Staying in New Haven!

email 3/22/10

Well, the verdict with transfers is that I'll be staying in New Haven with Elder Beals! This will be my 5th transfer in New Haven, which means that I've been here for 6 months already! It's still weird to think how long I've been here-partly because I've been in New Haven the whole time, so all the memories run together. New Haven is a great place, Elder Beals is a great companion, and I'm looking forward to 6 more weeks here.  No one in our foursome got transferred, so we're all pretty excited for this transfer.

Spring is finally hitting Connecticut, and I couldn't be more happy. This week it was warm enough that we had to take our jackets off (It's a nice change). The sun feels SO good-I feel like I haven't seen or felt the sun for 5 months. Spring has gotten my spirits up, and it shows as my enthusiasm for the work increases with the change in the weather. Our baptism for this week fell through-our investigator had some problems arise in his family this week, and he started smoking again. *sigh*... He felt really bad about it, though, and we're confident that with continued encouragement and time that he'll be ready for baptism in the near future. On the other hand, Alicia and Carlos, a couple that we've been teaching, finally decided to get married, which means that they will be married this month and baptized the following week. They were really prepared to hear the gospel, and it didn't take much effort at all on our part to help them make and keep commitments. Sometimes we have to give our investigators a little push and tons of encouragement before they'll finally commit to something-some actually catch on and just do it. It's refreshing to see people who set their minds on something and go for it. That's what we all need to do more of-set appropriate goals and go for it!

We had a spanish fireside yesterday that went really well. We've never had a fireside in spanish before in New haven, but we put a lot of work into it and had a decent turnout. A member from Bolivia spoke about holding to the iron rod, and then I spoke after him about keeping our covenants. It was the first time I'd ever spoken in spanish in front of a congregation, but I surprised myself at how natural it was. I feel pretty comfortable speaking to groups of people in english, but I thought it would be a whole lot different in spanish. It felt just like giving a lesson in sunday school or teaching a principle in a discussion, just with less audience participation. I stressed the eternal importance of our covenants and why we keep them, and I urged members read their scriptures daily, pray daily, and assist ALL their church meetings. We gave them calendars/charts to fill out to keep track of their daily and weekly commitments, and we'll be following through with all of them and how they're doing on their progress.

The sleep study was a pretty wild experience- it was really strange to be seperated from my companion for 24 hours. I was all alone in a 'hotel-like' room, with wires all over me. I took pictures of the wires and machines I was hooked up to-they're pretty awesome, I'll send some soon! The doctor who was hooking me up to all the wires had lots of good questions about the church, and we chatted about missionary work and the church for about 45 minutes as he connected me to all the wires (weird setting to do missionary work, but I've always said that it's only awkard if you make it awkward.) He was 58 years old and he'd just recently gone through his 2nd divorce so he also had questions regarding the emphasis that we place on families in the church. He was also puzzled why I chose to read a 'book' and didn't watch the large plasma screen TV in my bedroom during the hour of spare time I had before I went to bed. He didn't take a copy of the Book of Mormon I tried to give him, but I hope I planted a seed there. I slept there all night, and then spent all day the next day taking 30 minute naps every 2 hours. Rough life, huh? After the 3rd or 4th nap I just began to get groggy and lost all desire to sleep. We're still waiting to hear back from them about the results to the exam. Don't worry, it'll work out fine. No te preocupes.

There is no way to accurately describe where we must yet go as a church and in our own personal quests for perfection without creating a feeling of immense distance; however, I know that as we continually put our trust in the Lord we will be strengthened in our worthy endeavors. Feelings of inadequacy are perfectly normal, and for any honest, hard-working person they're common, but we must never let our burdens discourage us! Allow the Lord to work in you the change that you need, and be patient through your struggles to improve. Be more honest with yourself in regards to the blessings and strengths you've been given, and take a good look at how far you've already come on the road of life. Look hopefully and faithfully toward an uncertain future with the assurance that it will be a bright one.

I love you all!

       -Elder Shepherd