The Dog, The Jimmy Johns Guy and the Sandwich AC fixed

Bahama bucks for life

I guess I'll start this weeks email with the weirdest/funniest experience we've had this week.

Four of us live in our house (it's a Spanish party up in there) and we all ended up being home for lunch at the same time. We'll Sister Shaffer and I were going to get the mail but she was probably like 10 steps ahead of me but was turning around to say something as she opened the door. Then this GIANT dog sticks his head in the door so I screamed which made Sister Shaffer scream and the dog was just smiling at us (but like really actually). Anyways the dog was just like chilling outside our house so as we all tried to figure out where he had come from, I bonded with him by feeding him part of my sandwich. Anyways like 3 minutes later this Jimmy Johns delivery guy comes around the corner and told us that the dog had run out of a house he had just delivered some sandwiches to. So he starts trying to drag this dog away by the collar but I did too good of a job of bonding with the dog so he refused to leave. Anyways I ended up having to give the JJ guy my half eaten sandwich so the dog would go (turned out he had bonded to my grilled cheese and not to me)  And the guy just kind of looked at me and was like "...um do you want me to return it....?". I told him it was good. So Jimmy Johns owes me a sandwich now. I may have just butchered that story but trust me IT WAS HILARIOUS!

But it was also a week a miracles! Katie aka Hermana Nash inspired me to really work with the less actives in our area. So last week someone had mentioned this Federico guy who turned out to be in our area! I couldn't believe we had never heard of him before especially since he lives behind a members house. So we stopped by there and although he wasn't there his mom was..who is not a member! We ended up sharing a message with her, giving her a Book of Mormon and inviting her to read it. We stopped by 3 days later and not only was she there but also Federico and his dad (also not a member)! We taught the Restoration and they loved it! We have another appointment with them all tomorrow and can't wait to keep working with them!

Then there is this referral we have had for about 2 weeks now that we have been trying to get in touch with. The thing is he works at least 12 hours a day and the only address we had was "He lives west of the Mattress Firm and behind the house in a trailer"..... (#theSpanishMissionaryLife) But we have been talking to him on the phone and he seems awesome! So the other day we decided we weren't going to rest until we found him. So we were calling the Tempe Missionaries who referred him to us to find out where he lived. Using google maps, Sister Shaffer and I's sleuthing, and many many miles we found him at 8:40 at night on the darkest sketchiest street I have ever been on. The Tempe elders were a little concerned about our safety but I told them I was from NY and made Sister Shaffer hang up. I figured worse comes to worse I could outrun Sister Shaffer. 

But after knocking on the sketchy trailer behind the sketchy house on the sketchy street.... WE FOUND JIMMY! Turns out he is a former investigator from like 25 years ago and is ready to be baptized (#BLESSINGS) but is trying to start a business so can't make it to church quite yet. He told us that he likes our "persistance" and thinks we will "be the ones to finally baptize him". He is quite the interesting old man and after a 30 min lesson in the dark, outside (well his phone light was on so not completely dark) we are pumped to keep working with him!

But the crowning moment of this week was when I got to play soccer against Mexicans (people in our ward started a game) and SCORED THE FIRST GOAL. I think I won them over too so that's a win. Strangely I've started to like sports more on my mission so go figure.

Other than that transfers have come and gone and Sister Shaffer and I are pumped to work in our area for another transfer. But I would just like to say that I don't know why people lived here before the invention of AC. The high we hit was at least 122 degrees and it has been over 110 everyday this week. Luckily it wasn't until the day after the high that our AC in the house decided to break....and didn't get fixed until today. We managed to survive thankfully because it didn't break in the stairwell area so we moved everyones beds into there and just had like a giant slumber party for like 5 days. The hottest our house got was about 87 but that is still 30 degrees cooler than outside so I'll take it. #AZproblems (Also I named our car Hades because it gets ridiculously hot it there because the interior and exterior are black).

Where we have been sleeping.

Anyways it has been a crazy, hot, amazing week! I know that as the temperatures go up peoples hearts are going to soften and we are going to see miracles! I love this work and I am truly thankful for all that my Savior has done for me. As Peter and John in the book of Acts I rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer in His name (and really what is a little heat?). I am humbled and honored everyday to be called His disciple and to do His work. 

To the Moon and Back!

Hermana Showalter​​

When the temple is in your area #blessed

Annahi - literally my fave human in AZ who came out on splits with us!

random goat I bonded with

pretty sunset

@ Katie Nash

When you run into Annie (from my home stake!) in Walmart.

I am Usain Bolt

Bella Vista Zone shirts designed by yours truly (back says relief society because there are 10 sisters and 8 elders in this zone)

Man I feel like I blinked and this week was gone!

But to start out Happy Fathers Day to the best dad on the planet! Shoutout to Rog for being my #1, helping me with calculus in my past life, teaching me how to drive stick and fixing my many, many car (life) problems. I really have been so blessed and I thank Heavenly Father every night for the family I have.

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNAFER! Way to make it to 20 (for those who don't know Jenn we've been best friends since we were like 7 so I owe her this).

Okay now to recap on my week....

We had exchanges this week! It was nice to drive 5 minutes away to work in Sister Sorenson's area for the day (lol @ the small mission life). I found out the reason I wasn't called English here mainly has to do with the fact that I would die if I was put on a bike 24/7. The following day most of my body was in pain (half because of the bike the other half because of the sunburn). We were able to teach some bomb lessons and also bike a lot! We were probably on a bike for half the day but I really enjoyed finding out more about missionary work from Sister Sorenson. She is an amazing missionary and we were able to bond more over our east coastness ( she is from Boston). 

Highlight of the night ended when we were switching back. I realized that sister Baggaley had left her scriptures in our car but they had already started to pull away. Scriptures are important. SO I BOOKED IT AFTER THEM. I literally have never ran so fast in my life. I CAUGHT UP WITH A SPEEDING VEHICLE.....and they didn't hear me screaming and banging on their car. Between that and the never ending bike ride I laid down on the road and took a breather. After Sister Shaffer was done laughing she called them and they drove back. It was pretty funny.

Other than that the work here is continuing to progress little by little. We have some less actives that we are working with on top of our investigators and I love them all so much. 

I also learned a lot of lessons this week. It really is so important as missionaries to make sure we are sanctifying not only our actions but thoughts to the Lord and working in every moment we have. I know that is something i want to continue being better on as I go forth.

It is an honor to represent the Savior and His church. I love it with all my heart and wouldn't want to be anywhere else but this hot (very very very hot) place called Gilbert Arizona. 

To the Moon and Back

Hermana Showalter

Sister Shaffer and I rocking it in the back seat

Me and this cow that wasn't having it

Mi Hijo....ER HERMANO

These past four days have been a little crazy...but first I would like to clarify that my pday last week was moved to wednesday because of a visit from a member of the 70 so #notapostate.

I would also like to give a shoutout to Emma for getting her mission call to BANGKOK, THAILAND. I meant to send that in last weeks email but I was too pumped and forgot. She is going to be an amazing missionary and its like the second coolest mission after Gilbert, Arizona.

But other than that Hermana Shaffer and I are just trying our hardest to work our area and use the resources we have. We realized that we haven't been working with the less actives as well as we should and have started working with two awesome families.

First of all the Aguilar family have really started warming up to us ...especially when I accidentally told them I had a son. I had just gotten really excited about what we were teaching and my brain couldn't keep up with the translation so instead of saying i have a brother, something else came out... But I also feel like a giant in that house. The tallest one is maybe 4'10" so Im feeling pretty good about the 5'4" life. They are great though and we have set lessons now with them and are pumped to see what happens!

Then there is the Blea family and they are hilarious. We have been trying to catch them this whole transfer but he has a weird work schedule so never managed to. But the other night all of our plans fell through and we were near their house so we decided to try them again. Anyways we spent wayyy too long there and had to run home but they are a hoot. They are really solid too but just struggle to get to church because they haven't really put down any ties. They may be in competition to be my favorite family here.

And Gloria....I have no words.

Usually we have two lessons with her a week and see her on Sunday but she wasn't feeling good and cancelled on us wednesday. So we put together a feel well package for her and she loved it. She texted us telling us we were her angels. It is also hilarious to see her bond with other investigators. She is constantly bearing her testimony to them and sharing how she has gained hers and encouraging them to read the Book of Mormon. If president ever tries to move me out of her area I may just take Gloria with me.

My favorite part of the mission is easily the people. I love them with all my heart and it blows my mind to think that if I hadn't decided to serve I wouldn't have met them and that would be the worst! The people out here have changed my life whether it be other missionaries, the people we teach or the members of the ward.

And I just want to tell you how much I love the Book of Mormon. I'm just about to finish it again and every time I just get so sad when Moroni is alone at the end (oops spoiler) and the fact that he refuses to deny Christ even though his life is literally on the line is so powerful. I will not deny the Christ. I have been called to be His disciple and it's something that is literally so amazing I can't even describe it. I love this gospel.


To the moon and back!
Hermana Showalter

Week of MILAGROS

This has been an amazing week and a half! Sister Shaffer and I for sure have seen miracles and are really trying to work our hardest in this area we've been given.

To start off we have really been praying to find new people to teach in this area. We had been getting a little frustrated with our lack of success but were really striving to do everything we can. So something we had decided to focus this week was following the Holy Ghost and really make sure we were doing what Heavenly Father wanted.

So we were on our way to knock an apartment complex and to get there we had to pass this one crossroads. At this crossroad are these little houses that disappear pretty quickly behind a giant wall. For as long as I've served in this area whenever we pass that wall I always say "I wonder what those are?". Anyways I had just said that and we were about to pass it when Hna Shaffer was like "Well why don't we check it out!". So it turns our this area looks like its kind of on ASU campus which we can't tract on so we were about to turn around and try back another time when Hna Shaffer said "I just really want to knock that first street". So we turned back around and parked and I saw this house and knew we had to knock it. So we went and knocked this door and this SPANISH lady opens it. We end up having a great conversation, teaching the first vision and giving her a Book of Mormon. Craziest part is that she told us she had been reading the bible and didn't think the Catholic church was true and had been looking for another church to join....MIRACLES! Unfortunately Alejandra just got hired so her work schedule has been crazy but we should have a lesson sometime this week!

Also a recent convert from Mesa recently moved into our area. We've been trying to get a hold of her for a while now with little luck. The other week she called us though and asked for the directions to church because she WANTED TO INTRODUCE SOME PEOPLE TO US. Galina was able to come this week and brought her four kids...3 of whom are over the age of 9. We have a lesson with them tonight and are so excited to teach them! I truly have a testimony that the Lord provides when we are doing all that we can and are qualified to receive miracles.

We also had the amazing opportunity to listen to a member of the seventy yesterday during zone conference! Elder and sister Pearson taught me so much and I walked away with a desire to go out and find and new ways to do it! I also left with a desire to be the best missionary I can be. I have a long ways to go before I get there but I know as I am exactly obedient Heavenly Father will bless me with the abilities I need.

That's the main news but for everyone that has been asking about Gloria...she is great!! She has a baptismal date set for August 12- her birthday! She told us that she wants to get baptized that day because its like another birth. It also looks like her one daughter who lives in Chile should be able to come!

We also found another scorpion in the house (this one was alive) and now I live in constant terror. Although I much prefer scorpions to cockroaches!

Also I can never show my face at McDonalds again. The guy at the drive through recognized me the other day and that's when I knew my ice cream addiction was a problem (don't worry mom I don't go that often).

But all in all that's been my week! Hermana Shaffer and I are working hard and are really clicking as a companionship. Im excited to see what the Lord has in store for us!

To the Moon and Back

Hermana Showalter

ps. sorry for the gigantic email