Roller Coaster week‏

email 3/7/11

So what happens when your companion gets a "Dear John" letter? I found out this week. Look at the photos I attached... 

 He had a corkboard full of photos of this girl, and this morning he took out scissors and cut them all up... I laughed the whole time. Poor guy. I hated all those pictures anyway. They were really distracting. I'll be glad to never have to look at them again. He'll get over it eventually.

The other photo is of Harleys' Baptism! What a great kid! He's a for-sure future missionary.

 

I knocked on a lot of doors this week. Knocking on doors has become a lot of fun for me. My companion and I try to switch up our approach every single time, and recently we've been going with an 'inspired question' approach. The first thing we do when they open the door is ask them a question like, "Why does God give us commandments?" or, "Do you think that God answers prayers?"  It's so much fun to see how the people respond to these questions. It can be frustrating sometimes, like if you knock on Amanda's door like we did this week. "Do you believe God exists?"-"Uh- I don't really care."-"What do you think your purpose is?" "I don't know, I just like to party and get laid." After a few more questions and answers like that I got really bold with her. "Someday you are going to wind up alone and miserable and you will have no one to blame but yourself because of all the bad decisions you make. You have to repent and change your life. Repent, Amanda." She was kind of caught off guard by that and took a card from us before we left her doorstep. On another grumpy man's porch we asked, "What do you think God expects of us?"  He abruptly replied, "There is no God! GROW UP!" and slammed the door. What a sad life that man must live. I felt bad for him.

At the same time, you can have really cool conversations with people as you help them search their souls and lives for something deeper... One man was ecstatic to hear about the idea that God still speaks to us today. "It makes sense! He spoke to us before why not anymore?"-"Would you like to hear what God is saying through His prophet today?"-"Absolutely!"

The mission is a roller-coaster ride experience. I think that there are a lot of parellels between the two. You have some 'ups' and 'downs'. Then you have some REALLY 'UPS' and REALLY 'DOWNS'. There are turns that catch you off guard and give you severe whiplash. There are those seemingly neverending hills that just go dreadfully slow up and up and the anticipation is just killing you. It will knock your socks off, and you'll end up loving the experience. All too soon, the ride is over, and that incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience jammed into 2 extreme minutes (or years) is over. If you just hold your hands over your eyes the whole time and curl up in a ball you won't get the full experience nor will take out of it what you otherwise could have. Soak it up and live the dream while it lasts! That's kind of how I feel right now. I'm not even blinking anymore; rather, I'll just let my eyes dry out with the exposure to the high-speed winds and put my hands in the air.

Um, I don't know if that makes a lot of sense to you, but it sure seemed to make sense in my head.

I LOVE being a missionary, and I am having life-changing experiences that have impacted me for the better. I love my Savior and I know that He heals us if we turn our lives over to Him. He has healed me and brought me out of a darkness that I could never have escaped otherwise. I love Him.

    with much love from your favorite elder,

           -Elder Shepherd