Adios!

Tomorrow, I will be set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so excited and so grateful for the opportunity to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth! 


My Mom will be keeping a mission blog for me while I am gone, and once I get my addresses you can find them there. I KNOW you will all want to write to me ;)


hermanashelley.blogspot.com


You can look forward to readying weekly letters, hearing great stories about people coming unto Jesus Christ, watching me grow, struggle, and learn, and maybe even a picture of a penguin or two!!

So, my dear friends, adios for 18 months. 

Picture courtesy of Sarah Joye Photography

JUST KIDDING!!!

Jenny and I did one MORE one last top 10... check it out HERE!

Leaving

The last four months have been the longest months of my entire life. 


But then one day, I woke up. And realized that I am leaving on my mission in two.weeks. 

Where did the time go?

Am I ready?

Can I be a good missionary?

Who will my companion be?

Will I really be successful on my own?

And then people start wanting to do "one last thing with me." Like I'm dying or something. And I realize that it really might be the very last thing we do. I'm leaving a lot of people here at home. People I love. People I will miss dearly. People who are my strength and support system. Family and friends.




But then I remember what I am going forward to do. I am going to devote the next 18 months of my life full time to The Lord. I am going to be a representative of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am going to teach people of Him and watch them change their lives to know Him. I am going to come closer to Him myself. I will be changed. I will be new. What is a sacrifice of 18 months when the Lord gives me every.single.thing? Each breath I take, each day that I wake up to a new sunrise, each smile--is a gift from Him. 


Yes, I feel like a little girl who is about to do a very grown-up thing. Yes, I feel sad about saying goodbye to the people I love. Yes, I worry about what will happen when I get home. 


But right now, I don't want anything more than to serve a mission. I know in my soul that it is the right decision. I know that The Lord will bless me. My faith is growing stronger than my fear. I have wanted to be a missionary since I was a young girl and now it is really happening. I have a great desire to bring people to Christ, and I am humbled that my desire is becoming a reality. That the Lord is trusting me with His work. My desire is to be but an instrument in His hands. To do what He would do and say what He would say. To love and lift His children, no matter where life has brought them. 

Notice that my area is the box up north around Buenos Aires 

AND the southern tip that is shaded in. 

Where the penguins live. 

Cool? yes! Cold? definitely!!

I am leaving. But it's just the beginning of a very great adventure. 

The Return of the TOP TEN LIST!!!

Hello world... head on over to Jenny's Blog for the last (for approximately 18 months) top ten post! WOOT!

Head on over to understand... You know you want to!

Family Pictures

Things are quickly changing in the Shelley Home.

Mackay left for Texas this week to work for the summer, and I leave in 34 days on my mission!!! (Not that I'm counting or anything... :)

So, we decided that we definitely needed some family pictures since things will never again be the same. (It's fun to have new adventures, but strange that things are happening so fast).

These pictures are by a FANTASTIC photographer, Darby Elizabeth. Check out her sight HERE. She's pretty much amazing and we love her!

Sorry that there are so many pictures, but Darby sent us over 200 and it was SO hard to narrow down even just to these... Here goes!

The Gang:

Strange to think that the next time we have family pictures taken, Mackay and I will both be returned missionaries and Kadon will be 16. YIKES!!! And knowing my family, we will probably not have professional family pictures until a wedding or something major... so our family could have some additions in the next group picture. Also weird.

The Kids:

Yes, I know that Mackay looks older than me. I have accepted this... mostly.

The Parents:

LOVE these pictures!

Mom and the kids:

Dad and the kids:

The Boys:

These next few require some explanation...
How the conversation went down:
DARBY: Don, have you always had a mustache?
DAD: Yes! I look like a 5 year old without one!
DARBY: It's getting pretty gray, you know...
DAD: Maturity, Darby!
KADON: He's an old man.
DARBY: Darn! We should have brought fake mustaches... that would have been soooo funny!
MOM: Remember when Kailei went to DC and the girls took the mustache pictures with their hair?

Next thing I know, everyone is grabbing a strand of my hair! And this is what we get...

Individuals:

Mackay didn't take as many because Darby had just done his Senior pics... 

and they are AMAZING!!

Black and White:

I think my "serious" picture is awkward... it's like I don't know how to be serious or something...

Mackay's "serious" picture is totally cool though.

Kadon get's too tickled to be serious. haha. 

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!! Thank you to Darby for doing such a great job.

Man, I am going to miss them, but I know that I am doing the right thing!

10 Things you Probably Didn't Know About Me

The other day, I was having a conversation with one of my friends of MANY years, and I told him a random fact about me and he said "REALLY?!?! You don't seem the type..." (see number 4 below). So, my friends, here are 10 things that you perhaps did not know about me... if you do, maybe we could work out a prize :)


1. I LOVE having my finger nails painted! Sadly, I cannot keep polish on for more than a couple of days since I'm always chipping them while playing the piano or guitar.

2. I am addicted to reading! (But only when I have breaks from school... this is the first that I have read for pleasure since spring break!) I may or may not have stayed up til 3:30 this morning reading The Hunger Games... Jenny got me started! I kept telling myself "only one more chapter!" but then I would come to the end of the chapter and there would be NO WAY I could stop there! Perhaps I have a problem...

3. I participated in the 2008 season of Mesa High's Survivor... I had to do some really crazy things, eat some awful things, do physical challenges that pushed me hard, and form alliances to end up at 5th place... Secretly, I had SO MUCH FUN!


4. I LOVE roller coasters! The crazier they are, the faster they are, and the more they go upside down the better!

5. I am the oldest of 13 grandchildren on my Mom's side and the 30th of 33 on Dad's.
(I don't have pictures of all of the grandkids, so I will just do pictures with my grandparents)

Grandma and Grandpa Jones

Grandma Shelley

6. Mint Chocolate Chip is my very favorite ice cream in the entire world!

mmmmmmm!

7. I LOVE to be outdoors. I feel an exhilarating rush when I complete a difficult hike, I really enjoy camping, I like to canoe, swimming is one of my very favorite things, I love being in nature, and I will almost always try new things on outdoor adventures.

8. I really like the show Psych. It makes me really happy, it is just the right amount of silly, and I think the characters are fantastic!

Hit the Jackal Switch! (Did you hit it, Julie?)

9. I believe that there are 3 all time greatest movies that just cannot be topped by others:

3. Sleepless in Seattle 

2. You've Got Mail

(I obviously love Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan put together)

1. While You Were Sleeping

The best of the best!

I could watch any of these over and over!


10. I get super duper attached to people. I can know them for just a short time and I feel so attached. I LOVE people and the relationships that we form.

Remember When

Remember when the old truck was blue?

Remember when it came home bright yellow?

(It does have a  grill now, btw)

Remember when the "Big Kid" cousins were together? Remember how it was like 5 years ago??? Remember how I really miss Kinzi?!?!

Remember when I was 16 and looked like I was 12... remember when I am 21 and look 16?

Remember when I used to wear a giant bump in my hair? 

Remember when I realized that was not super attractive? Remember when I used to see Carl all the time?

Remember when I went to Disney on Ice with my 5 and 3 year old cousins as a Christmas present?

Remember when we wore princess crowns?

Remember when my family went to the Hershey factory?

And how Mackay ate the Reeses Man?!?!

Remember when I went to General Conference for the first time?

And we 3 girls squished in the back and it was AWESOME!

Remember when Alexis got married???

Remember how I did her hair? (this was the end of the day... you should have seen the back of it at the beginning of the day. It was super pretty, even if I do say so myself!)

Remember when I was the MHS Choir co-President with Jason?

Remember when we were Snow White and the Prince?

Remember when my family went to the white sands?

Remember how you could slide down the sand like it was snow?

Remember when my Grandparents were sealed in the Temple?

Remember when I went through myself and it was the most amazing day of my life?

Remember when I went to Knotts Berry Farm for the first time in my life with my cousin, Ashley?

Remember when I rode this crazy ride? Remember how we rode one of them 4 times in a row without getting off?

Remember when Jenny and I went on an AWESOME road trip?

Remember when we got stuck in the rain? Found a panda cow? Fell in the sink?

Remember when I was on the institute council?

Remember when I was with these people 24/7?

Remember when I taught them the microwave dance and they thought I was CRAZY?

Remember when Ross and I were going to have a dance off???

Remember when I decided to go on a mission? Remember how I'm all nostalgic now?

Remember when Rhonda challenged us all to do a remember when post?