Goodbye Garanhus... Oh wait! NOPE!

Hello!!

Well, this is going to be a super quick email today! Sorry!! 

Remember how I was supposed to be getting transferred this week? Well... I'm staying another transfer here in Garanhuns!!! It's almost impossible for my President to leave a sister in an area more than 4 transfers, and guess how many I'll be here for?? Yup. 5. I'm a little embarrassed to go back to church on Sunday, because this past Sunday I took pictures and said goodbye to everyone, because I thought for certain that I'd be transferred.

I'm going to receive a new companion in this area, Sister I. Sousa! She's actually the "daughter" of my companion from this past transfer, so that'll be fun! I have no doubt that there's something the Lord wants me to learn in this area still. I can't wait to find out what it is!

Sorry to not write more... we took up a lot of our email time with the transfer news. But I love you all, and I'm so grateful for the love and support you show me. 

Have a great week!!

-Sister Shelton

Ether 12:27

I Love Garanhuns!!

Happy Monday everyone!!!

Well, I'm gonna be totally honest- there's not a whole lot to tell this week. Winter is coming here in Garanhuns, and believe it or not, it's actually pretty cold. This is the coldest city here in Pernambuco, and I was lucky enough to be here during summer, and now that winter is starting, I'll probably get transferred soon. It worked out great! :) The only problem with winter on its way, is that literally everyone here is getting sick. The change in the weather has left everyone with a cold... including me. It was a couple of days of sickness in our house, but it's starting to look better for us all, so for that I'm super grateful. :) The only problem is we have to keep working, even in the rain, so it takes a little bit longer to get better than normal. But, tudo bem. tudo bem. :)

Because I don't have a whole lot else to tell, I'll tell you a funny story that happened this week. We stopped by to visit a woman that we've talked to a couple of times, and when we got there, her brother answered the door along with her two little kids. He said that Fernanda wasn't home, but almost immediately after saying this, her 2 year old daughter came over to me and said "Mommy doesn't want to talk to you guys! She's hiding in the bedroom!" hahahaha. We were sad for this woman to be lying to us, but it was so funny and cute the way the little girl told us this, that it was hard to stay sad. I sure do love little kids! :)

Sorry to not have more to say! I'm sure there'll be more to talk about next week!!

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Shelton

Alma 37:36-37

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Jess is still having problems with sending pictures from her camera. These are from one of the other sisters.

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Miracles are possible… even in two days!

Happy Monday!!

Wow! This week has been super craaazzy! Due to my companion getting sick, divisions with the LTS, and Conferencia de Zona, I had a total of two full days to work in my area. But! Even with only two days to work, we were still able to see a lot of miracles! We met a really great family, with lots of teenage boys. Seriously. There were so many teenage boys in this house. The mom warned us before we entered, but I wasn't prepared. The moment we walked in, one guy after the other entered the living room. It was actually kind of funny. But they were all super great, and were super interested in our message!

I want to tell one more miracle from the week! Yesterday, after we left our meeting with our LMA (ward mission leader?) we had about 15 minutes left before we had to go home to study. We weren't really sure what we should do. I thought we should start to head home to be able to do all of our studies, but my companion, Sister Cordoba felt like there was one more person we had to visit. We thought that maybe she was feeling like we needed to visit an investigator that lives close to the church, but we knew she wasn't at home. So, we said a prayer, and asked for help to know what to do. After saying the prayer, the name of my recent convert, Vitoria, came to mind. So, there we went. When we got to her house, Fernanda (Vitoria's less-active mom) get emotional, and said that just a few minutes before we got there, she had expressed to Vitoria that she needed help from God and didn't know what to do. She had had a really rough day, and was super discouraged. She told us that the moment we got to her house, she knew it was an answer to her prayers. I'm just super grateful and super humbled to see how the Lord answered both ours and Fernanda's prayers yesterday, and to have been an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week!!! 

Love,

Sister Shelton

Enos 1:12 "And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith."

(p.s. I tried to send pictures last week, and lost all of my photos again... I'm honestly not sure what to do. Sorry for not sending pictures in so long. I'll try to get some pictures from my companions.)

A Day in Sao Paulo!

Happy Monday!!!

I hope you're all doing well! I'm doing great here in Garanhuns Pernambuco! Although, this week I did have a little adventure all the way to São Paulo and back. They're having problems with renewing visas here in Brasil, and so in order to get it all figured out, I, and 7 other Americans (and one sister from Costa Rica) flew down to São Paulo on Wednesday at 2:00 in the morning. We did what we needed to do in the Federal Police Station, and then made our way back to the airport and waited 7 hours to take a plane back to Recife. We got back super late, so we slept in Recife, and then the next morning I traveled another 4 hours to my area in Garanhuns! It was super crazy, but also super fun!!! My Portugeuse was definitely struggling after I got back though. But, what can you expect when you have a group of Americans together for more than 24 hours?! 

The other great thing from this week was the baptism of Lais!!! She was honestly so excited, and so happy to get baptized!! She honestly has shown true conversion, and I'm so excited to get to see her continue to grow! The baptism went great, and there were a lot of ward members there to support her!

I don't have a whole lot else to tell, seeing as these two things kind of took up my entire week, but it was in all, a really great week! Thanks for all of the prayers and fasting for my ankle! I'm doing a lot better!

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Shelton

The Brasilian Apostle!

April 2, 2018

Hello Everyone!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, and a very incredible Conference. It really was a Conference to remember, wasn't it?! I am so grateful to have gotten to be part of such a memorable moment in history! (Also, we have a Brasilian Apostle now!!! Woohoo!!!)

This week has gone really well!! We've been visiting Lais, our investigator that is going to be baptized this week, and she is just progressing SO MUCH! I always am a little bit nervous that someone will get baptized without actually having a testimony of the church, but this week Lais really showed her real intent by making a sacrifice to take the bus at night with her baby to get to the stake center and watch General Conference. She is an incredible woman, and I just feel so grateful to be able to help her in her conversion. Keep Lais in your prayers this week as she prepares to get baptized!

Well, I honestly don't have a whole lot more to tell. The Lord sure is blessing me and my area right now though, and I don't even know how to describe it. I feel such a difference in me as a person. I have more patience, I love more deeply, and I know that I am part of a bigger plan. God is working through me, and I am so incredibly grateful. A mission isn't an easy thing, but I wouldn't give up this time for anything.

I just have one little thing to ask of you all. I don't normally ask for things like this in my emails, but I would really appreciate your prayers to strengthen my ankle. A lot of you know that I had a lot of problems with my ankle before the mission, and once here in the mission. For the most part it's been miracle after miracle, and I've been able to work without pain of any kind. But these last few weeks have been a little bit harder, and my ankle has been struggling a little bit. If you could please pray for my ankle to be strengthened, I would really appreciate it!

Sorry for not sending pictures in so long. I really am trying to figure out how... It's a process. hahaha.

Have a wonderful week everyone!!! 

Love,

Sister Shelton

Jacob 4:6-10 (I LOVE this chapter in the Book of Mormon!)

6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these 

witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.

7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weaknessthat we may know that it is by his grace, and his great 

condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; 

wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.

9 For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able 

to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?

10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know 

that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.