I just spoke with a man here in the library named James while I was waiting for the computer. He is 22 years old and feels lots of remorse from his rebellious and wild youth and wants to change his life. I had a really good talk with him about repentance and the Atonement and I gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon with a commitment to read Alma 36 about the story of Alma the younger. I feel kind of giddy because he's in the corner reading it right now. Cool, eh?
Last night, I spoke with a man near our apartment late at night named Paul. Paul was pretty drunk, but sober enough to have a decent conversation with us. He told us that he's not a drinker, but 2 weeks ago his mother died and last night his father died, and he has 7 brothers and sisters who have shunned him and won't talk to him, and so he decided to turn to alcohol and get plastered enough to numb the pain. I felt really bad for him, and we spoke to him for about 20 minutes in the street offering counsel and comfort. It's really difficult to explain to someone who has suffered a whole lot of adversity why bad things happen to good people and help them see that among all the hardship God loves us, and has always loved us, and always will. He left the conversation feeling slightly better, and we asked him not to do anything that he would regret. I'm pretty sure that he slunk back home and wept bitterly like he told us he was going to. It would be nice to remember him in your prayers.
Yesterday, I spoke to a man named Jose who moved here from Guatemala 3 years ago, and is still working through the process of bringing his wife and 5 young children over here. My heart breaks for all the people who are separated from their families that I teach. Many of them have worked for the past 10 years or more to try and bring their families here legally because the process is so ridiculous, impossible, and expensive to get 'papers'. He was the pastor of an evangelical congregation in his country, and was really surprised to hear that 'Mormons' believe in Jesus Christ, because he'd always heard that we were a cult that worshiped the devil. He was most intrigued as we said a prayer with him to hear that we prayed to God the Father, in the name of Christ, and not that we prayed to Joseph Smith. He liked that, and again, it cleared up prior misconceptions he had. We hope to be able to help him continue to grow closer to Jesus Christ.
Earlier this week, I spoke to Plutarco, an immigrant from El Salvador who has lived in the US for 10 years working to be able to get his citizenship and bring his wife and 3 children here. Out of the goodness of his heart, he houses 2 other recent immigrants in his apartment who have no where to stay, and pays their portion of the rent to the landlord, while exhausting the rest of his money the he's saved up over the years in costly court cases to finish the process in getting his citizenship with hopes of reuniting his family. He recently was laid off at work, and greatly fears not being able to continue to cover the rent, because failure to do so would lead him to being deported and having to start the long 10 year process over again. We offered help and our love and prayers.
I think that I could share a hundred similar stories like these. All of them break my heart when I see the intolerance of others towards them, and the struggles that they go through. I ache to be able to help them and serve them. God didn't send me hear to be with the high and mighty, but the lowly, down-trodden, and battered. Frankly, this work would be incredibly depressing if it weren't for one universal truth of which I bear witness: God loves us. The effects of that love are far-reaching and far more powerful than you can imagine. I testify so because it has been the love of God, extended to me by both seen and unseen forces, that has lifted me higher and beckoned me on when I get so tired that I don't think I can take another step or knock another door. When my reservoir of energy and empathy runs dry, God quenches that thirst with living waters that sustain me.
I hope to be able to communicate to all of you through these emails what I truly feel is important about my mission. There are a lot of little things that I have recorded in my journal and my new voice/audio journal that I've been keeping up on my voice recorder(I hope to find out how I can send those entries through email) and I will cherish all those little memories, but I also hope that the change in me is evident to all of you, because I have seen such a profound change in myself.
Thanks for all your love and prayers, and thanks for reading my emails and sharing my mission with me.
With much love from your favorite elder,
-Elder Shepherd
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