3 months or 3 days?

Peeps! How are you all doing?

Can I just tell you that you are all the best and that my mailbox is literally flooded with love. I have never had this much mail or love before in my life!! You are all SO awesome!

 So, I have been gone for 3 months already... only 15 months until you all have to deal with me again.. And let me tell you, it is flying!! Maybe because we are so busy!... We just set a baptismal date with a couple,Carmen and Josue and before they get baptized, they also need to be married, so we are planning a wedding as well. They are so humble and awesome! We are constantly finding and teaching people in the most random places that you would not believe! It is awesome. 

  I had a really awesome experience with the Book of Mormon this week. I did my personal study in the morning like always, and later that day we went to go visit an inactive family that we didn't know anything about. To our surprise, they had left the church a long time ago, and now they're Catholic. They said that members of our church don't recognize Mary as being special, or chosen. Right when they said that, I remembered the very verse I had studied that morning in Alma! "....she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God." --Alma 7:10 I was able to share that with them, and it was so awesome. My institute teacher, Brother G always says that your morning studies in the scriptures are specific to things you need to know that day, and can use that very day, and it is so true! If you want direction in every single day of your life, open the scriptures! I learn every day that nothing is coincidence. My friend told me that my mission would be for other people, but mainly for me, and it's so true. I came here to teach, but every day all I do is learn. 

    Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us, and all we need to do is trust in Him. We can make sense of all of our trials and problems if we just remember why we are here on this floating ball of Earth.. to learn and grow! Life is awesome, because we have a Savior who makes it so that we don't need to worry. The bands of death are broken. All we need to do is come unto Him. I am so grateful for his birth. Merry Christmas, friends and loved ones. Pictured below... well, there were literally 10 cats originally behind me, but 8 of them ran away when we pulled out the iPad to take a picture.. 

Have a blessed Christmas! I love you all. Thank you so very much for all of your support and love! 

Love always, Hermana Sheirbon

lds.org

The Koontz's

Missy & Matt Koontz in TX

If you ever want a real image of what I do here, just basically picture me driving around a jeep, visiting people, teaching them in Spanish, and eating tamales from strangers, spending half the time praying, and repeating this over and over.. Haha, probably not what you expected! Oh my my, this life is crazy! Today is the beginning of my second transfer, and one of my trainers is leaving! These days and weeks just blur together. It has been an amazing journey so far! I already know exactly why I was sent to this mission, and it keeps unfolding before me. 

Something I love, that I am gonna steal from Hermana Winfield is that it doesn't matter how many times you fall, as long as you keep getting back up every time! And that is so true! The atonement of Jesus Christ makes this possible. When we fall, he is the one right there, ready to pick us back up. I was so grateful to see my best friend's awesome parents this week at temple this week. They are the best! Heavenly Father is always mindful of us, individually. He is mindful of you. 

I love you all. Thank you for everything! 

Love always, Hermana Sheirbon

Hermana Renteria and I last night at temple tours! :)

He is the Gift

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" 1 Peter 1:7 

I just want to testify to all of you about the way that the Lord brings us low so he can lift us higher and higher to levels we have never before been. I just invite you to contemplate this verse in the bible, this week, thinking about the ways you have forgotten to trust the Lord, or the times when you have felt uncertain. This week many miracles happened in my life, things I never expected on a mission. I thought I came here to teach others, but the Lord is just teaching me. Isn't that the way it always ends up? I am filled with joy and rejoicing at the coming of the celebration of the birth of the Savior. He is the light and the gift to the world. I love you all so much. 

This world is not easy, but it is beautiful. Thank you for all that you do for me. Thank you for all of the letters and times you have reached out to me. You all bless my life more than I can say. Have an amazing week, and remember how much love the Lord has for each of you. If you search, you will see his hand. 
Love always, Hermana Sheirbon

Whew! :)

Satan isn't playing around! Sometimes we may feel as though we are trapped, like we cannot get out, like there is no hope, like everything we have ever done is wrong and there's no possible way to resolve our heartache, and I want to tell you that this feeling is from the one who wants all of us to be miserable, and feel bound! That person is Satan, and he is always working. Always. Especially when we are trying to do great things, and serve the Lord. So if you have ever felt this way, no matter what you are going through, remember the beckoning call of the Savior, who says "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28).

     I wish I could tell you that I was a perfect missionary and that I always smiled and felt ready to talk to everyone on the street and shine forth, with the Book of Mormon in my hands, leading the way, but that is not the truth. I struggle, and often feel inadequate, and these past few weeks I have questioned every single decision that has led me to be in this middle of nowhere town in the middle of Texas, knocking on the doors of strangers....But the miracle is that they let me in, and they let us talk to them, and though they are not speaking my language, I can understand some things, and I can testify of Christ, and invite them to find rest in Him. And that's good enough for me. I am so grateful for the struggles I get to deal with, and that I get to grow and change. I don't know everything, but I know that The Holy Ghost will always testify of goodness, and comfort us in times of need, and all we have to do is trust in God. 

     I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. I am grateful for the love of each one of you. You all are an inspiration to me, and have helped me become better. Every single one of you!    
 "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." -Alma 26:27

Have an amazing week. Change the world! 

Love, 
Hermana Sheirbon

Small blessings!

November 17, 2915

Everyone! The Holy Ghost is awesome! :) Just a simple story: This week my trainer took out a map and told me to choose a street that we should walk down and contact people, so I did, and just as we got to the street, I pointed to the house we should go to and just as we started walking up to the doorstep, a man biked up to the porch and we got to talk to him about the gospel! We were able to come back a few days later and begin teaching him. The Spirit is real! Just a simple miracle I wanted to share. :) 

Hey Y'all!

November 9, 2015

I am here! I live with the cows and the rolling fields in the middle of nowhere, and it definitely feels like Texas! Things are different in the South. That's for sure! And I love it!!! Sure, I may not understand anything people say to me in Spanish, but the Lord will help me with that and it will come with time.

My trainers are just so nice! Hermana Woodard is from OREGON! Eugene! Isn't that crazy? And my other trainer, Hermana Renteria is from Mexico! They both speak Spanish so well, and hopfeully I will get the hang of things since I have such awesome speakers. We live in Hempstead, Texas, and our area is called "Waller". It is like the only area here where missionaries teach in Spanish AND English. So, I don't feel totally lost all the time. We have two wards we're over, Spanish and English.
 Let's see, this week, I made homemade tortillas with a recent convert, Lois, who loves Elvis more than ANYTHING. She is very sick and we came over to help her clean her house because her friend is coming to stay, and she's stuck in a chair so she can't do much on her own. We came into her house and she was just jamming out to Elvis! I love it! We found a new investigator, Tina! We got a referral from her stepmom and just showed up at her door one night and talked to her for a long while. She wants us to come back and teach her. I am sooo excited! 

I have already been to the temple 3 times, only because in my mission we give tours around the temple grounds and one of my trainers did it yesterday evening. The Houston temple is so gorgeous. I cannot state that enough. Especially lit up in the evening. I felt The Spirit so much, just walking around.

We also taught English classes this week! So cool! You know I love doing that, except this time, it's Spanish to English instead of Russian to English. I am excited for this week and everything ahead. So much of the Lord's work to do!

I just want to say how much I love you all and everyone here..My Savior is helping me every step of the way. Thank you SO much for all your prayers! This week I learned that the best way to be a missionary is to be a friend to everyone, just as the Savior was. I am so grateful for his example.

Love you always, Hermana Sheirbon

WRITE ME: 38860 Wyatt Chapel Rd

                   Hempstead, TX 77445

If you want to know what's going on in my mission, you can always visit this blog: http://texashoustonmission.blogspot.com/ 

Hey Vancouver North Stake Friends....
Sister Madi Selee and I are gonna be companions tomorrow! Woohoo!! We are going on exchanges cause my trainers are sister training leaders. Isn't that cool? Expect pictures of your Vancouver sisters together! :) 

TEXAS TOMORROW

November 3, 2015

What more can I say? This week has been crazy! So many ups and downs, but so much fun! I leave for Texas tomorrow. I have my Mormon.org cards ready, my Book of Mormon in Spanish, my pamphlets, and my broken Spanish to try and talk to everyone!! Even in the airport! We'll see what happens! They will probably just wonder who this random white girl is that's trying so hard to talk to them about how God loves them! Watch out, Texas and Mexico airport!!!

But mainly, there have been many goodbyes this week. Yesterday I said goodbye to my whole district and I definitely shed some tears... They became my best friends. Now I am in a trio with two sisters who are my besties and roomies here, and who are going to my same mission! We are officially the missionaries who have been here longest in the whole CCM! It feels pretty strange to be the oldest. I can't believe Kobe is already in Argentina!! Argentina steals all of my friends! I feel like even I love the Argentine people.. solely because they are my homies' homies. I am so excited for her though.

I talked to Hermana Archuleta!! We both know this guy named Jaxon, who I taught with in Ukraine! Pretty funny. Also, she was started to say that David was her role model, and I replied that he was mine too, but then she finished with "...in video games. He always beats me! All the mario games, he always wins!".... Awkward. hahaha, that is my life! 

I just wanted to share this talk by Elder Holland, because I know people are always wondering what us Mormons really believe about who God is, who Jesus Christ is, and if we are Christians, and this talk explains it so well!! 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/the-only-true-god-and-jesus-christ-whom-he-hath-sent?lang=eng

Just click play on the video! :) I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. It is difflicult to explain this in English, almost, haha, but it is so true. Yo se que JesuCristo es el redentor del mundo! Y Dios es nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial. Sin este conocimiento, yo no puedo ser feliz! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and is the best evidence of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth again.

I am so grateful for all of my many awesome friends that I have, and family. I love you all so much. This week, I've experienced several trials, but the Lord is always there to help. He has helped me through every trial, and he will help you if you trust him! I love you so very much!  

PS-This is a pic of one of my besties and I, and the other is my district! :)