Last Week of April 2013

Dear Sister Sarah Sheffer, April 29, 2013
We went to Kim's Graduation. You can go to our Face book and see two pictures that we posted. One is of Alan, Kim, and Lizzy stand in front of the entrance sign to BYU. The other is a picture of Me, Dad, and Bert standing at the same place. Wow, time flies.
We were grandma and grandpa this week. We watched Lizzy and Malleya so Kim could finish her last test and so that Nick and Amber, Alan and Kim, could go on the date with James Anderson and someone that Amber knows. Malleya loves us but Lizzy how no idea how to react to us. She is now calling us Papa. She is always on the go and Malleya is so graceful and loves to dance to any music.
On Sunday we invited Grandma Duncan and Aya to come over for dinner. We celebrated my fathers 99th birthday and my father and mother's 66 wedding anniversary. We had a salmon dinner and play a game.
I have been assigned to visit teach and we have been assigned to do the ward party, Cinco de Mayo, on the 3rd of May. We are gathering the needed supplies. Everyone kept on saying, "What if it rains?" I said, "It won't rain." When I was a activities chairman for the ward in year past that is how I would always answer that question. They replies with, "Sister Sheffer is back." It will be nice to see everyone at the party.
We called three people in Visalia last night to see how they were doing. It was nice to hear from them. One was the Browns. They went to sacrament meeting and stayed for all of the meetings. That was a first. We miss and love so many people.
The Williams, the couple who replaced us, called and talked to Dad this morning while I was doing visiting teaching. They said that Sunday was a very busy day and they were telling people, "We are not as young as the Sheffer's. They are in their 50s. We are twice that age." When they were telling this to Dad he said, "You are 100?" They laughed.
I hope to write my father's life history and have it finished by his birthday next year. That will be the 100th anniversary of his birth. So, we will have a party on April 28, 2013. This November will be Grandma's 90th birthday and we will celebrate that in style.
We are excited to hear where you will serve for the next six weeks. What is the weather like right now? Who is your companion? We love seeing pictures of you and reading your emails. We are still working on writing letters. You are so loved.  God Bless Mom and Dad

Homecoming

Coming Home                                                                                                                                   April 22, 2013

We had a week filled with unpacking and shopping. We shopped for new appliances and unpacked. It was not a fast or fevered pace. Why? We are worn out.  Many of the missionaries we served with said simpler things when asked, "What are you going to do when you get home?" They would reply, "I'm going to sleep for a week." We felt the same but the sleep for a week will need to be accomplished over a longer period of time.

We had our Home coming on Sunday. It was held at 1:00pm so we decided to have an early luncheon. It was wonderful to see the family and so many friends. David, aka, Elder Sheffer went over to the church a half hour before church. I think it was nerves. We sat next to the high councilman for our ward and he said, "This is a huge ward." The chapel kept filling and filing.

I need to confess of having a Senior moment. As I was walking to the church Brother Myler drove in and waved. He is in the Stake presidency and I in that moment remembered that we were assigned to report our mission to the High Council at 7:00am that morning. Where is our mission planner when we need it. We were asked to reschedule and reporting on May 5^th.

David is overwhelmed by all the projects that are in the works but he is happy to be able to do them at his pace. He went up to Salt Lake to help his parents and mow their lawn. The remodel of the kitchen is one of the large projects that will definitely take several months. Of course the question he is most often asked is, "What are you going to do now?"  He is considering that question but knows there is plenty to do.

I was contacted by Amelia Earhart Elementary about a month ago and asked to return to teach sixth grade next year. I think that would be a good thing to do. I am so grateful that I was able to serve a mission. It was a dream come true and I have been changed forever. Now I figure I have at least another 30 years to fill with amazing experiences. I am so grateful to God to have such a kind and sweet companion. We hope to continue to serve the Lord and grow in the Gospel.

It is bitter sweet to know that this is the last entry in our mission journal. We hope there will be more mission journals in the future. For now we are excited to create memories with our children and grandchildren. Also our daughter, Sister Sarah Sheffer will be returning from her mission in Jacksonville Florida on June 13^th. We know that the last weeks of her mission will fly by. We know for ourselves the feeling of so much to do and so little time. We are sure that she will fill the time with heart felt service.

                                                God Bless You All  Brother and Sister Sheffer

Pictures-- Family at luncheon

Two Sister Missionaries that came to our Homecoming.

Carry On

Carry On

Carry On

Carry On                                                                                              April 15, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

                This was a full week of being set apart missionarie. We felt more like those in the past who went without purse or script. The Williams came in on Saturday. We moved to the bishop of the 1^st Ward's home. He was also housing another Sister who was in between homes. We didn't cross paths, neither one of us was there very much. She stayed in the guest house and we stayed in the "Weapons Room." It was very sweet of them to let us stay and they saved us the cost of a hotel room for four nights.

                We worked with the Williams for a couple of days. They have served in Nauvoo and in the Ukraine. They will be great for Visalia. We taught the Browns on Monday together.

On Tuesday we went to a couple of places and said goodbye, then went to Fresno. At the Mission Home they were playing scripture games, emailing parents the final details of their arrival, and asking parents to set up an appointment with the stake president. It seemed somewhat unreal. We were interviewed by the president, than had a nice dinner. We heard marriage advice from Elder Brinley and then went to bear our testimony at the farewell. We were told to take less than two minutes. We were both pretty emotional. Many of the people from Visalia came. It was a very emotional night. The next morning we packed, visited with the Williams for a few minutes and drove away. It was a hard drive. We stayed at Uncle Dan Sheffer's house. They feed us a wonderful breakfast in the morning and we went and visited the Clarks, President Harbertson, Elder Sheffer's first mission president and called Elder Neilson's parents.

                We pulled into home a little after five. The door was decorated and there was a banner in the garage. It was a finish line. There were three boys playing basketball in the drive way. They are the new neighbors. They look like a nice family. We called the stake president to get released and he was out of town till Saturday. We scheduled an ATM and a Harvest Blessing with our family at 7:00, before we were to be released. We went to dinner first. Everyone was hungry, except us. We had a late lunch on the road. After dinner at Los Hermanos, we had the meeting and blessing. It was wonderful.

Dean, David, and Grandpa Bert went golfing on Friday. Gaile went proselyting. When Elder Sheffer got home from golfing he found that Sister Sheffer had contacted all the non-members on our street and offered to bless their home. Mel and Anne Milton had agreed. They wanted 4:00 on Saturday. We were thinking we may get released before that. No worries, we were asked to come in Sunday at 12:15. So it was basically all week we were still missionaries. The blessing went well and we committed them to read and pray.

Sunday the tags came off. That was the hardest thing!

                We love you all!,

                David & Gaile Sheffer (We didn't finish the letter in time to sign off as Elder and Sister Sheffer!)

PS Our homecoming is on Sunday April 21^st at 1:00pm. We were thinking that we would like to have a lunch at 11:00am that day so that as Brigham Young said, "Feed them and then Preach to them." You are welcome to stay for all of the meetings or return home if needed after sacrament meeting. Please bring a potluck item. See you soon.

 

One Eternal Round

One Eternal Round

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                              April 6, 2013

                This is the last letter from our apartment in Visalia. It is probably the last letter from Visalia. We need to be out of our apartment today because the Williams are coming to replace us today. We will be sleeping at the 1^st Ward bishop's house for our last four days on the mission.

                Elder Sheffer was so anxious that he woke up before 4:00A.M.  and said, "We need to wash to mattress cover right now." Sounds crazy doesn't it. Well not really. A few days ago the mission office called and said that they had receive a letter from the power company that stated there would be a planned power outage in our area for repairs and it would start at 6:00am and end at 6:00pm on Saturday the 6^th of April. That is today. So, your Dad figured that he needed to start the laundry at 4:30am to be sure there would be enough time to have the mattress cover dried and the apartment vacuumed before the power was turned off.

                We have spent the last two days cleaning and packing, whenever we aren't teaching. We are leaving most of our things in the garage and on Wednesday we will pack the car and drive off. The funny thing is that Thursday the Sister over housing called and said they were going to bring more things for the apartment. We were one of the first senior couples to come on a mission when the policy changed and the mission was to find and furnish the apartments. They didn't know what the budget was for this task. So, for us we got dishes for four, four chairs, a table, a desk, dresser, nightstand, couch, love seat and four lamps. All the young Elders loved the fact that we had a couch. Our back room was empty. So, the trailer arrived and out came a leather recliner and two twin beds for the guest room, additional dressers, coffee table, end tables, and the list goes on. We had four Elders come over to help assemble the new furniture. Elder Sheffer said, "I knew if I served a good mission I would be blessed with a recliner.  But I didn't know I would only have it for twenty four hours."

                Just before the priesthood session the Williams arrived. They are an amazing couple who have served two missions. The first was in the Ukraine and the second was at Nauvoo.

April 8, 2013

                We fed the sisters Saturday morning. Sister Baysden will be going home with us because she broke her colar bone. She was scheduled to go on the next transfer, so that was in an acceptable time window. In the picture Sister Sheffer is feeding her a grapefruit because her arm made eating grapefruit hard.

                Sunday the 7^th we enjoyed conference and prepared for our last baptism. Michael Malmgren was baptized by his father-in-law Wilem Madra who lives in North Salt Lake but was planning to vacation in Death Valley when Michael decide to be baptized. Michael had wanted to stop smoking for many years and we were able to use and stop smoking program with him which has the person make commitments, we would call and support him every day for a week. That was one of the final steps for him. When the baptism and confirmation was complete he asked to share his testimony. As he said it, "I wanted to be the first to welcome everyone into my family." He has a very kind heart. We are so grateful to have a wonderful ward senior couple who will teach him the new member lessons. We had to make a late night trip to the Exeter bishop's house to get his signature on the baptismal record so we could send it into the mission office. The bishop was not in town for the baptism. The bishop said, "I can't sign this form without a tie on." Elder Sheffer decided to share his tie with him, the form was signed.

                Our last meeting Sunday night was with the ward senior missionaries. We have heard that another couple will be called soon. We are so excited. This will leave only one ward that doesn't have a ward senior couple. The Williams the full time senior couple was there and they are excited. We know that just like us they are overwhelmed. They have a wonderful spirit and desire. They will be helped and well supported by the members here in Visalia. We were able to take a picture of this amazing group. The Lara couple from the 5^th Ward wasn't at the meeting. They work with the Spanish Ward.

                Today is our last official proselyting day. We are sad to think of it ending. There will be many tears tomorrow night at the farewell. We love the Lord and His children and the best work in the world is missionary work. But we know that His work is one eternal round and we are so very grateful that we have been able to do this work for a short season and hope to serve again sometime.

                After tonight's lessons we will turn our full attention to home and our beautiful family who has grown so much and been so patient in sharing us with the people of Visalia. We are excited to see them and hold them in our arms. It is very difficult to have your grandchildren hug the computer goodbye after a Skype visit. We love you all. We will be home on the 11^th of April and our homecoming is on the 21^st of April at 1:00pm. We hope to see you there.

               

                                                God Bless You  Elder and Sister Sheffer

               

               

Fwd: The Final Week

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The Final Week                                                  April 1, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

This Easter Sunday two of the wards we attended talked about the Savior's finally week of his mortal life. He entered Jerusalem as a recognized welcomed king. Only He knew what truly was coming. He tried to prepare His disciples, but they couldn't see the possibility.

We now face our final week in Visalia. Our mission is quickly coming to an end. We will be out of our apartment on the morning of April 6^th. The new couple comes in on that day. The bishop from the 1^st Ward has allowed us to stay in his home for our final four nights. Uncle Dan and Aunt Cathy will host us on the night of April 10^th, in Saint George.  Then it all comes to an end and only the Lord knows what lies before us. He is trying to prepare us, hope we can follow His guidance.

The Brown family had a date at one time, it passed. They haven't set a new one and now it looks like it will be someone else's turn to work with this wonderful family. We had a family night with them. We brought a Hill Cumorah Cake it was the Barbara's birthday. They truly are the salt of the Earth. They will be baptized soon.

On Wednesday we had a President's interview. After interviewing the whole mission he called a special zone conference. The eight northern zones met with him on Saturday in two different sessions. We met with him on Sunday with the three southern zones, Hanford, Porterville, and Visalia. After the conference we had a kneeling prayer. Sister Sheffer caught President and Sister Gelwix on their knees before they got up. It was a great picture.

Mike Malmgren is the young man we are teaching. He will be baptized on April 7^th. We have worked with him for over a year. He has quit smoking with the program that is in our resource binder. He has wanted to join for years. His wife is a member. This is so exciting. They will be able to be married for eternity in about a year.

Friday we went to the temple again with Itha Jack. She took us to lunch afterwards. It was a great morning. At the restaurant when they finished preparing the order they called for Aida. This was also very special for us because it was only her second time at the temple and when missionaries leave to mission they are able to attend the temple one last time with the President and his wife. This time the temple will be closed. We were so happy to go with Itha just before the temple closed for cleaning.

We were invited to the Stake Youth Baptism Saturday. There were 9 baptisms. We knew most of the families. It has been such a blessing to get to know so many wonderful people here. We were able to help with two of the confirmations. One on that day (Sister DeForest) and the other at church the next morning (Sister Smythe).

Sunday was so full of meetings. After attending several wards the Zone Conference went from 3:30 to 7:30. The conference was great. It answered a lot of our questions. The Lord truly does help us through the mission experience. After the conference we had a visit to the hospital and then home for a greatly anticipated rest. It wasn't possible to write our weekly letter Sunday night this week. It took to much energy to move your fingers on the keyboard. The pictures this week are people and places.

We had a delightful Easter Dinner with the Gubler family. They have invited us for Christmas Dinners, and now Easter. They really take care of us on the holidays. They also give us as much citrus as we can use as long as it is in season. We have been spoiled with the freshest citrus in the world.

We Love You all!

Elder and Sister Sheffer

pictures:

President and Sister Gelwix

Elder Robert Wright III last night in the mission

Sister Sheffer at temple with Itha Jack