A mission is a lot like living a reality T.V show. 10-27-14

 This week has been absolutely nuts!! Seriously, Sister Yellow and I 
 decided Mormon missions would make a great reality t.v. Show! It 
 started on Tuesday when we met the sweetest old man. He invited us to 
 come back the following day, but he wasn't home when we came for our 
 appointment. Instead we met a large portion of his family that lives 
 next door. We taught them instead and they invited us to come back the 
 following night and said they would make sure J was there too. We 
 get there and the house was full! There was 15 people for us to teach! 
 We were having so much fun laughing and joking with this family, it 
 totally felt like a Purdy family party, but we also were able to 
 testify to this incredible family. Then out of nowhere J flipped out 
 on is! He yelled and cursed at us and kept yelling how Mormons are a 
 cult. I have never had someone speak so hateful to me before in my 
 life. I guess he had been drinking and his whole family defended us 
 and asked us to ignore him and to please stay, but at that point it 
 would have been impossible to bring the spirit back. Instead we set up 
 a time to meet with them another day. 
 
 The following day we were teaching another family that has twin 4yr 
 old boys. During our visit it had come up that this family didn't have 
 much to eat or drink and so after the lesson Sister Yellow and I 
 decided to go home and get all the canned food and noodles and what 
 not that we had been given by other people. We loaded it in our car 
 and drove back to their house. We had been gone for maybe 20 minutes, 
 but by the time we got there the whole street was filled with 
 firetrucks, ambulances, cop cars, and nosey neighbors. Apparently one 
 of the twin boys had set a mattress on fire and the entire house was 
 destroyed by the fire. We were able to talk to the mom a little, but 
 she was clearly preoccupied. I am still shocked all that could have 
 happened in just 20 minutes! 
 
 Crazy event number 3... I am going to summarize this one by saying 
 that there is this lady the elders were teaching who now is convinced 
 all the missionaries are hit men who have been hired by one of her old 
 roommates to kill her. She also thinks various ward members are in on 
 this scheme. There is more to that story, but I don't even know where 
 to begin... 
 
 Oh and our neighbors had a party and they woke us up in the middle of 
 the night and Sister Yellow discovered, I am not pleasant when I am 
 awoken suddenly because my first thought was should we yell at them or 
 call the police. She quickly rebutted, "well, definitely don't yell at 
 them." They didn't take too long to quiet down though... 
 
 So all in all this week has been absolutely nuts! We were cussed out 
 (worse than I ever have been on my mission) twice, one of our 
 investigator's house caught fire just after we left, and someone else 
 swears up and down that the missionaries are undercover hit men and we 
 are trying to attack her (she yelled this at us while running down the 
 street). And that is just what happened in the last three days! I wish 
 I could even remember the first half of the week. Being a missionary 
 is hard! However, I am grateful for every crazy hard and outright 
 insane thing that has happened to me through my mission. Sister Yellow 
 and I were talking about how incredible it is that we can have weeks 
 like this one and yet still be happy. We still love what we do and 
 wouldn't want to be anywhere else. When we stepped back and asked why 
 that is, it was easy to see. It's because this gospel is true. I know 
 it is. That is something that no bad day, or week, can ever take away 
 from me. I am so grateful that every single day I get to step outside 
 and talk to everyone about this happiness and peace that comes from 
 living the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 
 I love you all so so so much and I hope you have an incredible week! 
 
 -Sister Upshaw 
 
 Here are some pictures for your enjoyment: 
 
 
 

We decided we want these for Christmas. I will return! (I don't 
 even like cats, but I couldn't resist)  

The first two are from P-day. Sister Blaine is serving in Shell's 
 ward. 

Sister Yellow and I were so exhausted this week! Let's be real... 

We are tired every week, but she wouldn't let me go to bed... I can't 
 remember why, but I remember being done with planning and wanting to 
 go to sleep... Lol 

(obviously she was really tired, she couldn't even spell it correctly haha)

What goes "ha-ha-ha-ha-plop"? 10-20-14

 A monster laughing his head off!!! Bwahahahahaha get it? 
 
 Oh man, thanks for the Halloween card papa! I love all the riddles! 
 
 This week was very busy! Sister Yellow and I went on two exchanges and 
 we are exhausted! The first exchange we went on was Tuesday and I was 
 with Sister Reed, she is one of the sisters in Shell's Ward. We walked 
 A LOT on that exchange and my little feetsies felt like they were 
 going to fall off, but Sister Reed is stellar and we had a lot of fun 
 so it was worth it. We also saw a dolphin, up close! We were eating 
 our lunch on a bench near this little channel that comes in from the 
 ocean and the dolphin just came out of nowhere! We also saw a rainbow 
 that day. It was rather magical. :) 
 
 Sometime on Tuesday Sister Yellow got a call from the ZLs asking if we 
 would give a training in district meeting the next morning. So we met 
 about an hour before the meeting started and planned what to train on. 
 It actually turned out pretty good, but was way stressful trying to 
 plan for a training when we weren't even with each other. Immediately 
 after the district meeting we normally attend, which is 45 minutes 
 south of us, we had to travel about another hour south to attend the 
 second district meeting in our zone. After that meeting we did 
 exchanges with a set of sisters in St. Pete. Sister Packer came back 
 with me. Love love love that sister! She has only been here for about 
 3 weeks, but she is a rockstar. Basically we have the best zone in the 
 mission! 
 
 Once Sister Yellow and I exchanged back on Thursday we were so happy 
 because sometimes you just miss your companion and we had gone 48 hrs 
 without seeing each other. One thing that we both learned from 
 exchanges is that first, and foremost, we have to love the people we 
 teach. Some sisters are so worried about taking in every suggestion 
 given on how missionary work should be done that they get lost in all 
 the technicalities. If we just love with all we have and include 
 Heavenly Father in every decision, then everything will work out and 
 we will be so much happier! 
 
 I accomplished something this week that I think we can all be proud 
 of... I survived without a microwave! Friday around 9 am our power 
 went out. We didn't really think much of it because our water shuts 
 off every so often and it normally comes on after a few hours so we 
 figured it would be the same with our electricity. When we came back 
 around 1 for lunch we still had no power! Turns out something happened 
 with our bill and they shut it off! Everything got sorted out, but our 
 electricity didn't come back on until just after we came home for the 
 night! So we couldn't use the microwave to make any of our frozen 
 food! It was a real tragedy... Then this morning we woke up and again 
 we had NO POWER! We fumbled around in the dark trying to get ready to 
 go exercise and as we walked outside, we realized everyone's power was 
 out for as far as we could see. Every scary movie I have ever watched 
 told me not to step in to the pitch black obis so we worked out inside 
 the apt. Then we heard the helicopters and I had flashbacks to the 
 movie Red Dawn!  Luckily North Korea didn't take over and the power 
 came back on around 7:30. We aren't sure what caused the black out, 
 but someone told us it was a car accident. 
 
 The other really cool thing I accomplished was a new bike trick! I can 
 now stand on my bike seat...in a skirt! When you are on a bike all day 
 every day you learn that these tricks really aren't that hard. Haha 
 (see Dovers, I've come a long way in my bike riding abilities)  I may 
 look scared in the picture, but that's just because I wasn't sure how 
 to get back down....so I was scared! 
 
 Quote of the week/ quote of my mission that I found this week: 
 Obedience is the price, Faith is the power, LOVE is the motive, the 
 spirit is the key, Christ is the reason, and eternal life is the 
 reward. 
 
 I love you! 
 
 Sista Upshaw 

Yes, she is crazy

I am really lame at taking pictures... 10-13-14

 Is it seriously already Monday again? This week has been insane for 
 Sister Yellow and I. I feel like we were barely in our area. Thursday 
 we had a meeting in Tampa, where we had some awesome trainings and we 
 were able to watch the movie, "Meet the Mormons". IT was awesome! If 
 you haven't seen it, you should go watch it! Out here it is hard to 
 find a theater that will play it, but I'm going to guess that most 
 theaters back home will have it. It is a movie about six very 
 different LDS families. You will love it! The last one is a missionary 
 mom so be prepared to ball your eyes out because all of the 
 missionaries here did... (Tell no one!) oh the other super awesome 
 thing about Thursday was.... I FINALLY GOT TO SEE SISTER KUNZ AGAIN! I 
 kind of sorta helped train her for a transfer while she, Sister 
 Peterson, and I were in a trio together. I hadn't seen her since I 
 left Lakeland 9 months ago. It was awesome to see her, but sadly I did 
 not get a picture. -_- 
 
 Then Friday we had MLC down in Gulfport all day. Basically MLC is 
 super exhausting because we spent the first five hours inside a room 
 talking about different administrative things and received a lot of 
 training on how we can better help the missionaries we have 
 responsibility for. It was really awesome though and I learned a lot! 
 Then we went down to one of the beaches and had dinner and received a 
 little more training and then president told us to go have fun. They 
 brought this giant excessive ball so we all got together and played 
 kickball on the beach. It was so much fun! Also I face planted in the 
 sand because... Well I don't really remember how it happened, but all 
 I could think of was that time we were out at the lake and I was 
 racing Shay and Nae down a steep sandy hill and I totally face 
 planted then too....   Awka awkward. I redeemed myself though because 
 kickball is kind of my favorite game and I am not too shabby at it. We 
 ended that night singing hymns on the beach while watching the sunset. 
 It honestly was incredible and I am so grateful for the opportunity to 
 unwind a bit and to receive such wonderful training. Again, I didn't 
 get any pictures... SORRY MOM! 
 
 Something really sad happened last night though! One of our 
 appointments fell through so we decided we would go by a nearby 
 members house and share with them some of our goals for the transfer 
 and see how we can help them to do missionary work. While I was 
 bearing testimony of missionary work to them I heard myself say, "I 
 came here because I know this gospel changes lives and I want to bring 
 people even more peace and happiness in their lives through the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ. I only have three months left to do it and I want to 
 work." I was fighting tears. Until that second I really had only 
 considered what it would be like to step off the plane in Vegas not 
 really what it will be like to step on that plane in Tampa. I just 
 thought of everything I will be leaving and just how much I have loved 
 my time here. I really am grateful for the opportunity to serve the 
 incredible people here. I am also grateful I still have three months 
 to serve them with all my heart. 
 
 I love you all! Have an incredible week! 
 
 -Sister Chelsea Upshaw <3 

                     Mowing a lawn (a new life skill for her) 

                                                            Zone meeting 10-9-14

Sis. Kunz is in the back with Chelsea

Fasting is for real! 10-6-14

 Have I told ya'll about the mole I had to have removed a few weeks
 ago? Well they thought it looked suspicious so they biopsied it.
 Everything is fine. The results came back a little abnormal, but they
 removed a little more skin and said that now it is fine. The reason I
 share this is because I am now left with this huge circle cut on my
 back that refuses to heal... They told me not to let it scab, but I
 kind of forgot about that until it was too late, but then the scab
 started itching so I picked the scab. It then started to bleed....
 Sister Yellow is super squeamish about it, but it's on my back and I
 can't reach it so I made her put a band aide on it and somehow the
 bandaid came off and then we are biking and she goes, "uhhh I think
 you are bleeding." My blood mixed with my sweat and by the time I got
 home my shirt looked like someone had shot me rather than having a
 mole removed. It was rather disgusting, but kind of funny as I thought
 of how many people we passed while biking and I couldn't help, but
 wonder what they thought of this growing red spot on my nice white
 shirt... That was a completely random thought and probably not
 something any of you really cared to hear about, but it was rather
 hilarious to Sister Yellow and I so, oh well...

 Quote of the week from my wonderful companion, "don't be such a
 Dorkous Malorkous!"

 Oh man, General conference was AWESOME! I almost cried when it was
 over because I realized the next time conference rolls around in
 April, I will be home.... It was a sad moment because conference as a
 missionary is 10000000X better than conference as a normal person, but
 mama promised we will go to the conference center in April so I guess
 I can go on with life.

 In addition to conference we had an incredible weekend! It went a
 little like this.... Sunday morning we woke up and it was freezing!
 Hallelujah it finally feels like fall here! That was a miracle in and
 of itself. Because of the weather change our tire pressure in the car
 was super low! Like our PSI was at 20. That doesn't really mean much
 to me, but the tire says it is supposed to be at 51 PSI so we assumed
 it wasn't very safe to be driving. By the time we took care of that we
 had about 30 minutes before we needed to be at the church to watch
 conference so we decided to walk in this neighborhood and talk to
 people who were outside. We met this really sweet lady who absolutely
 soaked up the message of the restored gospel. When we testified of
 modern day prophets she was beaming from ear to ear. She had so many
 amazing questions! We realized we were short on time so we set up a
 time to come back. When we left her house we had 10 minutes before
 conference would start and our car was about a mile away! We took off
 sprinting down the road (in our pencil skirts and dress shoes). We
 made it to the church just in time for the opening prayer (if you are
 running on Upshaw time, then we were early. Right Mom?)

 Once conference was over we realized we had misplaced the phone. We
 looked everywhere and then borrowed the elders' phone so we could call
 it. A random man picked up and was super awkward... I was like, "hey!
 We misplaced our phone and... It is like you found it."
 Then he casually replies, "yup."
 "Uhh can we come get it from you?"
 "Sure"
 "Umm may I ask where you live?"
 I had to drag the address out of him, but we were able to meet up and
 get the phone back. He did something weird to our phone though and now
 we have none of our contact information -_- but at least we got it
 back and we do have that contact info elsewhere. Turns out the phone
 must have fallen out of one of our bags while we were running to our
 car before conference. Now here is the really cool part. On our way to
 pick up the phone we saw a man we had taught while walking on the
 street about two weeks ago. So we flip around get out and start trying
 to flag him down. His name is Eddie and he had gone on a walk and
 decided to try to find the church we told him about. He had read and
 re-read the pamphlet we left with him and he said it had answered so
 many questions that he was interested in learning more. He was still
 about half a mile away from the church so we told him that we would go
 pick up our phone and then meet him back at the church. We were able
 to give him a church tour and it was incredible! He kept saying how no
 one else had ever answered some of the questions he had before and he
 was amazed that two girls in their 20s could. Ahhhhh Heavenly Father's
 timing is so perfect! If we wouldn't have been running late then we
 wouldn't have lost the phone and we wouldn't have seen Eddie and we
 wouldn't be floating on cloud 9 right now!

 Oh man... I already wrote a lot, but there are so many more miracles
 to share! Ahhhhh sister Yellow and I are still bursting! It has been
 such a great week! The reason for the tittle is that last Sunday
 sister Yellow and I fasted that we would know how to help the work
 pick up here. Holy cow our prayer was answered no doubt!  I hope
 everyone else had a great week too! Happy birthday to two of my lovely
 sisters. I love you Kim and Christina!

 Until next week,
 stay classy (I literally just typed that without thinking. Sorry dylan!)


 -Sister Upshaw


                                                           Cat in her area

                                                          Missionaries in her zone

                                                                 Cleaning