10-20-10

It has really been hard here in Harlem since my trainer left Elder Craig and I to fend for ourselves on the streets of one of the most close minded areas in the world. Harlem has a church on the corner of every block and that makes it really hard to help people see that Christ true church has been restored. Most people have a pretty strong faith in Christ which is really really good but they don't understand that they don't have a fulness of truth or the authority to do the things to be saved in the kingdom God. Even though its hard we are keeping a postive attitude and having a hope for better days. Ronnell has a job now and he is not meeting with us very often because his job takes up a lot of his time. We are trying to help him realize how much he needs the gospel in his life and that he needs to be baptized soon. He is doing better then all the other investigators that we had, all of them have pretty much dropped off of the face of the earth.
A pretty cool experience that happened yesterday is when we were going to look up a less active lady. So we were walking up the road that she lived on and we were walking next to this lady. I decided I was going to contact her and see if she was interested in learning about the church. Well she was very nice and knew what we were doing but she wasn't interested in hearing about it. So I just did what I normally do and just kept talking to her so atleast she could have a postive influence with the church. As we talked she finally revealed to us that she was baptized into the LDS church when she was 14 years old, along with her mother. I was so excited when I heard this that I told her that
"We are your welcome home party!!!! WOOOOO!!" and totally invited her to come back to church and we would love to see her, then I asked her name and she told us. Her name sounded really familiar and a thought came to mind to look at the look up list that we had, but i ignored this prompting and kept talking to her about the church. She then told us she lived in Queens and so she couldn't come to the ward in Harlem. So we gave her are phone number and told her to call us so we could give her info to the Queens Elders. She said ok and said bye and walked across the street and then i looked at the look up list. Then I realized the lady that we were going to look up was the lady we were talking to just a second ago. So we decided to go see her at her apartment which was right across the street where she walked to. So we got to her door and knocked and a dog started barking, then an eye looked through peep hole and then the dog stopped barking and the apartment went silent. I guess she found it creepy that we showed up to her door right after talking to her on the street, I think she thought we followed her. The moral of the story is to ALWAYS follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and if you do you will be guided what to do to not make yourself look like a creep.. oh well .... :)
I hope everything is going well back home and I would love to hear from everybody.... I only got one e-mail from my family this week and it was very short.... and only one letter... it was a great letter... Im not complaining....just know.....writing missionaries brings blessings.... :)
Love you all
-Elder Shepherd

10-13-2010

Dear family and friends,
Its been a trying but good week here in Harlem and I am really missing home and everybody. The one investigator who's baptism was going to be on saturday has decided he needs to wait till the 30th to get baptised. Its a little frustrating but I think its for the best because we still have a lot to teach him. Transfer calls were yesterday and Elder Craig and I are taking over the area while our trainer ( Elder Duran) is going to be the new assistant to the President. That means all of my trainers in the mission field have been Asisstants to the President, I have a lot to live up to in the family tree. No big crazy events have happened except for we talked to this lady in our ward and she told us her conversion story. So she was 9 months pregnant and was living at this family house who were all members, she had been taking the missionary lessons for a while but had never accepted to be baptised. On this particular night she was in a severe amount of pain due to being 9 months pregnant and was having a really really bad night. Then she woke up in the middle of the night and there was a man sitting on her bed. The man explained to her that she needed to join the mormon church becauseit was the only true church on earth. He then told her the reason it was the true church was because it had a true Prophet of God to lead and guide it. She described this man to be about 6 feet or so with reddish brown hair and a scar below his left eye. He also walked with a slight limp and wore old fashion clothing. This man told her that his name was Joseph Smith and then touched her stomach and all her pain went away. He then got up and walked out of the house with her following him, after he left she ran through the house screaming " I have seen him, I have seen him!!!!" She did not have anymore pregnancy pain till 3 days later when she had her baby girl named paula. It was so amazing to her this story and I really feel it is true because I felt the spirit when she said it and the sincerity in her eyes and tone of voice I don't think she could fake. I know that this church really is the true church of God and President Monson is the true Prophet of God to lead and guide the church. Conference was awesome and I hope all of you got to have the experience of feeling the spirit testify that the leaders of this church truly are called of God. I hope you all had questions in mind that you recieved answers to and I hope you recieved comfort and counsel.
Stay close to God through prayer, Learn His will through pondering and studying the scripture study, Better yourself by concentrating your efforts on helping others around you, Humble yourself by admitting your faults and trying your hardest to fix them. Love more, Learn more, and Live more, because this truly is our time of probation that we come to follow God or follow our own natural man. I love you all and hope and pray for your spiritual and physical welfare. Remember the Lord and you will ultimately find truth no matter what.
Love,
Elder Shepherd

Letters from Keldon

9/1/2010

I made it to New York safe and sound and everthing is great! My first area is Scarsdale, and I am the new Assistant to the President!!!!! Just kidding, but seriously my trainers are the Assistants to the President and they are both amazing! Elder Fox and Elder Butler are my companions and they are great missionaries. We got to drive to upstate New York today and its absolutely gorgeous, everything is so green. I love this gospel and am very excited to serve the Lord for 2 years. I know that this is the Lords church and it well bless our lives if we let it. I was reading in D&C on the way here and section 6 really touched my heart and helped me to see that this Gospel has given me the light in my life and without it I would be lost. This Gospel answers all the questions of the soul and WILL I repeat WILL guide us back into Heavenly Fathers presence.

I have some bad news though, all the pictures on my memory got deleted. I don't have any pictures of my experience in the MTC or from before that so I won't be able to send you any, Sorry. I hope everything is going good back home and I dearly miss all of you but to be honest I have never been happier :) I love everybody and i hope i get lots of letters from all of you. Ill try to send a much longer e-mail next wednesday(wednesdays are my preparation day here) but this week I have a lot to do so its not as long. I suggest all of you study your scriptures and pray regularly though, I promise that no matter what kind of trial you are having doing those things will help.

Love

Elder Keldon James Shepherd

Then Keldon got moved to a new area - Harlem NY

9/15/2010

Hello everybody!!!!! It has been a super fantastic week here in Harlem, New York. We have had a lot of teaching appointments and even more street contacts. The major people we are teaching right now are Terrence Young, and Rosemary and Anthony. Ill start by telling about Terrance. Terrence owns a barber shop across the street from the church and he is a super great guy. He cuts Chris Rock's hair and a couple of other celebrities so everybody knows him and loves him. The missionaries started teaching him a couple of weeks ago and they took him on a tour of the chapel here in Harlem ( which is absolutely beautiful). He loved the chapel and had so many questions for the missionaries. Since I have been here we have taught him about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Book of Mormon. He has been reading the Book of Mormon pretty regularly and he always has questions. The other night we were talking with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and what a person must do to be able to return to Heavenly Father again someday. All of a sudden we started talking about the first vision and one of us quoted JSH 1:16-17. He stepped back and let out a deep breathe and then asked every single one of us to recite the sacred manifestation of the Prophet Joseph Smith. After we had all quoted it Terrence told us that he had prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and he knew that they were both true, he then said that he wanted to be baptized in 2 weeks!!! We told him that we still had to go over a few stuff and that he had to quit a few things before he could be baptized so we set the date for October 9th!!! Its going to be my first baptism!!! Terrence is such a great man and he will be a great asset to the church and he will also be a stepping stone in getting his girlfriend baptised also.

Now on to Rosemary and Anthony. So Elder Craig and I left Elder Duran because we had 2 appointments at once so he was going to go with a member to the other appointment. So we went to the Polo grounds, which is one of the most ghetto places in NY, once you step foot on the grounds you feel the spirit come closer and tighter around you and you can feel the badness all around you. Its ok though because we have the Lord on our side. Anyway Rosemary and Anthony live in the Polo grounds so we went their to teach them yesterday and once we got their they were playing music so loud in their apartment that they couldn't hear the phone or the door. So we decided to go outside and say a prayer. Right before we were about to say the prayer Elder Craig decides to call them one more time and guess what... They answered!!!!! So we told them we would be up in just a minute. We still said a prayer but it was a prayer of thanks rather then a plea for a miracle. So we went and taught Rosemary and Anthony about the Plan of Salvation. Rosemary's grandma had just passed away so it was very cool for her to be able to understand that we will be able to see our loved ones after this life. The great thing was when we talked about the Atonement, Anthony's countenance totally changed and everybody felt the spirit so strong!!! After we got through with the lesson we invited them to come to church and to be baptised on the 9th of October.... They totally accepted!!!! So we have 3 bapt. dates already set up for next month and we have been getting a lot of new investigators. Its awesome because we are being helped by the Lord and helping Him to build up His kingdom. Some people are mean to us and we have been called a cult a few times but the times when people's lives our changed through are message is what makes the mission. This church is true and Christ is our Savior. please pray for all the investigators that we have and for the people who need us. Thank you all so much for the letters and words of encouragement. I try my hardest to write everybody back but I don't have a lot of time on Preparation day.

Oh by the way we had a multi zone conference yesterday and we learned about recieving revelation through church attendance. It so important to go to church and recieve that comforting spirit for the rest of the week.

Love

Elder Shepherd

P.S. Remember that the road to salvation always leads through the garden of gethsemane. thats a quote from Elder Holland. Oh and everbody should read 2 Nephi 33. Bye

9/29/2010

Hey everybody its rainy here in Harlem and I finally got to test out my new trench coat. Lets just say I looked just like Neo from the matrix, it was awesome. The work is difficult here, we are still getting turned down a lot and some people are extremely mean. We just tell them to have a good day and we pray that Heavenly Father will help to soften their hearts. All of the Baptismal dates we set fell throught but luckily we have the Lord on our side and He gave us a miracle. One day we were going to an appointment and ran into this guy named Ronnel. Elder Duran asked if he needed help quitting smoking and he said he did so we got his info and told him we would call him. We have met with him a few times and he has accepted to be baptized on the 16th of October its so cool. The problem is that Ronnel is ALWAYS late, not just is he late but he is LATE!! He usually shows up about 4 hours after the scheduled time that we were supposed to meet. Fortunately whenever he shows up we are usually at the church and we aren't busy. The Lord will guide those that are ready even if they have a problem being on time. Not only is Ronnel a miracle but he brought his friend to a lesson last night ( only 3 hours late) and we taught her. The spirit was so strong and we were able to answer many of her questions that she has had for a while. She also accepted to be baptized but her baptism will be on the 23rd and she really wants her son to be baptized too!! The Lord gave us 3 baptisms within a couple of weeks!!! It really strengthened my testimony about the divinity of this work and that it truly is the Lords work and not ours.

I great member that I met is named Brother Keitt, whats great about him is that he is so spiritual and so faithful to the truth and this church. In his apartment he has 3 chairs set up that are reserved for the Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost. If you sit in one of them he will get really mad, Elder Butler told us a story when he accidently sat in one. Bro. Keitt also call his place "Zion Headquaters" and does a lot of work to build up the kingdom of God. He is such a great man and so understanding of everybodies situation. He knows everyone needs this gospel but he also realizes that everyone will come in thier own pace. He has taught me a lot and feed me a lot too. Thank you so much for everybodies support and prayers. I miss everybody and hope you are all doing wonderfully in your lives. Just remember that we all must strive to build Heavenly Fathers Kingdom in our own way. Oh by the way the Manhattan Temple is absolutely beautiful it is now in my top 3. Love you all and may God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Shepherd

10/6/2010

Hey Family and Friends

Not much has gone on this past week but a few things. These French guys who make french documentaries came to Harlem and made a documentary on all the communities in Harlem. One of these communities was the Mormon community!!! Thats right Elder Shepherd is gonna be famous in France!!!! I don't think I will be in it that much, Its mostly my Trainer Elder Duran and the sister missionaries and this member named Sister Dickey. The French guys followed us around as we did some street contacting a recorded a really legit lesson with some people who own a restaurant. It was cool to see that people want to learn about us and why we do what we do. We tried are hardest to get the french guys to want to be baptised but they never accepted the commitment haha.

General Conference was Awesome!!!!!! I learned so much from every talk and I felt the spirit testify that the Prophet and Apostles are truly called of God. This church is true and its only through baptism by the proper authority that a person can enter into the kingdom of God. And living worthily of course. It was just so awesome to have the Prophet and apostles speak to us and let us know what we need to do to lead better lives. Every word they said spoke to the very center of my soul and I have been a change man since. I am very proud of my big brother Keagan who let me know that he watch quite a bit of conference, good Job bro I am very proud of you.

One thing that I have learned this past week that has helped me a lot is that we choose to be happy. Nobody can choose for us if we wiill be happy or not, we have to be the one to make that decision. I challenge everybody to strive to be happy in every and any situation. I promise that it will make a huge impact in your life. We have been having a rough time here in Harlem because talking to so many people all day long that don't want to hear the message or are opposed to the church really gets you down sometimes. Then I read a talk by President Wirthlin and he talked about choosing to be happy. So I took the challenge and it has truly made my mission 10x more fun and makes it go by a lot faster. If we will strive to live this gospel and have a postive attitude the Holy Ghost will be with us, the Lord wiill bless us in ways that we can not even imagiine. We will not have fear of the unknown but we will have a firm belief in God that He will guide us and protect us. One man that we taught this week named Marian needs the happiness this gospel brings. He is started on the path that many of us have been on or are on. Its so amazing to see what changes this gospel can make in the lives of others. Well I hope everything is going good and everybody is healty and happy. I love all of you and want you to know that I know that this church is the true church of God. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love all of mankind. Heavenly Father has a plan for our happiness and all we have to do is follow his son and we can have happiness.