email dated 3/1/10
So, my companion for a little while has really struggled with his Spanish. I've only got 6 more weeks than him in the mission, and we actually overlapped in the MTC and knew each other from there. I've been very reassuring to him as a companion and done all I can to help him boost his confidence and speak in the way he wants to speak. When you get in a teaching situation with someone it can be pretty intimidating at times, especially when you're not speaking your own language, and I imagine, for my companion, that he lets the 'fear of man' get in his way. He struggled for a while on why he's not speaking as well as I am yet, and of course Satan tried to convince him that it was because he didn't have any faith or was unworthy to be here-both assumptions are horrible lies. This last Friday, we had a lesson with Carlos Chavez, a man we've been teaching ever since I first got here. His wife was baptized just before I got here in August, and she's been working with him as well, but his conversion reached a turning point this last Friday when my companion bore the sweetest testimony I've ever heard in my life in Spanish. He usually speaks very little, and I prod him in lessons to speak more, but this time when I passed it off to him, he felt the warm assurance of the spirit and began speaking boldly, not knowing beforehand what to say. I've never felt the spirit so intense before with Carlos, and we immediately set a baptismal date with him while he was in tears at the witness he received from the spirit. After that sweet experience, I made sure that my companion knew how he had been used as an instrument in the Lords hands to do His work. Elder Beals won't soon forget that, and he's been happier and more confident ever since.
No more news this week about the weird sleeping occurrences. I have an appointment next Tuesday with the doctor, so I won't know anything more until then. Be reassured that I'm fine and healthy, and that I'm taking good care of myself.
A general authority visited our mission this last week. His name was Elder Richards (I don't know his first name) from the Quorum of the 70. We had a zone conference with him, where he talked a lot about obedience (always a missionary topic...) and how to recognize and utilize the spirit in our teaching and in our lives. It was a pretty great conference all in all, and I got randomly picked to get interviewed by him and his wife. It was pretty cool getting to talk one and one with a General Authority (that's never happened to me before). He had some good advice for missionary work and also for my future after my mission. What a neat experience!
Yesterday at church, the Temple president and his wife from the Boston Temple came and spoke at our ward. It was pretty cool-they talked a lot about temple worship and how the ward here needs to 'step it up' and get out to the temple more often. He also brought some other people from the church who took pictures of our chapel and ward building, because they're thinking of modeling a temple in Albania after it. The reason is because in Albania, there isn't a 1 acre plot of land ANYWHERE to put a temple, so they're thinking of remedies. One would be to model it after our ward building here, which is more like a 4 story apartment complex turned into a chapel. It would have all the square footage they need in somewhat of a 'tower; format, but wouldn't take up nearly as much space with it's grounds. Anyway, it was only a thought, but I thought it was pretty cool that he shared.
The missionary work in this area is going super well, and my companion and I have 2 or 3 baptisms lined up in a couple of weeks. We're both pretty excited as well because right now we're teaching 3 families, which is unheard of anywhere in the northeast, ESPECIALLY with Spanish people. Everyone I've taught until now has been from a broken family (All of their family is back in their home country, they're here for work, they're separated from children and spouses, etc...) The 3 families we're teaching all have 2 daughters, within the ages of 2 and 5 years old, so they're all in pretty similar stages of life. It's interesting to see how they interact with each other as investigators of the church and in sharing similar problems with little work, money, and being far away from home. All the Hispanics, members included, in this area really come together to help one another out. It's such a blessing to be here to witness all the service that takes place among many of these faithful Latter-Day-Saints and their friends who are struggling.
It rained every day, all day, last week. Then it finally snowed last Saturday. It melted really fast though. The weather, besides being really windy, looks pretty good right now.
I love you all, and you are in my prayers. Remember who you are and what you stand for!
-Elder Shepherd
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