latest update

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!