"But His Hand is Stretched out Still" (Week 21)

This week was a little bit slower than usual. On Tuesday we did an exchange with the Zone Leaders and I was able to go to their area, so that was sweet, haha. It was nice to see how they do different parts of missionary work. Our Thanksgiving was awesome! We had dinner with an awesome family and were able to talk to our families, which is always nice, haha. On Friday, the Zone Leaders had MLC and so they dropped off their trainee with us for the day. His name is Elder Ruth and he is an awesome missionary. We were able to split up and get a lot of things done. We met with some really interesting people, but that's just kind of how it's been going in this neck of the woods. 

On Saturday and Sunday we had lessons with our friend Peter. He may or may have not been slightly intoxicated both times we came over, haha, and we had some interesting discussions. We tried so hard to teach the Restoration but with everything we say, Peter starts talking about it and goes off on some tangent and then it takes awhile for him to bring it back to his original point. But anyway, he challenged us to only use the Bible when we teach people and only use the Book of Mormon as a back up🤣 haha, so towards the end we just had him watch Prophet of the Restoration as we left. After that we had dinner with these awesome members but the Mom had an interesting thing, for lack of a better word, where she needs like 25× the amount of Sodium than the average person in a day. So we went to a restaurant and I think she put 2-3 salt packets in every glass of Diet Coke she drank. She downed like 8 or 9 glasses. I was amused, haha, and it was absolutely amazing. Not something you see everyday.

The other Elders had an awesome lesson with Bianca while I was gone on exchanges. Patty is still inching along, haha. She's even talking about baptism for this upcoming April! Haha, it's progress. We have gotten a couple of legit referrals that we will be checking out soon and one of them is super promising! 

There is so much to be grateful for and I am very grateful for all of you! Remember to focus on the real reason why we have Christmas, and do your best to do those things that Christ would. :) In 2 Nephi 19 verses 12, 17, and 21 (Isaiah 9:12,17,21) it says "...but His hand is stretched out still." I love this so much. Jesus Christ is always there for us. He is always reaching out to us. As many times as we mess up, He is there, helping us to repent. As many times as we feel inadequate, He is there to support us and be our strength. He always has our backs; we just need to turn towards Him. And because He is so merciful, we should freely give our mercy to others. The power of forgiveness is real. I invite all of you to join me as I go throughout life and to learn how to turn to Jesus Christ, time and time again, in our help with repentance and forgiveness. 

I love you all! 

Elder Shockley 

P.S. I'm trash at taking pictures.

GRATEFUL (Week 20)

Hello there,

Haha hopefully some of you got my Star Wars reference. Anyway how have you all been? I love hearing from each of you, and I am so grateful for you all! Thanksgiving is this week and it was amazing to hear from our prophet. I hope all of you were able to watch his message and if not then I invite you to do so.

This week was another solid one. Our friend, Bianca, is asking awesome questions and is really picking up speed haha she is awesome! Last time we came to her and invited her to read from the Book of Mormon daily and pray to know if it is the word of God. She had already been planning on doing it before we got there. The Spirit is awesome! Then she brought up family history and basically we are going in the right direction so yeah. We had dinner with a Peruvian family, the Guevaras, and they were awesome! Just thought I'd give them a shout out because of Jackson, haha.

If my emails ever get insanely boring, or if I'm becoming "that guy" just let me know🤣

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The Healing Power of Gratitude

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Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation is amazing and He truly loves all of us so much! Do your best to treat everyone as the Savior would especially because there is already too much mistreatment in the world. I will write a super hype email next week!

Love you all! Keep the gratitude going all year!

Elder Shockley 

5 Months! (Week 19)

Well, I have now been set apart as a full-time missionary for 5 months! Pretty crazy right? Haha, this past week has been a pretty good one.

Patty is still our 1 constant and honestly we have been teaching some interesting people on Friday I was kind of like, "It would be nice to maybe teach someone who is somewhat normal." That same morning we had a lesson with this lady, Bianca, and her daughter. What an answer to prayer! She had been taught by the Sisters in the ward back in March and then she had some deaths in the family and got Covid but is now ready to be taught again! We are going back tonight when her whole family will be there so we are excited for that!

A lot of the people we have had lessons with in this area have honestly just really needed someone to talk to, but that's alright because everyone needs someone to talk to🤣. Today I am currently writing this email on Palomar mountain at some campsite. We drove up here for p-day and my comp's birthday and went on a hike, so that's pretty neat. I don't remember too many of the details from the week while I'm writing this email but that's how it goes sometimes, haha.

In Alma 37:34 it says, "never be weary of good works." Doing good and serving those around us truly brings so much joy into our lives. Make the effort to fill your time with what God wants you to do. Seek His will and let Him prevail in your life!

Love you all!

Elder Shockley 

Jesus is the Light! (Week 18)

What's up family and friends?! Haha I love you all and am grateful for your support! This past week wasn't super eventful, but we were able to do a lot of service so that was nice! We shoveled some horse droppings for this nice lady Pat, who is super awesome! She is super kind and is just one of those people you know who will accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We had a lesson with a self referral this week and they forgot we were coming and may or may not have taken some kind of substance. So yeah they were intoxicated  so that was fun, haha.

Today was transfer day and no one in my companionship got transferred, thank goodness because my companions are awesome! So I'm still here in the Dido (Escondido haha). It rained the last couple of days which was super nice! The rain is awesome.

I would encourage you all to talk more about Jesus Christ. Learn about Him and share with others what you are learning. Elder Anderson told us about how much the world is talking less about Jesus Christ and how we need to talk even more about Him! He truly is the Light of the World!

Love you all!

Elder Shockley

The Book of Mormon Changes Lives (Week 17)

We had another good week and are already on the last week of the transfer so that's kind of crazy! We were able to do a lot of service this week. We dug a trench for this family and laid sod for this lady. It was super nice to get out and do some physical labor in the yard, haha.

On Thursday we walked out our door to go to district council and we were like "where's our car?" Haha we had recently gotten a new car and apparently you are supposed to register your license plate with the apartment leasing office. So yeah. We got towed🤣 so that was fun to figure out but we got it handled.

Well this past week our friend Jerry dropped us :( haha he said he wasn't ready to commit to anything and wants to explore more religion or something like that. He is still going to have meetings with our ward mission leader so that will be good for him. Our Friend Christina is also moving to Carlsbad or something so we are passing her off soon; so now we are down to Patty! Haha Patty is progressing really well which is so awesome to see! Every time we meet with her she starts out pretty "end of the world" but every time we start reading the Book of Mormon with her and testifying of Jesus Christ, her attitude always changes and her heart softens. 

The Book of Mormon truly is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It testifies of the power of His Atonement and how it is for each of us personally. Seeing that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is for each of us personally this means also that the Book of Mormon was written for EACH of us personally. Mormon tells us that the words in the Book of Mormon are written to each of us in Mormon 3:17-20.  It all just shows how intricate Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation is for each of us. I encourage all of you to read the Book of Mormon everyday this week! If you have already, then keep on keeping on (enduring to the end Bro. Dixon style). If you haven't or if it's been awhile, then now is your chance to do it. I promise if you do, and if you study with real intent, you will feel God's love for you in greater abundance. 

Love you all!

Elder Shockley