email dated 7-8-08
Our hero has suffered much this week. The desired "symmetry" as he brilliantly put it was unrealized. The doctor took well over half of the toenail, cut so deep that it still bleeds a little bit, and it has stitches...but hey, at least it feels better!
The suffering never stops, however, for our hero in the land down under Brazil. After months of off and on stomach aches and nausea he reluctantly took advantage of the opportunity to see a doctor. It turns out young Elder Andrew Shepherd is suffering from the ever common GASTRITIS!!! UGGH!! OH I so had it coming!!! How do you spell Karma? I actually don't know. Anyway, I teased Matt like crazy for coming home from Peru with Gastritis. And now look at me. I am not even a full 9 months into the mission and I got the disease. My stomach lining is apparently in complete shambles. One word: SICK! And the Doctor tried saying, "well, avoid eating anything with too much oil, or any sweets. Avoid rices, milanesas, porotos, anything with noodles, etc..." which is EVERYTHING that they feed us down here. One of the best parts about it is that I was DYING on Monday and I couldn't figure out why. I had had my toe surgery and guess what the doctor had me take. Go ahead, guess! Aspirin and Ibuprofen!! There are no drugs worse for someone with gastritis than Aspirin and Ibuprofen. They rip your stomach to shreds. My stomach ache was unbearable on Monday. And the saddest part is that I blamed my stomach pains on emotional stress...nope. It was gastritis, only I didn't know it at the time. So there you have it Matt. Yuck it up and enjoy it while you can. Because I am going to beat you up when I come home. Way to jinx me!
In later news, Elder Shepherd has decided that Global Warming is a definite reality. I am supposed to be in the coldest month that Uruguay knows. But we hit a warm front and last week my companion and I went around in short sleeved shirts. It has been SO nice. Our roof is dripping like crazy on us from humidity, but I could care less because at least I am not cold. Pero, éste calamiento global me preocupa bastante! California won't exist by the time I finish my mission and I still want to go to Disneyland one more time at least. But, I am delighted to report that this warm week came as a result of your prayers. I am decided on that. I criticized you all last week for not praying hard enough, and I felt your prayers this week. Not only did we find some "in the bag" investigators this week, but it has been really warm. Thank you for your prayers! Uruguay owes you all a debt of gratitude. If they only knew that God gave us good weather just because Elder Shepherd's fans back home were praying...
It did rain yesterday, however. It wasn't cold at least. However, the rainy day provided that I was carrying my umbrella. As often happens, all of our morning appointments fell through and we were left out in a rainy empty street. My companion asked "now what do we do?" I stemmed my umbrella from the top of my head and began making radio noises. I turned the umbrella to try and catch the signal. To no avail. I said "I am not getting anything...hold on a second...no I am not getting anything." I continued making my radio noises and he still didn't laugh yet. I was most disappointed. I am so funny that they should put me in movies, and he didn't even crack a smile. He eventually admitted that it was funny.
Speaking of Elder Oliphant, he will be the first companion I stay with for longer than one transfer!! We're staying here in Tacuarembo. I am glad. I feel really good about it. I wasn't ready to leave. I haven't done everything I need to do here yet. We are getting along just swimmingly. Yesterday when I suggested we write a song-poem for companion study about the mission, he actually agreed. Sometimes you need a day like that. It was fun.
So here is my story for the week. We got a guy to reactivate and start going back to church...to the Catholic Church. But here is the best part. I feel GREAT about it. Half of his family are members of our church, but he isn't. He never went to Catholic mass, nor did he even own a bible. He doesn't want to change yet, but we have been inviting him to read the bible. He has been reading the bible and going to church for a month now. His mom yesterday thanked us with tears in her eyes. "I don't care if he is going to the true church yet" she tells us, "but at least he is back on the path of Jesus Christ." He is reading, and praying, and went and found a job for the first time in 5 years and he is 25, he is going to church, etc... That is missionary work. That is inviting someone to come unto Christ, which is our purpose as missionaries. I feel really good that he is going to church again.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love. I am feeling better than I remember ever feeling out here on the mission. I love you all so much! Take care!!
Andy
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Time Has Come to Return Symmetry to my Feet
So I am here in Montevideo, writing my email at what is 6:30 in the morning here. You are all sleeping soundly and dreaming of whatever and wishing that you were me serving a mission in a foreign country learning the coolest language and spending your whole days in the service of the Lord.
I am a tad nervous for my surgery. I delayed having this done because I had once promised myself I would never let a Uruguayan doctor touch me, mostly because of what problems I had seen them cause for my trainer. Long story! I won’t tell it. Anyway, I swallowed my pride and my stubbornness and here I am...I hope they don’t mess up. They already messed this surgery up on another missionary I know. They didn’t fully kill the root of the toenail so it started growing back and got re-infected and he couldn’t walk for 2 weeks. So I expect that your prayers are sufficient to take care of me. Granted, you all won’t even say your morning prayers before I start the procedure, but our all-knowing God will recognize your efforts. He already knows if you are going to remember to pray for me or not. So pray for me. It will still count.
Speaking of prayers, somebody back home is not praying hard enough for me. We are having a really hard time finding new investigators and the ones we have aren’t home ever these days, at least this week. We had a REALLY long week walking in the rainy skies with few people outside and loads of fallen appointments. Don’t forget to pray with faith! Everyone ought to read Elder Bednar’s talk from last conference.
So I had McDonald’s this morning for the first time in a LONG time. It was really disappointing. The weird thing about McCy D´s here is that it is the food of the wealthy. A happy meal costs 100 something pesos, and for 100 pesos you can get a REALLY good meal anywhere else. But somehow McDonald’s has a lot of business down here in Montevideo. I don’t understand it. Anyway, it was terrible. The sausage mcmuffin was anything but sausage and it wasn’t in a mcmuffin. It was in a roll. I was most disappointed.
So this week I came to the realization that I speak Spanish. I answered the phone the other day and it was a wrong number. I went through the casual, "Oh sorry, you have the wrong number. Who were you trying to call? Oh no, that is at this number? Yeah... Yeah." etc... and I did it without even thinking twice or blinking. And I have had a billion little things like that that are stupid but they make me feel good. I love asking people for directions and understanding where they are talking about, and ...well I just love that I understand this language when they talk and that I speak it right back!! It is super fun.
There aren’t many good stories from this week, so I am trying to babble about something at least...The investigators from last week’s story weren’t home the 2 times we passed by, and, when they were home, the husband had gone to the hospital because his brother was in surgery for some problem with his legs. So I have no updates on them.
It is hard because the best people we find are always the people that have lives and work and aren’t in the home all the day long. But when you actually get them at home they are AMAZING. I gave a talk in church yesterday on the Book of Mormon and how we as members of the church need to know how to respond to our neighbors questions about the Book of Mormon and what is Mormon, etc... and the 13 year old on the front row said it was the best talk he had ever heard. I thought that was really nice of him to say.
I hope that everyone is doing well and that you are laughing and smiling at the simple things in life. I am making an extra special effort this week to do that as well! Take care!! I love you all!!!
Andy
I am a tad nervous for my surgery. I delayed having this done because I had once promised myself I would never let a Uruguayan doctor touch me, mostly because of what problems I had seen them cause for my trainer. Long story! I won’t tell it. Anyway, I swallowed my pride and my stubbornness and here I am...I hope they don’t mess up. They already messed this surgery up on another missionary I know. They didn’t fully kill the root of the toenail so it started growing back and got re-infected and he couldn’t walk for 2 weeks. So I expect that your prayers are sufficient to take care of me. Granted, you all won’t even say your morning prayers before I start the procedure, but our all-knowing God will recognize your efforts. He already knows if you are going to remember to pray for me or not. So pray for me. It will still count.
Speaking of prayers, somebody back home is not praying hard enough for me. We are having a really hard time finding new investigators and the ones we have aren’t home ever these days, at least this week. We had a REALLY long week walking in the rainy skies with few people outside and loads of fallen appointments. Don’t forget to pray with faith! Everyone ought to read Elder Bednar’s talk from last conference.
So I had McDonald’s this morning for the first time in a LONG time. It was really disappointing. The weird thing about McCy D´s here is that it is the food of the wealthy. A happy meal costs 100 something pesos, and for 100 pesos you can get a REALLY good meal anywhere else. But somehow McDonald’s has a lot of business down here in Montevideo. I don’t understand it. Anyway, it was terrible. The sausage mcmuffin was anything but sausage and it wasn’t in a mcmuffin. It was in a roll. I was most disappointed.
So this week I came to the realization that I speak Spanish. I answered the phone the other day and it was a wrong number. I went through the casual, "Oh sorry, you have the wrong number. Who were you trying to call? Oh no, that is at this number? Yeah... Yeah." etc... and I did it without even thinking twice or blinking. And I have had a billion little things like that that are stupid but they make me feel good. I love asking people for directions and understanding where they are talking about, and ...well I just love that I understand this language when they talk and that I speak it right back!! It is super fun.
There aren’t many good stories from this week, so I am trying to babble about something at least...The investigators from last week’s story weren’t home the 2 times we passed by, and, when they were home, the husband had gone to the hospital because his brother was in surgery for some problem with his legs. So I have no updates on them.
It is hard because the best people we find are always the people that have lives and work and aren’t in the home all the day long. But when you actually get them at home they are AMAZING. I gave a talk in church yesterday on the Book of Mormon and how we as members of the church need to know how to respond to our neighbors questions about the Book of Mormon and what is Mormon, etc... and the 13 year old on the front row said it was the best talk he had ever heard. I thought that was really nice of him to say.
I hope that everyone is doing well and that you are laughing and smiling at the simple things in life. I am making an extra special effort this week to do that as well! Take care!! I love you all!!!
Andy
Monday, June 23, 2008
Big Toe in a Big City
Well, I find myself yet again in the city of Montevideo. I hope you all can recognize that this isn't usually, and really shouldn't be, a frequent occurrence for missionaries who are working in places like Artigas and Tacuarembo. But my big toe finally hurts enough... Let us go back to the MTC, all those many months ago. You will remember, that our hero had an ingrown toenail that was causing him immense amounts of pain, and the bloody and pus-infected toe was operated on. Well, that operation was a perfect success and he has never had a problem with that toe again. But these last few months my other foot and other big toe has begun to swell and bleed and pus. I don't know if it is the walking or the sunday shoes or the fact that we Shepherds all have HORRIBLE feet. So, after the pressure from my companion Elder Fernandez of 3 months ago, Elder Surtees of April and June, and my current companion Elder Oliphant, I finally decided that enough was enough and I called THE Hermana (President's wife, who is in charge of all medical affairs), and she commanded me to come to the big city for my big toe. So I went to the doctor this morning and he said "let me see your foot. He looked at it and then grabbed my big toe and squeezed as HARD as he could. A ton of pus and blood came out that I didn't even know existed. I had been playing with it myself, of course, but never managed to withdraw that much pus. It relieved a lot of pressure but it hurt like crazy. He said "well, that looks infected. I think we will have to remove it. I will see you next week." He gave me a prescription for some antibiotics to fight the infection in the meantime. So now I get to come back AGAIN to the big city next week where I will be operated upon. Here they make you wear special clothes for the operation so I am kind of excited because I have never worn hospital clothes, and, even if it is only for my toe, it is a special occasion. I will try and take pictures, and rest assured I already have taken pictures of my toe. My mission scrapbook will have plenty of documentation.
This last week was really hard, to put it lightly. My companion and I both are sick; it isn't fun. It has been rainy and really cold, as Uruguay will be for all of July and August for the rainy winter season, and we have not had the best of luck in the streets. There aren't a lot of people outside...one day we walked the busiest street of our area for a whole hour and only found 4 people to talk with. That makes doing the prescribed 70 contacts each a week very difficult. So we are visiting members, trying to get references and working for the trust of the ward, we are visiting some less actives and of course all of the few investigators we have. We are trying a little bit of everything. Anyway, so this week being especially tough, it was absolutely euphoric to have the best first lesson I have ever been a part of Sunday night to finish off the week.
I have never ever cried when relating the story of the First Vision before to an investigator. Now, recognizing that tears do not equate the spirit, as President Howard W Hunter cautioned us, I add that the spirit I felt last night was completely unprecedented. I have never felt more strongly the veracity of the Restoration of the gospel in my life, at least that I can remember. We were teaching an older couple in their 50s in their almacen (a small store that is a home) and they were very attentive. We had passed through the almacen a couple times, having bought alfajores there before and knowing that their daughter who lives in Montevideo is a member. We finally had the guts to say, "can we sit down and talk for a few minutes". I say "guts" because almacen houses are very unideal teaching situations. People come in and out at random to buy little things and I have never liked teaching in almacens. We taught uninterrupted. The man, upon discussing the life of Jesus Christ, asked a question that any LDS Missionary should love to hear. "So, and not trying to be rude or anything, why are there so many churches all from the same bible, the same book?? Does it really matter which church one goes to?" We felt very equipped to answer that question and did so, relating to him the story of the Apostasy and the Restoration. I loved this lesson because we were already on a friend basis with them before teaching. I talked to him about fishing for 5 minutes one day. We had talked with them about America, answered their questions, and we had shown a general care for them that they felt. So when we invited them to listen and they gave us a few minutes, we were already feeling good with them. And as it came my turn after my companion explained what an apostasy is, I came in and talked about Joseph Smith. I was filled with emotion, rarely expressed by me in a first lesson or any lesson for that matter, and tears streamed from my eyes as I recounted the story of the first vision promised them that God cared about them and had called prophets in our days to guide us. They gratefully accepted the invitation to pray about it all and we will see them again on Wednesday night. I KNOW that they felt the spirit. I saw it in their eyes. I know it without a doubt that they felt that there is something special about the message we were sharing. Now let's just hope that they take those feelings to action!!! But there can be no denying that they felt something, as did I.
The point of that story to me, is that I was feeling supremely low and wanted to go home. Both my companion and I were sick, my throat hurt and my voice was soft and hoarse, it was cloudy and threatening to rain, and I really wanted to go home. We had agreed to make one more visit before going home and selected that almacen-house for our attempt. It turned out pretty well I think. We left the lesson, and as soon as I was outside I began coughing my head off, and I felt like throwing up, but I felt so AMAZING inside that not even the 20 minute walk home in the threating rain could get me down. Missionaries live for the rare and in-between moments like last Sunday night.
I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ is on the Earth today. Understanding, believing, and applying the principles of the gospel can bring us greater satisfaction than any other worldly thing.
However, I still am sick so somebody back home isnt praying hard enough for me. Y'all need to get on that. I love you all so much!! Take care of yourselves!! Gotta go!
Elder Andrew W Shepherd
This last week was really hard, to put it lightly. My companion and I both are sick; it isn't fun. It has been rainy and really cold, as Uruguay will be for all of July and August for the rainy winter season, and we have not had the best of luck in the streets. There aren't a lot of people outside...one day we walked the busiest street of our area for a whole hour and only found 4 people to talk with. That makes doing the prescribed 70 contacts each a week very difficult. So we are visiting members, trying to get references and working for the trust of the ward, we are visiting some less actives and of course all of the few investigators we have. We are trying a little bit of everything. Anyway, so this week being especially tough, it was absolutely euphoric to have the best first lesson I have ever been a part of Sunday night to finish off the week.
I have never ever cried when relating the story of the First Vision before to an investigator. Now, recognizing that tears do not equate the spirit, as President Howard W Hunter cautioned us, I add that the spirit I felt last night was completely unprecedented. I have never felt more strongly the veracity of the Restoration of the gospel in my life, at least that I can remember. We were teaching an older couple in their 50s in their almacen (a small store that is a home) and they were very attentive. We had passed through the almacen a couple times, having bought alfajores there before and knowing that their daughter who lives in Montevideo is a member. We finally had the guts to say, "can we sit down and talk for a few minutes". I say "guts" because almacen houses are very unideal teaching situations. People come in and out at random to buy little things and I have never liked teaching in almacens. We taught uninterrupted. The man, upon discussing the life of Jesus Christ, asked a question that any LDS Missionary should love to hear. "So, and not trying to be rude or anything, why are there so many churches all from the same bible, the same book?? Does it really matter which church one goes to?" We felt very equipped to answer that question and did so, relating to him the story of the Apostasy and the Restoration. I loved this lesson because we were already on a friend basis with them before teaching. I talked to him about fishing for 5 minutes one day. We had talked with them about America, answered their questions, and we had shown a general care for them that they felt. So when we invited them to listen and they gave us a few minutes, we were already feeling good with them. And as it came my turn after my companion explained what an apostasy is, I came in and talked about Joseph Smith. I was filled with emotion, rarely expressed by me in a first lesson or any lesson for that matter, and tears streamed from my eyes as I recounted the story of the first vision promised them that God cared about them and had called prophets in our days to guide us. They gratefully accepted the invitation to pray about it all and we will see them again on Wednesday night. I KNOW that they felt the spirit. I saw it in their eyes. I know it without a doubt that they felt that there is something special about the message we were sharing. Now let's just hope that they take those feelings to action!!! But there can be no denying that they felt something, as did I.
The point of that story to me, is that I was feeling supremely low and wanted to go home. Both my companion and I were sick, my throat hurt and my voice was soft and hoarse, it was cloudy and threatening to rain, and I really wanted to go home. We had agreed to make one more visit before going home and selected that almacen-house for our attempt. It turned out pretty well I think. We left the lesson, and as soon as I was outside I began coughing my head off, and I felt like throwing up, but I felt so AMAZING inside that not even the 20 minute walk home in the threating rain could get me down. Missionaries live for the rare and in-between moments like last Sunday night.
I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ is on the Earth today. Understanding, believing, and applying the principles of the gospel can bring us greater satisfaction than any other worldly thing.
However, I still am sick so somebody back home isnt praying hard enough for me. Y'all need to get on that. I love you all so much!! Take care of yourselves!! Gotta go!
Elder Andrew W Shepherd
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Are you the singing bush?
email dated 6/16/08
I woke up this morning with "My Little Buttercup" stuck in my head. You know, the song from The Three Amigos. I love that movie!! I don't know where it came from, it has been years since I have seen it and more than 8 months at least since I have thought about it...the mind is an interesting thing.
So our hero still faces a bitter cold wind, and sometimes even colder personalities. We knocked a door this week and a cute little girl answers. We ask if her mom is there and she says one sec and goes to get her. The little girl goes into the other room and then we hear a woman scream: "I CANT!!! YOU TELL THEM THAT I CANNOT COME TO THE DOOR RIGHT NOW!!! I AM BUSY! I AM SO BUSY! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? YOU GO TELL THEM RIGHT NOW!!" and this woman was just screaming bloody murder. The little girl with tears in her eyes starts coming back to the door to relay the message. I whisper sorry to her and then say loud enough to make sure the mom could hear "Oh that's alright. You don't need to tell us, we already heard." Some people...
My favorite is the people in the street that give us the catholic finger if we even look their direction. They shake their index finger side to side and say "hmm-hmm". That one is a classic.
Soooo.....we got rejected alot this week. We don't have much of a teaching pool, but we have a few investigators. If my new ones get baptized they will be my new ensign story. I was feeling really discouraged 2 days ago and our appointments fell through, an investigator who looked promising dropped us and didn't even let us come and talk about whatever anti-Mormon thing she had heard, etc... it was tough. I have been so grateful for the Conference Ensign this week!!! It is the only thing that has been getting me through. Anyway, we were knocking because we were out of options and we were on a street where door after door was more than "no" but they were really rude to us. I was sick of talking to people that didn't want to talk to me. It was dark and I see one house with lights on, but it was clear they were watching a movie. My first thought was "interrupting their movie isn't going to get us off to a good start" and I had initially decided we were going to continue. My companion had the same thought, even though we weren't talking. We have this psychic link these days...anyway. I thought about the Ensign all of the sudden and the boost and good feelings I had been feeling during my personal studies during the week and I said "lets knock this door anyway. What have we got to lose". And even though we had already passed it and we were going to head to another appointment we knocked. The lady saw us, was SUPER nice, let us in, put the movie on pause, introduced us to her kid and her husband said "what a coincidence. Just yesterday we were talking about the Mormon church. Damian (the husband) has a friend who just joined your church and tells us that he has found the one true church on the earth. Can you tell us a bit about it?"... WELL OF COURSE WE CAN!!! It was a very needed experience. I hope they go somewhere. We are going back tonight.
Well, I need to get going. I hope that everyone is doing well and is happy as can be. Take care!! I love you all!!!
Andy
I woke up this morning with "My Little Buttercup" stuck in my head. You know, the song from The Three Amigos. I love that movie!! I don't know where it came from, it has been years since I have seen it and more than 8 months at least since I have thought about it...the mind is an interesting thing.
So our hero still faces a bitter cold wind, and sometimes even colder personalities. We knocked a door this week and a cute little girl answers. We ask if her mom is there and she says one sec and goes to get her. The little girl goes into the other room and then we hear a woman scream: "I CANT!!! YOU TELL THEM THAT I CANNOT COME TO THE DOOR RIGHT NOW!!! I AM BUSY! I AM SO BUSY! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? YOU GO TELL THEM RIGHT NOW!!" and this woman was just screaming bloody murder. The little girl with tears in her eyes starts coming back to the door to relay the message. I whisper sorry to her and then say loud enough to make sure the mom could hear "Oh that's alright. You don't need to tell us, we already heard." Some people...
My favorite is the people in the street that give us the catholic finger if we even look their direction. They shake their index finger side to side and say "hmm-hmm". That one is a classic.
Soooo.....we got rejected alot this week. We don't have much of a teaching pool, but we have a few investigators. If my new ones get baptized they will be my new ensign story. I was feeling really discouraged 2 days ago and our appointments fell through, an investigator who looked promising dropped us and didn't even let us come and talk about whatever anti-Mormon thing she had heard, etc... it was tough. I have been so grateful for the Conference Ensign this week!!! It is the only thing that has been getting me through. Anyway, we were knocking because we were out of options and we were on a street where door after door was more than "no" but they were really rude to us. I was sick of talking to people that didn't want to talk to me. It was dark and I see one house with lights on, but it was clear they were watching a movie. My first thought was "interrupting their movie isn't going to get us off to a good start" and I had initially decided we were going to continue. My companion had the same thought, even though we weren't talking. We have this psychic link these days...anyway. I thought about the Ensign all of the sudden and the boost and good feelings I had been feeling during my personal studies during the week and I said "lets knock this door anyway. What have we got to lose". And even though we had already passed it and we were going to head to another appointment we knocked. The lady saw us, was SUPER nice, let us in, put the movie on pause, introduced us to her kid and her husband said "what a coincidence. Just yesterday we were talking about the Mormon church. Damian (the husband) has a friend who just joined your church and tells us that he has found the one true church on the earth. Can you tell us a bit about it?"... WELL OF COURSE WE CAN!!! It was a very needed experience. I hope they go somewhere. We are going back tonight.
Well, I need to get going. I hope that everyone is doing well and is happy as can be. Take care!! I love you all!!!
Andy
Saturday, June 14, 2008
If it rains outside it is dry inside
email dated 6/9/08
One very interesting thing about having a tin roof is that if it is raining outside we stay perfectly dry in the house. But if it is sunny weather, the humidity sneaks the water drops into our house and drips all over us. So here is the question: which is better? Be cold and wet outside all day or be cold and wet inside at night? I haven't decided which I prefer. We actually had a decently warm week this last week because we got hit by a warm front out of nowhere. One day I only had to wear my jacket. But it has been raining for 3 days now. As it rains, our roof doesn't drip a drop. Our tin roof protects us that way at least. There are no holes or leaks. We are surviving. I am grateful for layers and layers. And por suerte I am in a ward that stuffs us silly with food so I at least have alot of food in me now as I have gained up to the 20 pound mark. That should help keep me a bit warmer and I can sweat it back off in the summer.
So we had a really good week this week, Elder Oliphant and myself. We work really well together I think. Yesterday we taught, in my opinion, the best lesson of my whole mission. Not because it was to the best investigator I have seen or because of what we taught, but we taught in a unity I have never had with a companion. At least in our lessons, we are heading the same direction and we both talk. It is nice. In the street we don't talk so much, but at least our lessons are going well. He is a good kid. I like him.
We taught the Word of Wisdom to an old lady named Lidia that is getting baptized this next Saturday. I had wanted to drop her for some time. She wasn't progressing, she was grumpy, and she had said she didn't want anything. But then she kept going to church. I couldn't figure her out. So when I challenged her to be baptized I had assumed she would say no, I had intended on never returning. But then she said yes. And I was so confused. But she doesn't talk really that much. And she is grumpy. Anyway, we taught the Word of Wisdom last week and I asked at the end if she had any problems with any of the substances and if she would be able to do it. She said "well I drink coffee." ... we wait... I ask "will you stop drinking coffee?"... we wait... "Yes. I don't even like coffee that much anyway. I can stop drinking anything I want." And so it was and she agreed to obey the Word of Wisdom. She is so unique. I had a real scare yesterday in church in Sunday school. The lesson was on baptism and the teacher asked her to share her feelings about baptism. She stood up and didn't say anything for maybe 20 seconds, during the which I prayed really hard, and she finally said "I like coming to this church. I feel good when I come here. Therefore I have decided to be baptized." And then she sat down. She is odd, but she says she believes and she wants to do it. So this Saturday we will baptize Lidia.
I am also very grateful to have some families that we are now teaching and some younger investigators. Yesterday we found the wife of an active member and he has wanted her to come around for years. We took "The Testaments" and watched that movie. After we bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. This hermana, who had always seemed kind of grumpy, and I have known her for a few weeks before she finally let us come teach, was just sitting there with tear-filled eyes. It was so odd. She didn't cry during the movie when the Savior came and visited, or when the blind guy regains his sight, etc... But we bore a simple testimony and her eyes filled with tears and she showed her first spiritual emotion to us. She felt the spirit and invited us to come and teach more. And then we went to our young 27 year old Fernando investigator who was my favorite and he dropped us. Such is a missionaries life.
So anyway, we are teaching. We have investigators and we get dropped by investigators and so we find new ones. The biggest issue is not the Word of Wisdom or even tithing, but everyone's biggest problem is going to church. I have pondered going and visiting other churches where people actually get out of their houses on Sunday to go to a church. And then I want to follow the people home and write down their addresses and knock on every one of them. We need to find people who are willing to do something. Some people will let us teach them til the cows come home without doing anything. Complacence is the most annoying thing to a missionary.
We have been dropped by 2 husbands or boyfriends this week. The women wanted to learn but the boys said no. One lady, Maria Jose, wanted to join our church. She loved the family friendly atmosphere and she has 3 kids she wants to grow up in a church. We were teaching and she loved it and then we go back one day and the boyfriend said, "You get out of here. You aren't welcome here. She isn't going to be joining any religion." She ended up leaving him 3 weeks later and moved back in with her mom, I hope the missionaries can get her now. Another guy did that to us yesterday. I don't know why some of these women stay with these guys. I also don't know why women seem to be more spiritually open than men, but we struggle to find good men to teach.
Anyway, I am bored of talking about all of this. If you all actually want to hear things like this you can read my journal when I come home.
June marks the big 8 month mark. One third the way into this thing they call a mission. I guess 2 years isn't really that long. However, If you look at it on a calendar it is forever long. It is a good thing I don't have a calendar. My last companion did, and he was counting down to this August. He goes home on my birthday. I remember looking at his calendar and feeling like it looked like forever just til August. I cant even imagine counting down on a calendar when I still have til next October. I have decided it is best not to have a calendar or count down. But I like counting up and feeling like I have been out for a good time. That makes me a vet in the mission. I am not a kid anymore.
So sorry this email is so boring. I know there were funny things I wanted to say, but I can't remember what they were. I think that when I wrote an email to Janice that didn't get sent because my LDSMAIL account expired in the middle of the session that it really frustrated me and turned off my funny bone. Stupid LDSMAIL. So you know Janice, I wrote you a good long email. You just didn't get it.
Well, I must be going. There are things to do and I don't want to bore you all any longer. Take care!! I love you!!!
Andy
One very interesting thing about having a tin roof is that if it is raining outside we stay perfectly dry in the house. But if it is sunny weather, the humidity sneaks the water drops into our house and drips all over us. So here is the question: which is better? Be cold and wet outside all day or be cold and wet inside at night? I haven't decided which I prefer. We actually had a decently warm week this last week because we got hit by a warm front out of nowhere. One day I only had to wear my jacket. But it has been raining for 3 days now. As it rains, our roof doesn't drip a drop. Our tin roof protects us that way at least. There are no holes or leaks. We are surviving. I am grateful for layers and layers. And por suerte I am in a ward that stuffs us silly with food so I at least have alot of food in me now as I have gained up to the 20 pound mark. That should help keep me a bit warmer and I can sweat it back off in the summer.
So we had a really good week this week, Elder Oliphant and myself. We work really well together I think. Yesterday we taught, in my opinion, the best lesson of my whole mission. Not because it was to the best investigator I have seen or because of what we taught, but we taught in a unity I have never had with a companion. At least in our lessons, we are heading the same direction and we both talk. It is nice. In the street we don't talk so much, but at least our lessons are going well. He is a good kid. I like him.
We taught the Word of Wisdom to an old lady named Lidia that is getting baptized this next Saturday. I had wanted to drop her for some time. She wasn't progressing, she was grumpy, and she had said she didn't want anything. But then she kept going to church. I couldn't figure her out. So when I challenged her to be baptized I had assumed she would say no, I had intended on never returning. But then she said yes. And I was so confused. But she doesn't talk really that much. And she is grumpy. Anyway, we taught the Word of Wisdom last week and I asked at the end if she had any problems with any of the substances and if she would be able to do it. She said "well I drink coffee." ... we wait... I ask "will you stop drinking coffee?"... we wait... "Yes. I don't even like coffee that much anyway. I can stop drinking anything I want." And so it was and she agreed to obey the Word of Wisdom. She is so unique. I had a real scare yesterday in church in Sunday school. The lesson was on baptism and the teacher asked her to share her feelings about baptism. She stood up and didn't say anything for maybe 20 seconds, during the which I prayed really hard, and she finally said "I like coming to this church. I feel good when I come here. Therefore I have decided to be baptized." And then she sat down. She is odd, but she says she believes and she wants to do it. So this Saturday we will baptize Lidia.
I am also very grateful to have some families that we are now teaching and some younger investigators. Yesterday we found the wife of an active member and he has wanted her to come around for years. We took "The Testaments" and watched that movie. After we bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. This hermana, who had always seemed kind of grumpy, and I have known her for a few weeks before she finally let us come teach, was just sitting there with tear-filled eyes. It was so odd. She didn't cry during the movie when the Savior came and visited, or when the blind guy regains his sight, etc... But we bore a simple testimony and her eyes filled with tears and she showed her first spiritual emotion to us. She felt the spirit and invited us to come and teach more. And then we went to our young 27 year old Fernando investigator who was my favorite and he dropped us. Such is a missionaries life.
So anyway, we are teaching. We have investigators and we get dropped by investigators and so we find new ones. The biggest issue is not the Word of Wisdom or even tithing, but everyone's biggest problem is going to church. I have pondered going and visiting other churches where people actually get out of their houses on Sunday to go to a church. And then I want to follow the people home and write down their addresses and knock on every one of them. We need to find people who are willing to do something. Some people will let us teach them til the cows come home without doing anything. Complacence is the most annoying thing to a missionary.
We have been dropped by 2 husbands or boyfriends this week. The women wanted to learn but the boys said no. One lady, Maria Jose, wanted to join our church. She loved the family friendly atmosphere and she has 3 kids she wants to grow up in a church. We were teaching and she loved it and then we go back one day and the boyfriend said, "You get out of here. You aren't welcome here. She isn't going to be joining any religion." She ended up leaving him 3 weeks later and moved back in with her mom, I hope the missionaries can get her now. Another guy did that to us yesterday. I don't know why some of these women stay with these guys. I also don't know why women seem to be more spiritually open than men, but we struggle to find good men to teach.
Anyway, I am bored of talking about all of this. If you all actually want to hear things like this you can read my journal when I come home.
June marks the big 8 month mark. One third the way into this thing they call a mission. I guess 2 years isn't really that long. However, If you look at it on a calendar it is forever long. It is a good thing I don't have a calendar. My last companion did, and he was counting down to this August. He goes home on my birthday. I remember looking at his calendar and feeling like it looked like forever just til August. I cant even imagine counting down on a calendar when I still have til next October. I have decided it is best not to have a calendar or count down. But I like counting up and feeling like I have been out for a good time. That makes me a vet in the mission. I am not a kid anymore.
So sorry this email is so boring. I know there were funny things I wanted to say, but I can't remember what they were. I think that when I wrote an email to Janice that didn't get sent because my LDSMAIL account expired in the middle of the session that it really frustrated me and turned off my funny bone. Stupid LDSMAIL. So you know Janice, I wrote you a good long email. You just didn't get it.
Well, I must be going. There are things to do and I don't want to bore you all any longer. Take care!! I love you!!!
Andy
Disculpénme
email dated 6/2/08
Alright, so it really isn't that bad. Our hero in Tacuarembó Uruguay is really okay. I am sorry for not writing a lot, but my hands really are cold and I have used an hour already. I was totally kidding about the whole "eat me" thing. Just so you know, I really do get up still and shower and get dressed, only then I go and sit with my feet in my covers because the bed is the only remotely warm thing in the house. Our space heater is half broken but if we can get a new one to put by our desks I will study at the desks again, or maybe I will bring my desk to the bed, I haven't decided yet... I will feel better when the dueño puts in the ceiling that she promised. That should stop the tin roof from dripping on me all night and keeping me up in the cold. I really am okay because I have amazing thick wool socks to sleep in that save my life. I am sorry about writing a whole email only complaining about the cold. It isn't that bad...it will get better when I have a ceiling. Anyway, that is why I was so grumpy and I had so little to say. Plus I have a lot of things to do today and we accidentally scheduled to many lessons for tonight so I am kind of stressed about that. Anyway, I just wanted to apologize to y'all so that I can have the spirit again with me tonight for our plethora of lessons!!
Life really goes well as a missionary, besides being cold. I am speaking Spanish better than ever and I love teaching. I love our investigators we have and I love seeing the gospel change lives for the better. Next week I will tell some cooler stories.
Take care. Love y'all!!
Andy
Alright, so it really isn't that bad. Our hero in Tacuarembó Uruguay is really okay. I am sorry for not writing a lot, but my hands really are cold and I have used an hour already. I was totally kidding about the whole "eat me" thing. Just so you know, I really do get up still and shower and get dressed, only then I go and sit with my feet in my covers because the bed is the only remotely warm thing in the house. Our space heater is half broken but if we can get a new one to put by our desks I will study at the desks again, or maybe I will bring my desk to the bed, I haven't decided yet... I will feel better when the dueño puts in the ceiling that she promised. That should stop the tin roof from dripping on me all night and keeping me up in the cold. I really am okay because I have amazing thick wool socks to sleep in that save my life. I am sorry about writing a whole email only complaining about the cold. It isn't that bad...it will get better when I have a ceiling. Anyway, that is why I was so grumpy and I had so little to say. Plus I have a lot of things to do today and we accidentally scheduled to many lessons for tonight so I am kind of stressed about that. Anyway, I just wanted to apologize to y'all so that I can have the spirit again with me tonight for our plethora of lessons!!
Life really goes well as a missionary, besides being cold. I am speaking Spanish better than ever and I love teaching. I love our investigators we have and I love seeing the gospel change lives for the better. Next week I will tell some cooler stories.
Take care. Love y'all!!
Andy
The Antarctic
email dated 6/2/08
There is very little to say this week. My new companion Elder Oliphant is a good kid. He wakes up and wants to work hard. I can get along with any missionary who does that. We are doing alright. And we have 3 people with baptismal goals right now for June, and some other promising investigators. So the work goes well.
I don't really know that I can write a lot this week. My hands are freezing and it is slowing my typing significantly. And I can't type with gloves on. Uruguay is the most miserable place I have ever been for the cold weather. The humidity just cuts right through you and your tin roof. The roof drips and I got dripped on during the night and it kept waking me up. Our cement box house doesn't do a whole lot. This morning I discovered that it was warmer in our fridge than in our house. I would light up the fireplace but it is against the rules. I imagine that some dumb missionaries somewhere burned themselves and now we have the rule. There is a story behind every rule, they say. We can't leave our space heater on at night and it doesn't do anything anyway. We can only use it while we study. So I have taken to studying in the bed. And anybody who tries to call me disobedient can eat me. It is SO cold. And there is no escape. Thank goodness for the thermals mom sent me and the amazing thick socks for sleeping at night and the kindness of members who give us hot chocolate and cebada coffee, which is gross by the way but not against the Word of Wisdom and it is the replacement drink all the members drink down here for their coffee. So my fingers are cold and it is hard to type. I think you get the picture. It is cold. Talk to me in August or September when the weather starts warming up and I will probably have less to complain about. Wow, I can't even type. I must be going.
Life may not be fun right now, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? NOBODY back home in the states will ever be able to complain to me about crappy apartments or being cold. I have taken plenty of pictures of the place that I will send home soon so you all have real image of my refuge from the cold. Thank goodness for thermals and thick socks and sweaters and trench coats and gloves!!!!
I have nothing of merit left to say today and I am out of time. My fingers are typing too slow for me to want to write anything else. Take care. I love you all!!!!
Andy
There is very little to say this week. My new companion Elder Oliphant is a good kid. He wakes up and wants to work hard. I can get along with any missionary who does that. We are doing alright. And we have 3 people with baptismal goals right now for June, and some other promising investigators. So the work goes well.
I don't really know that I can write a lot this week. My hands are freezing and it is slowing my typing significantly. And I can't type with gloves on. Uruguay is the most miserable place I have ever been for the cold weather. The humidity just cuts right through you and your tin roof. The roof drips and I got dripped on during the night and it kept waking me up. Our cement box house doesn't do a whole lot. This morning I discovered that it was warmer in our fridge than in our house. I would light up the fireplace but it is against the rules. I imagine that some dumb missionaries somewhere burned themselves and now we have the rule. There is a story behind every rule, they say. We can't leave our space heater on at night and it doesn't do anything anyway. We can only use it while we study. So I have taken to studying in the bed. And anybody who tries to call me disobedient can eat me. It is SO cold. And there is no escape. Thank goodness for the thermals mom sent me and the amazing thick socks for sleeping at night and the kindness of members who give us hot chocolate and cebada coffee, which is gross by the way but not against the Word of Wisdom and it is the replacement drink all the members drink down here for their coffee. So my fingers are cold and it is hard to type. I think you get the picture. It is cold. Talk to me in August or September when the weather starts warming up and I will probably have less to complain about. Wow, I can't even type. I must be going.
Life may not be fun right now, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? NOBODY back home in the states will ever be able to complain to me about crappy apartments or being cold. I have taken plenty of pictures of the place that I will send home soon so you all have real image of my refuge from the cold. Thank goodness for thermals and thick socks and sweaters and trench coats and gloves!!!!
I have nothing of merit left to say today and I am out of time. My fingers are typing too slow for me to want to write anything else. Take care. I love you all!!!!
Andy
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