Other funny Christmas stories...and pics...‏

Ok... First/Second picture: the river of nasty water.

That's right in front of our apartment.

Yup. Someone broke open a fire hydrant, and it let out this nasty brown water that flooded the entrance to our apartment and quickly iced over. Merry Christmas. I was sad to see all that beautiful, white snow turn into brown sludge.
Third/Fourth picture: It was snowing lightly last Monday, and we'd been walking all day long, all of our appointments canceled, and we hadn't eaten anything. One picture is of me just sitting on the curb, debating 'calling it quits' for the night,

and the other is shortly after when we decided to stop at Subway to replenish ourselves instead, and I made an awesome straw by combining 3 straws so that I would be able to lay my head on the table and slurp lemonade at the same time.

It was great.
Happy New Year!
 -Elder Shepherd

Cold, wet, and never happier!‏

Libraries were closed yesterday, and next Monday they will be closed as well, so I'm forced to email on Tuesday.
My Christmas wish for snow up to my chest came true the day after Christmas! On Sunday a huge storm blew over the east coast here, dumping 2 feet of snow on Providence, Rhode Island. It was awesome! The storm was going nuts outside all day Sunday. We helped someone shovel their driveway that evening, and then we got a text from our mission president telling us to go back home and stay indoors, so we 'played' in the snow on our way home. I attached a picture of my companion and I just before retiring that night-cold, wet, and never happier!
Christmas greetings from Providence! Christmas was such a good day. I attached a picture of me opening my presents Christmas morning. I was like a little kid. My tradition in that regard didn't change at all. I was still up at 6:30 AM, giddy as can be and full of the Christmas spirit.

The Hispanic people don't really celebrate the 25th on Christmas day; they actually celebrate the night before on the 24th all night long. They stay up until midnight eating tamales and drinking "punch" made out of fruits and vegetables. At midnight, they open all their presents and party the rest of the morning. Their celebration on the 25th consists of sleeping all day due to the party the night before. We were privileged to share in part of their celebrations on the 24th. I ate so many tamales and drank so much "punch" that I nearly exploded. It was great! The next morning, we had breakfast with a Guatemalan family that we're teaching. I attached a picture of us at breakfast.

We spent the majority of Christmas day visiting investigators and families, and of course calling home was the best.
One particular visit on Christmas day took on special significance for me. We visited a woman that I baptized a little over 2 months ago that evening. She's an older woman with little family. What little family she does have left town without her. She spent almost all day on the 24th and 25th alone. The moment we walked into her house that evening, I knew that she'd been crying and lonely. She shared with us how she'd gotten in an argument with her daughter several days before. I sat there, trying to think of how to console her. I tried to put myself in her shoes, and one of the closest things that I could remember was an experience that I had a couple years ago.
It was Christmas Eve, and as part of our family tradition we were going to see a movie at the theaters. Well, we were all gathered and ready to go when I ran to the bathroom really quickly before departing. When I came out of the bathroom 30 or so seconds later everyone was gone. I ran to the door but they were already gone. My initial feeling was total dejection. "How could they have forgotten about me!? Didn't anyone notice that I wasn't there!?" I decided to sit next to the phone, expecting them to notice that I'd been left behind, and to call me with apologies, begging forgiveness. A couple minutes passed by. "They seriously don't notice that I'm missing?"  A couple more minutes passed by.  "They aren't going to call me."  I finally got over my pride and called my dad's cell phone. "I'm not in the car!" I said. My dad turned the car around and jetted back home. We all ended up laughing about the whole thing.
Anyway, I remember how I felt at first when I realized that I'd been left behind and no one noticed. It was one of the closest things that I had experienced that related with her. In my experience, I had to get over my pride and call my father for help. As my mind caught hold on that experience, and with those emotions running through me, I felt inspired to say to her, "I know that you've been praying, and God sent me here in answer to those prayers. You're not alone. He knows you've been suffering, and He wanted you to 'call home'. He is so pleased that you did." The spirit flooded the room. I will never forget how I felt in that moment. I think that's how Christmas is really supposed to feel. I knew that God had used me to answer her prayer, and I knew that He knew her. I knew that He knew me because he'd brought to my mind past experiences that I'd had in order to be able to administer with genuine love and concern.
These 2 Christmases that I've spent in the mission field will forever be special for me. They are unique and cherished memories. I hope to take that same spirit I've felt here and share it with my future family.
Christmas was so wonderful! I thank all of you for remembering me in your prayers and hearts. I'm especially grateful to those of you who wrote me and let me know I was loved. I felt your love from afar.
This week we go to 2011! I can't believe it! I go home this year! Weird.
         With much love from your favorite elder,
                 -Elder Shepherd

Caroling, but not in the snow...‏

Feliz Navidad from Rhode Island!
It's slightly depressing that there is still no snow here in Providence. The forecast has lied and said that it would snow and then it didn't... The forecast still has snow for the next couple of days, so I still have a hope for a white Christmas. I might die if it doesn't snow soon. It's kind of a big deal. Pray for me.
I can tell that the mission is making me more Christlike, because I'm developing a love and appreciation for those whom I serve,  greater than I've ever had before. My companion was really frustrated this week with an attitude that is prevalent in the Hispanic culture: They love the missionaries and want to feed them every day. It faintly resembles a lack of understanding from the members as to our purpose as missionaries. "We want to help them do missionary work. We want to preach the gospel. They just want us fat." was his 'missionary mentality'. While there is some truth to that, we also saw that there was a much deeper meaning behind it. These people are so sharing and loving. I've never been received so kindly and warmly. Many of the people we teach have very very little, and they are so willing to share what little they have with others. I know that many of them are in financially tight situations, but without fail they look to see if there is a way to serve others before gratifying themselves. I have been the grateful recipient of so many acts of kindness and love in the form of rice, beans, and chicken that it brings me to tears. Perhaps we could learn a very profound lesson from them. Yes, I've been called to preach the gospel and I've been sent to 'teach and not be taught' as it says in D&C, but it also says that you shall 'be taught from on high' as you teach, and that God's grace will attend you as you teach diligently. (D&C 88:77-78) I've taught a lot, but I've learned a lot as well. Words can't describe my gratitude. I love these people so much.
One of the coolest things as a missionary is seeing the change in people. Even cooler than that is seeing the people who you taught teach others. I recently began to think of the gospel like an awesomely righteous 'pyramid scheme'. There are some fundamental similarities and differences, but just go with me for a moment. Let's take an example: Elder Shepherd teaches George Hernandez. George Hernandez then teaches Manuel Almonte. George and Manuel both have families who are taught by them, and they serve in countless capacities for the rest of their lives teaching and sharing. The cycle goes on, eventually the pope gets baptized, and MANY people are effected by the courageous decision made by George. I had that thought cross my mind this week as one of my recent converts (baptized 5 months ago) came teaching with me. This recent convert bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and shared the story about Nephi and the brass plates. Our investigator, Manuel, was really touched by young Georges testimony and courage. It was a tender mercy for me. I was frustrated with the lack of 'success' that we'd had for the past couple of months and I felt like I wasn't doing much good at all in the world. George showed me otherwise. I'm so incredibly grateful that, if only for a brief moment, my understanding expanded and I was able to recognize my blessings and perhaps some of the 'hidden fruits' of my labor.
Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas for me without Christmas music either, so I got permission from my Mission President to organize a group of sisters and elders and go caroling in downtown Providence. We caroled for 2 and a half hours in downtown Providence last Saturday, and it was awesome! I stood in front of our group and conducted them as we sang the Christmas Hymns from the hymnbook. We talked to so many people and made so many contacts! The spirit touched our hearts as well as those who stopped to listen to us, and the true spirit of Christmas was awakened in them. I'll never forget these 2 Christmases that I've spent as a missionary. They are cherished and beautiful memories for me.
I wish all of you a Merry Christmas!
         with much love from your favorite elder,
                    -Elder Shepherd

Freezing Rain

Still no snow yet...It sure is raining a lot though. Have you ever been in ''freezing rain'' before? I hadn't ever experienced this phenomenon until coming on the mission. The temperature is just warm enough to have rain, but it's cold enough at ground level that everything is below freezing. Anyway, what happens is that it rains and then freezes to whatever it hits. Windshield wipers were frozen to the windshields of cars, and the ground is slick and icy. It's quite messy. I do love the rain, but it better snow soon or I'm gonna lose it. Apparently, most of Connecticut and New York (and most of the east coast) got pounded with snow, but Rhode Island was completely untouched... la tristeza de me vida...

 I attached a picture of me having a "holly jolly" Christmas. I thought it was funny. The other picture has a funny story to go along with it: We returned to our apartment to eat lunch and we were both really really really tired. My companion went a flopped down on the couch in that exact position with his hands over his eyes and, almost instantly, fell asleep. I could tell because he began to snore like a monster. My camera has this cool feature where you can add a 'sound tag' to a picture, so I recorded him snoring and attached it to the picture of him sleeping. I can't send the snoring through the email, but the picture is still pretty funny.
 We had a fireside last night in our ward that the missionaries planned. We asked the bishop what he felt like the ward needed to learn about. He returned and asked us to speak about reverence. The topic of our fireside last night was reverence. Elder Allred, a Spanish missionary serving in Central Falls, was the first speaker. He focused on reverence in the chapel particularly, and why we should be reverent. We then had a special musical number by the 4 of us missionaries. We sang "The First Noel" a cappella in Spanish in 3 parts. I love serving with other missionaries who can sing! We then had a visitor from the stake bear his testimony, and then I spoke. I spoke about reverence as part of our character, something that follows us wherever we go. Reverence isn't just something taken upon yourself for 3 hours every Sunday, it is your whole attitude towards God that follows you everywhere (or should follow you everywhere). It is profound respect for sacred things, and reflects in your words, thoughts, feelings, and behavior. I spoke specifically of the home and the family, and the type of 'reverence' that should exist there. Pictures of Christ should be displayed in our homes. It should be a refuge, a place of peace where the Holy Spirit can abide and always be welcome. Reverence involves how parents treat and educate their children, how siblings treat and teach one another, and the kinds of activities that take place in the confines of the home. If parents don't teach their children reverence in the home, then they can not be surprised when their children don't behave well or behave even worse out of the home. Anyway, I spoke along those lines for a little while. The fireside was well attended, despite it being a very rainy night. Those who know Hispanic people may know that they are late to EVERYTHING. Is that reverent? No. In no way does that denote reverence or respect. They plan for every activity to begin at least 30 minutes AFTER the stated starting time. It's terrible. Anyway, when we started the fireside at 7 PM on the dot there were only about 6 members there. When we ended, there were 63 members in attendance... Great turnout! The majority of them walked in during Elder Allred's talk (about 20 minutes late).  I lovingly called them to repentance. Change is hard, but we'll see if things begin to turn around.
The Christmas Musical Program that I've been planning for a while debuted last Wednesday at our mission conference. It went really well! I was really excited to work with lots of different missionaries and put their talents together. I had a lot of fun with it. We laughed, we cried, we went all over the human spectrum of emotion, and we ended on a really strong note about focusing on the Savior this Christmas season. I wish I could have recorded it.
I love you all, and I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas focused on the life and teachings of our Savior. I hope it's snowing wherever you are too.
    With much love from your favorite elder,
              -Elder Shepherd

Still no snow... :(‏

There is still no snow here in Providence. *big-depressing-sigh* I really love the snow. My companion is still unsure about the whole idea of living in a 'snowy' climate. He's never had snow for Christmas. Seeing as he's from Arizona and lives in a desert, I don't expect him to understand. I'll show him how wonderful the snow can be if taken in the right attitude. Don't misunderstand me, it's not all that great to walk for miles and miles in uncomfortable dress shoes in 2 feet of snow, soaking wet, freezing cold, and knocking on doors all day; however, don't forget the 'magic' and the 'wonder' of how beautiful the snow is and how much enjoyment we can get out of it and spoil your time and make you a Grinch. I am eagerly awaiting the first snow here.
I've really enjoyed working on this Christmas Musical that I've put together for the mission. This Wednesday all the missionaries in our mission are meeting in a chapel in Connecticut to enjoy a 'Christmas Devotional' day. We'll perform the music program I put together as part of our festivities. It'll be a good one. It's a series of narrations with songs that talk about the varying levels of Christmas worship: the 'Santa Claus' level, the 'Baby Jesus level', and "The Living Christ" level of Christmas, which is the deepest and most meaningful observance of this time of year. Celebrating the birth of Jesus is great, but we can't be content to merely leave Christ in the manger. This time isn't just significant because Christ was born, but because he would live and die for each and every one of us. May we enjoy a Christmas this year focused on our Savior, Jesus Christ, and living His teachings of love and peace.
I met Maria and her 2 teenage children, Sandria and Armando, for the first time yesterday evening. Their lives were shook when Maria's husband died 2 months ago. They've had a hard time coping with the loss, and now they're struggling to pay the mortgage. A sensitive friend of Maria, who happens to be a member of the church, saw what she was going through and referred the missionaries to her. She accepted the invitation. My heart ached for this family as I saw clearly the pain in their eyes.  I can tell that the mission is making me Christlike, because I felt so much love for them and pain for their loss, and moreover, for their confusion as to where their husband and father now was. We testified of eternal families. We showed them a picture of the Salt Lake Temple that I always carry around with me. "In this building," we explained, "you will take part in ordinances that will 'bind' you to your family for eternity. Families are forever through God's plan of happiness. He wants your family to go to the temple." We testified of the Plan of Salvation and taught them about the spirit world. The spirit flooded the room as the eyes of our understanding were opened and our hearts burned within us. The greatest joy that I've ever felt out here in the mission has been through teaching testifying of eternal families. I know that I am part of an eternal family, and that knowledge fills me peace and happiness. That knowledge will do the same for Maria and her family as they come to embrace the restored gospel.
God is so good to us.
Have a wonderful week, and don't forget to give someone a hug!
      With much love from your favorite elder,
            -Elder Shepherd

Thanksgiving rice

I'm emailing on Wednesday because the computers here in Providence didn't work on Monday. How lame.
This entire week I've been pretty sick with the flu. Being sick as a missionary is the worst. You feel like you're wasting your time because your sitting in the house all day instead of hitting the streets, but in all reality you save yourself time in the long-run if you give yourself a day or 2 to recuperate instead of trying to work several 'half-days' while you're sick. Being sick took a big shot at our plans for this week, and we missed out on a lot. We still had a good thanksgiving. We went to the chapel in Providence and played piano and sang for a while. We ate a great thanksgiving dinner with the Recino family. Thanksgiving with chicken and rice was awesome. I did miss having turkey, though.
I met Jose Quiroa about a month ago. He was the pastor of an evangelical congregation back in Guatemala, but he came here to make some money to help out his family. He's a family man so he couldn't stand being away from his family for so long and he went home to Guatemala this week. He'd been told a lot of lies and garbage about the church back in Guatemala, and he'd even been given a copy of the Book of Mormon, but he never read it because he was told that it was full of lies and that's 'how the Mormons get you'. Anyway, he warmed up to us and we had some pretty awesome talks about the gospel with Jose. We had our last lesson with him this week, and we got his address and telephone number so that the missionaries down in Guatemala can keep visiting with him. I'll never forget how I felt as we sang "God be with you til' we meet again" before leaving. Jose hugged us with tears in his eyes and thanked us. The spirit reached into our hearts and filled us with love. It was a special moment. I wish Jose 'God's Speed' as he leaves for Guatemala. He'll be missed.

I got transfer falls this weekend, and I'm staying here in Providence until the 2nd week of January at least. YAY! I really wanted to stay here in Providence for Christmas. The 2 Brazilians in my district went home, and we got 2 new Brazilians. One is a greenie and the other is going home this transfer. I attached a picture of my district from this last transfer. I feel so old... most of the missionaries are younger than me now. *sigh* It's weird.
It's raining, and I've got to go knock some doors. We're so hardcore.
   With much love from your favorite elder,
             -Elder Shepherd

The LAST door‏

Let me explain that picture that I attached. We showed up to our investigators house, and he was watching a cheesy cartoon network cartoon in spanish when we came in called "Dragonball Z". I laughed way hard, and that night, my companion and I took some fun "Dragonball Z" pictures.
The other picture has a good story with it too. We had this appointment with a woman who lives way out in the boondocks of our area. I was surprised that any Hispanic people lived there, because it was a neighborhood for old, white, well-to-do Americans, and it was just unexpected. Anyway, we walked for about 2 hours, talking to people in the streets on the way, to get out there. It was really cold and cloudy. They weren't home... That's the face that I had on.

 It turn out to be a fruitful venture, because we stopped by someone who I hadn't seen in several months. We had a nice chat with them. They think that demons have been haunting their house since we stopped going over. We said a prayer and everything felt better. We'll start teaching them again this week.
We're quickly approaching thanksgiving here and it still hasn't snowed yet... not like Utah. Andy and Ashley set me some really great pictures that I enjoyed very much of them making snowmen. I was super jealous. As soon as it snows here, my companion and I will be sending some pictures your way. The beautiful fall colors still linger here, but it's getting really cold. It's been cold enough to snow the past couple of days, but it hasn't been wet enough. It frustrates me, because all fall long it was raining and wet, and now that I want it to snow the moisture has left. *sigh* I have hope for a white Christmas still.
So, you know how in all the 'American' wards they always play football on thanksgiving? "Turkey Bowls". What a great tradition. Last year in New Haven, I participated in the turkey bowl, and I got creamed, but it was lots of fun. This year I'm in a full out Spanish ward, so no one plays American football. They play the real deal: "Futbol", or as gringos call it, soccer. They're playing 'futbol' as a ward thursday morning. I'll definitely send you some pictures, because I'll be the only white guy out there, and I'll be a foot taller than everyone else. It'll be awesome.
We had kind of a rough week this week. My companion and I are both sick, and we had to walk a lot in the cold. Lot's of our appointments cancelled. It's sad because we'd like to see more progression in the people we're currently teaching. It was good though, because we met a lot of new people who have a lot of teaching potential for the future. It doesn't matter how many doors I've knocked, or how many people I've opened up conversations with in the streets, I still have that initial 'butterfly in the stomach' feeling as I open up my mouth. "Are they gonna yell at me? The last guy spit on me... I don't know if this one looks any brighter. What am I gonna say to this person?" etc... are kind of like the thoughts that describe that feeling. It's hard getting past the doubt and fear and opening up your mouth anyway when you've already had 100 people reject you that day. What's cool about those kinds of stories is that it's always the VERY LAST door that you knock, or at the VERY LAST minute that amazing things happen. You've probably heard lots of missionary stories like that. I've lived them. This week for example, we were walking for a really long time in the freezing cold and a lot of people had already turned us down that day. People who shout, "Go Satan!" out their window as they drive by in the car taunting us, doors shut in our faces, and cold shoulders and awkward glances in the streets. Most normal people would give up by this point, but we were on a mission and we stayed strong. It was dark, we were tired, and it was probably about time for us to start heading home, but we decided to knock on one more door. This nice old man answered, let us in, served us sprite and cookies, talked with us, sang hymns with us, and invited us back. How cool is that!? God is so good to us when we persevere. I certainly don't like the pain and suffering part, but I know that no matter how fat and ugly this dark cloud may appear, it will have it's silver lining, and I'll be grateful for having seen the storm through till the end.
The mission is pretty much the greatest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. I LOVE teaching! I LOVE the people! I don't know if that's corny or not, but it sure does ring true to how I feel. The mission has made me a much more 'grateful' person. I count my blessings more often, and I give thanks to God for them. Try it! You'll be a happier person.
I love you all so much, and I hope that you have a happy Thanksgiving!