Shauna Graves' Mission: 1 Year Has Come & Gone! - Lost Keys/Answered Prayers & The Temple - Elder Holland, 'Live For and Believe In Miracles'!

1 year has come and gone! My mission started March 10, 2020 and boy has it been a CRAZY ride. I cant believe all that has happened during this year (to all of us haha). I've learned so much and grown so much. I am so grateful I made the choice to come here and be a servant of the Lord. Despite the fact that it has been one of the hardest things I've ever done (if not the hardest thing), I've loved every minute. Meeting all of these people from so many places makes me feel somehow closer to my tiny Central American country. The Latinos are some of the kindest people. They touch my heart. Honestly so humble and so kind. I love their culture and everything about them. The food is a plus too ;)

We had a few fun things happen this week! We FINALLY got permission to meet with people in person! We still can't eat with anyone and we have to stay 6 feet apart and wear masks...but we can meet in person! This is a huge deal! We obviously called up one of our favorite members and asked her if she would want to meet at the temple with us. She was so excited and said yes! A few days later we met her there and she brought her friend with her. Hermana Cifuentes asked me if we could sing a hymn. I thought it was the cutest request. So standing on temple grounds, with weddings going on all over, we sang a hymn in Spanish. Everyone was staring at us and it was so funny. But it was so special too. Music brings a special spirit. And we were already at the temple, so you can only imagine how much we felt the spirit;) a good moment for sure.

Later that day (still walking around the temple), a man and his wife came up to us and told us that their father was a sealer and had gone into the temple with their keys to their car. They were dressed in sweats and weren't comfortable going in to ask for the keys, so they asked US to get the keys for them. This was SO exciting (keep in mind I went to the temple around 2 times a week for 3 and a half months before I left for my mission so I haven't stepped foot in a temple for a long time and I've been a lot of times). We walked into the lobby and I haven't felt so calm in my life. And it was just the lobby. We quietly asked for the keys of this brother and they handed them to us and we walked out. Life resumed. It may seem insignificant to most, but it was a huge answer to my prayers. I really needed to feel the peace of the temple this week.

Okay, so Elder Holland you ask? Yes he came to our mission on Friday!! And it was just the best thing! Another cool thing about it was that it was combined with the San Jose mission and Santa Rosa mission and I have a cousin serving in Santa Rosa (shout out to my girl Ashton <3) !! So that was really special. The mission was really trying to get us hyped for conference in a few weeks. Woohoo!! Pumped for that by the way!!

But anyways. Elder Holland. What an amazing man. He touches my heart just by saying one word. He carries the spirit so strong. One thing that he said that hit me particularly hard was "Live for and believe in miracles! The day of miracles is not over!" I feel like I can confidently say each one of us is in need of a little "miracle" of sorts. If it is God's will, miracles can and will be granted. It brings me so much hope when an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, says that miracles do still occur. I know they do! I've seen miracles!

Love you all! Have a great week! Don't forget to say your prayers ;)

Hermana Graves

Pura Vida

1- we got 150 free makeup wipes. That was exciting :)