Thursday, May 30, 2013

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

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