we talked in Indonesian! I LOVE sand volleyball even in the rain and it turns out I'm not the worst running partner that Sis Jibson has ever had. I think it's funny how my idea of sleeping in is 6:30 these days (dad aren't you proud?!). 

Elder McCleary shooting Bro. Meek during our game of Bang Bang with a squirt gun
(we usually play with imaginary guns haha)

I love my district so much! We play this game called bang bang, which is basically like quick draw with Indonesian words. We were playing like we always do where your backs are turned and you have your "guns" in your pockets then when you get the word you turn and shout it and shout bang bang! But anyways we were having a normal game when all of the sudden one of the Elder's pulls out a squirt gun and shoots another elder right in the eye! Oh we died laughing! HAHAHA! We then staged it to shoot another elder and then later Bro Meek! The best part is that we would always use a made up word for swag: kerengaya. It is amazing how much we get done in a day. I barely remember everything at the end of the day if it wasnt for my lil’ red journal. The lemonheads are such a hit and Auntie Amy sent me a bowl with a little quote written on it that has now become the candy dish. Sister Collins (my other teacher) is so sweet and I'm pretty sure Sis Jibson and I are her favorites. Fun fact! Sis Collins is a piano performance major and is going to teach me guitar when I get back. Anyways! I have had such and increase in my testimony this week. I feel like I've leveled up since Sunday. I know that prayer is amazingly real and powerful, no matter what language. I have never prayed so much and so regularly. It is a tremendous blessing to pray before an dafter each class, before each lesson, each planning session, each study time, each meal and each morning and night. Pray as often as you can! I also have felt so strongly guided by the spirit lately. I am not perfect by a long shot but sis jibs and I will feel the spirit so strongly during a lesson or while we are preparing a lesson and I know that the Lord has his hand in everything. There are no coincidences. My goal is to have my will in tune with the Lord's so much that it won’t matter if it is my thought or an impression, I will do it anyways. 

Rekan saya (my companion) and I at the temple!

Today we BOTH forgot our temple recommends and had to run back the the MTC then Sis Jibson left a family name we were doing for someone but it all felt ok because it felt like God knew that we needed to be at the temple 15 minutes later. Maybe it was for the name that Sis Jibson received or maybe it was so that I could be more attentive during the session. I have never learned so much during a temple session! What an overwhelming feeling and I am spiritually charged right now! PS I sent you a package with a shirt that needs mending today along with an Indonesian version of The Living Christ. BTW have you used Rosetta stone at all? It is the running joke of the class that I always know really useless words like milk and my teacher will just say "lemme guess... rosetta stone?". Byt guess what?!??! I am in the same floor as the ASL missionaries and I run into them all the time. They're so much fun to sign with and I keep thinking that heavenly father must know something I don't because my Indonesian is so weak compared to my ASL. But it makes me think that maybe I will use sign on my mish! Maybe even Indonesian sign! AHHH I'm out of time! I'm not sure what else to tell you about! I want to hear all about summer plans ok? Tell everyone I love them and tell gma A and gma/gpa S thanks for the letters. I will break the rules a little and send some pictures in another email (that is why my email broke last week). I know I'm probably missing a ton of stuff but I cant remember. Sampai berikut minggu! Saya mengasihi anda semua! Kangen!

Kasih salalu,

Sis Sheff

 Friend from home.. Elder Gage Marberger

First Week at MTC

Halo! Maaf! (Sorry!) You know how I have the worst luck? Well yesterday in the middle of emailing you guys, I got kicked off the internet and it said that my gmail account was disabled for 24 hours!!! It said there was a suspicious ammount of data being downloaded so my email was under review. Pastih! I was emailing pictures! It happened 2 days in a row!!! So anywho... I'm still alive and well (besides a cold) and sorry for not emailing on time. Sheesh I cannot believe how weird time is here. I feel like I have been at the MTC forever but I also can't believe I'm even a missionary yet! I have only an hour on the computer each week so I'm going to try to remember what I've done since I wrote my last letter. Well maybe I'll answer questions first. Satu (1)- I sleep so well. When you wake up at 6 every day and work until 10, there is not time to stay awake just thinking. But some times I feel like that is the only time I get to think about my own thoughts (non Indonesian related) and so I do think a lot at night. Dua (2)- the food is EXACTLY the same as BYU. A few days ago I had a chicken salad sandwich croissant with an apple and peanut butter and lemonade (apples/pb/lemonade I actually have banned myself from until I figure out if I have some sort of wacko food allergy because I keep getting sick. Like eat an entire roll of extra strength tums to keep from wanted to puke sick.) Tiga- We are inside a class all day... like 9 hours. But the plus is that we don't get affected by the weather? If that is a plus? It actually is raining right now, and you know how much I love playing in the rain! 4- My district is seriously SO cool. We have missionaries going to Greece, greek speaking (all of whom have to be European btw so we have 2 swedes, 2 britts and a spainard. Before I forget, Dad- did you ever know a president/bishop Martinez while on your mission who would have been about 23? Elder Martinez was wondering since he lives somewhere in the Barcelona mission. So what areas were you in?) The rest of the district is made up of languages that don't belong anywhere else like Lithuanian, Latvian, Georgian, Malagasi (Madagascar) Armenian and Malaysians going to Singapore as well as our disctrict of Indonesians. 5. I have seen SOOOOOO many of my friends here! Elder Marberger, Elder Erickson, Sister Crofts, Sis Higgs, Sis Barnes, Elder Merril, Elder Price, Elder George, Elder Thomas, Sister Stevenson, Elder LeFrandt, Elder Whats-his-face, Elder Alger, Elder Whitehead... I see people all the time! It is almost overwhelming! My room is actually pretty organized but we're moving into Raintree in a couple weeks anyways. My blisters didnt fully heal since I have been running with Sis Jibson but my practical brown shoes are killer on my feet (i've only worn them once). My motorcycle scar is almost healed though. I like change so I am excited for Raintree but think about how many convenieces we won't have over there. Classrooms, a mailroom, a gym, a field, a temple, a cafeteria, a book store, an alteration center... we will have to be a very patient district. I don't know how our teachers handle us and how often we have to change plans! PS I think it is about 85% sure that we will be here for 9 weeks... oh well! We only have an hour to read and to write and it takes forever to read them all, sadly we have no way to print them out anywhere or open pictures either. So hopefully I don't get in trouble for going over my time limit with all the email problems I was having. It was worth it :) I've gotten quite a few letters from the fam and a few from friends. It is the best to see letters in the stack with those turquoise envelopes. I have gotten all of your packages and have forced my district and teachers to eat my treats with me. The day I got the lemon bars, Elder wood recieved an enourmous tray of brownies and Sister Jibson got a huge bag full of pecan cookies so you could say that we are the most popular district in the hallway haha.Now to tell you about my life in like the last 10 minutes I have!We are in class for almost our entire day either studying or learning. Sunday was so nice to be able to have my Indonesian brain turn off and just soak up the spirit. Mothers Day can sure make you homesick though! I think I already told you that Sister Janice Kapp Perry wrote a new version of The Sisters of Zion dedicated to sister missionaries and had us sing it as the first people to ever do so. I'll mention it again in case I forgot! I am going to write in short random thoughts because that is how I wrote in my small journal. Service projects at the MTC are hilarious because they make you look and feel like you got detention. It doesn't help when Sis Jibson and I get there late too. We were laughing almost the entire hour as we kept getting tangled in eachother's ghost buster vaccuum cords and people asked me if I worked there and kept telling us sorry. But being sick is really inconvenient when your mission doesn't stop and wait for you. I just would pray that it wouldn't affect our teaching our investigator. Sister Jibson and I have a goal to do 100 pushups a day in reps of 25 which has been amusing as well as surprising that I can do that many. Our old roomies, who were self proclaimed MTC experts, left for their mission in Montana and the Madagascar sisters moved in. They are fun to have with us. I love scheduled gym time because our zone always plays sand volleyball and no matter how good/bad you are, it is a blast. I love my companion, my district, my zone and my teachers. I feel SO lucky to be here with each of them. Such unique and fun people who teach me so much! I love singing whenever I can which usually means roping in the Tongan's next door to sing with me during planning time. Our district can sing too! We usually begin and end every class with an Indonesian hymn, a prayer, stating the missionary purpose and first vision in Indonesian and reading some of the white handbook. Tonight it was my turn to choose the hymn and I picked Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy in Ingris (english) and it was outstanding to hear all the district sing in 4 part harmony. Well it didn't save all of my email but I don't remember what else I had typed so sampai nanti! (Until again!) Saya mengasihi anda semua! -Sis Sheff

Our district in front of the Provo Temple

Some of the zone (34 if you couldn't tell by the "gang signs" haha)

after our regular sand volleyball games!

Rekan saya, Sister Jibson and I

Arrived May 13, 2013

Indonesian words in red

Keluarga saya! (My family))

Wow. Have I only been here less than 3 days?! I cannot believe how much you do in one day. They pack your schedule so tight that Sister Jibson and I are running everywhere. I wake up a half hour early and went to bed an hour late last night writing in my journal. BUT I LOVE IT! The MTC ROCKS! I taught my first lesson in Indonesian today which was humbling but neat. Sister Jibson is keren (cool) We get along really well and have a lot of fun. We’re the only two sisters in our district with 8 other elders. Turns out we will be here for 9 weeks according to our info packets, but 6 weeks according to our teachers. And we found out that we will be the first group to go to Raintree. Ha ha ha! (for you dadJ)

Anyways, I have to go but I just wanted to send a quick note telling ya’ll how much I love you. I know that God lives & that we are his children. The Book of Mormon is true and was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith. Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today.

Happy Mother’s Day!  PS Mom I wrapped you a present and it is behind my jewelry tree. Saya mengasihi anda semoa!

Love Sister Emily Sheff

PSS Funny stories to come but I am only supposed to write on p-days (Thursday) so you’ll have to wait and see.

PSSS I can pray & bear testimony & teach & sing in Indonesian! (some J)

Heading to the MTC

"No, I can get this, I have to practice"

Carrying 50 lbs on her back and dragging 38.7 up behind.

Checked boys out of school, went to J'Dawgs and
then joined the parade of cars going to the temple
to take pictures before the MTC

What other family wrestles at the temple before going to MTC?

Andrew, Sister Sheffield and Joshua

Jacob, Sister Sheffield and Samuel

Dadio, Sheffio and Momio

Emily and Grandma Anderson

 Joshua will be grown up when Sister Shef returns, proves his weight and gets her bags out of the sub.

Going, going...

...gone to the MTC

Pre-Mission Activities

Before going on my mission, I had a pre-mission bucket list. Add that to the fact that there are 7 people in the family with other activities going on and we had quite the busy schedule! (Get ready to scroll till your fingers hurt!)
Here is the rundown in pictures:

Flowrider with Jake and BYU friends

Wakeboarding

Slalom Skiing

Samuel's Bball game

Soccer games!

Baking like crazy for my farewell!

Doin some yard work for the farewell

Get Air

Get Air Pre-Farewell Party

Cookies from Jake Wood's farewell

Almost Missionaries at Preach my Gospel

Frontrunner down to have a sleepover w/ Tay

Temple Session w/ my parents and McCall

Nielsen's Frozen Custard

McCall and I (soon-to-be-sister-missionaries!)

See ya at the MTC Elder Gage Marberger

Bowling with Kenzie

Bowling w/ Kenz

Jamie Stokes's Track Meet!

Jacob Foutz's hammer throw

Choral Edition Dinner Theater for Andrew and Nate

Zuppas and shopping with Grandma and Mom (and Dad)

Student Gov. Induction

Joshua's Track Meet 

Drive in Movie

Drive in Movie to see Iron Man 3!

Before Haircut...

AFTER Haircut

Family Pictures 

Cute Family Pictures

Shopping for Andrew's Accolade outfit

Running a 5K

Camping!

Getting Andrew ready for Accolade

Getting rid of a bird in our house

Flowrider with the fam 

Flowrider with the Fam 

Whew! What a fun time! I think we tried to fit 18 months worth of activities in 2 weeks haha.