So it was another beautiful week in Kettering, Ohio. The nature is blooming and so is the work of the Lord. We were lucky enough to find 4 of Heavenly Father's children who were interested in the gospel. And able to get 2 of His children to church.

It is so amazing to be apart of this work. We had a couple come to church yesterday with their 2 sons. This week was not an easy week for them and I have to say that I was kind of surprised that they made it. I am so happy that they did. They enjoyed it a lot and that just made me so happy.

I love to have this chance to share the gospel with others. So many people do not understand what Heavenly father has to offer us! We are so lucky to already have the gospel in our lives. The gospel truly does improve the quality of our lives! I have seen that over and over again. I know that we have so many blessings for being obedient to the gospel. John 8:31-32 :)

I was reading the scriptures this week and I came across 2 Nephi 11:4-6. Nephi is talking about how he loves to tell his people about Christ. I know it is such a blessing. My soul delights in sharing the truth about Jesus Christ like Nephi.

I know that this is the Lord's kingdom on the Earth and that the Book of Mormon can tell us EVERYTHING we need to do to be happy. I invite people to do this all day every day and I have seen so many people blessed for it. Keep reading the scriptures. Those who study the scriptures more, love the scriptures more.

I love you and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Leslie Shaw

3 Nephi 5:13

Ohio is green....no sprinklers!!

 Funny tree we saw when out walking.......

 The sweet miamaids in our ward gave us flowers.......

 Hit my 8 month mark!!!!!

Happy Easter from Cincinnati

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter! I really enjoyed mine. :) This ward is great. We had a nice young couple feed us dinner. they actually let Zoye come join last minute too. It was her first time celebrating Easter! How crazy is that? We gave her some eggs that Sister andrson's parents sent her and a "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD. haha. good stuff. We also had one of our investigators invite us over for dinner. Luckily she is old and couldn't tell we didn't eat. haha. Lucky me :) She gave us left overs so we went and gave them to a member who was spending the holiday allow in his small apartment. We dropped it off thinking that he would know it was us but we got a text like 20 minutes later that said thank you. Dang it! haha. :)

But yeah. That was my Easter :) The rest of the week was great also. We found people to teach and we finally got some one to church! It was such a great feeling to have someone at church again! I am so blessed to have the opportunity to help others come unto Christ!

Being a missionary is awesome and I love the support that I have. The mission is obviously not easy but I love EVERY second of it! I work my butt off every day and come home and almost cry because I am so happy to see my bed. And yet I wake up every day excited to see what it had in store for me, to see what way I am going to bless someone that day. It is incredible. Even though it is hard, I just remember to "Press on!" Which I read is like the slogan of the Human race. Remember to Persevere. Success has a price and if we don't pay that price, we will pay the price of failure.

I love you and hope you all have a great week!

love

Sister Leslie Shaw :) <3

Better week!!

Wow. this was a much better week! I think I am just going to have to stop saying whether they are good or bad because each week it flips haha.

But this was definitely our finding week. We found 6 new investigators! That has never happened to me before! It was so incredible.  WE were having a really hard time with it but now we are doing great. It is awesome.

but yeah. that is pretty much the only thing that is going on right now. This week was fun. Our car was in the shop for 3 days so our ward mission leader let us borrow some bikes. Yes! Sister Anderson and I rode bikes! It was awesome!

sorry this is going to be a short email. We are hoping to have a good week this week. I hope you all do the same. I am praying for you guys.

We met A LOT of crazy people this week. 2 Bible basher. One was this lady that we started talking to while we were walking around. She was going to the library and she was telling us how we need to not shove our religion down people's throats, I then told her we were Mormon and not who she thought we were. she then said we were closed-mined, so we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and she won't. Who's closed-minded now? haha :) We also met this British guy that said Joseph Smith was an alcoholic. That statement was really confusing to me. I tried not laugh right away. So yeah. good ol' Ohio. It is always a good time here :) haha.

hope you all have a great week!

I love ya!

Staying in Kettering!!!

Things are moving right a long. Zoye got baptized this weekend! It was so incredible. If I don't baptize 1 more person for the rest of my mission, I know that it was still a success and I am completely satisfied :)

So Zoye is from China and Brother Griffiths (The ward mission leader) baptized her. He learned the baptismal prayer in Chinese! It was so cool! EVERYONE was crying. She was so nervous but when she came out and I put her towel around her she was just so happy. She was crying and saying it was unbelievable! It was so cool to watch her. I hope I never forget that. She is so happy. She got confirmed yesterday and she said that the feeling was indescribable. She is so awesome. I am so happy. :)

Well. that is pretty much the only thing that happened this week. Sorry. It was a pretty tiring week. We had exchanges on Tuesday and I was with Sister Fisher again. But she came to Kettering. It was fun. She is an awesome! missionary.

Well. Sister Anderson and I are both staying in Kettering for 6 more weeks! I am so happy. I love it here and I having Sister Anderson as my companion. We were totally freaking out but it was good because we are still here! ha. :)

Well. I hope everyone is as excited for conference as I am. I cannot wait. I have a count down in my planner. It has been there for like a month only haha.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

love

Sister Shaw

Its My birthday!!!

So the Book of Mormon is true. I learn that over and over and over again. This week I learned that because of the scripture, Ether 12:6. It is not until AFTER the trial of your faith that you receive blessings.

So The beginning of this week was SO HARD! I did not honestly know how I was going to make it. I was doing everything I was suppose to be doing and yet it didn't do anything. I felt really discouraged. So I finally just told Heavenly Father that if I am suppose to stay on my mission I needed Him to carry me through this week.

Well, little did I understand what I asked for. We literally had the most miraculous days following. We found 4 new investigators and had 8 lessons with investigators with members also. It was incredible. The moment I handed everything to the Lord was the very moment he carried me and showed me he is listening.

I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers everything prayer. I know that it is only through Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that I can accomplish anything of worth in this life. I know that I would be able to survive each and everyday without them and for that I am eternally grateful and I plan to give every second of my life to his will.

I hope you all have a great week. I had to interesting experience that happened this week haha. I'll just say that 2 of my investigators... wow. I don't know how they are alive today! Haha.

I love you!

Have a good day!

I am changing, I have been out for 7 MONTHS! AND I am 20! I am livin dat old woman life now! :) Haha.

love

Sister Shaw

Keep the FAITH!!!!

This was a very interesting week.

It was super fun because we had an awesome P-day but at the same time we had a lot of trials.

At our P-day we watched 17 miracles. It is such an incredible movie. I cannot believe the things that happened. They had so much faith. Faith is what I have really been learning a lot about this week. I have learned something that everyone seemed to know but no one told me. Miracles are a reflection of our faith! How did I not realize that! I have been praying, and praying to have  miracles but I did not have the faith that they were actually going to happen.

I know that miracles come after the trials of our faith so this week was our trial week. zoye fell off date because she went to Alaska and wouldn't answer our calls or texts. We didn't find any new investigators. We were dropped by 2 more and we had to give 1 of our investigators to the Elders because he has a crush on Sis Anderson. Not to forget that 2 of our investigators said that they still want to meet with us but that they have received "revelation" that the Mormon church is not for them. haha. I think this has been a week to remember. So that makes, Zoye our only investigator who is moving toward baptism. Jake, who is sicker than sick and is not looking like he will be having a turn around any time soon, and LaDessa and Robert who said that the church isn't for them. Those are all of our investigators. :)

I think the best part of this week is knowing that a miracle week is in the making. Sis Anderson and I have decided that this week is going to be our miracle week. We are going to get ALL of our investigators to church, we are going to get Zoye baptized and we are going to find a lot more investigators. Miracles happen when you do all you can to make them happen.

I know it will happen. Just like in Alma 17. I need to go about this work with Patience and long suffering. I have a lot to learn and I am grateful that I am learning it here and not somewhere else. :)

I love you! I hope you all have a great week.

love

Sister Shaw

GREAT WEEK!!

This was just a super good week. I am just so happy here. Kettering is such an amazing place. The people here are just ready to hear the gospel. We found 2 new investigators this week who are so ready for the gospel. If they don't end up getting baptized I will be very very surprised. It will take some work for them to get to baptism but it will totally worth it.

Well, Zoye is still kinda on date. She is going to Alaska for 5 days for spring break to see the Northern Lights. So that is kinda scary because we won't be able to contact her and she is suppose to get baptized the week she gets back. So hopefully it will all work out. Extra prayers wouldn't hurt :)

While I am at prayer requests, please pray for my other investigators, Jake, LaDessa, Robert, Andrew, Scott, and Andrea. They could all use some prayers.

Well, Things are going well here. Sister Anderson is a great companion. We are really working hard and we are doing the best that either of us ever have on our missions. It is cool to know that this kind of success is possible.

I love being a missionary. On Friday we had a Sisters conference and we talked about not being too hard on ourselves and just being the best we can be. I learned a lot and I think it will really impact me the most when I am married. The more I am on my mission the more I am realizing that I am getting prepared for the rest of my life. I know that I have to be here for my future family or they won't reach the potential they could.

I just know that this work is true. I know that the church is true and that nothing in this world can make me deny that. I am grateful for this gospel and the guidance that it gives me. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to grow up in the church. It is such a blessing.

thank you for the wonderful examples that you all are to me. I love you all so much. You are the best :)

Love

Sister Shaw