Sister Emily Elise Shill

Dear Friends and Family, I don't know what to say! So much has happened and I ran out of time to write last week so now I have twice as much to cover.  When I arrived in the Grand Junction West Zone, I got to say hello to my old friend Morgan Bledsoe from Helaman Halls. She got on the bus I got off, to go to Denver and then to fly home. This was a sweet tender mercy to me. Following that I met my companion/trainer, Sis. Milaya Bealer. Sis. Bealer is a very kind person, and an easy person to be around. I think God knew we'd have a lot to teach each other.  On the other hand, I really struggle with keeping the rules. Sis. Bealer is very obedient and so she's been helping me in that category. It's a bit of a slow process, but I get better everyday. Another thing I struggle with is our Mission President's terminology. He's a delightful person I'm sure, it's just that he uses a lot of phrasology that is very difficult for me. Thankfully, I came somewhat prepa...

  We are happy to report that  Sister   Shill  arrived safely to the Colorado Denver South Mission. Attached you will find a picture which was taken of your missionary with President and Sister Rees and one of the entire group who arrived yesterday.  Sister   Shill  will be serving in the  Grand Junction West  Zone in the  Fruita 1  area.

Dear Friends and Family, If you are not my mother (or even if you are) and you are not interested in reading a novel, feel free to skip to the Small Plates Version at the bottom of this email. Large Plates: This last week has been a lot. I'm really struggling to know where to begin. I guess we'll back it up and start from the beginning of my stay at the Provo MTC. The first night at the MTC, as we were going to bed, Sis. Seymore and Sis. Daybell said in perfect unison, "Don't let the bed bugs bite!" We should have known then. The next morning Sis. Seymore woke up with a little bit of a rash on her face. She insisted it was fine. Every day the rash got worse and Sis. Seymore complained of intense chills. She was always cold, but as days went on she began to shiver in classrooms the rest of us thought were plenty warm. On top of that her stomach began to hurt, but she just dismissed it as stress. She began to eat less, and what she ate was often just sug...

Dear Friends and Family, This is my first letter out! I have now done 1 week of At Home MTC, and 1 week of In Person MTC! I can definitely say I'm grateful for the opportunity At Home MTC gave me to get to know my district and companion, as well as come to terms with saying goodbye to my family.  In a word, this week has been a stretch. I was worried I would tear, but found I was more flexible than I knew.  My first day was quite exciting. At the end of the day, we had the famous Character of Christ devotional. This was when I got scared. You see, I had a little scrupulous attack. For those who don't know, scrupulosity is the word that describes how my brain fixates on my flaws (real or imagined) and beats me up about them. I don't remember now what was said for most of that devotional, but something really triggered that mechanism in my brain. I began working really hard just to breathe at a normal rate, and I cried quite a bit. Thanks to God's Mercy, my...