The Story of My Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Chapter One: Guatamala City, Guatemala CCM 

On March 5th, 2013 I was set apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by my stake president.

 I said goodbye to my mom, my brothers and sister-in-law, and my best friends. I put on a name tag and boarded a plane to a foreign land. 

I was joined on the flight by around 30 other North American missionaries who were headed to various missions in Central America. During my layover in Los Angeles, California, I had the opportunity to get to know a few of the other missionaries. Three stood out in my mind and became great friends over the course of the six weeks we were in the CCM together. The first was Elder Peterson. We talked a bit on the flight and he seemed very quiet and reserved. Over the course of the six weeks he became like a little brother. He was 18 when he arrived in the CCM and had a birthday in the m as well. He was very supportive and helped me feel at home.

(Elder Peterson is the one with the glasses)

The next amazing person I met was Hermana Nielson. In the airport in LA we bonded over our disgust at eating McDonald’s and I ate all her fries while we talked about music, and our families, and things we were so excited for. It took one hour, and we became best friends. We spent the next six weeks growing closer and closer. We did everything we could together. She did my hair, sang for me, and I ate half her ice cream every meal. She was my saving grace in the CCM. I consider her to be my sister. The day she boarded the bus to head to the plane for Nicaragua was so hard for me. She had been an amazing source of inspiration and love for me. We took care of each other and I will always love her for being there for me.

And the third person I met during the layover was a tall, awkward, annoying elder named Elder Turley. He irritated me so much that first evening because he would not shut up. He was talking and making jokes, and I was just annoyed by him at first. But by the end of the CCM he was one of my best friends. He never gave up on trying to get me to laugh, and I am so glad he was as persistent as he was or else I would never had realized how incredible he is. We had these random “no smiling” contests, that I almost never won because he had this ability to make me smile no matter how upset or irritated or whatever I was. (I don't have a picture of him unfortunately...)

Distrito Mateo

 I made many other friends in the CCM and we had a lot of adventures together. Everyone at the MTC made me feel very welcome. Even the kitchen staff, and Carlos, the head chef. They took excellent care of me and made sure I never ate a bite of pork because I am allergic. The greatest thing they did for me though was on my birthday. They actually surprised me by making me a pink pig face birthday cake! I was so surprised and touched, I almost cried. They even attached a little note that said, "This will be the only piggy you ever eat!" It was so cute!
My teachers were also super supportive. I had a few different teachers while at the CCM. One I had the entire 6 weeks was Hermano (Brother) Lopez. He is incredibly intelligent when it comes to anything gospel related. He was incredibly in tune with the spirit, and he always knew exactly what to say. He was a rock for me from the beginning and I am so grateful to him for all of his support and encouragement. Another teacher was Hermano Chavez. He was with us for less than 2 weeks but he was incredible! He served his mission in El Salvador and he immediately became my go to guy for any questions I had about El Salvador. He is an amazing person and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to become friends with him.  
The CCM was an amazing experience and I cannot express how grateful I am to have had that opportunity.  

Chapter Two: Metapan, El Salvador 

On April 16th I left the CCM in Guatemala, and took a bus with a group of missionaries to Santa Ana, El Salvador. I arrived and met my mission president and his wife. The next day I was assigned a companion and an area. I was assigned to a little town about 2 hours north of Santa Ana called Metapan. Metapan was absolutely beautiful and the people were amazing.

Distrito Texistepeque

My district leader Elder Urban

While walking around the streets of Metapan I began to notice a pain in my back. I took ibuprofen all the time and was constantly icing my back. The pain gradually worsened until I could hardly sit for more than 30 minutes and cried whenever we walked a good distance. Of course, it began to weigh me down emotionally. After days of consideration and prayer, I decided going home would be the best option for me. So when an opportunity presented itself, I took it. I accepted the offer to go home and began the process.

Chapter Three: Coming Home 

On May 10th, I was driven to the airport in San Salvador and waited for my  flight. I prayed before the flight for an opportunity to share my testimony with someone, and I was blessed to be able to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon with an amazing woman from Missouri. I was thanking my Heavenly Father for that experience when I met a man during the layover in Houston and ended up sitting next to him on the flight to Salt Lake. He was a member and I was able to answer some of his questions during the flight, and I bore testimony to him about the priesthood. Both experiences I hold dear to my heart and I hope to one day meet those individuals again and find out what became of our conversations.  Those two conversations on the flights home made the whole thing complete in my mind. I knew that the spirit had guided me in those moments and was so grateful for them. I had read in Preach My Gospel just days before that "You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you." I knew that the Lord was pleased with me, and I knew that I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do. Choosing to go home was not an easy decision to make, but the Lord led me in it and I know that it was the right thing for me.

Chapter Four: New Adventures 

Since I came home, I have been extremely blessed. I have a new job and am working towards buying myself a car and progressing in my life. It has certainly been an interesting year so far and I am looking forward to new adventures to come.

Eduardo's baptism

4/26/13
Eduardo (the shorter one) and Luis (is a recent convert who invited Eduardo to listen to the missionaries.)

Welcome to El Salvador!

Hermana Shoop arrives at El Salvador Santa Ana Mission 4/13
Pres and Sister Cordon welcome Hermana Shoop

4/9/13 missionary picture

 
Our missionary is in this picture at CCM.

Priesthood Power

> So my favorite talk in Conference was Elder Eyrings talk and also
> Elder Falabellas talk. Look them up and reread them if you get the
> chance. Sunday night after conference, Presidente held a devotional
> and he mentioned that someone at the CCM had invited a bad spirit in.
> He said that at 10pm he was going to hold a prayer to cast out the bad
> spirit. It was shocking to all of us because we had heard nothing of
> it before that. So at 10, Presidente comes down and we are all
> kneeling silently as he tells us about a dream he had after he was
> called to be the CCM Presidente and before he moved into the CCM. He
> said that in the dream there was a mob of angry people outside the
> gate trying to get in, and just inside the gate were Lamanite and
> Nephite warriors defending the CCM. He said that the Presidente before
> him had had the exact same dream before he was Presidente. He then
> cast out the evil spirit, blessed us and sent us to bed. It was a very
> powerful prayer and an amazing story. It is cool to know that we are
> being protected. I love you all and will write you next week from EL
> SALVADOR!!!!!!!!! Dear Elder me a lot. I love you.
> LOVE, Hermana Heather Shoop.

> Hermana Heather Shoop
> El Salvador Santa Ana/Belize Mission

Week 3 CCM

> So on Sundays here we go to sacrament, and everyone has a talk
> prepared, because they announce the speakers in the meeting without
> telling them before hand that they will be speaking. I told my teacher
> on saturday that I hadnt had a good sunday here yet because I spent so
> much time worrying about them calling me up to give a talk. He told me
> not to worry about it, and said that I would not be giving a talk the
> next day. I had the best sacrament meeting because I was so relaxed
> and not worried about anything. THEN they called my name... Hermana
> Shop... Shup...? (The Latins NEVER say it right). I had a mini heart
> attack in my seat, but I went up and I gave a talk on how God reveals
> the gospel in every dispensation, IN SPANISH. It was terrifying but I
> felt so good afterwards. I am just glad that Hermana Nielson had her
> talk ready for me to read, because I only wrote about a minutes worth
> of it, and so I gave her talk (But almost all of the Nortes talks are
> the same because we basically copy them out of Preach My Gospel.).
> Yesterday I had the MOST SPIRITUAL DAY since I have been here. I got
> one on one lesson during Book of Mormon study time, on the Atonement.
> And then I got private language tutoring. And then our night teachers
> gave the best lesson on How the Book of Mormon answers questions of
> the soul. And we each got to bear our testimony of the Book of Mormon.
> It was so happy. I loved it. I love you all. 
> Hermana Heather Shoop
> El Salvador Santa Ana/Belize Mission

Birthday Story

 
> So on my birthday, I awoke to my Latina roomates and Hnas Nielson and
> Quarez singing Happy Birthday to me. It was a pretty much normal day
> after that but then at lunch everyone was acting super weird. Then
> they all DISAPPEARED. I could not find my companion or anyone. Then
> Hermana Nielson comes out of the kitchen and takes me by the hand. She
> leads me back into the kitchen where all my missionary friends and my
> friends on the kitchen staff are all singing to me. Then I see a PINK
> PIG cake! I almost started to cry. The kitchen staff had found out
> that it was my birthday and because I am one of their favorite
> missionaries (and they make me special meals everytime there is
> pork...) they had made me a chocolate birthday cake. They said that
> this would be the only piggy I will ever eat. It was very nice. Later
> I found out that they broke a rule doing that but because they are not
> members they did not get in trouble. That was the best part of my
> birthday. Im trying to get the pictures that the kitchen staff had
> taken of it.... Well I have to go, but I will write letters soon. I
> love you all! Hugs and Kisses!!!!
> --
> Hermana Heather Shoop
> El Salvador Santa Ana/Belize Mission