Hey Everybody!!!!!
I have a lot to write and a very short amount of time to do it, but I will try to get it all in. So transfer calls came on Sunday night and 2 of the people in my apartment left out of the 4 of us that were their. Elder Palu got sent to Newburgh and is called to be zone leader, which is really crazy because he has only been out 6 months. He is a great Elder though and I see why the Lord needs him to be a zone leader. Then we found out that Elder Craig was going to be in New Pultz which is way upstate right by Newburgh so they will both be in the same zone. Then came the most shocking new of all, Elder Lawerence got called to be a trainer... its super crazy because he has only been out 3 months!!!! Then came another shocking update on what would be happening.... Elder Shepherd (me) got called to Train!!!!!! oh man when I heard the news I did not know what to think and I felt all sorts of emotions all at once.
So then on tuesday we all went to the kingsbridge chapel which is in the Bronx and we all waited for the new missionaries and the mission president. When they all arrived we lined up the trainers and the new missionaries and started pairing everybody off. Then is when I found out that the missionary that I am supposed to train is still at the MTC getting tests done because he was sick. He won't arrive in New York for the next couple weeks, so everybody pray for him that he will get better. So basiclly I am in a limbo just chillen with Elder Lawrence and Elder Goode, waiting for Elder Excilus to get here. hmmmm It kind of stinks but oh well I will definitly learn somthing. Woohoo Im excited to train but I know its a huge responsibilty so I will definitly stay close to the Lord and try my hardest to help him learn the best way to be a missionary.
Well I love you all and hope everything is going well. Please send letters. or packages :) i love you all and miss you!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
Sincerely
Elder Shepherd
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
O Harlem!!!!
Hey Everybody!!!!
I'm just here in Harlem having a good ole time talking to people and doing the Lords work. Its really awesome how important love is in this work and how important it is in life. Love keeps everything going, if Heavenly Father did'nt love us we wouldn't even exist let alone have a beautiful plan of salvation laid out before us. If people didn't love we would have destroyed oursleves a long time ago, however we could all do a little better at loving one another. Jesus told us that Love is the greatest commandment (Matt 22:37-40) so we should all try our hardest to love more and make this world a better place.
Nothing is really happening here in Harlem, we were teaching this great lady named Peggy who was going to come to church and continue to meet with us, but at the last minute she decided to go to her own church. Yesterday we were supposed to teach her but she wasn't home and wouldn't answer her door, we don't know if something happened but we are praying for her. We have a few other people that may progress but mostly our efforts are focused on finding. One of the Elders in my apartment said that when he first came out he had to come to terms that he was just going to be finding is whole mission, but he is getting baptisms every other week or atleast once a month. So far for me though it has been the exact oppisite, finding all the time everytime. Its good though and I know that as long as I am being obedient and desiring to build the kingdom of God, the Lord will bless me as He sees fit. Its really hard being 2 new missionaries together without an experience missionary but we have been learning a lot faster and doing a lot of trial by errors. Transfers are coming up thought and we know at least one of us is leaving if not both of us, we are really excited and a little bit nervous to see what going to happen.
This last week I learned the power of the Book of Mormon, not only by reading it but by just having it around it gives us a stronger spiritual force against evil. As we are walking through Harlem I try to always have a copy in my hand. I use it to show people how it is needed and they can feel the spirit as I bear testimony that it is true. Its made a huge effect in how the work goes and we have handed out a lot more copies of the Book of Mormon. I encourage all of you to read the Book of Mormon regularly and try to apply the principle into your daily life. Sorry if i don't have that many cool stories but it is really hard to remember everything that we did throughtout the week. I hope you are all doing great and I hope you all have happiness in your life.
Love
Elder Shepherd
I'm just here in Harlem having a good ole time talking to people and doing the Lords work. Its really awesome how important love is in this work and how important it is in life. Love keeps everything going, if Heavenly Father did'nt love us we wouldn't even exist let alone have a beautiful plan of salvation laid out before us. If people didn't love we would have destroyed oursleves a long time ago, however we could all do a little better at loving one another. Jesus told us that Love is the greatest commandment (Matt 22:37-40) so we should all try our hardest to love more and make this world a better place.
Nothing is really happening here in Harlem, we were teaching this great lady named Peggy who was going to come to church and continue to meet with us, but at the last minute she decided to go to her own church. Yesterday we were supposed to teach her but she wasn't home and wouldn't answer her door, we don't know if something happened but we are praying for her. We have a few other people that may progress but mostly our efforts are focused on finding. One of the Elders in my apartment said that when he first came out he had to come to terms that he was just going to be finding is whole mission, but he is getting baptisms every other week or atleast once a month. So far for me though it has been the exact oppisite, finding all the time everytime. Its good though and I know that as long as I am being obedient and desiring to build the kingdom of God, the Lord will bless me as He sees fit. Its really hard being 2 new missionaries together without an experience missionary but we have been learning a lot faster and doing a lot of trial by errors. Transfers are coming up thought and we know at least one of us is leaving if not both of us, we are really excited and a little bit nervous to see what going to happen.
This last week I learned the power of the Book of Mormon, not only by reading it but by just having it around it gives us a stronger spiritual force against evil. As we are walking through Harlem I try to always have a copy in my hand. I use it to show people how it is needed and they can feel the spirit as I bear testimony that it is true. Its made a huge effect in how the work goes and we have handed out a lot more copies of the Book of Mormon. I encourage all of you to read the Book of Mormon regularly and try to apply the principle into your daily life. Sorry if i don't have that many cool stories but it is really hard to remember everything that we did throughtout the week. I hope you are all doing great and I hope you all have happiness in your life.
Love
Elder Shepherd
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Pivotal Moment!!!!!
Dear Friends and Family!!!!
I love thinking of the things to put on the subject line of the e-mail. That line has to capture the readers attention so that they desire to read the rest of the e-mail, and not to be prideful or anything but I think the ones I use are pretty darn good :) So this week was fun, I have learned a lot and become a better missionary, I think... anyway I hope everything is going well back home, I miss you all very much, but I'm sure you are all getting the point where you have forgotten about me :(. Just kidding. I love being a missionary even though sometimes it is really hard, I try my hardest to focus all my time on serving the Lord but occasionally I will get caught up in thinking about home or people back home, or random stuff.
This week I realized something really important, it really changed the way I looked at steet contacting and tracting and everything else pertaining to missionary work. The thing I realized this week is the importance of us all being chilren of our Heavenly Father. We ALL lived with Heavenly Father before this life and we ALL chose to come down to this earth to experience mortality and to be tested. This puts all of us on the same page when it comes to this life, we all forgot who we are and where we came from and we are all experiencing a test from Heavenly Father. So here is a few questions that I ask myself sometimes: If this man is my brother why should I be afraid to ask him if he wants to learn about God's plan of Salvation? How can I help these people understand who they are? How can I become more of who I truly am and not who my natural man is?
Those are just a few questions I came up with to help me along my path of being a missionary and a child of God. We truly are brothers and sisters, and for those of us who have recieved the truth of our divine heirship, we have a sacred calling. We must step up and tell the world who they are and what they can become. We must awake our brothers and sisters who haven't recieved this knowledge, to the fact that they have a loving Heavenly Father who wants whats best for them. If we won't do this, who will?
On monday Elder Craig and I had a great experience in being able to teach a lady named Peggy. She is a fantastic lady who really does know Heavenly Father and wants to become closer to Him. We taught her from the scriptures and helped her to understand the true nature of God's plan for His children and the importance and need of a restoration and a living Prophet. Throughout the lesson her countenance seemed to grow brighter and brighter as we spoke of God's love and how He has shown us His love. She got very excited about the Book of Mormon and will definitley pray about it and ask if its true. She is a member of another church and told us that she doesn't want to change because she has been a member for 16 years, but we told her that if she read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, she would learn it was true and where Heavenly Father truly wants her to be. It was a great lesson and the spirit was so strong, even if she doesn't get baptized atleast we helped her along the way just a little bit more. :)
I love all of you and am praying for all of you to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and become more aware of who you truly are. We can all become stronger and closer to God if we just trust in the Lord and walk in His path.
Its really cold here in New York and its a bitter cold. Just to let all of you know I don't have an accent yet, and I don't plan on getting one. People in Harlem talk really funny and most of them have bad pronunciation so yea...
Love you all and hope things are good.
Love
Elder Shepherd
I love thinking of the things to put on the subject line of the e-mail. That line has to capture the readers attention so that they desire to read the rest of the e-mail, and not to be prideful or anything but I think the ones I use are pretty darn good :) So this week was fun, I have learned a lot and become a better missionary, I think... anyway I hope everything is going well back home, I miss you all very much, but I'm sure you are all getting the point where you have forgotten about me :(. Just kidding. I love being a missionary even though sometimes it is really hard, I try my hardest to focus all my time on serving the Lord but occasionally I will get caught up in thinking about home or people back home, or random stuff.
This week I realized something really important, it really changed the way I looked at steet contacting and tracting and everything else pertaining to missionary work. The thing I realized this week is the importance of us all being chilren of our Heavenly Father. We ALL lived with Heavenly Father before this life and we ALL chose to come down to this earth to experience mortality and to be tested. This puts all of us on the same page when it comes to this life, we all forgot who we are and where we came from and we are all experiencing a test from Heavenly Father. So here is a few questions that I ask myself sometimes: If this man is my brother why should I be afraid to ask him if he wants to learn about God's plan of Salvation? How can I help these people understand who they are? How can I become more of who I truly am and not who my natural man is?
Those are just a few questions I came up with to help me along my path of being a missionary and a child of God. We truly are brothers and sisters, and for those of us who have recieved the truth of our divine heirship, we have a sacred calling. We must step up and tell the world who they are and what they can become. We must awake our brothers and sisters who haven't recieved this knowledge, to the fact that they have a loving Heavenly Father who wants whats best for them. If we won't do this, who will?
On monday Elder Craig and I had a great experience in being able to teach a lady named Peggy. She is a fantastic lady who really does know Heavenly Father and wants to become closer to Him. We taught her from the scriptures and helped her to understand the true nature of God's plan for His children and the importance and need of a restoration and a living Prophet. Throughout the lesson her countenance seemed to grow brighter and brighter as we spoke of God's love and how He has shown us His love. She got very excited about the Book of Mormon and will definitley pray about it and ask if its true. She is a member of another church and told us that she doesn't want to change because she has been a member for 16 years, but we told her that if she read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, she would learn it was true and where Heavenly Father truly wants her to be. It was a great lesson and the spirit was so strong, even if she doesn't get baptized atleast we helped her along the way just a little bit more. :)
I love all of you and am praying for all of you to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and become more aware of who you truly are. We can all become stronger and closer to God if we just trust in the Lord and walk in His path.
Its really cold here in New York and its a bitter cold. Just to let all of you know I don't have an accent yet, and I don't plan on getting one. People in Harlem talk really funny and most of them have bad pronunciation so yea...
Love you all and hope things are good.
Love
Elder Shepherd
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Blessingz with a z!
Dear Family and Friends
Wooohoooo my first baptism was this last Saturday and it was such a great experience. It really does make all the hard times worth it to see the person step into the water and act in faith towards the Lord and be baptized. Elder Craig did the actual baptism and I was able to do the confirmation. I was really nervous because its in front of the whole congregation during sacrament meeting. It went really well except that the kid that was holding the mic accidentally hit me in the mouth, it didn't hurt but it just made a poping sound in the mic and it was kind of funny. haha. We continue to search out to find the elect who are ready to accept this gospel but the fruits are few and far between. We have been really blessed to find 2 this week already and we are praying that they will progress and want to be baptized in the future. I hope everyone is doing well back home and Thank you all for the letters and packages that I have recieved (Aunt Judy and Loni) I really really appreciate all the mail I get and it always brightens my day.
So this sunday ( the same day as Ronells confirmation) was the primary program for the Harlem 1st ward. The whole Sacrament was done entirely by the primary children and it was so amazing. The spirit was so strong and my testimony definitly became stronger through hearing the words of a child. The children really are our future and we must continue to help them find and stay on the right path, sometimes the youth think its ok to stray off the path so they can gain knowledge of what not to do. They think that if they leave they can quickly come back to the straight and narrow and be a better and stronger person for having strayed and learned what the "world" has to offer. They are sorely mistaken when they think this because it is much easier said then done to make it make on the path of righteousness. The straight and narrow is the way to eternal happiness and eternal life, their is never any need to stray from it or to let go of the iron rod so you can be stronger. The Lord is the one that makes us stronger, not the world. Everyday here in Harlem I see youth who live lives of destruction and sin, I truly do not have place to judge them for I don't know thier circumstance, but I can see the pain that it brings into their lives. Even though I don't know their situation I do know that the Lord and Savior has His arm extended to everybody, everywhere, in every situation. We can always choose to follow the Lord and it will ALWAYS be the best thing we can do. The Savior lives and He loves all of us. I am so blessed to be able to bring this knowledge to people each and everyday for 2 years. Even though sometimes it might become hard, frustrating and seem unbearable, we are all children of God and we all deserve to have the truth in our lives. I love all of you and pray for all of you. Sorry if I can't write many letters, i am working on getting more written but thier is a lot to do on Preperation day. Stay safe and choose the right.
Love
Elder Keldon James Shepherd
Wooohoooo my first baptism was this last Saturday and it was such a great experience. It really does make all the hard times worth it to see the person step into the water and act in faith towards the Lord and be baptized. Elder Craig did the actual baptism and I was able to do the confirmation. I was really nervous because its in front of the whole congregation during sacrament meeting. It went really well except that the kid that was holding the mic accidentally hit me in the mouth, it didn't hurt but it just made a poping sound in the mic and it was kind of funny. haha. We continue to search out to find the elect who are ready to accept this gospel but the fruits are few and far between. We have been really blessed to find 2 this week already and we are praying that they will progress and want to be baptized in the future. I hope everyone is doing well back home and Thank you all for the letters and packages that I have recieved (Aunt Judy and Loni) I really really appreciate all the mail I get and it always brightens my day.
So this sunday ( the same day as Ronells confirmation) was the primary program for the Harlem 1st ward. The whole Sacrament was done entirely by the primary children and it was so amazing. The spirit was so strong and my testimony definitly became stronger through hearing the words of a child. The children really are our future and we must continue to help them find and stay on the right path, sometimes the youth think its ok to stray off the path so they can gain knowledge of what not to do. They think that if they leave they can quickly come back to the straight and narrow and be a better and stronger person for having strayed and learned what the "world" has to offer. They are sorely mistaken when they think this because it is much easier said then done to make it make on the path of righteousness. The straight and narrow is the way to eternal happiness and eternal life, their is never any need to stray from it or to let go of the iron rod so you can be stronger. The Lord is the one that makes us stronger, not the world. Everyday here in Harlem I see youth who live lives of destruction and sin, I truly do not have place to judge them for I don't know thier circumstance, but I can see the pain that it brings into their lives. Even though I don't know their situation I do know that the Lord and Savior has His arm extended to everybody, everywhere, in every situation. We can always choose to follow the Lord and it will ALWAYS be the best thing we can do. The Savior lives and He loves all of us. I am so blessed to be able to bring this knowledge to people each and everyday for 2 years. Even though sometimes it might become hard, frustrating and seem unbearable, we are all children of God and we all deserve to have the truth in our lives. I love all of you and pray for all of you. Sorry if I can't write many letters, i am working on getting more written but thier is a lot to do on Preperation day. Stay safe and choose the right.
Love
Elder Keldon James Shepherd
This is my temporary Home!!!!!
Dear Family and Friends
Yes the subject line of this e-mail is a Carrie Underwood song, yes we can listen to it, yes i almost have the whole thing memorized because one of the Elders in my apartment loves to listen to it, no i don't sound like Carrie Underwood when I sing it. How is everybody??? I got a lot of letters and e-mails this week and that made me very happy!!!! Thank you everybody for the support and prayers that you have given in my behalf, but remember that I am only the messanger, please pray for those recieving the message that they will recieve it into their hearts and see the truth of it.
This week has been hard just like last weeks. It has been full of people who just want to argue and other people who just don't want to listen. I found a trick to stay positve though, I have started measuring my success by my own conversion. After every bad contact or after a solid our of people who don't want to listen I ask my self, "Do I know that this church is true more now then I did yesterday?" If I can answer yes to that answer then it has been a good day and if I can't then I just keep pushing myself till I can. Its a useful technique that I use on those hard days :) Something cool that happened the other day is this man named Leo who I street contacted into. He had all the right questions and had all the right docterines about God and the bible. For a few minutes I thought that he might be a member that was just messing with me but I never let it off that he was even after the 2 hour lesson that we had in the chapel. He gave us his number and said he was going to come to church, it was really an uplifting experience and made my day a lot better. He didn't come to church though and he won't answer his phone. Oh well atleast we may have helped him find the truth just a little bit more.
Ronnell is getting baptized this saturday!!! He asked Elder Craig to perform the baptism and I will be confirming him on Sunday, we just really hope he doesn't show up late to ether of those meetings. He has a tendency to do that a lot of the time, please pray for him.. This church is true and I love all of you and hope that you are all coming to Christ just a little bit more. keep sending letters please :) Oh and read Mosiah 18 very carefully, it is basiclly the covenant we make at baptism and we should all brush up on it.
Love Elder Shepherd
Yes the subject line of this e-mail is a Carrie Underwood song, yes we can listen to it, yes i almost have the whole thing memorized because one of the Elders in my apartment loves to listen to it, no i don't sound like Carrie Underwood when I sing it. How is everybody??? I got a lot of letters and e-mails this week and that made me very happy!!!! Thank you everybody for the support and prayers that you have given in my behalf, but remember that I am only the messanger, please pray for those recieving the message that they will recieve it into their hearts and see the truth of it.
This week has been hard just like last weeks. It has been full of people who just want to argue and other people who just don't want to listen. I found a trick to stay positve though, I have started measuring my success by my own conversion. After every bad contact or after a solid our of people who don't want to listen I ask my self, "Do I know that this church is true more now then I did yesterday?" If I can answer yes to that answer then it has been a good day and if I can't then I just keep pushing myself till I can. Its a useful technique that I use on those hard days :) Something cool that happened the other day is this man named Leo who I street contacted into. He had all the right questions and had all the right docterines about God and the bible. For a few minutes I thought that he might be a member that was just messing with me but I never let it off that he was even after the 2 hour lesson that we had in the chapel. He gave us his number and said he was going to come to church, it was really an uplifting experience and made my day a lot better. He didn't come to church though and he won't answer his phone. Oh well atleast we may have helped him find the truth just a little bit more.
Ronnell is getting baptized this saturday!!! He asked Elder Craig to perform the baptism and I will be confirming him on Sunday, we just really hope he doesn't show up late to ether of those meetings. He has a tendency to do that a lot of the time, please pray for him.. This church is true and I love all of you and hope that you are all coming to Christ just a little bit more. keep sending letters please :) Oh and read Mosiah 18 very carefully, it is basiclly the covenant we make at baptism and we should all brush up on it.
Love Elder Shepherd
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