The Last Email... (1/18/16)

Hello family, 

as I start this email, i am not sure if i should cry or be happy. I cannot believe that my mission will come to an end this week. I feel like it went by so fast. I am so grateful to have served. 

Literally, i am ending my mission in the best way possible. A member told me this week, the success of a missionary is not how they started their mission, its how they end it. She saw all the bags on my eyes and we are bring so many investigators to church and she told us, hermana, you are ending your mission at full force, you should be proud. And i realized that my heavenly father really does accept my service. I have not been the perfect missionary, but I feel like I have done all the Lord needed me to do here. I just feel so at peace. I know that I made a difference here in the lives of many people but most importantly, they made a difference in me. I am not the same Sheyanne, I will be coming home different. I have changed, but I am more like my savior. I have had these 18 months to be a true representative of Jesus Christ and I have learned how to follow him. I know what he expects of me and I have come to see that what HE thinks is the most important. 

This week we had a miracle, Daniela got baptized. Missionaries dream of finding an investigator like her. I was able to be there through EVERY part of her conversion and it was beautiful. She had her interview with the counselor to presidente thurgood and he walked out and he said wow hermanas, i have never interviewed someone so passioned and converted to the gospel. He told us we were good teachers but the truth is that, she was SOO receptive to the spirit. Her baptism day was beautiful. She asked Elder Miller (an elder in our ward) to baptize her and my convert andrea gave a talk. It was so amazing to see a girl that I talk share her experience with Daniela and tell her that she will be there to help her. I cried threw the whole baptism. As I watched her get baptized, I had a prompting saying, Hermana Root, this is why you went home. You would have never found her if you wouldnt of fallen down the stairs. And I realized the lord lets us go threw hard times so that we can be blessed. I learned so many things when I got sent home from the mission. It was the hardest trial I have ever had but I made it threw and i was faithful. I will never regret my decision to come back to argentina. Its changed my life. Daniela is talking about going on a mission and it makes me so happy. I cannot express the pure joy that I feel. I am without words, the lord is so kind to me. 

I had an exchange this week with Hermana Gonzales from here in Argentina. She was wonderful. She is a mini missionary and she was just sad. She was having a hard time. The mission is demanding (EVEN MORE when its summer and its so hot!) She shared with me all of her feelings and I was able to help her. She is such a sweet girl and a great missionary. 

We got a new mission leader last week and hes AWESOME. We have so many plans and the ward is already getting better. Banfield has really improved in my time here. We had lunch with Bishop on friday and he thanked me for all i´ve done here. He said hermana, there arent too many missionaries with as much energy as you! I can say i have put it all on the field here and it made me feel like that is what we need to do in life, we need to work hard and be obedient and the day we will see our heavenly father again, we will be at peace. Our mission president explained one time, I want you to all think about how you want to feel when you see your parents for the first time after your mission. Do you want to be embarassed? Or do you want them to be proud of you? Be the missionary your mom thinks you are! And we can use this as an example, someday we will be in front of our heavenly father and I dont want to be embarassed, i want to hold my head up high and be able to say that I did all I could. In one week, i will see my family, all of you! And i can say that I did all I could. I am not embarassed to see my parents because I know that I was obedient and I made them proud and now my next goal is to return to my father in heavens presence someday with honor. 

I just want to share my testimony with all of you. I´ve had 18 months to be a representitive of my Savior Jesus Christ and I know without a doubt that he lives. He is my savior. He came to this world to save us, each and every one of us. There is not ANYTHING that he does not understand. He can help us. I have felt him carry me during these 18 months. When I missed home, or when my feet couldnt walk anymore, when we faced rejection, or sicknesses, he was there. He NEVER let me fall. I know that his atonement is real. We need to use it. Its not just to help us repent, it is to help us grow. I know that every time I pray, he hears me. He answers my prayers. I know that he loves me. For him, I am special. He loves me as I am and he sees me for who I can become. I know that because of this love, he restored this gospel. He has given us prophets to lead and guide us. he also gave us another testimony of his son, which is the book of mormon. I know that this book is true. Its changed my life and its helped me come to know my savior. I know that the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is the only true church on earth, because it has the authority of god. I will forever share these truths with everyone. I know that we can pray and ask god and he will answer us. He will let us know because he loves us. I know that families can be together forever. That in the temple we can be sealed for all time and eternity. I have seen how obedience is the only way to have happiness. We cannot have happiness if we are not faithful. At times it may appear that others who are not obedient are happy, but the happiness that lasts comes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The things i have learned in these 18 months are eternal, but the most important things is that I can say that I know my savior lives and for the rest of my life, i will follow him. I will be faithful. I have come to know him personally in this time and I will forever thank him for letting me be his representive. 

I am so happy to see all of you. It will break my heart when I have to leave this place behind. I´ve come to love every part of this country and it will always be a part of me but I am ready to keep being a missionary. I might not have my name tag but I will always be a disciple of christ. This week I am going to give it all I have so that in 7 days, i can start my life! I´ve given the lord these 18 months and now I know he will give me all that I need. 

Nos vemos pronto, les quiero!

Love you all! 

See you soon, very very soon!

for the last time, 

-- 

Hermana Root

1. Daniela in the dress I gave her

2. Her confirmation day! She invited her best friend who now is listening to us!

3. The greatest day!

5. Bishop and His wife with daniela!

6. My converts together!

7.Ice cream in the bus!
8. Mercedes gave me a MATÉ! whoohoo! family get ready to drink matÉ!
9.Exchanges with hermana gonzales!
10. Bowling!!

Here We Go! (1/11/16)

Hola hola hola!!

HI FAMILY!

how are you?? 

I hear burns is NOT the place to be right now, maybe i´ll just stay here in Buenos Aires to avoid the conflict! haha just kidding!

This week was BOMB! seriously, it was the best!! We saw soooo many miracles! THE LORD IS HELPING US SOOO MUCH!

Funny story: This week like 3 people asked me if I was from spain! They all think ym companion is from columbia and I´m from spain! Our 80 year old investigador this week asked me, so when do you go back to spain?? and i was like, im from the states and I go home in two weeks and shes like NO your my española! You arent american! And then she sang me a song that says, When the española kisses, she kisses from the heart! haha So basically everyone things I am española! haha

We put the goal when we started this transfer that we wanted to work with the members A WHOLE BUNCH! We spend like every night calling and asking members to go with us but at first, EVERYONE turned us down and this week, we had members ALL DAY with us! It was aswesome! Our lessons were more spiritual and we found 2 new investigators! WHOOHOO!

DANIELA! so remember her? YEAH WELL SHES GOING TO GET BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! MIRACLE MIRACLE MIRACLE! Shes the greatest! I told her she just had to put her trust in the lord and do it and she said, Im going to get baptized! WHOOHOO! Im going to be here. I am just so happy. Shes the BEST investigator! This week I gave her the triple ( BOM, DYC, Perla da gran precisa) and she was sooo happy! Shes already halfway threw DYC! She cried and said hermana root, please dont go home! ugh it will be so hard to leave, i love these people!

ALSO, we are teaching a family from venezuela, but they have a son thats from here. SO we saw him on sunday morning in the street and we invited him to come to church, AND HE CAME! And the argentine people like never go to church! It was AWESOME! He loved it! his name is kennedy and hes 30, he just got a divorse and he said that he felt at peace in the church. He will be the next baptism! He said hes going to pray and I can already tell he will get a testimony!

I had exchanges with Hermana Ostler this week in banfield! It was just like the good ole days when we were comps here. Shes so great and I am so thankful for her. It was good to just talk to someone else who is finishing too. Finishing the mission is weird. You wanna work hard and do all you can but your body is so tired! haha this week I literally almost cried while I was walking. My hip and knee hurts but I just have to keep going. I know that the lord will give me strength! I am so happy to see my family and have time with them. When i think about hugging all fo you it makes me so happy but then i realize that I have to leave this place behind. Its a bitter sweet feeling!

Today I finished the Book of Mormon in spanish, the second time in the mission and it made me so happy. It talks so much about spiritual gifts and christ like attributes and it made me realize that during my mission, the lord has given me so many gifts and I have developed more christ like attributes. All this time representing my savior has made me become more like him. I know the book of mormon is true. For those who have never read it, read it! It will change yourlife!

ALSO WE HAD A WHOLE DAY, I REPEAT, A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT ONE REJECTION! NOT ONE PERSON SLAMMED THE DOOR OR RAN AWAY OR ANYTHING! It was the first time in my WHOLLE mission!!

Well, this week is my last full week of work! I am so excited to find more people. Next week we go to the temple, tour of buenos aires, and such, so its time to use this time with wisdom!

Hey, and for all of you oregon people, i may not know too much about politics and I have no idea whats going on the states, but I do know one thing. We should be disciples of christ AT ALL TIMES. Never make a fool of yourself ¨defending¨a political belief. We should stand up for what is true and right, but we should never hurt people in the process. And, trust in the lord. We will ALL be okay! And, all of these things are signs of the second coming, so we should happy that Christ is a little bit closer :) 

Ether 12:41

 41 And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus ofwhom the prophets and apostles have written, that thegrace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ,and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may beand abide in you forever. Amen.

 

Let us all seek this jesus and be more like him!

Love you all!

Hermana Root

feliz año nuevo!! (1/4/16)

Hi family, 

HAPPY 2016!! Hope you are all doing great and that you had the best new years! 

This week was, exhausting! BUT, WAYYY better than last week! It wasnt SOO hot and we saw a LOT of miracles. 

We started off the week with interviews with president thurgood. It was my last interview as a missionary! my last one will be the day before I finish the mission. We talked about all the things I have learned and he told me, ¨Hermana Root, I dont think i´ve ever seen a missionary with so much passion for this work.¨ He told me how he can tell the Lord is proud of me. It just made me feel so happy. I am full of peace. I´ve worked hard these last 18 months and I am so thankful that I have been able to work hard and grow. I have changed so much. This country, these people, these experiences have changed me and I am so grateful that the Lord sent me here to Buenos Aires. 

We then had Leadership council and we talked about all the things we need to make better in the mission. It too was sad because it was my last one. I cant believe all of these things are coming to an end! Im just so grateful for it all!

THEN, new years eve we went to Lanus and 6 of us missionaries had a sleepover! we slept outside on their balcony and watched the fireworks. It was so awesome. We drank sparkeling cider and watched tangled and it was so awesome. All 6 of us are going to finish our missions in 2016 so we all made goals and plans to keep sharing the gospel and to keep growing! It was sad thinking that I wont be able to pass another year in the full time service of the lord but I will ALWAYS be a missionary, I will always be Hermana Root and I will always be faithful and share the gospel! Because it makes me happy! 

We then had exchanges. I was with Hermana Feldermann and it was so fun! We were able to talk to many and find new investigators! This week we found 3 people! Luis, Florina, and Eluz and they all have baptism dates for January 30th! I wont be here but I am so happy that I get to teach them and prepare them. 

We had an AWESOME experience with Luis! We taught the restoration and we gave him a book of mormon. We invited him to pray with us asking God if it was true. In his prayer he said, God, i dont need to ask thee if these things are true because I know, I remember all of this. I know that these girls are telling the truth, i can feel it. I started to tear up. I realized that here in the mission we dont teach, we just help people REMEMBER! They all learned all of these things before this life, they have just forgotten it. My job is to remind them! It was such a beautiful experience!

Basically, I am just so happy to be a missionary. I only have 3 more weeks to invite people to come unto christ and I will do it with ALL the strength I have. I know this church is true. I know that these people need to know it too. I am just so full of gratitude. Each day I want to be a better person because I want to be more like my savior! We should all put goals to be more like him, because he is the perfect example! 

ALMA 7:23 

Let this be our new years resolution!

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and besubmissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full ofpatience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things;being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at alltimes; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, bothspiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto Godfor whatsoever things ye do receive.

Love you all!!!

1. Exchanges with Hermana Feldermann from Minesota

2. Happy new year!

3. New years sleepover!

4. The sister training leaders!

Hola, Merry Christmas! (12/28/15)

HOLA merry christmas, 

so guess what. 

this week my email will be horrible because I am sitting at a stupid computer that just DELETED MY WHOLE EMAIL! I SPENT HALF HOUR WRITING IT AND IT DELETED IT!! ughhhh. 

okay, so this week was LONG. It was also awesome. Have I mentioned that its like 300 degrees here and the humitity is killing me?

Christmas night i got heat stroke and I have been puking for 3 days. Its okay, I will be fine. Lets just hope the heat doesnt kill me before i get home. I promise you, I will get off the plane and go straight to do snow angles in the snow... I CANNOTT TAKE THIS HEAT. 

Okay, i am done being negative haha

Now the happy things. 

THis week was full of miracles. We made the goal to double our contacts. We normally talk to 50-80 people a week and this week we talked to more than 150! Alot werent very interested but we have 16 that told us that we could come by and teach them! whooohooo!

Christmas was fun. We had a sleepover with 4 other missionaries and it was very fun. We were able to focus on the savior and the true meaning of christmas. 

We did an activity with the youth this week and we gave away books of mormon! 62!! they all loved it. We wrapped them up with wrapping paper and we went out and gave them away! It was an awesome experience. I love it when people can see that missionary work is fun! Its not hard, we just have to love people and share the gospel because we love them!! 

A member gave me a watermellon for christmas. I am happy. 

I am sweating SO MUCH in this internet cafe and I am SOO ready for snow! haha But, i am going to keep working hard and going strong till the end. I know this church is true and I know that all the people need to know about the savior and thats why i will keep going! Even though its hot and im tired, ILL KEEP GOING! 

I hope we can all make some goals this new years to be more like the savior. 

Hes the best role model and he will teach us all we need to know! 

I LOVE you all! 

1. santa brought me a watermelon!

2. We had a white elephant party and guess what I gave, a dead cockroach in a jar whoohoo

3. Hermana Colocimo!

4. Our christmas gifts

MERRY NAVIDAD! (12/21/15)

HEY HEY HEY! 

merry christmas

happy navidad!

feliz christmas!

WHOOHOO!its 100 degrees here and it feels like the fourth of july but OH WELL!

This week was LONG. it was interesting as well but we saw a LOT of miracles and the lord is helping us so much! 

Skye send me an awesome talk called Finishers Wanted. It helped me so much. The lord DOES NOT WANT QUITTERS! he wants people who will endure to the end. My goal is to return from the mission with Honor but not just the mission, ALSO to the presence of my heavenly father! WE ALL NEED TO ENDURE TO THE END OKAY!

We found 2 new investigators this week and it was AWESOME! We went to do a family home evening with a less active and we told her she should invite her friends. SOO she invited her grandson and her neighbor AND THE LOVED IT! we taught the restoration and they accepted baptism dates!

Our ward mission leader decided this week he was not going to be our mission leader anymore. He asked to be released. So we are now in charge of everything.. I should be used to it since i´ve never had a ward mission leader until this ward! hahah 

This week we were EVERYWHERE! On tuesday, we had to teach a class in zone meeting about contacting references, on wednesday we had to teach all the district leaders of the mission how to work with the sister training leaders, thursday we went from appointment to appointment and we literally were RUNNING, catching buses, trying to be everywhere at the same time! Friday same story and on saturday we took our investigator daniela to get ice cream and we had a heart to heart. BASICALLY her father told her she cannot go to church anymore. SO she ran away!! We had no contact with her in a week and she told us that now shes living with her dad again but that he wants nothing to do with the church. UGHHH shes the perfect investigator and she wants to be baptized SOOO badly but she doesnt want to disappoint her dad. Shes 18 and can make her own decisions but we told her to fast and pray and follow the counsel of the lord. 

ALSO, maria rosa, our 75 year old investigator is doing awesome. Shes progressing and she will probably be baptized in January! WHOOHOO!

ALSOOO, we found a whole family from venezuela that ARE GOLDEN! they are here till february and they LOVE everything we have taught. They are just so awesome. 

This week we made the goal to talk to over 200 people using our A savior was born cards so that EVERYONE can think about christ this christmas. I LOVE LOVE LOVE christmas when its centered in christ. Yesterday Bishop gave a talk in sacrament meeting and he shared a conversation that I ahd with him. He asked me what would I like for christmas if i could have anything (he has a son in the mission and they didnt know what to send) I said, I would give anything for my moms sugar cookies and to smell the smell of my house. He shared that and said, We should all simplify our christmas season. The little things like hugs and cookies and TIME are the best gifts we can give. I am sad I wont be home for christmas but the 2 more important things in my life are the gospel and my family. I can give one more christmas to christ, and i know he will give me the rest of eternity with my family. 

Dont eat too much raspberry cream pie & I´ll talk to you fools on friday!

LOVE YOU!