Sister Emily Elise Shill

Hi Friends and Family!  I owe you all a longer letter, so you can plan on that next week.   This week I'm afraid it's just a short update! My wonderful time with Sister Romney has come to a close. Transfers were moved up a week so that they would be done by the time our new mission president arrives. We got the news today: she is going to Fruita 3/4!!! My old stomping grounds!!! She'll even be in my old apartment. I told her not to suffer, but to contact the landlord about fixing the air-conditioning immediately.  Meanwhile, here in Centennial/South Glenn we are getting Sister Ellsworth! She goes home next transfer I believe, so it will be fun to get to know her before she leaves.  We have a new friend on date: Monica! For July 2nd. Please pray that her health improves because right now that is our only barrier.  We are teaching another fellow named Ardash who is keeping commitments and progressing wonderfully!  Lots of love, Sister Shill

  Hi Family! This week has been particularly crazy, and unfortunately it ended on a disappointing note. After working like mad women to get a baptismal service all set up for our friend Libby this Sunday, she decided to postpone the night before. But regardless, I know that we did everything we could. And Sister Romney seems to be having a good time.     Training is a whirlwind. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to put me in charge!  Here's a excerpt from my journal this week of a particularly comical day: Today was a day of it's own right. Today I locked us out of our apartment for the 2nd time this week. It was embarrassing to say the least. I'm so grateful for Sister Romney's loving, laughing, forgiving disposition. Whenever something goes wrong, she laughs, and I feel a little better about it. This morning started off not so great. We slept in, which never makes me feel good about my status as a trainer. Then as the morning went on, our d...

Continued from last week: Later that day we went by to see a friend of ours whom we are teaching to say hello and invite her to church. Once she answered the door and we talked, I thought it would be fun to play my harmonica for her. As we walked away from her apartment, her downstairs neighbor popped his head out and said, "Was that you playing the harmonica?" He introduced himself as Samuel. He's from Mesa, AZ so we talked quite a bit about that. We shared family history with him too. Unfortunately, he said that his son does it for the family, and didn't seem too interested. But we plan to just keep saying hi as we teach his neighbor. This week: Today (April 18th) we had the highly anticipated, first of it's kind, "Norwegian Barbecue" in celebration of 36 baptisms in March! (John was one of those baptisms!) I got on a bus this morning at 7:15 and drove with all the other Denver Metro missionaries back to the G Road building in Grand Junction. Our entir...

  A few weeks ago, our good friend John got baptized. John had a very unique journey coming to the church. He'd been coming to church for a year, chosen to start living the word of wisdom, the law of the fast, and was paying tithing, but he refused to pray and did not believe that God loved him. However, with the support of our wonderful ward members, his testimony grew a ton during the 3 weeks we worked with him to prepare him for baptism. He went from having some nervousness regarding his baptism, to being comfortable with the idea, to "looking forward to it", to being "excited". At the beginning, John felt that baptism was just a way for him to no longer be "a guest." But he said that as he prepared for baptism, it started to be more meaningful to him. We had lessons over the phone every single night until he was baptized, and John began to pray and read the Book of Mormon consistently. When he was baptized, he brought his boss/roommate Don who real...

  Hello Friends and Family, I'm sorry it's been such a long time. I hope this letter can make up for some missed weeks. I'm going on 4 weeks here in Centennial. My getting here was a little late. When transfers came out, Sister Anderson and I had colds, so my leaving was delayed for about 2 weeks until it all worked out. This was really good for me in a lot of ways. Fruita was the only place I'd been on my mission, the only place I'd lived for 7 months without seeing my family. I'd grown very attached. But having 2 weeks to wrap my head around leaving gave me some detachment time. In that time, I was still Sister Anderson's companion, and we began getting to know the Fruita 3rd and 4th wards. Though Sister Anderson was staying, she was over a new area, and Fruita 1 was combined with the Fruita 2 area. While we were there, we had a lesson with one of the family's in the Fruita 4th ward. I instantly fell in love with them. Walking away from that lesson ...

  Hey friends and family! I have been transferred! I am now in the Centennial/South Glenn area. We cover two wards, have SEVEN people in our teaching pool, and one of them is on date to be baptized on March 26! It's crazy! Combine that with our awesome apartment: I still have my own bathroom, but now I also feel comfortable sitting on the carpet because it's clean and new, have functioning nonstick pans, and the luxury of going through all the clothes left by other Sister missionaries! So I basically feel like I've been transferred to the land Bountiful! I still love Fruita with my whole heart and miss it, but I am incredibly grateful for the chance to be here in Centennial. My new companion is Sister Emma Friberg! For the first time ever, I feel like I immediately clicked with my companion. She likes science, studying and talking about the gathering of Israel, Choir music, Broadway music, alternative rock, and folk Indie!!! So basically she is a woman after my own heart...

  Hey everybody! Good news: Carey is back on date and surrounded with more support than ever! Bad news: the other lady we were teaching dropped us. She texted, "I'm cancelling Tuesday with no future appointments." Neutral news (because I'm trying to reserve judgement before getting sad)- I'm leaving Fruita. I don't know where to, or who I'll be with yet. I only know today because my companion got texted that she will be training. I'm going to miss Fruita so much. But I suppose this is the life of a missionary. And I will come back here again. It's the closest part of the mission to my home! Anyway, pray for Carey if you can! She will get baptized with or without me! But all the faith she can get will help! Love you all, Sister Shill