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