Lots of news!‏

email 1/31/11
Ok, so my companion, Elder Urrutia, is Mexican and he's not a citizen yet in the country, and his family has been fighting for their residency here for 11 years. Anyway, they finally have a court date for the last step of the process, but the whole family has to appear in person and be fingerprinted to finish everything off. That includes my companion. He has to fly home to Houston, Texas next week for 2 days to show up in court with his family and be fingerprinted, and then fly back out here to Connecticut, otherwise he would lose his case for residency and possibly wait many more years and spend thousands of more dollars... Immigration laws here are so stupid. Anyway, I don't know where I'll be during that time, but it's only for a couple of days. Could you imagine being sent home for just 1 or 2 days with only 8 months left in your mission? That would trunk me out of my mind! He's going to sleep in his own bed, use his own bathroom, chill with is family, and then come back to missionary world. He's already feeling really trunky about it.

So the Hartford, Connecticut mission is being closed to be combined with the Boston, Massachusetts mission. MY MISSION IS BEING CLOSED! (Well, combined with another mission, but we will be dissolved.)  I got the notice this morning from my mission president. The change will officially take effect on July 1st when my mission president and his wife end their mission service. This means that for the last transfer of my mission I'm going to be in a totally new mission with new boundaries and new missionaries and new leadership. I guess I'm kind of excited, but I'm kind of sad at the same time that it's just for my very last transfer. I'm just shocked. I don't know how to feel about it. I know it's the work of the Lord, and I'm pretty sure that I'll get excited about it or find the silver lining, but right now I'm just filled with uncertainty. It's just weird to think that my mission won't even exist in a couple of months.

Well, on the other side of things, our investigator, Harley, is super excited to be baptized in a couple of weeks. His mother has been an inactive member of the church for years, but with her son's enthusiasm she is getting excited. It's cool to watch the spirit work on her in our lessons. She knows what she's needs to do, and she has the gift of the Holy Ghost to help her. They came to church together on Sunday, which was really cool for Harley and a breath of fresh air for his mom. We've been leaving pamphlets about gospel principles with them and committing her to go over the pamphlet with her son before our next visit. She's teaching him the gospel, as it should be, and you can tell that she feels it. The spirit works on people in extraordinary ways.

Well, that was a lot of news for this email. I'm still going strong, and I love the mission! Keep praying for me and writing me!

         with much from your favorite elder,

              -Elder Shepherd

Waterbury and Cyber-Missionary Work‏

email 1/24/11
I'm sorry that I wasn't able to email last week! It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and we couldn't get into a library. However, I was working on the computer all week, but I didn't want to abuse my computer privileges and email on days other than P-day. Ok, so I'm now doing missionary work on cyberspace. It's kind of weird, but I think it's so AWESOME! I'm 1 of 8 missionaries in our mission who are piloting this program for the church. We created new facebook accounts (I'm Elder Shepherd), and we friend request all the members here in our areas, and we then send them links to church videos and mormon.org, posting things on their wall and giving the church TONS of exposure on the internet. All those people are uplifted, but then all their friends see all these postings and start investigating as well. The cool thing about the internet is that you can do everything at your own pace and interest level. Anyway, we also help all the members to create mormon.org profiles, which are the coolest things ever because then we can connect our investigators to members online who come from the same or a similar background as them, religiously, economically, socially, etc... It can be utilized SO effectively. If you haven't checked out mormon.org yet, do it! It's so COOL! The videos on there are really, really good. Imagine that we're in a lesson, and our investigator has a similar problem or predicament as someone in the videos on mormon.org. We can direct them to the site, or have them go to the site right then and there on the spot, check it out. So I'm facebooking and I'm starting a blog. I'm not allowed to friend request any friends or family from back home, but everyone else in the world is fair game. I'm a blogging amateur, so I'm looking for inspiration. When I get it going, I'll ask all of you to follow my blog so that it can get more exposure. Oh, and check out my mormon.org profile, and then make your own! http://mormon.org/me/394N-eng/Luke    Questions? I'd be glad to answer them.

Waterbury, Connecticut is a very pretty place. It's very hilly here, and all the roads are going up and down hills and have sharp turns. It's kind of fun! Although I get car-sick if I don't watch where I'm going. There are far more trees here than New Haven or Providence. I've always been in the city, so it's fun to be somewhere a bit more tranquil. We call areas like this the "sticks". We have gotten SO MUCH SNOW!! The weather here has been nuts! Last week, a HUGE snow storm hit us, and dropped 2 feet of snow on us overnight. My companion and I had to dig our car out, but we didn't have a snow shovel, so we knocked some doors and asked people if we could borrow their snow shovel. (It was a really great excuse to go tracting in our apartment complex and we took advantage of the approach to talk about the gospel).  I attached 2 photos of me trying to get into our car. It was a dream come true!

We don't have any investigators because the missionaries who were here before us didn't do anything, but we'll turn things around. I love you all!

 

             With much love from your favorite elder,

                  -Elder Shepherd

My dream in Providence is over.‏

Yes, it's true. My dream in Providence has come to an end. I got a call from my mission president, and I'm getting transferred to Waterbury, Connecticut to serve as a zone leader tomorrow. Getting transferred in the mission field can be really bitter-sweet. I've been in Providence for the last 8 months, and it's been a pretty impactful chapter of my life. I've worked my butt off here in the service of the Lord, and I've seen some success and miracles. I've seen a lot of people change and grow closer to God. I baptized several young men here who received the priesthood, bless and pass the sacrament every week, and plan on serving full-time missions in the very near future. What an incredible change I saw in the young men! What an incredible blessing to have been used as an instrument in God's hands to perform such a work! The growth I've seen in myself here has been enormous. It's been hard saying goodbye to all my friends and newfound family here in Providence. I'm happy to be able to leave Providence with no regrets, because I gave it my all here. Elder Hansen and his new companion will see lots of success and baptisms in the upcoming months.
I am super excited to go to Waterbury for several reasons. My companion and I will be the first Spanish-speaking zone leaders in the our mission. I've wanted a native Spanish-speaking companion my whole mission, and my new companion is Mexican! WOO!! His name is Elder Urrutia, and I attached a picture of the 2 of us together.  I'm gonna learn so much Spanish from him! Serving as a zone leader means that I'm going to be part of the church's pilot program for doing missionary work over the internet by using mormon.org and facebook. I'm pretty stoked for it! I don't know all the details yet, but I'll get back to you on it.

The other picture that I attached to the email is me and some graffiti here in Providence. I'm amazed at a lot of the graffiti here in Providence. It's kind of cool.
I hope you all will write to me at my new address in Waterbury!
     with much love from your favorite elder,
                 -Elder Shepherd

2011‏

email 1/3/11

2011!! Woot!  There were many drunks out on the streets here on the 31st, and everyone seemed really depressed on the 1st (because they were hungover). We spent the new year well. I have a lot of things to look forward to this year, and I'm really grateful for all the blessings I recieved this last year. I'm all ready and geared up for the new year! I've made several new year resolutions, some of which I've decided to not worry about until getting home from the mission in August (school, girlfriend, work, etc...) but some of which I can begin working on right now. One of my goals, however cheesy it may seem, is a goal that I'm perpetually working on: keeping my covenants. I've made many covenants with God that I'm continually striving to honor and remember. It's a focus for me this year.

So, the keyboard that I am writing on is missing 4 keys: the f key, y key, l key, and backspace. It's really hard to use them because I have to push a little piece of plastic in the place of where the keys used to be. It's really frustrating!

I attached a picture of me after tracting in the morning. It was ridiculously cold, and my face froze like that. The weather right it now is really nice. I bet it's way colder out in Utah that in it is here. All the snow is melting in our 50 degree weather. It's kind of nice, but I really miss the snow.

I had a great holiday season, but I'm definitely glad that it's over. People were really distracted and unreceptive to us during the holiday season, and as a missionary it's a really hard to focus this time of year as well. I'll be able to better consecrate myself to the work and to the Lord. I bet every missionary goes through this phase, but I'm at the point of my mission where I feel like time is running out. "I only have 7 months left? WHAT!?" is pretty much what is going through my mind. It scares me. I love the mission! I've been blissfully doing my 'missionary thing' here without regard to time, which is a really happy way to live. It still hasn't really hit me that I go home this year, so I'm hoping I'll still be able to live my missionary life without thinking about it. I just want to make the most of my time here.

I had 2 really rough lessons this week. It was the exact same lesson with 2 different investigators. "I haven't been reading the Book of Mormon because I have the Bible." I understand where they are coming from, because the Bible is all they have ever known, and I'd like to believe that they say that out of a sincere love for the word of God they have aready received from the Bible, but I know better. "How do you know that the Bible is true?" I asked them both. "Well-it's-it's, uh, th-the Bible! It's the word of God!" "Yes it is," I would reply,"but how do you know that?" Simply put, these 2 people have never read the Bible, nor the Book of Mormon, nor even put an honest effort into reading parts of it, but have listened to their pastors preach about the Bible. Certainly, I can quote the scripture that faith comes, in part, from hearing the word (Rom. 10:17), but it also says in the same chapter that you must obey the word, and these investigators aren't doing that. (Rom. 10:16) (this chapter, Romans 10, for a lot of reasons, is probably one of the least understood chapters in the Bible by christians in this area...) Anyway, my reply didn't quote these scriptures, nor quoted any other scripture from the Bible, but I answered my own question. "You don't know that the Bible is true because you've never read it, prayed about it, nor lived the principles that it teaches. It's the same with the Book of Mormon, only you are denying that it's the word of God without ever having read it. Your reason for not reading the Book of Mormon isn't because you have the Bible. You're not reading the Book of Mormon because you don't want to change." It sounds pretty harsh right? I was surprised when I said it, but I did it out of love, prompted by the spirit. These 2 people know that I love them. I express and show it often. They also know that it's important to follow through with their commitments. *sigh* I love these people, and I'm really sad and frustrated when they don't do what they need to do. What more can I do for my vineyard!? (Jacob 5) I just need to continue to teach by the spirit, love people, and be patient.

OH no! I'm out of time for this email. I type really slow on this broken keyboard.

         Much love from your favorite elder,

                -Elder Shepherd

Other funny Christmas stories...and pics...‏

Ok... First/Second picture: the river of nasty water.

That's right in front of our apartment.

Yup. Someone broke open a fire hydrant, and it let out this nasty brown water that flooded the entrance to our apartment and quickly iced over. Merry Christmas. I was sad to see all that beautiful, white snow turn into brown sludge.
Third/Fourth picture: It was snowing lightly last Monday, and we'd been walking all day long, all of our appointments canceled, and we hadn't eaten anything. One picture is of me just sitting on the curb, debating 'calling it quits' for the night,

and the other is shortly after when we decided to stop at Subway to replenish ourselves instead, and I made an awesome straw by combining 3 straws so that I would be able to lay my head on the table and slurp lemonade at the same time.

It was great.
Happy New Year!
 -Elder Shepherd

Cold, wet, and never happier!‏

Libraries were closed yesterday, and next Monday they will be closed as well, so I'm forced to email on Tuesday.
My Christmas wish for snow up to my chest came true the day after Christmas! On Sunday a huge storm blew over the east coast here, dumping 2 feet of snow on Providence, Rhode Island. It was awesome! The storm was going nuts outside all day Sunday. We helped someone shovel their driveway that evening, and then we got a text from our mission president telling us to go back home and stay indoors, so we 'played' in the snow on our way home. I attached a picture of my companion and I just before retiring that night-cold, wet, and never happier!
Christmas greetings from Providence! Christmas was such a good day. I attached a picture of me opening my presents Christmas morning. I was like a little kid. My tradition in that regard didn't change at all. I was still up at 6:30 AM, giddy as can be and full of the Christmas spirit.

The Hispanic people don't really celebrate the 25th on Christmas day; they actually celebrate the night before on the 24th all night long. They stay up until midnight eating tamales and drinking "punch" made out of fruits and vegetables. At midnight, they open all their presents and party the rest of the morning. Their celebration on the 25th consists of sleeping all day due to the party the night before. We were privileged to share in part of their celebrations on the 24th. I ate so many tamales and drank so much "punch" that I nearly exploded. It was great! The next morning, we had breakfast with a Guatemalan family that we're teaching. I attached a picture of us at breakfast.

We spent the majority of Christmas day visiting investigators and families, and of course calling home was the best.
One particular visit on Christmas day took on special significance for me. We visited a woman that I baptized a little over 2 months ago that evening. She's an older woman with little family. What little family she does have left town without her. She spent almost all day on the 24th and 25th alone. The moment we walked into her house that evening, I knew that she'd been crying and lonely. She shared with us how she'd gotten in an argument with her daughter several days before. I sat there, trying to think of how to console her. I tried to put myself in her shoes, and one of the closest things that I could remember was an experience that I had a couple years ago.
It was Christmas Eve, and as part of our family tradition we were going to see a movie at the theaters. Well, we were all gathered and ready to go when I ran to the bathroom really quickly before departing. When I came out of the bathroom 30 or so seconds later everyone was gone. I ran to the door but they were already gone. My initial feeling was total dejection. "How could they have forgotten about me!? Didn't anyone notice that I wasn't there!?" I decided to sit next to the phone, expecting them to notice that I'd been left behind, and to call me with apologies, begging forgiveness. A couple minutes passed by. "They seriously don't notice that I'm missing?"  A couple more minutes passed by.  "They aren't going to call me."  I finally got over my pride and called my dad's cell phone. "I'm not in the car!" I said. My dad turned the car around and jetted back home. We all ended up laughing about the whole thing.
Anyway, I remember how I felt at first when I realized that I'd been left behind and no one noticed. It was one of the closest things that I had experienced that related with her. In my experience, I had to get over my pride and call my father for help. As my mind caught hold on that experience, and with those emotions running through me, I felt inspired to say to her, "I know that you've been praying, and God sent me here in answer to those prayers. You're not alone. He knows you've been suffering, and He wanted you to 'call home'. He is so pleased that you did." The spirit flooded the room. I will never forget how I felt in that moment. I think that's how Christmas is really supposed to feel. I knew that God had used me to answer her prayer, and I knew that He knew her. I knew that He knew me because he'd brought to my mind past experiences that I'd had in order to be able to administer with genuine love and concern.
These 2 Christmases that I've spent in the mission field will forever be special for me. They are unique and cherished memories. I hope to take that same spirit I've felt here and share it with my future family.
Christmas was so wonderful! I thank all of you for remembering me in your prayers and hearts. I'm especially grateful to those of you who wrote me and let me know I was loved. I felt your love from afar.
This week we go to 2011! I can't believe it! I go home this year! Weird.
         With much love from your favorite elder,
                 -Elder Shepherd

Caroling, but not in the snow...‏

Feliz Navidad from Rhode Island!
It's slightly depressing that there is still no snow here in Providence. The forecast has lied and said that it would snow and then it didn't... The forecast still has snow for the next couple of days, so I still have a hope for a white Christmas. I might die if it doesn't snow soon. It's kind of a big deal. Pray for me.
I can tell that the mission is making me more Christlike, because I'm developing a love and appreciation for those whom I serve,  greater than I've ever had before. My companion was really frustrated this week with an attitude that is prevalent in the Hispanic culture: They love the missionaries and want to feed them every day. It faintly resembles a lack of understanding from the members as to our purpose as missionaries. "We want to help them do missionary work. We want to preach the gospel. They just want us fat." was his 'missionary mentality'. While there is some truth to that, we also saw that there was a much deeper meaning behind it. These people are so sharing and loving. I've never been received so kindly and warmly. Many of the people we teach have very very little, and they are so willing to share what little they have with others. I know that many of them are in financially tight situations, but without fail they look to see if there is a way to serve others before gratifying themselves. I have been the grateful recipient of so many acts of kindness and love in the form of rice, beans, and chicken that it brings me to tears. Perhaps we could learn a very profound lesson from them. Yes, I've been called to preach the gospel and I've been sent to 'teach and not be taught' as it says in D&C, but it also says that you shall 'be taught from on high' as you teach, and that God's grace will attend you as you teach diligently. (D&C 88:77-78) I've taught a lot, but I've learned a lot as well. Words can't describe my gratitude. I love these people so much.
One of the coolest things as a missionary is seeing the change in people. Even cooler than that is seeing the people who you taught teach others. I recently began to think of the gospel like an awesomely righteous 'pyramid scheme'. There are some fundamental similarities and differences, but just go with me for a moment. Let's take an example: Elder Shepherd teaches George Hernandez. George Hernandez then teaches Manuel Almonte. George and Manuel both have families who are taught by them, and they serve in countless capacities for the rest of their lives teaching and sharing. The cycle goes on, eventually the pope gets baptized, and MANY people are effected by the courageous decision made by George. I had that thought cross my mind this week as one of my recent converts (baptized 5 months ago) came teaching with me. This recent convert bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and shared the story about Nephi and the brass plates. Our investigator, Manuel, was really touched by young Georges testimony and courage. It was a tender mercy for me. I was frustrated with the lack of 'success' that we'd had for the past couple of months and I felt like I wasn't doing much good at all in the world. George showed me otherwise. I'm so incredibly grateful that, if only for a brief moment, my understanding expanded and I was able to recognize my blessings and perhaps some of the 'hidden fruits' of my labor.
Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas for me without Christmas music either, so I got permission from my Mission President to organize a group of sisters and elders and go caroling in downtown Providence. We caroled for 2 and a half hours in downtown Providence last Saturday, and it was awesome! I stood in front of our group and conducted them as we sang the Christmas Hymns from the hymnbook. We talked to so many people and made so many contacts! The spirit touched our hearts as well as those who stopped to listen to us, and the true spirit of Christmas was awakened in them. I'll never forget these 2 Christmases that I've spent as a missionary. They are cherished and beautiful memories for me.
I wish all of you a Merry Christmas!
         with much love from your favorite elder,
                    -Elder Shepherd