Face Towards the Temple

February 25, 2013

Face Towards the Temple

Three of our recent converts were able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead on Tuesday from the Visalia 3^rd Ward. They were Susan Wood, Brittany Allen, and Christy Perez. Each of them had a family name to be done. On Saturday one of our recent converts from the Exeter Ward, Russell Bennett was able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We went with him. During the baptism you could visually tell when the names were of his own family. His continence changed and with tears in his eyes he was baptized for his brother, great-grandfather and others. His wife, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters were there to rejoice in this sweet experience. We also heard from Itha Jack. She celebrated her first year of membership on the 18^th of February. She called to say that she was having the second part of her interviews so she could go through the temple for herself. We hope to hear from her today so we can fit this trip to the temple into our schedule. The temple brings such purpose and focus to our lives.

We were asked to be part of the Senior Missionary Family Home Evening program. We shared some experiences of our courtship and a few mission experiences. It was an evening filled with laughter and spiritual sweetness. There will be two couples returning home and one amazing single sister who had been working in the employment office.

One of our investigators travels an hour and a half each Sunday to go to church with her boyfriend. She went to the bishop and told him she wanted to be baptized. She has a date to be baptized on March 16^th. She asks many questions and she reads everything she is given. She has been through cancer and is in her seventies. She has a great joy and excitement about her. We are so blessed to be here to teach her.

We are practicing in the stake choir in preparation for the apostle, D. Todd Christoffersen's visit to Visalia. There has been a wonderful response for the choir, of course, and the Stake choir director wishes it would continue long after this event has finished. :)

We are now putting some focus on taking pictures of people that we know and love. There are so many! Spring is definitely in the air and the trees are blooming. Some of the days are very warm. Elder Sheffer was sitting at the computer on a plastic chair and he exclaimed, "This is cold. I will never be able to handle a Utah winter again." We know that we have acclimatized to the Valley's weather. Give us some time and a summer back in Utah and we are sure we can readjust. One of the things they have told the Senior Missionaries is, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape."

We love the work.   God bless you all  Elder and Sister Sheffer

The World Comes to the Valley

The World Comes to the Valley

The World comes to The Valley February 18, 2013

This week we were able to go to the World Ag Show just south of us in Tulare. This is the largest agricultural fair in the world. They provide translators for those that need it. The Powells in the 2^nd ward had extra tickets and asked if we would like to go. Yes! It was so intriguing for a 4-H farm girl and a boy raised with animals. We loved walking around. We had a very successful time handing out pass along cards and even a Spanish book of Mormon. The zone leaders asked if we had done something special for Valentine's Day and we told them about our date to the Ag show and Elder Wright said, "You went out Finding for a date." We thought about that and the answer was, "Yes that is exactly what Sister Sheffer wanted to do." It was great, but after all the walking and talking we were worn out. We had a great time looking at all the amazing pieces of machinery. One tractor with a specialized blade was priced at $350,000. We have a picture of Elder Sheffer in the driver's seat and Sister Sheffer sitting in the wheel.

On the third of February we had Stake Conference. At that conference we were asked to go early because there was going to be a new Stake Presidency and the main meeting was going to be broadcast. The meeting was wonderful and we know and love the new presidency. We have been in each of their homes. Geoffrey Howard is the president and he is 38 years old.

This week we were called and told that there is going to be another Stake Conference on March 10^th. Why another one so soon? D. Todd Christoffersen of the Twelve Apostles has asked to meet with the whole stake. He is coming to do a youth conference in Fresno that will be broadcast to the whole valley and asked to meet with the Visalia Stake. We will be singing in the choir. He was here in April last year. What an unexpected treat. We are wondering if he will meet with the missionaries this time?

We had a very wonderful miracle happen on Sunday. We met with the Visalia 3^rd ward missionaries and Brother Hightower, the high councilman over missionary work, in misssionary council meeting for ward conference. On our progress report we put down that there are two recent converts who are moving the first of March, one to Texas and the other to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, that is where our nephew Matthew is serving. That means they are moving in less than two weeks from now. They hadn't been to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We asked, "Is there any way they could go with family names?" We know that a trip to the temple, "Cements their feet in the Gospel." By 9:00 Sunday night they had been contacted, had interviews, rides arranged, babysitting coordinated, and a family history consultant had made appointments with them to help them find and print family names. The trip is on Tuesday. Yes that is tomorrow. That is so incredible. We love this work. We told the Third Ward Mission Leader, "If this is what you do when we have a problem, we'll come to you with all our problems!" Here there are so many that work so hard to help the missionary work go forward. We are able to do so much more with the support and help we receive! It brings such a purpose and true perspective to this life.

We Love you so much,

Elder and Sister Sheffer

Training Ourselves

Training Ourselves

Training Ourselves                                                                                                           February 11, 2013

                3 Nephi 12:48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

Here in Visalia and in the valley there is a very long growing season so they prune the trees very drastically, especially the mulberry trees. This week we took some pictures of two of these trees. People are able to shape branches to create amazing canopies of shade in their yards, but in the early spring the trees look very awkward and mistreated. It causes us to reflect on the purpose of life. We are asked by the Lord to change our characters and control our appetites and passions and become like the Savior and learn to do the Lord's will not our own. This can seem to the outside observer to be harsh, awkward and a mistreatment. As other life's season progresses the result is a beautiful canopy that serves the purpose for which it was created. How is that for deep thinking? A gospel message can be found in so many common experiences in life.

We have so much fresh citrus given to us. We are including a picture of Elder Sheffer's breakfast. It was eggs poached in tomatoes, toast, grapefruit, and a glass of orange juice.

                We were invited this week to share in a birthday celebration for Linda Butterfield. We enjoyed the association and hope to see them again. They are a very special couple. We also visited with Stephanie and Victor Eastland. Their new little daughter, Svetlana, is adorable and so good. She sleeps through the night unlike our own children who thought it was alright to awaken their mother every three hours for the first six months of their lives. Sister Sheffer enjoyed holding this little one and feeling of her sweet spirit.

                We have been working with Russell Bennett, helping him to find some family names to take to the temple. Right now he has his brother William and one of his great grandfathers. He is planning to go to the Fresno temple on the 23^rd of February. We hope to go with him.

                We had fun, street contacting in Exeter. This small town is very quaint and boasts of having 39 murals painted on the sides of the buildings downtown. They depict the history of the area and historical events of the past. Sister Sheffer stood by the mural of an orange packing house where many women were employed. She fit right in. We hope to spend a preparation day walking the streets and seeing all of the murals.  

                                                                God Bless,   Elder and Sister Sheffer

Choose to be Humble

 Choose to be Humble

We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. (See D&C 38:24; D&C 81:5; D&C 84:106) (President Ezra Taft Benson "Beware of Pride" May 1989)

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                                              February 4, 2013

                Yes, you can choose to be humbled. At the last conference the president asked the missionaries to increase their finding time to three hours a day (Excluding Preparation Day). We committed to eighteen hours for the week. The district meeting that we set the goal on was on a Wednesday. The reporting the goal meeting will be on a Tuesday. To make our goal we had to do some serious finding time daily.  So we have knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people at bus stations and on the street this week. We spent two hours on finding time today, which is our Preparation Day.

                We had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Hanford for training on Tuesday. We learned many things. At that meeting President Gelwix had the missionaries commit to spend three hours finding each day. Two of the hours were to be spent doing the Harvest Blessing. It is a very effective way to track. We offer to bless homes and families. Of the people that are home about 30 percent accept the offer. That is huge. When this very personalized blessing is finished and the spirit is there we ask if they would like to have this feeling in their home all of the time. Many say yes. We have seen much success with this and have been able to share many referrals with the other missionaries.

                At this training meeting we met missionaries from three zones and one of the new sisters was Sister Blackham. She is from Orem Utah and she was roommates with Jamie Slaughter the daughter of our good friends Jim and Pam Slaughter that lived by us for years. What a small world. We took a picture of her to share.

                In our zone meeting the next day the zone leaders asked us to role play the harvest blessing each day and reemphasized the three hours of tracking or cold contacting. These are two of Elder Sheffer's least favorite things to do but he has committed to do just that. The first day we went to the bus station downtown. Most people we talked to accepted the invitation for a blessing or a pass along card. We shared five referrals with the other missionaries in the zone. Other days we knocked on doors close to where we had just taught a lesson. That brought more referrals and new investigators for us.

                Saturday was very busy because of Stake Conference. The Stake President Zackary Smith asked us to share our testimonies. We then heard that the Stake presidency was being changed and there would be two general authorities there, Elder Bassett and Elder Kopishka of the Seventy. We think the Stake President knew that this would be our only opportunity to speak to the whole stake before our mission is over but many of the people got the idea that we were leaving right away. I feel that way but Elder Sheffer still says we have a lot of time. At the Stake Conference we received three referrals and one of the bishops left us a message that said he had a referral for us also. We are being blessed greatly for being obedient. We feel our Saviors love very abundantly.

Love you all,      Sister and Elder Sheffer

We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service. (See Mosiah 2:16-17.)

We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others. (See Alma 4:19; Alma 31:5; Alma 48:20.)

(President Ezra Taft Benson "Beware of Pride" May 1989)