"What did he say!?"‏

"Did he say that he saw 11 people get stabbed with a machete!?" exclaimed Elder Hansen, Elder Shepherd's greenie of only 2 weeks. Elder Shepherd couldn't help but chuckle at his innocent companion who was only trying so hard to understand what this strange Dominican man was saying. "No, elder, but he did use the number 11 in that sentence.", replied Elder Shepherd. "Argh! He talks so fast..." complained Elder Hansen. "Don't stress it, elder. NOBODY, including other Dominicans, can understand that man when he talks. I'm pretty sure that without the 'Gift of Interpretation of Tongues' I wouldn't be able to understand him either." As they entered their next visit that evening, a friendly and familiar woman answered the door. (Speaking in Spanish) "Elder Shepherd, how's it going? How's Elder Hansen, can he understand me yet?". "No." Elder Shepherd replied, "but he sure is trying hard. Why don't you ask him some simple questions that he can answer?". She turned to Elder Hansen and asked, "Where are you from?". "I'm from Mesa, Arizona!" Elder Hansen confidently admitted. "Arizona!? Don't they hate Hispanics in Arizona?". She was obviously joking, but the joke wasn't understood by Elder Hansen. It bothered him for the rest of the lesson, and after the fact Elder Shepherd could see the obvious consternation behind his companions smile and thought it would be funny to joke with him. "I don't think you should tell people that you're from Arizona. They instantly hate us when they know.". "Really!? Ah man, I have a lot to learn.". Elder Shepherd laughed and  lovingly put his arm around his new companion, and he consoled his companion on the walk home.

True story.
I just thought that it would be fun to write in third person for a change.
Elder Hansen is doing really well, and I'm actually very impressed by his Spanish ability. He doesn't let it get him down, and he knows that he's still learning. I remember when I was in his shoes exactly 1 year ago. I thought that I would never be able to understand Dominican or Puerto Rican Spanish, nonetheless be able to communicate back. I can speak with several different accents now, and I understand a wide array of Spanish from different countries. The Lord is definitely utilizing me and teaching me what I need to know to be able to effectively preach His gospel in Spanish.
We are teaching a lot of people, and the ward has really rallied their missionary efforts in order to help us to cover our entire area effectively. Members are finding people for us to teach, and we spend all of our time teaching. It's such a blessing to be serving here right now. It's never dull, we always have something to do and someone to teach. It's truly the promised land.

I've been so impressed this week as I did a really in depth study on how to learn by faith. Faith, being the first principle of the gospel, is so vitally important to our spiritual development, but I think it's often overlooked or misunderstood. Every single person we teach is catholic and born with a belief in God, but they don't differentiate the difference between 'belief' and 'faith'. You can believe whatever you want, and it may or may not be true, but faith is a principle of ACTION, requiring the constant application of true and correct principles in our lives. The most common definition of faith I hear from the people I teach is that 'Faith is to believe in something...". While part of faith does indeed require belief that is only a mere fraction of what it really means to have faith. We often use the phrase 'exercise faith' in conjunction with this principle, and for good reason. Faith requires exercise, physical, mental, and spiritual exertion. It requires you to be believing, which spawns from a desire to know truth and the confirming witness of the spirit that something is indeed true. Then you commit yourself and do your part to apply truth in your life and live in accordance with true principles. Faith is the assurance and hope for things to come, evidence of things not seen which are true, and the principle of action. Thus, three components of faith can be placed as assurance (future), evidence (past), and action (present). These three components are simultaneously applied, and we press forward, with the assurance gained because of the evidence of God's truths. I don't have time to write down or explain my entire train of thought about faith in this email, but it sufficeth me to say that I'm refocusing on the first principle of the Gospel, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that everything else flows naturally after someone has truly mastered faith.

I know that God works miracles today, because I am a witness of them every day. God uses His servants to do His work and perform miracles, and I so testify because God has used me in this way many times. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that the only way back to the Father is through His son, our Savior Jesus Christ.
I love you all, and I pray for you every day.
    With much love from your favorite elder,
             -Elder Shepherd

My proselyting area got even bigger?‏

email 9/13/10
This week was a whole lot of bitter-sweet happenings. Elder Hansen is definitely adjusting well to the missionary lifestyle. I'm so proud of him for trucking through that first week of missionary work. Being a spanish-speaking elder is so frustrating initially, because you can't understand what's going on and you can't say what you want to say. Elder Hansen is a pro-he just opens up his mouth and says as much as he can say, and when he runs out of words I take back over. He has come very prepared to the mission, and I'm really looking forward to working more with him. His first week was rough, because he got sick on Thursday, and he was pretty much dead Friday and Saturday. He had a fever, he was coughing, sneezing, vomiting, etc... He was hallucinating a little bit at one point. Poor guy. It's a rough way to kick off the mission, but he's alive and mostly unscathed. We're just gonna get back out there now and work our butts off.
One of my former companions who was serving in Central Falls (A tiny city that borders Providence) went home last Thursday out of the blue. His companion called me and said that Elder So-and-so was in trouble and needed help. By the time I got there, he had already spoken with our Mission President and set his sights on going home. It was a heartbreaker. His companion was sent somewhere else in the mission, and I had to incorporate Central Falls' area into my own. I shut down their apartment and got all the information about their current investigators that I needed, and doubled the size of my already huge area and teaching pool. My brand new companion and I are the only spanish speaking elders in the state of Rhode Island now, so our area is the entire state of Rhode Island. (I'm lucky that it's such a small state.)
Things change and happen so quickly that it seems impossible to be able to get ahead or, at the very least, keep up. However, I firmly believe that all these changes and curve balls that life throws at you are for the better. How very dull life would be without adversity or change... Of course, I don't enjoy suffering, but I am sure grateful for the adversity in my life that has made me stronger and shaped me into who I am today. As long as we know how to confront our problems and trials with the right attitude they will never have the power over us to bring us down. It's amazing to me how simple everything can really be when we don't try to over-complicate and over-analyze everything. It all goes back the same simple steps of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Faith, Repentance, Baptism (Covenants), Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. There is no program, activity, or system that will ever be able to replace the Gospel of Jesus Christ when it is lived and understood. There is no business or administration that can implement anything that will even compare or come to close the efficacy of righteous/constant living of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel holds the individual accountable and responsible without condemning them. The Gospel promotes healthy and progressive living, and results in an individual conversion that adds to the collective efforts of countless others who live these same principles-this will result in unity far greater than can be achieved in any other way, and it is all because it focuses on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When we're angry, frustrated, proud, or depressed, it is ALWAYS attritbuted to lack of focus or obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's at these times when we need to take a step back and assess where our heart lies. When we do, all the sidetracks and obstacles that life puts in our way dissipate, and we see things simply and clearly, as they really are.
I've always loved the analogy that Joseph Smith put into the 123rd section of the D&C. In D&C 123:16-17: "You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
Let us cheerfully do all things within our power (and let God take care of the rest and quit freaking out about it) and 'simplify' our lives by focusing on the things that really matter.
I love you. I thank you for your prayers in my behalf.
         With much love from your favorite elder,
                  -Elder Shepherd

A new elder!‏

This week brought a whole lot of changes. Elder Cohen got transferred to Bridgeport, CT, and I'm training a brand new Spanish elder called Elder Hansen. He's from Arizona and comes from a family of 4 kids. He's a pretty smart elder, and I can tell that he worked really hard before and during the MTC because he's coming out here very prepared. He and I are going to get along so well! I've got a picture of the 2 of us yesterday at the Mission President's home.

The other picture I attached is a picture of me at the lighthouse in Newport. Life is so good.
We continue to be very very busy here in Providence. The ward is doing really well, our investigators are doing really well, and we have tons of people to teach. We had an amazing fast and testimony meeting this Sunday at church! One of our investigators who is going to be baptized in 2 weeks got up to bear her testimony in church. She bore a simple, sweet testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and talked about how she's been 'church-hopping' her entire life in search of the true church of Jesus Christ. She said that she knows that God answers her prayers because when she prayed most earnestly for help and direction 2 'angels in white shirts and ties' knocked on her door'. She thanked us for being 'sweet young men' and the members for helping her come unto Christ. Another less-active member that we'd been teaching bore her testimony as well and thanked us for 'bringing her back'. I baptized her son several weeks back, and she wanted to thank me for that over the pulpit, but couldn't remember my last name, but, for some reason, remembered my first name... I promised her son a week ago that if he read his scriptures every day and said his prayers, I would tell him my first name. He did, and I told him my name and made him promise not to tell the other youth. The youth in this ward have been trying to figure out my name for the past 4 months, and then she just blurted it out over the pulpit! "I want to thank the elder for baptizing my son-um, I can't remember his last name right now but I know his first name is Luke-so thank you elder!" The whole congregation turned to look at me. It was kind of funny, but slightly irreverent as whispers were heard among the youth,"We finally got him!". *sigh*

I love teaching people about eternal families. The parents eyes light up as they realize that they truly can be 'together forever', and that they can be reunited with loved ones who have passed on. We taught a man this week whose mother passed away a week ago. He was grieving the loss, and he was angry at God for not letting her live longer. We taught about the Plan of Salvation, and we gradually watched as the anger and the bitterness turned to tears of gratitude and understanding. The gospel changes lives, and I see it happen everyday. I get a front-row seat to God's miraculous modern-day work of gathering together His children. I see the spirit work on people and change their hearts. Some people change quickly, and other experience that change over longer periods of time, but all of them enjoy the sweetness of forgiveness and their new-found closeness with their Eternal Father in Heaven. How grateful I am to be a witness of these truths, and to be a messenger of the Gospel of Peace and Salvation.
I couldn't be happier.
             With much love from your favorite Elder Shepherd in the Hartford, CT mission,
                                          -Elder Shepherd