Tennis Shoes Among the Quitoites

tomorrow is the day!

2010-12-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share Shelly's last email. My parents and I are off to see her tomorrow morning. I can't believe it. I can't wait to see Shellykins! Her homecoming will be December 26th at 9 am and I'm sure she would love to see all her closest friends!
Enjoy.

Hi Family,

I will be very brief in this email. I am feeling many different emotions at this point, but I can say I feel fulfilled. I got to spend my last Saturday at the Baptism of Angelo Guanoluisa. His father Giovanny baptised him and he did it so perfectly! It was a very spiritual experience. For the first time, nothing felt hectic in a baptism! We weren't missing anything, it was organized and spiritual. For the last one! Haha. My companions sang Silent Night in English and I played the flute.

I have learned so much on my mission. It's impossible to write it all in any number of emails. I feel closer to Christ, and I feel a deep love for Him. I feel a desire to always share the Gospel throughout my whole ife. I hope to have changed for the better, and I hope to continue changing and progressing in my whole life. He is our Savior, and His Atonement is the reason we can even have any hope in this life. Remember that and share it with someone this Christmas! Many millions of people don't know that. They can't feel the joy of His Atonement without His restored Gospel ordinances. It is literally impossible. We are very blessed to know and live it daily. It is our responsibility to let others share the same blessings if they desire!

I am excited to see you all! Many good stories to share, and many to hear!
Love,
Hermana Groesbeck

4 more weeks.

2010-11-18T07:40:00.001-08:00

We are getting so excited to see Shelly in a few short weeks. Until then here's a little snippet of her last letter. I thought it was a great, although kind of sad, glimpse into a lot of the issues Shelly has been faced with over her mission. And of course there are pictures. Enjoy!

....Speaking of Lucia, she made me cry yesterday. Some of my most spiritual lessons in my entire mission have been with her. It is just amazing to teach her. She gets it. She repeats back her assigned reading with actual phrases from the scriptures, and she applies it to her life. At least verbally. She is not married, and her husband does not listen to us. We hardly even see him, which makes it really hard to try and persuade him to join us. This impedes her progress so much. She has come to church twice, but not for over a month. We have done everything under the sun to try and get her to church. We´ve gone by to get her, helped her get appropriate Sunday clothes, had Family Home Evenings with really great members so they could fellowship her, we´ve talked really directly about it with her. But she will not act. We have tried to teach her that if she shows faith by at least obeying the commandments she can, God will help her, and she will be able to have the family she wants someday. Her husband will never change if she doesn´t show him how, and give him a reason to. But she chooses not to. We left her house for church yesterday without her and I couldn´t help it, I just started crying. I don´t understand. Maybe it is just not her time. I love her so much though, and I would love to see her progressing. Someday I really hope she will be able to take those leaps of faith, with or without her husband....

Today Dr. Weidmer, our Area Medical Advisor arrived here! We are going to have dinner with him and then off to Otavalo to do shots and stuff tomorrow! It is going to be another crazy week. At the end of the week we have our own Zone conference, and have to set up appointments for Dr. Weidmer to meet with doctors and yada yada....but I love it! Being busy is just what I want right now:)

5 things Shelly did this week

2010-10-27T07:43:00.001-07:00

I am the worst sister ever. Every time I write Michelley I just talk about all the fun things we'll do when she gets home. Oops! Enjoy :)

Here are 5 things we did this week:

1. Right as we were inviting Lucresia Rodriguez, a really great new investigator to get baptised on the 20th of November, her neighbor a Jehovah´s witness came through the door and sat down. Started bickering about who knows what, wanting us to recite the 10 commandments from memory, challenging everything we said, and being a little devil! I was so mad! We really just listened and didn´t contend, but as we were leaving I said, ¨you will be judged out of the words of this book (holding the Book of Mormon), thanks, we have to go!¨. It was kinda funny. But really annoying! She was going to say yes!! And since then, we keep missing each other and haven´t been able to teach her again yet. Don´t worry, we will. Appointment tomorrow.

2. We helped a drunk lady get to her house, took her liquor away from her and dumped it out! She was super old and so cute, poor thing. She was so grateful and kept hugging us when we got to her house. She probably would´ve gotten hit by a car out there on the street stumbling around.

3. Talked to a member of the church who was asking us what he can do to someday become the Prophet.

4. Spent almost all day Saturday making phone calls for 5 sick missionaries that called us, one we had to call his family and send him to the clinic for chest pain, which now is apparently an inflamed nerve? Good news is, all is well with them. And, we got some action for Hermana Rodgers.

5. Had an amazing Stake Conference on Sunday where I got to see all the Iñaquito people. An area seventy came Elder Mestre, and he held a meeting of new converts before the general meeting. Hermana Sloan said that El Eden ward (our ward), had a really good showing and everyone was there on time. Our ward is so great. The members helped all the new converts know where the stake center was, etc. I was proud :)

two months out!

2010-10-18T20:20:00.001-07:00

Shelly just got her replacement companion, a gringa! And also a nurse. We are getting excited for her to come back to us but know she'll be sadddd when it happens as well. Anyway, happy reading! There are a few pictures as well.

Hi Fam!

Well, I got my new companion Hermana Rodgers! It has been really fun being with her. We understand each other in so many ways! We have the same calling. We have worked hard and really pushed ourselves to find new investigators, as well as trying to learn the ropes of the nursing stuff. As we´ve conversed I have really realized how much I have learned. Thinking about being in her position, I just remember having no idea what to say to the missionaries when they called. Now, I kinda know what to do! It´s cool. I´ve also been telling lots of stories, and it has made me realize what a fun experience it has been to be the nurse. I really do have some pretty good stories. I´m trying to convey to her all I can, although I know that she will have to gain her own ¨tribal knowledge¨ just getting out there and doing it.

We will be traveling the mission during November, so she can see all the different climates, meet all the missionaries, and see the clinics as well. It is so crazy to be with her. But it´s really fun. I haven´t given her the cell phone yet, but every call I get I go over afterward with her. She will be getting the phone in the next couple weeks, and I will just sit back and relax. jk She is very quiet, but super super smart. And such a sweet person. She did her capstone at Primary Children´s, just before she came on a mission, so we have that somewhat similar background.

Believe it or not, my time is almost up. It seems that recently my personal emails to you are more interesting to me, and I run out of time to write about the week! Well, I´m attaching the photos of Michel´s baptism. She was very happy. Her family was there, we are working on getting her Dad baptised but it will require two more divorces...........grrrrr

Being with a new missionary is really great. We have a goal to make a baptismal invitation in every lesson. Including our first with people. It has really helped us exercise our faith. Sometimes during the lesson in my mind I resist it, but I am so certain that we must invite wherever we are. Otherwise I am wasting my time here, just traveling around Ecuador, but I am not a missionary. I love living my mission with faith. Have you thought about what it means to live with faith? I think everyone should live with more faith. No regrets! Follow every prompting you get, even if it seems weird or uncomfortable. If we are comfortable in our lives, we are not improving! We have so much potential to be instruments in God´s hands, but we let those opportunities slip by because of fear, laziness, or conformism. We should be the best we can be! And do what we know we should do. In every calling we have, including home visiting teachers, moms, grandmas, dads, brothers, and friends! We should live with faith. It is a long process, but we can do it!

Anyway, gotta go.

Love you all!

Hermana Shelly G

update from shellykins!

2010-07-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Family,

Another week has passed. It was cold and rainy, and I couldn´t convince myself that it is July! Especially because the time is going so fast. It is crazy. I forgot to say Happy 4th of July last week, so happy 4th of July! We ate root beer floats that night, that´s pretty good for being in Ecuador. I also went ahead and wore a blue skirt, tan sweater, red headband. So I did festijar a bit here in Ecuador for the good ol´ U.S.A.

This week we have grown really close as a companionship. I think we have a special chemistry, the three of us. Three can be hard, but we don´t have problems, and that is the amazing thing. We laugh so hard, and we all really like to work. I am learning so much from Hermana Rial. As well as Hermana Cooper. I am pretty sure this coming week President is going to change us, but we are so happy! I love them a lot. But change will bring new opportunities and challenges. I always know that I will be staying, that´s the one thing that doesn´t change :)

Ernesto is still on for this weekend. Teaching him the Word of Wisdom was probably the funniest thing I have ever experienced. I don´t think I mentioned that he´s also hard of hearing. So we have to practically yell at him when we´re teaching. But also, it is amazing how much it seems that his hearing has improved ever since we started visiting him. I am serious, he hears so much better now. I think it is the Spirit. But anyway, he was debating with us hardcore about the Word of Wisdom. He is so intelligent, and it´s not like he debates to contend, but he debates to understand. We had to explain every nook and cranny of D&C 89, and he really did understand it. He accepted to live it! He´s not an alcoholic or anything, but he likes to drink a little wine for his birthday parties, or once in a while drink a coffee. I wish you could´ve been there. We left with his coffee and disposed of it down the sewer drain, and he promised to give away his wine. He really is such a good guy. I wish you could hear his dramatic, poetic prayers. He didn´t want to do it forever because he felt he wanted to do it in perfect prose. But he has expressed to us how different he has felt and how much joy he feels thinking about Joseph Smith and how that could be possible. I would really love to see them go to the Temple.

Hugo and Cecilia have done everything necessary for their divorce papers. The only thing they don´t have is the money to pay for it. We are planning to do a fundraiser selling cakes, popcorn and drinks and showing a church movie on a projector. Think it will work? They did that in Iñaquito to raise money to go to the temple and they made about 150 dollars. That´s about how much we need. The amazing thing is that they are very proactive about it, and they have done all the paperwork. I think it shows they are achieving a true conversion. They are showing their self-sufficiency in their spiritual well-being, which is rare among investigators. I think that God had really prepared them, as he has all people who accept the Gospel.

We met a special family this weekend, and I am really excited to go back and teach them. They are from Manabi, a town in the coast of Ecuador, where Lourdes is from. They had wedding rings on and a picture of their wedding :) Also, they were really receptive and let us in to teach. The Dad let us in! We were really happy. We were looking for someone else´s house and ran into them. We´ll see what happens. Their names are Francisco and Vanessa, and they have three kids Nicole, Maria Victoria and Jonathan.

One thing I have been thinking about this week is what conversion really means. I remember reading D&C 18 recently which talks about saving souls. It is used a lot as a missionary scripture, but what hit me is that it talks about the joy we will have in the kingdom of the father. Not here on earth. That means that the point of missionary work is not baptism, but temple covenants and enduring to the end. Or: CONVERSION. Then we will really receive the benefit of that true joy when this life ends. I hope and pray that we can all have part in someone´s conversion. People we teach here are all different. There are some who tell you everything you want to hear, and even accept a baptismal date, but are not sincere. People who are honest and share their problems with us can overcome them and little by ltitle put in practice repentance and the atonement. As humans we never want to own up to things or accept blame for something. I think this is a dangerous part of our nature, because really if you think about it, the only people who cannot receive the saving power of the Atonement are the dishonest. If we cannot admit our sins, we can never repent, and never progress. We can never enter into the Kingdom. We must learn to be responsible for our actions, and realize that this is the only way to improve.

Next week I will send you a picture of Ernesto! I don´t have one yet, but I will get one. He is so awesome.

Love to all, and take care!

Until next week,
Hermana Groesbeck

news from shelly shellita

2010-06-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

i've said it before, i'll say it again, i'm the worst sister in the world. here's an update from your favorite hermana. she's been with a gringa which has been a nice change! i hope you understand spanglish.

HOLA

I am now in Santo Domingo! After a 4 hour long bus ride through the jungle, we changed locations. We are here for Zone Conference tomorrow. On the bus this seller man got on and tried to sell us this miracle seed that would literally cure everything, taste good, AND give you good breath. He sat in the back of the bus and it was disgusting every time I got up he would do this little flirty wave and smile at me. I was like, hey, back off mister. Ew. Luckily I was with the Gigantic Elder Rose, this really big white haired senior missionary (I was with all the Senior Missionaries, actually). But Elder Rose always protects me.

What can I tell you about this week? We had new Hermanas coming in, staying at our house on Tuesday night with their trainers, and it was a CRAZY day. Maybe I´ll tell the Top 5 things that happened (since I don´t have time for 10).

1 - We got to teach one of my old investigators from Iñaquito because she lives right around the corner from the Sloans and we were going by their house. She is a referral from Hermana Sloan and she is named Sara Molina. She is the cutest single mom ever, and she had accepted a baptismal date back in March but then talked to a Catholic lady and decided she felt she should focus and learn about what her own religion even is. (She is catholic, and like most catholics here has no idea what they really believe, but just follow it because of tradition). Anyway, in the lesson she committed to read the Book of Mormon again and go to Church. She said, you know, what you have taught me has really helped me, and if nothing else I really feel a lot closer to Christ. She is now praying to see if the Book of Mormon is true. I was so happy. Maybe not seeing her for a while helped her to reflect.

2- We ate re-heated on the stove pizza all week from the Sloan´s house. The best part also was that Hermano Saddler smuggled us some root beer from the embssy and we ate ROOT BEER FLOATS with our pizza! Awesome.

3- We had some awesome appointments with the Changos (recent convert family that is amazing) and Hugo and Cecilia´s two kids who haven´t really wanted to listen to us. We really had a good lesson with them, plus we laughed really hard together with the Changos. The Changos got baptized in December, and they are on fire with the work. They are my age, and have a 9 year old and 7 year old kid. That´s how things roll here. But now they are married, baptized and waiting to go to the temple.

4- These health interviews are so awesome! I really feel like I am able to do some benefit here on this traveling trip instead of feeling like I´m kinda just dead weight and then do some random presentation on stress. We are tracking common problems, and come to find out most of them who have problems with insects, stomach problems, etc. are doing NOTHING about it. One of them even told me he has rats in his apartment! I feel like I can help them in this way so much better. I am learning everything there is to know about how to get rid of bugs. I´m finally starting to feel like I am useful to the missionaries, and can make a difference for them!

5- Found a really awesome investigator named Gabriel. He is a 25 year old guy that has had cancer. He is the son of the single dad I was telling you about before. He came to the Church for his first lesson and we taught it with a member, showed him around the church, and he was like, wow. This might be what I have been looking for. It was such a spiritually powerful lesson, and he could really see what we were talking about because we were in the Church and he could feel the spirit of it. It was great.

Ok that´s it for now. Next week I will send you pics of the coast! I don´t have my cable with me right now.

Loves and hugs,
Sister G

update from shellita. so funny.

2010-04-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

It´s Mom´s Birthday!!!

She said something about an Ipad...what in the world is that? I really am out of the loop! From my 24 years of new generation wisdom I do know that with an I- in the front it is some new contraption from Mac. But what could it be? Ipad. I¨m thinking laptop? Really small, sleek, maybe you only have to do voice commands for it to compute? Please fill me in.

So, this week was a very good week. We met some really good people. Ran into my first Jehovah´s Witness who threw out the 1,144 people saved scripture. I already forgot where it is. Revelation somewhere. 14 I think. Anyway, It´s really interesting talking about the Gospel with so many different people. It really makes you think about the things you´ve always believed your whole life. The amazing thing about the Gospel is, the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. I love that our challenge (Moroni started this challenge) is to try it out for yourself. No one is trying to convince anyone, but just trying to show them how to realize the truth. And God will show us the truth, the test has been tried and true. The formula works - read, meditate, pray, ask, sincere heart, real intent, Holy Ghost, conversion.

I haven´t moved yet, I will be moving next week, getting a new companion, and moving about 3 miles away. What a hassle for only three miles. But like you all say, I think it will be good for me.

It´s so hard to know what to write in these letters. I wish I could just take you all out with me one day, to see what it´s like! It´s so amazing. I really do love love being a missionary. I am so happy I am here. I am so happy to be with Hermana Sacalxot, she has taught me so much. Really, I have learned a lot about myself being with her.

Mom asked me what my favorite thing is to eat here. I don´t know. I like Patacones. They are bananas (but the green ones, here there are a million different types of bananas), but fried and hard. They sound disgusting, but they are really good. They eat soup before every meal, without fail. A lot of corn, but not the way we eat it. Honestly, my favorite food I´ve had is from the Cubans. Man, they know how to eat. But I really do like Ecuadorian food! Ceviche is mas o menos, not my favorite, but pretty good. That is the most traditional dish. For Easter they eat Fanesca, I really like that actually. You´ll just have to come and see what they eat!

I´m going to end my epistle and send some photos. Love to all sorry for the non-exciting letter, I´ve had a good, regular week and am really happy and love reading your letters! Thank you for writing, please keep writing!

-shellbo

Alive and well!

2010-03-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

I am the worst sister in the world. It has been months since I've updated the blog but she is doing really great! The evidence is in the poor English. Anyway, enjoy!

Hello!!!

Wow. Another week has gone by. I love being here on a mission. It is so amazing. I can´t even tell you how grateful I am for this opportunity. I love teaching the Gospel, it just makes sense. This week Teresa and David and their family have progressed so much. On Monday they did a family home evening and we were only guests. The whole time they were looking at us to make sure they were doing it right, and they did so well! We played some crazy game invented by Esteban (the 9 year old) with animal noises? We laughed so hard. Later in the week Teresa told us about her aunt that committed suicide, asking us what happens to those people. I printed off a talk by Elder Ballard ¨Some Things We Know, Others We Do Not¨, but that day we talked about Baptisms for the Dead. She said she has been having dreams of her aunt saying that she is fine, but she just needs help. Many times she has said, please just help me. Oh I get chills just thinking about it. Now Teresa knows what she needs. Man, I love that family. We have worked so hard for their baptism. Finally the Divorce is in process, but it could take 4-6 months to go through. I can´t wait for that day when they get baptized!

Another small miracle, Lourdes. She has now introduced us to 3 of her friends to teach the Gospel, one that came with her whole family to Church on Sunday. Lourdes bore her testimony talking about how happy she is in the Gospel, and shared the Scripture in 2 ne 32:9 about prayer. She says she knows she has found the true church and even though her husband is not with her in the church, she knows he will be one day. She is on fire. She came to a presentation we did in a park on Sunday and was the only member of our ward there, ushering people from station to station and helping us get referrals. I am amazed by her. She has some inactive friends that are in our ward (friends for a long time) and she is always motivating them to go to Church. She has not missed a Sunday. We only went to get her for Church one day. She was one prepared lady. You will have to meet her one day.

Leandro is still on for baptism this Saturday. I am also very impressed by him. This week we taught him all the doozies...tithing, word of wisdom and law of chastity. When we committed him to live the law of Chastity he just says, well, I have to. HIs attitude is pretty impressive. He knows the Church is true, so he can´t argue or be disobedient to the laws. He is 18 years old! And his family are not progressing, but he is as dedicated as ever. Also arrives to church on his own.

I know there are more people out there prepared. This week my companion and I have grown together I think. I tried to give her a small suggestion with teaching, and she got really offended and cried. I promise I wasn´t rude! She is very sensitive. But, it was actually something that we were able to work through and I think our companionship is stronger for it. I am trying to help her and our companionship, and I think she understands that now. She is a convert and has had a hard life. Her brother died while she was here in the mission from alcoholism. Her other family are members, but she is the only missionary and actually her Mom doesn´t even know how to read (but is a very faithful member of the Church). There have been a couple other doctrinal woops (ten is the age of baptism, our spirit leaves our body when we don´t take the Sacrament every week), and things like that. But she has such a good heart and I am so impressed with how much she knows of the Scriptures with how long she´s been a member.

Well, I am happy. Things in the nursing world have calmed down a bit, President Sloan really seems to be almost better, he is doing really well. One Elder had Dengue this week, so I was charged with comforting him over the phone. Not much in the medical world, thankfully.

Pray for me, I need it! I always pray for you guys.

Lots of love,
Hermana G

latest update

2010-01-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

So we got to talk to Michelley on Christmas and it was fantastic! We actually got to video chat with her over skype so that was incredible to see her lovely face. I answered the phone when she first called and she goes, "Rebb i'm nervous for you guys to see me, I look awful. My hair is all grown out to my natural color and I never do it. I kind of like it..." typical Michelle. She looked so pretty and it was so sweet to see her. We also got to see her companion and the elderly couple that she is staying with. Very energetic, really great people. Anyway, here is her last letter. Along with two pictures:

Hola Familia,

New Year{s in Ecuador is interesting. They burn ¨año viejo¨, which means old year. They choose a dummy and burn it. For example, I saw Michael Jackson for sale, the President of Ecuador, the Hulk, an X-MEN, I think it was wolverine. Anyway, you buy the dummy and then you burn it. Another thing they do, is the men dress up like women and go out in the streets and ask for money. This I am still trying to figure out the meaning...They call them ¨widows¨, but it still doesn{t make sense to me. We had to be in the house at 4:00, and as we rode in the Taxi to the house I was glad. Many widows walked up to the car asking for money. IT was weird. but anyway, we made noodles with sauce that had hot dogs in it...haha. I kept thinking, this is how I know I am turning Ecuadorian. But it was actually really good?...Peppers, onions, tomato sauce, potatoes and hot dogs. Over noodles. I know, it sounds disgusting. Anyway, we took it up on the roof and watched the airplanes land and take off. It was fun. Then we ate Chocolate ice cream with bananas! Rico! Then we studied, cleaned, planned, and went to bed. At midnight I heard a lot of popping but I could not get myself to wake up...the next day the senior missionaries told me they had never seen so many fireworks in their life. Oh well.

Although the customs are a bit weird, they have a little festival that seemed fun. Anyway, if you ever want to have an interesting Nwe Year{s eve, come to Ecuador, but not as a missionary:)

Ok, on to more important things. We are having a Baptism this week! Nicole Cevallos, the daughter of Teresa turns 8 today, so she is getting baptised! As well as Joao the son of Lourdes. Lourdes is doubtful, well not doubtful, but she just thinks it{s too soon. She lives every commandment, and she even asked me if she could pay a fast offering yesterday! Can you believe that? She paid fast offering. And she wants to wait to get baptised! ah. I know she will, the question is just when. We really are hoping she will get baptised this Saturday along with her hijo (son).

Teresa still hasn{t gotten the papers of her divorce, but her ¨companion¨we{ll call him, David, is awesome. When we first started teaching them he didn{t really understand very well the scriptures. Now, he gets everything and teaches with us to Nicole about all the commandments. He{s only 19 years old, but he{s raising these 3 kids of Teresa{s. He WILL NOT let her work, because he wants to provide for them, and let her stay at home. The Priesthood is really including him and treating him as one of their own. Now we just need the Relief Society to rally around Teresa. She is strong, but as President Hinckley and others have said, every convert needs a friend.

What other things can I tell you? We{re going to have a birthday party for Nicole today. Oh my goodness she is so cute. I wish you all could meet her! She just melts my heart, along with her little brother Saoul who can{t say his s{s, and is a little chubby one. Oh my goodness they are the cutest kids in the world. Well, right behind all my nieces and nephews. Speaking of them, can all of you tell all of them that I love them? Gracias!

Anyway. the mission is so good. It is hard, that{s for sure. But I am so amazed how much I learn every day, and how much I love to study the Gospel. An hour every day is nothing. There{s so much to know! I{m grateful for this chance to study like never before. Pray for me to have faith to find new investigators! That is what we need right now, we have talked with many many people, but this week have not found many that want to listen. We need more faith.

Oh, if you want something good to read. Elder Uchtdorf{s talk called ¨The Love of God¨, from this conference. It is unbelievable. Read it, you will feel happy.

Love you all! Happy new year.

-Hermana G

The first one is on Christmas. Do you like my Christmas outfit? That was when we were out delivering clothes. There is that cow always there, and it is so funny to me. Finally I took a picture. Anyway. Can you get a feel for the hills we walk? They are barbaro.

The other is with Esthela, Gloria and Omar, those que baptized in November. The members painted their house and brought them food, it made me cry.

Last few week's update

2009-12-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

Ok for those of who you haven't heard, Shelly's mission President got really sick with pneumonia a few weeks ago. The doctors didn't know what it was, some even told him it was all in his head....right. So Michelle was supposed to go on a traveling assignment
but felt she should stay with President Sloan. At one point she was frustrated, knowing the Doctors were giving him the wrong thing but not knowing what to give him. She said, "I wish I could talk to my Dad right now." and he said, "CALL YOUR DAD." Ha so she has been in contact with my Dad over the past few weeks.
They ended up having to transfer him to a better hospital, get in touch with a U.S. Doctor who happened to be in Bogota, and fly him up to Quito to operate on President Sloan. He ended up having to remove the lower right lobe of his lung because he had an infection and an absess. I'm not sure if this is the exact medical terminology but it was serious and life threatening I promise... Her president is now recovering and expected to make a full recovery but they have been definitely in need of prayers if you are willing to give them!
The selfish but best part of the story is that I got to talk to her one day over Thanksgiving break!!! wooooo hooo. She called my dad and I was standing right there. I may have started crying profusely but it was great to just hear her voice and know she's alive! 6 month mark tomorrow! Here is her latest letter and some pictures:

Hi family!

It´s christmas time! How I love Mo-Tab Christmas music. And the Christmas devotional! It was so wonderful to get to watch that last night in Spanish!

Things here in Ecuador are good. It´s so hard to know what to tell you about, because there are millions of things I could say. We are still working with Teresa and DAvid, come to find out the divorce won´t be able to go through for about three or four months. But by then they are going to be uber prepared. uber is not a Spanish word, just so you know. But, this week we had 9 new investigators. The Lord is pouring them into our hands and I just hope we have enough skills to hold on to all of them and get them baptized! There were 10 investigators at church yesterday, it was crazy. Lots were kids. I stood up to bear my testimony and was really emotional for some reason. When I sat down one of the little girls who is 9 years old (Careli is her name) she said. You´re crying. For happiness though, huh? It was cute. She wanted to get up to bear her testimony but they closed the meeting before she could.

I am really feeling at home in our ward these days. There are some pretty amazing members here. There are sooo many less actives in our ward, but man the ones who are stellar are mega stellar. It is such a blessing to get to know them. I wish you all could meet all of them, our Bishop, our investigators, todos! There are so many amazing people here. It seems like whenever we find new investigators to teach, some awful crisis happens in their lives right after. As the Bishop´s wife Gloria says, Satan is working hard in our ward Iñaquito (that´s what our ward is called). There are interesting economic dynamics in our ward. But anyway, as I was saying, I don´t know why this always happens. Maybe it is all inspired of Dios that we find them right before their crises happen. I just hope we can help them see how the Gospel can help them.

I love this Gospel, it is life-changing. Being the doubtful person I am, I have seen little miracles and lives change for the Gospel. I love the Savior and am so excited to spend this Christmas serving him with all my heart! We are hoping to have a baptismal service the day after!

I am going to try and send photos now.

Love and more love,

Hermana Groesbeck

Latest News from Quito

2009-11-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

Shelly was just made a Senior companion, so understandably she was somewhat nervous about that! Things are going really well though and she says she feels like she works better as a Senior companion. We love and miss her so much. 5 1/2 months!!!!

Hi family!

How are you all? This week has been insane. I literally woke up one morning and thought I was going to have a heart attack for the worry and stress I was feeling. I had a dream that an Elder got hit by a car and I didn´t answer my phone so I had no idea until the next day. It was terrible! But I said a prayer and immediately felt comfort. I have felt worried and stressed so much because there is so much to do! But, it is amazing how the Lord helps me. It´s not that the work goes away, but he will comfort me and I feel that it is possible. One thing I am learning is that all I can do is do my best. I have to be happy with myself if I´ve done my best. I will never be able to do everything perfectly the way I want to. But I can do my best, and I can and must be content with that.

This week we had a beautiful baptism of three people. It was so wonderful. My companion is amazing. I love her so much! She is so practical, smart, creative, loving, and patient with me. SHe has an accent like an argentine. It´s crazy how alike we think. We finish each other´s sentences, even though we have different languages. She is so great, and she already loves our investigators so much.

President Sloan got sick this week and went to the hospital. We went there about 8Ñ45 at night on Friday, and he could hardly breathe for the pain he was in. Come to find out he has pneumonia really badly. Anyway, we were in the hospital trying to get them to attend to him until 1 am. It has been crazy trying to balance the two callings and still meet the expected numbers of lessons, new investigators, etc.

I was supposed to be in Esmeraldas this week and my companion was going to stay with some other hermanas in another district. This morning I said goodbye to my companion and we got on the bus. We were leaving Quito and I just felt so strongly that I should stay and make sure everything is ok with President Sloan because he´s still in the hospital. (was in the ICU). I descended off the bus just like that and all the office staff totally supported the decision. I feel like he needs someone to advocate for him because the staff the other night was pathetic. He is improving, but still has quite a bit of fluid in his lungs. The Area doctor is coming here on Wednesday and he and I are going to travel around Quito all day Thursday scouting out clinicas. Should be fun, he is a go-getter. My companion is going to go on divisions in our sector.

My letter is all over the place, as always. I love you all so much. Thank you for your support. I love love you all and wish I could write better letters so you would have a better idea of what I´m doing here...I am loving the people more and more as my Spanish improves. I have a couple investigators that feel like my family, it is amazing to share spiritual experiences with people and see how the Gospel can better their lives.

Love and hugs a todos,

Hermana Groesbeck!

I am the worst.

2009-10-28T16:48:00.001-07:00

Ok I have gotten a lot of hate lately for being the worst blog updater ever. I apologize because it is 100% TRUE. Anyway, here is shelly's last letter in its entirety. Long but great. Almost 5 months! yesssssssss.

I had my interview with President Sloan (we have one every 6 weeks), and he told me he wants me to train. My companion is leaving on November 5th, and he wants me to train a new missionary. I couldn´t believe it! I don´t know what he´s thinking. He says he trusts me, and that I have a good work ethic. I feel that I can do it, but I just feel so inadequate. I really would love the opportunity to do it, and I know that I would learn a ton. It is nerve-racking because I feel better and better every day about Spanish, but there are still a lot of details that I miss, and some entire conversations I miss. I know President Sloan is inspired, and I reall will do whatever he asks me. But really!? I was shocked. I don´t know I feel overwhelmed, loved, despair, hope, many emotions. But every time I think about it I feel the Spirit. So, I know it will be a good experience. I just need your prayers, eh?, eh?

It is still not for sure because he had forgotten that I was going to travel to give flu shots this change (6 week transfer). So he is pondering about what should happen and I am waiting anxiously and realizing that my companion is leaving and I´m going to have to step up and lead lessons, learn how to teach better :), etc. You wanna know what I´ve thought several times though? If 19 year old boys can do it, I can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha. Is that bad?

So, we won´t be having Baptisms on Halloween. Teresa and David have to get baptized the following week because come to find out Teresa is married to another man! She hasn´t been with him for 8 years, and she has been trying to get a divorce for 8 months. But he won´t sign the papers because he doesn´t want to pay for the kids. We are working on this. We need a divorce and a marriage before we can have a baptism...but they are still open and receptive and I loooove teaching them. It is amazing. They also need a job because David broke his arm and is out of work. It has really helped them be humble and we´ve talked a ton about faith through trials. It´s interesting how the Lord prepares people, and then tests our faith.

The other thing is that my companion got sick, we didn´t have light for a couple days, there was one day when we were wet the entire day! And we had so many meetings that i felt like we were wasting time and hardly taught at all. But that was just a quick venting session, don´t worry I´m fine! I had to give a spiritual thought in Zone Conference about faith to complete with the standards of the mission. Or the goals we have. I felt weird doing it because we have not completed with the goal for baptisms. Sometimes I feel really bad about that. But I told about a day when we tuaght 12 lessons in one day. It was amazing. We had a focus like never before. We prayed all day long, we were unified, and we ran from appointment to appointment. I knew our numbers were down, and I felt such a strong determination to do better. It was a special day in my mission. I really want to be able to bring more people into the waters of baptism. Every day I have to overcome my own fear and rely on the Spirit to talk to people. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I love it with all my heart. The Gospel brings happiness to families.

I love you all! Thank you Mom and Dad for your example, and all of you for your love. Vive Ecuador!!!!

last letter.

2009-09-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

Shelly is SO BUSY lately. But here are a few golden pieces from her last email. p.s. I updated her contact info if you want to write her!

A couple days ago we were traveling in bus and the bus pulled up completely full. No matter, we got in anyway. The door literally squished me in, I couldn't have pushed myself in without the help of the door. It was so hilarious. My feet were practically not touching the ground and I wasn't holding onto anything, just suspended in the air by bodies. With every jolt (and there are A LOT OF JOLTS when you're driving in Ecuador), we just leaned on each other. Me, and a whole bunch of Ecuadorians. My companion was jealous that I was the tallest one in the bus, she was down in the war zone, where I could at least breathe. Haha!

I just want to end by bearing my testimony. I love the Gospel so much, and I know that the truths bring happiness and joy to our lives. Without it we really are lost. I hope to become a better missionary every day. We are supposed to contact at least 15 people a day and introduce them to the Gospel. I am finally feeling confident to do it on my own in Spanish. I still did it before, but it usually wasn't too fruitful because I couldn't communicate very well. But It's starting to come better each day. Just pray for me that I will improve in the language, and more importantly spiritually every day.

pictures!

2009-09-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

these are shelly's pictures she had taken before she left. bryant livingston did them and i've been meaning to post them forever! isn't she beautiful?

Update from Quito

2009-08-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone I am THE WORST at updating this. So sorry. We got our second letter from Shelly in the mission field! So crazy. Here are some of the best bits. She's in a threesome with a sister from Guatemala and another from Ecuador. She'll be staying in Quito her whole mission but gets to travel to all the different areas with the President for her medical duties. She explains some of those later in the letter. They've already had a few baptisms (thank you Latin America). She is staying really positive but I know this first adjustment will be the hardest. Please pray for her, she needs it especially now! Happy reading.

This week has been so great and so hard at the same time! The thing that's hard is just not feeling like myself. But I know that as I've taught I've been led by the Spirit. My Companions tell jokes as we walk down the street and I have no idea what they're saying. Haha! I just smile and nod, and wonder when I will be able to understand. I think I understand about 75% or something. So pretty good, but there is a lot that is lost. My companions both this morning said that even though they know I can't express myself fully they can sense what my Spirit is trying to say, which I thought was really sweet.

The only tough thing I¨ve noticed is that because practically everyone down here is Christian, we really have to teach how we´re different. We have one investigator, Hermana Gabriela, who we´ve taught to so many times, and she still doesn´t get that God and Jesus Christ are different people. That combined with the fact that people are so warm and friendly makes it hard to know if people are just being nice, or if they really get what we are teaching them. The only way to know is if they keep their commitments. Not that I´m complaining, it´s so great that so many people are religious. We just have to clarify right from the beginning why we´re different.

Oh man, the Gospel is so amazing. We really are different! We have the Priesthood, and the Book of Mormon! And a Prophet! It´s so cool. The Book of Mormon is seriously the key instrument to converting people. Right from the start it is amazing. Some of our most powerful lessons have just been sitting down and reading the Book of Mormon with someone. President Sloan has us memorize 3-5 scriptures a week, and also wants us to finish the Book of Mormon in 3 months. I am in 2 Nephi 9. I´ve figured out I have to read 6 pages a day to finish in time. I love it though. Study time goes by so quickly, There is too much to do!

So, I have the cell phone and am taking medical calls now. Haha, isn´t that hilarious? I totally play doctor. I¨ve gotten calls from lumps in the back to a non-stop fever, to ¨I have parasites¨, to a twitching nerve on the forehead. It is pretty crazy. I just pray that I will say the right thing. I´ve had several training sessions with Hermana Ward, and she is great. She introduced me to the Doctors here who are fantastic, surprisingly. They are helping us with some sticky situations with medications and such, and they aren´t even LDS. But they are so kind and...speak English. But don´t get the wrong idea, I think they´re the only two people down here who do!

This week, tomorrow actually, I head to Esmeraldas and Santo Domingo for Zone Conferences. Otavalo was BEAUTIFUL. It was so fun to be there. I played my flute, and they were pretty stricken by that. I don´t think many of them have seen classical flute playing before. Probably about 75-80% of our missionaries are latin, so they usually come from part or non-member families, or are converts themselves. I feel really really lucky to be able to travel the mission with the President, and also to come from where I do.

Anyway, lots of love. Thanks for your prayers. I am doing okay I promise! It´s hard, but good. And I know it will only get better. Just pray that I will understand this language! I don´t know what I was expecting, but it´s taking longer than I wanted. Haha. I¨m so impatient.

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures!

2009-07-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

I apologize for being so slow in getting these up. The age of digital cameras has made me quite slow to scan these all in. Anyway, here are some pictues shelly sent us. Doesn't she look beautiful? Enjoy!

"Hello from the Empty Sea"

2009-07-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a little blurb from shelly's latest email that i loved. I'm starting to realize she's really not coming home any time soon. Sadness :(

This week for our "Task" we taught the Plan of Salvation, including the Word of Wisdom to a girl who volunteers to act as an investigator. She was way too nice to us (she's leaving on a mission in August) but it was really good because my Companion and I are getting to a point where we're seeing some progress in our ability to teach together. We had to teach her to pray in Spanish first (the lesson was in English), and that part went so much better this week. We figured out a system. My companion plans out sentences to say, and then I interject with thought-provoking questions (ideally...) inbetween her memorized sentences. That way, I don't get nervous and dominate the conversation with terrible Spanish, and she doesn't get nervous and stay silent. Actually, I take that back, we both still get nervous, but at least we were both participating. I know we will have to get to a point where we aren't memorizing, but I felt encouraged after this week because my Companion felt encouraged. In the past she has felt really discouraged after those appointments. Honestly though, she is doing amazingly well with Spanish. The only reason i have an easier time is because I've had exposure before. But she is so cute about it. Constantly trying new sentences, and she is so determined to learn it. I love it. By the way Dave, i'm pretty sure i messed up a lot in that Spanish letter I wrote you...after leaving I thought of all these mistakes i had made. Haha! I think I told you to have paz with me...I meant paciencia. But not to get sidetracked. It was really fun teaching the Word of Wisdom because of the blessings that are promised from living that law. I know that could potentially be a really hard one, but I just love the scriptures about it.

Another cool thing we did this week was we got to do a video conference with the director of training at the M.T.C. in Peru. He and his wife are native Peruvians, don't speak English. We were really nervous, but it was actually a really cool experience. We each shared a spiritual thought with them (6 of us) in Spanish and then talked about what we had learned in the M.T.C. They told us that no matter where you go Hispanic culture is to be open and loving with their feelings. They said, "just talk and they will understand! They will love you!" The scripture I shared was Alma 26:35. Then i asked them about their conversion story, and I only understood parts of what they said....but I think we understood each other for the most part.

All in all, everything here is going well. I have so much to learn and so much room to grow as a missionary. But I get more excited every day to go to Ecuador! Am i really going there? It kinda seems like it's never going to happen...say prayers for me! I say them for all of you all the time. Give all the kids hugs! The Church is true, and lots of people need it. Love you all!

She says she's sending pictures home so I will post them asap! Pray for our shelly baggers.

Week 2.5

2009-06-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Michelley is still healthy and happy in the MTC, it is still insane to think she is right there! She talks about the Elders being slightly less mature than her and being "baffled by my age and single-ness."

Here's a quick story about her Spanish teacher:

We have two teachers, one is a native from Mexico City named Hermano Osuna, and I think he will be translated soon. He is seriously the most humble, hilarious, teacher ever. Then our other teacher is Hermana Watterson who is from Sandy and she is so good at teaching us Spanisha nd whipping our Elders into shape. They don't really like her :) But she has Mono and has been getting sick a lot, so we have been having substitutes all the time. I think we've had 12 teachers! We've had some really good ones though. One was from London. It was hilarious because he came in speaking Spanish and then about 15 minutes into class he asked to speak in English and he totally had a British accent! it was so weird to hear after Spanish. One of the Elders busted out laughing and goes, "I'm sorry, but that accent is tight, man". So Elder-like. I'm not trying to bash on Elders, I know some really good ones, but we got a group who are going through a mighty change to become what they need to be :)

She is doing great and loving it. Here are some pictures from her last days here

She's Alive!!!

2009-06-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, we received a letter a few days after Michelle got into the MTC saying she was happy and loving the spirit there. Today is her first P-day, meaning we got her first real, long email today! Here are some parts that I loved:

Hi family!!!

P-day has finally come after ten days of being here, and I am wearing jeans! It feels so good...those nylons and dresses I love too though, don't get me wrong!

So...I've been here for 9 days, and I'm still kickin'. The M.T.C. is a pretty unique place. We've done so much since I talked to all of you last, it's crazy. By last Friday we were already praying and bearing testimony in Spanish. We have a goal as a Zone to get 8 contacts a day, which means you go up to people and testify to them of the Church in Spanish. I am so grateful I've learned some because I am shocked at how much it has helped. My companion hasn't had any Spanish! I am so impressed by her though because she is constantly trying to learn, and every time I say something she makes me repeat it. I quiz her as we walk down the hallways and walkways all day long. We have fun together though, it's good. She's literally from a farm in Idaho, like she raised pigs and milked cows! She looks a lot like Courtney Nelson, and she has the best attitude ever. She's kind of goofy too, which works out well. Quick funny story. Our teacher was leaving class and it was raining outside, and we had just finished a long lesson in Spanish. We try hard to speak it all the time, but obviously if you don't know the words it's hard to do. But as he was leaving my companion looked right at him and said "You...have...umberella?" In this funny Mexican accent. Haha! We laughed so hard. Her brain was so jumbled with information that she didn't know what was English or Spanish. It was hilarious.

We had our first Teaching Appointment on Wednesday. We've practiced teaching the first lesson several times to other Elders or Hermanas in our zone, or to each other, but this time they were volunteers who speak Native Spanish and are from the "outside world". It was so scary, but really fun in the end! We talked to this guy on a bench outside who was such a little stinker. He was so hard! But really realistic. We went up to him and started asking him what he liked about the park and he says, "the silence and solitude". I laughed and told him we just wanted to talk to him a little bit about God and how God shows his love for us by giving us these beautiful surroundings. He was resistant, and he and I kind of talked back and forth about it for a few minutes. I was butchering my Spanish but I think it was understandable at least...anyway we found common ground because he said he was from Spain. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us there :) I was able to make him smile by talking about that. Anyway, it was really fun! I was sweating and so hot. It was really nerve racking. Like really nerve racking. And it wasn't even real! haha. The only thing that's bad about our companionship though is that I end up doing all the talking because I get nervous. My companion really doesn't understand much yet, but it doesn't help if I just take over and do everything. We've talked about that and we're working on it. It's so nice we can be really open and honest with each other but we still have so much fun together. It's weird being with someone all the time though. Because you literally can't even go to the bathroom alone:)

Another thing we did that was fun was outbound phone calls in the referral center. We did follow up calls to people who had requested materials from the church to see what they thought. Two of the people I talked to wanted the missionaries to come! I bore my testimony to them in a non-awkward way and it was actually a really good experience. It was cool because they're real people, ya know? And one of them was this old lady from the south. She was awesome. Great accent and attitude. I loved it.

Our district leader goes to get the mail during each meal and it's always exciting in a Harry Potter kind of way.

I hope everything's going well for all of you! Keep us in your prayers and we'll keep you in ours. We need lots of prayers! I don't know how I'm going to be understandable in spanish...so that's the only way I can think of :)

Love you all so much!
-Hermana Groesbeck

One more thing--Michelle is and has always been about comfort over looks. (just like me right...) She got these knee high nylons that were truly heinous, we're talking like greenish vomity tan color. She wore them to her setting apart and we had to laugh about how awful they were. She defended them because they were oh so comfortable. Well in another letter to just my Mom and I she asked for new ones because when she sat down you could see a little patch of skin between her skirt and her tights. Such an amazing visual! What is it with knee highs anyway, you try to somehow clench your thighs but somehow they end up around your ankles. I just wish I could be right there with her and see what everything is like. Anyway, that's enough commentary by me. Keep praying for her! I cannot believe it's only been 9 days.....ahhhhhhhhhh!!

Hola y Adios!

2009-06-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome friends!
It's the night before I embark on the adventure of a lifetime! Yes, I have officially been crowned with the title of 'Hermana Groesbeck,' after which I began asking myself all sorts of questions about what I can and cannot do. One of these being, "wait...so...can I eat?" Thankfully I will NOT be required to participate in an 18 month fast, but I am feeling slightly different about this whole thing. In a good way :)
I will be serving in the Ecuador, Quito Mission as a proselyting missionary and also as the mission nurse. Yes, I realize I may be hearing a lot of whining or horrific tales of symptoms I didn't know existed. And yes, I am excited about it.
My sister Rebbie will be updating my blog with pictures and excerpts from my letters so I hope you enjoy! Thank you everyone for your love and support. I will miss you all but not as much as I'm sure you'll miss me :) I would love to hear from any and all who feel so inclined as to write. Ciao!