IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK

Howdy folks! I just wanted everyone to know that I made it home and most definitely didn't die on the plane ride home. Im home and its SO weird! First I get mobbed by my family (being as awesome as i imagined it) then they take me home to talk and catch up, the next day I woke up super early to go to SUU with Robbie to get him to freshman orientation and so that I could see my apartment (Brotherly road trip!).

So ya Im back at SUU. I missed Cedar so much and its awesome to see all of my friends from freshman year that are all seniors now. Lots of people are getting married which is kindof weird. My friend Landon and his Kanab Spanish speaking RM friends live in my apartment complex which is pretty sweet. Im living with complete strangers which is cool because I just got 4 new investigators and less actives haha. Being back feels weird and I'm trying to adjust haha. Last week was a RM seminar at Institute and I was the only one that went with a suit. Haha I'm a greeny again!

As for my farewell. It was sooooo hard for me to speak English and everyone told me that I had a mexican accent. I wrote my talk so that I wouldn't slip into Spanish spontaneously. I tried not to just look down the whole time, but every time I would look up I would lose my place and it was kinda awkward haha. I thought it went pretty well, but the best part was bearing my testimony in half English half Spanish. 100 percent by the Spirit! Robbie talked before me and he did really good. My mom made a huge mexican feast which was like Mexican Thanksgiving. Ha there was so much food, but it was soooo good! Everyone was like, "this is better than Cafe Rio!" haha. Oh and I got to meet my niece! Shes not very trusting with strangers because she wouldn't respond when I tried to play with her ha Ill win her over one day!

Life is good and I'm really enjoying school and starting out my future. Being with my two oldest friends makes me feel like I never left. It was weird because we hung out just like the old days just talking, but I feel completely changed. I seriously think that every conversation I have my purpose is still to help them have more faith in Christ. It truly has become a part of me! I invite everyone who reads this to truly be converted to Christ and to follow Him in thought, word, and action. Doing this will inevitably make us instruments in the Lord's hands.

Before the mission I thought to myself that I don't want to change who I am, but I have learned that the Lord changes us to become better than before and without it we wouldn't go anywhere. I feel like the same goofy guy, but with an eternal perspective on everything. I feel so blessed and loved by my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to serve Him and His children for the last two years of my life. Now it's like everyone says. "Now it's time for your second mission!"

Love,

          Elder Shurtliff

OH HERMANOS ADIOS PUES ADIOS

El tiempo de ir vino ya!

I have no idea what that hymn is in English but it goes perfect with this email.

It's my time! I'm so excited to get back but I feel way weird; I'm going to go into shock! 

 SHOUT OUTS! I want to thank all of the family and friends that have written and supported me over these two best years of my life. I can't even begin giving enough thanks to everyone that helped me even get on my mission both financially and spiritually. LES AMO!!!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff
PS. Homecoming Sacrament Meeting is Sunday, August 24 @ 11am. Te veré allí pronto!

ITS YOUR FAVORITE ELDER FROM MEXICO!

Ha I know I'm going to say it over and over again like every other missionary, but I felt like I was in the MTC just yesterday. Ha especially because my MTC companion is my district leader now and it reminds me of when we were comps. I'm trying not to count days but everyone keeps reminding me ha. I'm not going to lie, its hard to keep focused sometimes but it helps to see how awesome things are going here.

Elder Ramirez and I are doing really good. We have a golden family of four (minus the dad) who get to church by themselves on time, participate, and ask lots of questions. On Saturday I also got to cross off one of the biggest things on my mission Bucket List. Baptism on the Beach!!! Ha we were able to have a baptism for David on the beach because he's a Marine Biologist and is in charge of cleaning the beaches and stuff. It was so awesome and so special. We left the church with about 50 people in a bus to take us all there together. We passed some people on the way to our spot and I can only imagine what they were thinking when they say so many men with ties on the beach ha. My comp got to baptize him and I shared a message and was one of the witnesses so I got to get in the ocean too! First and only time on the mission!

 

I'll try to send pics today.

 

SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE!!! 2 Nephi 26:24

HASTA LO PRONTO!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

I Love My Little Island!

La Isla!

This week the same thing happened here in Cozumel as it did in Maya. We dropped a ton of investigators that weren't progressing and found some new committed and excited ones. We met with a ton of the ward members, because they really weren't too united. I fasted for the ward and the same day I saw the amazing results. The members were coming together bringing people to church and teaching with us. Yesterday's Sacrament Meeting was so spiritual and just like in Maya our Gospel Principles class doubled its size. Amazing things are happening here! We are working so that there's a stake here when I come back to visit.

PIZZA! to celebrate Elder Salinas. He's going home on Wednesday!

I made breakfast omelettes for the district

In Sacrament meeting one of our new investigators that's 17 years old got up and bore his testimony! It was so awesome! His family is golden!

That's all the time I got. Sorry for my tiny update, but I love you all!
Read the scriptures and live them!

Love,
Elder Shurtliff

 

GREETINGS FROM THE ISLAND OF COZUMEL

Life is good here in Cozumel! Everything's pretty chill here. Its kind of like Tizimin (a small city) and Cancun mixed because of the touristy stuff. I got to see the beach and come in on a ferry, but we live probably an hour away walking distance. My plan is to find a new house close to the beach so we can run on it every morning. That would be sweet! My new comp Elder Ramirez was on an island called Isla Mujeresand that's what he did while there. I'm finding out that the special change wasn't just for one reason. President changed three of us and every single one of us and our companions needed it for their own special reason. Its kind of crazy to see how perfect God works to help us all learn from each other and have a special opportunities to serve. My reason has to do with strengthening the ward here so that the Seventy, Elder de Hoyo's prophecy can come true; meaning growing to three wards here instead of two in the next 5 months. It's going to be hard, but of course with faith and works everything is possible. So here we go!

Court Wedding

All of my mission I have been trying to get people married so that they could get baptized and it finally happened! Ha I wasn't here to help very much but Tenayri and Bryan (a young 19 year old couple with a baby) got married on Thursday! AND the wife, Tenayri, got baptized the same day! How cool is that?! I got to teach Tenayri her last lessons and she's way motivated to make it to the temple with her little family. In the process we met Bryan's inactive mom and she's now excited to get back to church too! This place is awesome. We have another baptism lined up for two weeks from now and there's a surprise which I'm keeping a secret until next week.

Baptism for Tenayri!

Have a good week everyone! Read your scriptures!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS

Hola! This week was SWEET! Its kind of weird though because our numbers of lessons were so great, but I feel really accomplished because of all of the miracles we are seeing. Each day at church now the members are amazed to see how many people are in our Gospel Principles class. We had to switch rooms! Tons of less actives are coming back AND STAYING which is the best part.

Hopefully the last ingrown toenail of my mission.

Anyways, so ya Rocio´s baptism was AWESOME. The same day of her baptismal interview a less active member scared us half to death because she said that she saw Rocio smoking in the park a couple days before. I was like, "There;s no way!" So we explained to the zone leaders what we heard and told them to make sure that she is 100 percent ready to make that sacred covenant with God. During the interview I was so worried, but she came out clean! Hip hip hooray! We got to the church early to fill the baptismal font and we found Rocio there with the Relief Society making tamales for after the baptism haha. We crammed as many members as we could into the little room and had a real spiritual service. I got to share my testimony, the messages were perfect, and the young women sang a special number for her. Then afterwards she shared her own testimony and you could see and feel how much at peace she was. She keeps on saying that it doesn't even feel like she walks because it's like she's floating across the floor haha. The funny thing is that we just found another investigator just as prepared as Rocio to receive the Gospel who was there at the baptism for his first time at church. Next one up! Ha I love doing the Lord's work.

Rocio's baptism.

So the biggest news of the day is...President called us this morning and told me to pack my bags because I'm going to Cozumel! Its a small island close to Cancun which is awesome but I really didn't want to leave Maya. I guess the Lord still has a lot planned for me before I go. Let's see what my new companion, the spirit, and I can do!

SUPER SHOUT OUT to my mom! She was smart and sent me a package with a missionary that was heading to Cancun! AND it had my birthday package with it from Sister Sarah Henretty! Thank you so much everyone for all the awesome cards and treats. I loved it!

Have a good week fellow workers in Zion! I love you all!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

Surprise package from Sarah and mom!

HOLA AMIGOS

Homemade birthday card and Avenger headphones

Feliz cumpleanos para mi!!!

I'm so stoked to be here in Cancun because things are getting hard and awesome. That means all the hard work is worth the thousand blessings. Rocio was able to quit smoking after her blessing last week and now she's good to go for this Wednesday. Woot! When I asked her who she wanted to baptize her she literally couldn't decide so she did what President Kirkham's wife told her to do. Flip a coin. And not just any coin. A U.S. quarter haha. Elder Oliver won which is awesome because he deserves it. 

Here's part of my letter that I sent to President about our experience this week. I have no time to translate. Good luck!

Al final de la semana dificil entramos la capilla el Domingo y esperamos dar la bienvenida al barrio. Casi nadie llagaba hasta cinco antes de a las ocho. Poco a poco mas y mas investigadores y miembros menos activos llegaron bien contentos. Fue la perfecta semana tener a usted alla Presidente por se animaron mucho por representar a Cristo y invitar a sus conocidos a la iglesia para que nuestro pequeno barrio crezca. Cuando vino la segunda hora para la clase de principios del evangelio nos dimos cuenta que eramos demasiados cabernos en la chicita salon. Entonces nos fuimos a una salon mas grande y estaba llena. Sentimos el Espiritu muy fuerte al aprender del Dia de Reposo. Todos compartieron experiencias y participaron incluyendo los menos activos. Fue uno de los Domingos mas memorables de todoa mi mision.

Long story short- Elder Oliver and I are working hard and finding tons of new people to teach.

SHOUT OUTS! One of my best friends year anniversary in the mission is today. FELIZ ANO ELDER GILMORE! Also, Sister Henretty's birthday is tomorrow! FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!! Muchas Gracias for all of the birthday wishes again! I love you all!

Have a good week everyone! Omni 1:26

Love,
Elder Shurtliff

FELIZ 7/7!!!!

July 7th is an especially lucky day because everyone is really nice to me on this day for some reason. Ha MUCHAS GRACIAS everyone for all your birthday wishes! Today I'm officially a man!

I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July! There were no fireworks here, but I heard that in the Hotel Zone they put on a show. I told Elder Oliver that it's too bad we can't go, but we can come back next year to see it. Then I remembered it would be kindof against the point traveling to Mexico to celebrate the 4th of July HA. Oh well, Elder Oliver and I celebrated with a full American style breakfast and a red white and blue cupcake. Too bad it was a French flag haha. Then we got money to eat lunch wherever we wanted so we ate at our local burger place and had a huge BBQ burger with bacon and pineapple. AMERRRICA!

 So the whole ward was getting super excited for Rocio's baptism planned for Wednesday, but it turns out that she still needs some time to quit smoking. So we are hoping and praying that next week that she will be ready! It broke my heart to tell her that she had to wait another week to be baptized, but we explained how important it is to be clean and pure to make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. The couple I talked about last week are Cesar and Kathy and they are super Bible smart. They believe in the Apostasy so much that they don't like having one religion. We have only seen them twice, but they were excited to read the Book of Mormon. Here's hoping! Oh and to clarify, Maya isn't a city, it's the ward that we are in here in Cancun. We had a challenging week with lots of people committing to help us and then canceling, but this week will be better I know it. Elder Oliver and I are trying to get to know each other better and sometimes we just might express our own opinion a little too strong, but we always work it out in the end.

I love and miss you all! READ THE BOOK OF MORMON! I loved this when I read it today. 2 Nephi 26:23-33

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS AMERICA!!!

Mexico lost the World Cup and so its literally the end of the world ha.

 

This week was awesome! Our investigators with dates are progressing and its way exciting to see the members getting involved themselves without us telling them. 

 

My mom said that I forgot to tell what happened with Rocio. Its a miracle! A few weeks ago (a few days before should have had to go home) she found a job thanks to her friend, and a room to rent even though she literally didn't have anything. She asked if they could wait for the down payment and the were totally ok with it. How great is God?! Rocio loves to read and now she's already in Alma while she reads the church history book, Our Heritage. Shes AMAZING. She pretty much teaches herself ha. She has now stopped smoking for good and I'm so excited for her baptism.

This week we were walking by our house and we see a lady pushing her little broken down bug while her husband steers down the street. I run up to help her without thinking and start pushing with her. Then a member from another ward stops and helps us. We had to charge the battery but we didn't have the cables. I was like "wait here! There's a member who lives on this street" So me and my comp go running and get the cables. But then after charging it three times the car doesn't start. So we start pushing his car all the way to his house! While I was pushing I was talking to the husband half out of breathe about the Book of Mormon and he was super interested. So we get his address and go back after a few days and him and his wife accepted to read the Book of Mormon! Pretty sweet huh?!

MOTHER OF ALL SHOUT OUTS! FELIZ CUMPLANOS TO THE USA!!! I read 1 Nephi 13 today and the Americas are literally the promised lands! AND FELIZ CUMPLEANOS to the best Sister Missionary in the land! Souer SARAHenretty!!! 

I love you all and hope you eat enough hotdogs and cheeseburgers with bacon for me!!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

Last week we went to go help a family paint, but i guess you have to take off the old paint first. So we did it with style!

FELIZ VERANO!!!

Its been summertime forever now but now its official. Today was transfers but President never called us. It was driving me crazy! All day yesterday I was telling people that we might be changed but we don't know, and it turns out that I'm staying here in Maya with Elder Oliver until I die! haha I'm really glad that I get to stay with this awesome ward. We still have a lot of work to do though.

 

So Rocio is doing really good. Her addicted body won't let her quit smoking without some shaking and nose bleeds but she's keeping in there. She has her baptism date for July 9th. Christopher (the twelve year old military man) got baptized and confirmed this weekend! It's awesome to see his family excited and active again. Of course there's always a crazy story that makes it memory that I'll never forget. It turns out that the pump didn't work and we had hardly any water so we ended up running to the outside faucet to fill up buckets of water and running to dump them in the font. It was like Disney's Fantasia in the church! Ha finally someone suggests to use the hose that I didn't know that existed and we connected it to the faucet so that it would go through the church and into the font. We still had to wait a while and I ended up baptizing Christopher in shin high water, but it was a really nice baptism.

Christopher's baptism

We had the Area President Elder de Hoyos visit us this week and he talked a TON about the Book of Mormon. Read it! I was in the middle of reading the New Testament, but it looks like I'm starting from 1 Nephi again whoo hoo!! He said lots of other stuff but I don't have lots of time to type it all up. Just know that God knows what He's doing when he calls such great men to be his special witnesses. It was AWESOME.

SHOUT OUTS to my Uncle Art last week and my Aunt Wendy this week because they have finished another year on the Earth. CONGRATS! I LOVE YOU!!!

USA!USA!USA!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

Awesome Father's Day!

The World Cup is EVERYTHING to these people

This week we tried to do the same we did last week and even better. The good thing is that one of our long-awaited investigators is finally getting baptized this Saturday! And we have been teaching Rocio in a park again. She has quit smoking and is working toward her baptism too! She just needs a miracle this week because she needs a job and a place to stay by Saturday or she has to go live with her sone in Puebla. Please pray extra hard for Rocia this week please! 

 

Everyone here has World Cup fever! so that means more excuses not to open the door to strange missionaries when the game's on haha. GO USA! 

 

Elder Oliver turned 21 on Thursday and "bit the cake" haha it was so funny! We have been eating the smashed cake all week and more for people sharing their fathers day cakes with us. YUM!

Elder Oliver got his face smashed into his birthday cake!

GUESS WHAT?! I'm officially going home on August 20th! That means next week starts my last transfer! WHAT?! I'm only a greeny!

I hope all the dads out there had an awesome Father's Day! Use that Priesthood and bless the world! 

I love you all!

Have a good week everyone!

Me and a puppy!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

FATHERS DAY IS COMING!

Gary Oreos

This week we had the most assistance in church since the ward split! There were 99 people! Ha so close to a perfect 100. There were a ton of less actives and a full class of Gospel Principles! It was so awesome to see the joy on the members faces as they saw so many people there. It's all thanks to the members too because we did divisions like four times this week and they did awesome teaching with us! It's also awesome to help less actives take part because they rise to the occasion and help themselves as well.

A view of Cancun from 8 stories up.

THAT'S ALL I GOT THIS WEEK! I LOVE YOU ALL!

 

 

HAVE THE BEST FATHER'S DAY EVER EVERYONE!

LOVE,

         ELDER SHURTLIFF

Flowers that were sent to our ward mission leaders daughter

Just the Beginning of the Pressuring of the Work of Salvation Here in Cancun

Elder Oliver and I are doing really good. This week was really rainy and hot, but miracles always happen when the weather gets rough. We had our zone conference with president and he talked a lot about how important to know how each of us are children of God. He said that we need to start doing divisions with members almost every night to get the work of salvation to the next level. Yesterday we did divisions and we went to go look for a guy we talked to on the street while he worked on his car. He invited us back, but didn't have time but we talked to his 18 year old son who is awesome! He understood the Restoration super well and I could even see his eyes light up when we answered his questions. He's like, "So I'm pretty like this Joseph because I have been to lots of churches too and I have no idea which one is true". It was awesome!

The other day a lady who I contacted on the street months ago found us again and she asked if we could talk. We went to the nearby park and she told us her story about how she's an alcoholic and she even drank and smoked in front of us. She only seemed to want to hear a message as a one time thing kind of deal so we just invited her to church and gave her a Book of Mormon. On Sunday morning we pass her by on our way to church and I made a joke to Elder Oliver saying that she's on her way to church too. Little did we know that she would actually walk into Sacrament Meeting during the testimonies. She absolutely loved it! We are going to see her tomorrow tonight!

I hope this is just the beginning of the pressuring of the work of salvation here in Cancun.

SHOUT OUT to the Peterson family! I forgot to shout them out last week for taking part in my awesome package! THANK YOU SO MUCH for my awesome custom ties and dvd! You have all gotten so big!

I love you all!

Elder Shurtliff

HAPPY DAY OF MEMORIES!

This week has been awesome because it really gave me a smack in the face of how hard I have to work right now.

Tulum

Elder Oliver and I really have to work hard this week because our ward is in a crucial state right now. President just gave me a pep talk that made me realize even more how important we are in helping our ward AND STAKE stay alive. Leaders are literally counting on us to get the work going and working together with the members do what the Lord has visioned for Cancun. We had a meeting yesterday with a Seventy that got me pumped and I know that I'm going to work the hardest I have ever worked in my whole mission. Please keep the prayers coming to me, Elder Oliver, and the Maya ward! Gracias! 

Last week we got to go to Tulum where theres lots of ancient Mayan temples. We learned a lot about the dangers of idols and got to see the  beach! Best day ever!

SHOUT OUT TO THE FULTON FAMILY! They sent me a package with pretty much my top favorite things. jellybeans, reeses puffs and peanut butter! GRACIAS I love the ties and drawings too. I love you all!!!

Love,

Me and Elder Oh

       Elder Shurtliff

IT'S RAINING GATOS AND PERROS OUT HERE

Water Balloon fun

Hola amigos! Its raining today and we are going to visit an awesome touristy site! Woohoo! I'll send pics.

#flattireproblems

Elder Oliver and I are working on finding to people to teach with the members. The other day an awesome sister took us to go see her neighbor friends and we set dates with both of them to share a message, but when we went back they either said no thanks or they weren't even there. Oh well! We have to work more on finding people in the street. Elder Oliver hates talking to people in the street, but I tell him to point out the people I can talk to because he can spot the ones that look like they would listen. So he picks them out and I talk to them ha. We make a good team! We are working better with the members too now and they like coming with us. It's just a little hard with their schedules, but it's all worth it in the end because the lessons go so much smoother and the members get a whiff of the missionary spirit.

Costco!

SHOUT OUTS for my big bro Travis who turns a quarter century old TODAY! FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!!

Go out and share the good news everyone! CHRIST LIVES AND PAID FOR OUR SINS!!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

I LOVE MY MOMMA!

Singing praises to moms

Happy belated Mother's Day everyone! I got to talk to the best mom in the world yesterday with Skype! I know that thou shalt not covet, but you can be a little jealous ha. I finally got to explain to her what the Mother's Day card that I sent her last year really meant, because it was in Spanish haha.

President gave us an awesome talk from Elder Eyring in October 2003. I invite everyone to read that talk because its the true essence and "secret" to successful missionary work. It helped me see how natural it should be for all true disciples of Christ. In this week I have tried hard not to ever pressure anyone, but rather listen and teach with love. Transfers are today and President told me again that the Lord wants me to stay with Elder Oliver, because I'm "helping him to be a missionary". I'm honored with that heaven sent calling! We are going to do awesome this transfer I know it.

 

Transfer day! Here are all the sons and daughters arriving in Cancun from the MTC.

Yesterday I gave a talk in church after being asked to talk twice before but never was able to talk because the people before me took all the time. (Typical Mexican ward ha). I talked about the 8th chapter from the Teachings of President Joseph Fielding Smith, The Kingdom of God. I finally fully realized what that last paragraph means from the introduccion of the Book of Mormon. I have a testimony that we are truly in God's Kingdom here on Earth. The Church is directed by Christ and all of our leaders are called by our Loving Heavenly Father. 

THE GOSPEL IS TRUE

Mother's Day- They didn't have money for real flowers so they made flowers out of felt.

SHOUT OUTS! My little big brother turns 18 today?! Crazy! He and I are going to college together next semester! Elder Hussey also turned 21 on May 10th! FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!!! ALSO! Congrats to the newlyweds Mr. and Ms. Lisman! (My cousins Steph and Blake!) Always remember to pray everyday together!

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

Costco  Dogs for Sister Garcia and her comp. from Costa Rica

Costco dogs for me and Elder Oliver

We went to Costco and I scored these awesome strawberries!

 

FELIZ CINCO DE MAYO!!!

AYAYAY ARRIBA ARRIBA!!!

I don't know much about cinco de mayo but I know that it had to do with a war in the state of Puebla. Anyways ha this morning we celebrated by going to COSTCO. I would send pics, but this computer doesn't want any of it so I'll have to wait til next week. 

 

I told President that I wanted to go back a month early for school. I heard and read a lot of good reasons to extend or not, but in the end I want a head start on my life mission! I know I'm going to miss the mission and it will be hard to go straight to school, but I'm way too excited for my future. I'm going to have to pretty much go with the missionaries in Cedar City for a month to adapt better ha. 

 

Yesterday we had an awesome devotional about the archeology of the Book of Mormon in Mexico. Nephites are Mayans! I don't remember a lot, but all I know is that I need to pay more atention to the cultural parts of the Book of Mormon too. I'm psyched to come back as a tourist.

I hope all of the "madres" have the best Mothers Day ever on Sunday! I know my mom will because I'll be skyping her!

Even the moms of the 2000 stripling warriors knew everything.

And shout out to my cuz Stephanie and my soon to be cuz-in-law Blake! What an awesome step in beginning your forever family! Congratulations! 

 

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

HOLA BROTHERS AND SISTERS

Elder Oliver and I are doing better and better every week. Our goals keep going up and we are seeing solid progress. One lady is super prepared because we weren't able to see her at all last week, but we just stopped by to invite her to church and she went by herself and was asking tons of questions. We are also teaching lots of part member families which means trying to get kids to understand simple doctrine. A lot of times kids don't even know why the Gospel is important. We need to always apply it to their life so that they know it for themselves.

 

A couple days ago we had our semi-annual interviews with President. First we taught him as a companionship the first point of the first lesson which is God is our Loving Heavenly Father. He was amazed of how good we taught him especially because of Elder Oliver. He says that you can see it in his eyes haha. Then President talked to me about the ward and something I didn't really want to talk about, SCHOOL. I gotta figure out when I'm going home either to catch the fall semester and go home a month early or extend a month in which case I wouldn't be able to make it anyways. To be continued...

Love,

        Elder Shurtliff

HAPPY BELATED EASTER!

I don't remember what I told everybody last year but here in Mexico I have no idea why, but in church they literally haven't mentioned Easter. I think it was a Easter miracle though that the lesson we just happened to be on in our Gospel Principles class was the Atonement ha. The only traditions for Easter here is what the Catholic church does to recreate the walk Christ made holding his cross. It's like a parade they do in the street I think, but I have never seen it. So to celebrate I just talked about the Atonement everywhere I went this week and yesterday night I finished off my last Starburst jellybeans NO!!! I also had some luck and had a nice bowl of fish soup for my Easter feast haha...yum. At least it was spicy!

Of course the best part about this week was testifying simply to every single person the miracle of the Atonement and how awesome and perfect it is that Christ broke the bands of death so that we can live forever with our Heavenly Father again. He did it for EVERYONE.

Octopus spaghetti - At least I can say I tried it!

SHOUT OUT for my comp because he's sick. If everyone could pray for Elder Oliver that would be awesome. THANK YOU!!

Just a sample of Mexican rebellion ha
(Don't Throw Trash)

I hope everyone enjoys the cool Spring weather and recognizes the wonderful world our Heavenly Father gave us. Count your blessings!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff