Hartford is beginning to look really pretty as the weather warms up.
I included a picture of my companion and a pretty blossoming tree
There is a really wonderful Peruvian family here that moved here from Lima, Peru about 5 years ago, the Munoz family. They have 2 sons and 2 daughters, all of which have served missions except the youngest girl who just got her mission call this week to Pocatello, Idaho. Awesome! Anyway, the kids are all in Utah going to school at BYU or LDS business college, but they're back in Hartford for vacations. One of the girls just came back from her mission in St. George Utah last week and spoke in church on Sunday. This family is so awesome! The 2 girls wanted to do a missionary activity while they were here and called me up on Thursday with ideas to do a fireside on Sunday. We worked out the details quickly and set it all up. We met at the church Sunday evening and my companion and I demonstrated to all the members how to introduce the Book of Mormon to people at the door or on the street. Then we gave everyone several copies and we split up into 2's and hit the streets. I was coupled with one of the Munoz sons who had served his mission in Idaho about 3 years ago. We were a dynamite duo. These first 2 kids that we spoke too seemed to have been doing a lot of research on the internet and had heard a lot of strange theories. When I asked him where he thought he could find not just answers and theories but the 'truth' he responded, "The internet!"... You can definitely find answers on the internet if that's all you want, but I would suggest that as awesome as the internet is it is not the source of all truth and wisdom... We talked to one family in particular on the porch that seemed pretty promising. When we first approached them the dad said he was Pentecostal and wasn't interested. We asked him a couple questions about his faith in Christ and got him talking. His wife jumped into the conversation and we ended up friends 30 minutes later. They were intrigued as we talked about the doctrine of eternal families and they thought of what that might mean for them and their 4 children.
The person we spoke to just before them had felt guilty for the past 5 years about the death of his mother due to cancer and how he blamed himself. We talked about eternal families again and focused on the opportunity he has to reunite with his mother and 2 deceased brothers again. He took comfort in knowing that there indeed was life after death. We spoke to another man on that same street who had been really involved in a baptist church earlier in his life but had since strayed from the path and mentioned how empty his life feels now and how he wishes he could have those feelings back again. We talked about repentance and the peace that the gospel brings to our lives. He got excited as we talked about it and exclaimed, "this is what I have been looking for!". I was impressed that night as I realized that every single person we spoke to had different needs and circumstances but how the gospel had all the answers.
That night brought a lot of cool experiences, and the excitement of the Munoz family was contagious and everyone who attended the event seemed to catch fire from it. We met back at the church after 2 hours of this and had a testimony meeting. The spirit of missionary work was alive in them as they shared the experiences they had that evening. I found that my own zeal and energy for this work increased significantly from the activity and I learned a lot from the examples of the great missionaries that the Munoz family produced. We have many return appointments for this week and a lot of work to do.
Just in case you were wondering, Daysi finally went to the temple and had an amazing experience. She also came to the missionary activity and is demanding from us that we order her a missionary name tag with her name on it. We told her she has to be a missionary and she just retorted, "EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY!". We may be small in numbers right now in the Hartford Spanish branch but you just wait... I have a feeling that this summer will be an extraordinary one.
I'm living the dream in Hartford!
with much love from your favorite elder,
-Elder Shepherd
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