email dated 8/15/09
Well my dear and avid readers, another week gone and we are 7 days away from the 21st birthday of our hero, Elder Andy Shepherd. They say he looks older, more mature, manlier, and certainly more handsome. Don't forget that all fan mail needs to be sent before Saturday so that our hero can read it on his P-Day.
This week I did divisions twice. I first did them with an Elder named Johnson from Elkridge, UT. He is a really cool guy. He was in a scream-o band before his mission. I really enjoyed talking to him and we found some good new investigators. And then for just an evening I did divisions with a new Elder named Wisnom, who is Elder Jonson's neighbor! What are the odds. We had traveled to Mercedes for the Zone Conference and so those were short divisions but we found a family!! That family is really cool and there are 6 kids. I had most fun talking with the 6 year old Guillermo, or William. He asked so many questions "well who is Jesus? what he do?" He made that lesson so powerful and his Mom really felt it as we explained, literally, the gospel of Jesus Christ as simple as possible so that it be understood by a child. The family really enjoyed the visit and asked us when we were going to come back! That is always good.
Do you all remember Lorena? She is the girl that didn't believe in anything, wasn't anti-God but also didn't believe in God. She said that prayer in the first visit that got the chills all over my body. Well, she accepted to be baptized at the end of this month!!! Elder Clark and I asked her after having had a lesson about keeping the commandments if she believed in God. "Now I do." She replied. "Do you believe Jesus Christ is our Savior and road to salvation?" "Yes." "Do you believe this is the true church of Jesus Christ." "Yes I do." So we challenged her to be baptized again and she accepted. Sweet right!? Not done yet...
She is in med-school. Justito this week she was offered some kind of internship time or hours that she needs for her career and guess what is the one day that she would work per week. Sunday from 11:00 to 4:00. ... I just don't get it. Our Sacrament Meeting is at 11:00. She now needs to make that decision. I know she can get another job. It is a job to further her future career in medicine. That is why it is only 5 hours a week. Pray that she makes the right choice. She has been such a great investigator. I knew from the first lesson that she was special and I wrote you all that story a month or two ago. Pray for my 24 year old medical student Lorena Dacuña.
So I have some fun news. I got a G-Mail from Jessica Zamudio this week! Her little brother Emilio is getting baptized!! Big news? Yes!! He is only 16 and Jessica's dad asked her to wait til she was 18 to get baptized. The cool thing is that Diana, the 8 year old, goes to primary every week too. Jessica was in Mexico teaching English for 4 months and she gets back this week. her little brother was waiting for her to get home for his baptism. I smiled from ear to ear as I read her G-Mail. It could very well be my very favorite letter that I have received in my whole mission. It was all such good news and it was great to hear from an old friend!
Se me acabó the time. It must needs be that I continue on. I love you all very much and I pray that you are well! Be excellent to each other and consider the lilies of the field. God loves us all very much!
Andy
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
a crazy day
email dated 8/8/09
So today I never did find time to write. It was a pretty crazy week for everybody. Departing missionaries, birthdays, and weddings, etc... I got Matts wedding announcement today in the mail.
Happy Birthday Janice!! The 6th right? I think.
Happy marriage Matt!
We have had a kind of sad week here. There are some missionaries going home tomorrow.
P day didn't give me time to write today. I will write better next week. Tomorrow we should have some great investigators in church.
I am happy and healthy.
Anyway, I gotta go. Take care! I love you all!!
Andy
So today I never did find time to write. It was a pretty crazy week for everybody. Departing missionaries, birthdays, and weddings, etc... I got Matts wedding announcement today in the mail.
Happy Birthday Janice!! The 6th right? I think.
Happy marriage Matt!
We have had a kind of sad week here. There are some missionaries going home tomorrow.
P day didn't give me time to write today. I will write better next week. Tomorrow we should have some great investigators in church.
I am happy and healthy.
Anyway, I gotta go. Take care! I love you all!!
Andy
August means 21, mission, marriage
email dated 8/1/09
So life just keeps on moving without me there in Utah. The good news about my life here is that I turn 21 this month. The other good news about my life here is that we invited a ton of people that we have been finding to get baptized last week and 8-ish said yes. I figure if we get at least half of them to church a few times then we can have 4 baptisms in August, which is our goal. I have hope that we can do it.
We are still working on Lorena. I wrote about her a month or so ago. She had no christian background but said the prayer and was one of the most spiritual lessons-moments of my mission. She is starting to be more sure that God lives. We read Alma 30 with her last night, the story about Korihor and Alma. My favorite vs 44 as always was the highlight of that lesson. All things denote that there is a God. We have the evidence that He lives. There is no evidence to disprove God. In a positive light, all evidence just tries to prove positively what is believed. Anyone studying evolution will find the merits of the theory, because there are many. There is evidence to back just about anything believed. And that is why a phrase I really focused on with Lorena was "By their fruits ye shall know them." If it is good and makes us want to do good and be happier and to better actions, words, and deeds, then that is something worth investigating and aspiring for. We need to trust how we feel. And that is why Galatians 5:22-23 is so key. "the fruit of the spirit is love, hope, kindness, etc... against such things there is no law." (I am thinking in Spanish). No law can place love, faith, goodness, or other such feelings in a bottle or a tube. We just got to look at the fruits and think about how we feel. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
We are teaching a woman named Diana that we found on accident while looking for someone else. Those accidents are never coincidence. After 3 lessons she told us that her aunts are members of the church. She went to church last week and will go this week. I think she will be baptized. The only problem is her boyfriend...who I want to kill. She, she is great. She reads, prays, loves church, and feels that it is right. Her boyfriend...he hits her. We aren't allowed to give relationship counsel too much, but we are able to teach doctrine. The doctrine: the law of Chastity. Hopefully she will be truly converted and able to understand that law and decide to take the right steps toward her goals in life. She is 23 years old. Last night she told us that her dream is to have a good family, her own home, to finish her studies, to live the gospel, etc... I really pray for her a lot and I ask that you do too.
I have had a really hard time finding time to write in my journal this last month. I am looking for a house to move out of the offices. More than President saying we could he said he wants us to do it. I love being here, but among 10 missionaries the shower schedule in the morning, even with 4 bathrooms is always complicated and in the evening it is hard to find quiet time to write or study. Plus, I have to take a bus to my area or drive each day. Anyway, I opened my journal this morning and was dismayed when I found that my last entry was July 4th!! There was a time in my mission where I wrote every day. I filled a whole journal for my first year by writing about all the miracles I had seen and now I went almost a whole month without writing. I feel ungrateful and it is no good. Don't forget to write in your journals. That is my spiritual advice of the day. You will never regret writing in your journal. And your journal will be a valuable resource to you and your children and the history majors in 200 years. Write!
I love you all! Take care!!
Andy
So life just keeps on moving without me there in Utah. The good news about my life here is that I turn 21 this month. The other good news about my life here is that we invited a ton of people that we have been finding to get baptized last week and 8-ish said yes. I figure if we get at least half of them to church a few times then we can have 4 baptisms in August, which is our goal. I have hope that we can do it.
We are still working on Lorena. I wrote about her a month or so ago. She had no christian background but said the prayer and was one of the most spiritual lessons-moments of my mission. She is starting to be more sure that God lives. We read Alma 30 with her last night, the story about Korihor and Alma. My favorite vs 44 as always was the highlight of that lesson. All things denote that there is a God. We have the evidence that He lives. There is no evidence to disprove God. In a positive light, all evidence just tries to prove positively what is believed. Anyone studying evolution will find the merits of the theory, because there are many. There is evidence to back just about anything believed. And that is why a phrase I really focused on with Lorena was "By their fruits ye shall know them." If it is good and makes us want to do good and be happier and to better actions, words, and deeds, then that is something worth investigating and aspiring for. We need to trust how we feel. And that is why Galatians 5:22-23 is so key. "the fruit of the spirit is love, hope, kindness, etc... against such things there is no law." (I am thinking in Spanish). No law can place love, faith, goodness, or other such feelings in a bottle or a tube. We just got to look at the fruits and think about how we feel. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
We are teaching a woman named Diana that we found on accident while looking for someone else. Those accidents are never coincidence. After 3 lessons she told us that her aunts are members of the church. She went to church last week and will go this week. I think she will be baptized. The only problem is her boyfriend...who I want to kill. She, she is great. She reads, prays, loves church, and feels that it is right. Her boyfriend...he hits her. We aren't allowed to give relationship counsel too much, but we are able to teach doctrine. The doctrine: the law of Chastity. Hopefully she will be truly converted and able to understand that law and decide to take the right steps toward her goals in life. She is 23 years old. Last night she told us that her dream is to have a good family, her own home, to finish her studies, to live the gospel, etc... I really pray for her a lot and I ask that you do too.
I have had a really hard time finding time to write in my journal this last month. I am looking for a house to move out of the offices. More than President saying we could he said he wants us to do it. I love being here, but among 10 missionaries the shower schedule in the morning, even with 4 bathrooms is always complicated and in the evening it is hard to find quiet time to write or study. Plus, I have to take a bus to my area or drive each day. Anyway, I opened my journal this morning and was dismayed when I found that my last entry was July 4th!! There was a time in my mission where I wrote every day. I filled a whole journal for my first year by writing about all the miracles I had seen and now I went almost a whole month without writing. I feel ungrateful and it is no good. Don't forget to write in your journals. That is my spiritual advice of the day. You will never regret writing in your journal. And your journal will be a valuable resource to you and your children and the history majors in 200 years. Write!
I love you all! Take care!!
Andy
The Big Number 50
email dated 7/25/09
They say that there is a 50th wedding anniversary this week! I am sad that I can't be there. But I wanted to just say congrats again to the best grandparents around.
We played basketball again this morning. My ankle was still a little tender from last week and so I couldn't run 100%. But I still made my shots. We still lost to AZ. Moving on.
My new companion Elder Clark is a nice kid. We should have a good transfer. He is the 8th of 9 kids and he goes to BYU, plays the piano, and likes musicals. Moving on.
We are in a finding phase. We have given a lot of baptismal dates but the people who have received those dates don't make it to church. Se les complica ¿viste? We are looking for someone elect. Yesterday we found a lady named Diana who said she would go to church and get baptized when she knows it is true. I was thrilled that she said, "yeah, why not. I will go to church on Sunday. What time?" She is pregnant and the man is nowhere in sight. I feel bad for her. OH WORLD!! Obey the commandments. Especially the law of chastity! Mosiah 2:22-24, 41. All the Lord asks of us is that we keep His commandments. In the first place we are debtors to Him for giving us everything. The only thing He asks is that we keep His commandments and give Him our will, because we cant give Him money or possessions. And if we keep those commandments, He blesses us and we continue in His debt. We are happy when we obey the commandments.
This week 30 new missionaries came to our mission!! In a mission of 140 missionaries, only 6 leaving and 30 coming, you could say that that is a significant event. It is cool because with the new missionaries I bet we reach our goal of 150 baptisms in one month. We have been getting close already without them. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done in my mission, greeting the 30 new missionaries and seeing the nervous faces, the tired faces, the excited faces, the pride-filled I already know what is going on faces but I am soon to be humbled and fall flat on my face faces, etc... Talking to the new missionaries and telling them about their mission was a lot of fun.
I love you all! I gotta go! Take care!!
Andy
They say that there is a 50th wedding anniversary this week! I am sad that I can't be there. But I wanted to just say congrats again to the best grandparents around.
We played basketball again this morning. My ankle was still a little tender from last week and so I couldn't run 100%. But I still made my shots. We still lost to AZ. Moving on.
My new companion Elder Clark is a nice kid. We should have a good transfer. He is the 8th of 9 kids and he goes to BYU, plays the piano, and likes musicals. Moving on.
We are in a finding phase. We have given a lot of baptismal dates but the people who have received those dates don't make it to church. Se les complica ¿viste? We are looking for someone elect. Yesterday we found a lady named Diana who said she would go to church and get baptized when she knows it is true. I was thrilled that she said, "yeah, why not. I will go to church on Sunday. What time?" She is pregnant and the man is nowhere in sight. I feel bad for her. OH WORLD!! Obey the commandments. Especially the law of chastity! Mosiah 2:22-24, 41. All the Lord asks of us is that we keep His commandments. In the first place we are debtors to Him for giving us everything. The only thing He asks is that we keep His commandments and give Him our will, because we cant give Him money or possessions. And if we keep those commandments, He blesses us and we continue in His debt. We are happy when we obey the commandments.
This week 30 new missionaries came to our mission!! In a mission of 140 missionaries, only 6 leaving and 30 coming, you could say that that is a significant event. It is cool because with the new missionaries I bet we reach our goal of 150 baptisms in one month. We have been getting close already without them. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done in my mission, greeting the 30 new missionaries and seeing the nervous faces, the tired faces, the excited faces, the pride-filled I already know what is going on faces but I am soon to be humbled and fall flat on my face faces, etc... Talking to the new missionaries and telling them about their mission was a lot of fun.
I love you all! I gotta go! Take care!!
Andy
Sunday, July 19, 2009
July 18th Already!
email 7/18/09
Next week is Luke’s farewell and Matt will be married in a few weeks. I rolled my ankle this morning playing basketball. It hurts. Two unrelated statements! How does he do it?
So I was working in Tacuarembo with Elder Ahlstrom last week. We had a really good time and found some good investigators and had a baptism. And then President and his wife picked me up in Tacuarembo with my companion and we traveled doing interviews and yearly house inspections all this week. I never thought traveling would be so tiring, but I am just as tired as when I walk in the street all day.
Transfers are next week. Elder Harmon will no longer be my companion. I am really bummed about that. I thought I was going to get to kill him, but I thought wrong. My new companion will be Elder Clark. He is from UT and has a transfer less than I do. He is cool.
I wanted to give a shout out to Grandpa and Grandma Shepherd. I am not sure if I remember right, but I know their anniversary is coming up or just recently past or something like that. Is it number 50? I am not quite sure. I am a bad grandson and I apologize, but I wanted you to know that I love you both so much!! I have such fond memories of being in your home and being with family. Thank you for everything!!
Time to go! Take care! The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church! I love you all!
Andy
Next week is Luke’s farewell and Matt will be married in a few weeks. I rolled my ankle this morning playing basketball. It hurts. Two unrelated statements! How does he do it?
So I was working in Tacuarembo with Elder Ahlstrom last week. We had a really good time and found some good investigators and had a baptism. And then President and his wife picked me up in Tacuarembo with my companion and we traveled doing interviews and yearly house inspections all this week. I never thought traveling would be so tiring, but I am just as tired as when I walk in the street all day.
Transfers are next week. Elder Harmon will no longer be my companion. I am really bummed about that. I thought I was going to get to kill him, but I thought wrong. My new companion will be Elder Clark. He is from UT and has a transfer less than I do. He is cool.
I wanted to give a shout out to Grandpa and Grandma Shepherd. I am not sure if I remember right, but I know their anniversary is coming up or just recently past or something like that. Is it number 50? I am not quite sure. I am a bad grandson and I apologize, but I wanted you to know that I love you both so much!! I have such fond memories of being in your home and being with family. Thank you for everything!!
Time to go! Take care! The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church! I love you all!
Andy
Traveling
email 7/8/09
Hey, I just wanted to write you all and let you know that you are off the hook this Saturday. I will not be having a P-Day. I am going on divisions this whole week and then we have an interview tour and so I won’t write again until Saturday the 18th.
The baptism of the Garcia Family was AMAZING!! Dardo, Gonzalo, and Santiago all received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, and the ward received the family really well. Everyone bore their testimonies and said "congratulations Garcia family. Welcome to the ward!" There was a real spirit of brotherhood and friendshipping of new members that I have never had with a baptism. Perhaps it is because the whole family got baptized together. Dardo, (who is tall and with dark hair and an intense man with a deep voice), bore a sweet testimony in the baptism. He said, and I quote "I wasn’t sure about the whole religion thing. And they talked to me about Joseph Smith and baptism and a few times I just wanted to ask them to leave. But I remember one day when they were there I felt something that I couldn’t deny. I wont try to describe it because you all must have felt the same thing and that is why you are here. I received my answer from the Holy Ghost and I knew that what the missionaries taught me was true." :) - I think that about says it.
Well, it isn’t my P-day so I gotta go. I just thought I would throw you a quick line en vista de que no tengo un dia de preparacion esta semana. Cuidense! Les quiero!!
Andy
Hey, I just wanted to write you all and let you know that you are off the hook this Saturday. I will not be having a P-Day. I am going on divisions this whole week and then we have an interview tour and so I won’t write again until Saturday the 18th.
The baptism of the Garcia Family was AMAZING!! Dardo, Gonzalo, and Santiago all received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, and the ward received the family really well. Everyone bore their testimonies and said "congratulations Garcia family. Welcome to the ward!" There was a real spirit of brotherhood and friendshipping of new members that I have never had with a baptism. Perhaps it is because the whole family got baptized together. Dardo, (who is tall and with dark hair and an intense man with a deep voice), bore a sweet testimony in the baptism. He said, and I quote "I wasn’t sure about the whole religion thing. And they talked to me about Joseph Smith and baptism and a few times I just wanted to ask them to leave. But I remember one day when they were there I felt something that I couldn’t deny. I wont try to describe it because you all must have felt the same thing and that is why you are here. I received my answer from the Holy Ghost and I knew that what the missionaries taught me was true." :) - I think that about says it.
Well, it isn’t my P-day so I gotta go. I just thought I would throw you a quick line en vista de que no tengo un dia de preparacion esta semana. Cuidense! Les quiero!!
Andy
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Baptisms
email 7/4/09
Yesterday I went down the street to my last area of Barrio 12 to baptize Kariza Nuñez Vargas, an 11 year old girl of a member family that I was teaching while I was there. When the Elders gave her a baptismal date they asked who she wanted to baptize her and she said "the tall blonde that used to come". And thus I was called upon to baptize Kariza. Her parents are both police officers, named Leonardo and Mariza, and they are way cool people. I like them a lot. It was really good to see old friends and my old ward. My old ward mission leader’s wife is pregnant. I asked her what they were going to name the baby girl and she said "Mía", which means "Mine". I said that that wasn’t a good idea and that they would regret that when she was a teenager because she would have teenage boys calling her "Mine" all the time. So I suggested a middle name to make the name more safe: "Mía No-Me-Toques Gutierrez", or "Mine Don’t-touch-me Gutierrez". I thought it was a hilarious idea and it made her laugh, but I got a scold look from our Zone Leader Elder Perez.
Tonight we have the baptism for Dardo, Graciela, and Santiago. They had their interviews this week and Elder Layton, my old companion, did the interview and said that they seemed REALLY prepared. Elder Harmon and I are going to do another musical number. We have done so many musical numbers together that I have lost count.
I am driving now. I got lucky because my Utah license expires next month but my Uruguay license doesn’t expire until 2019. At the DMV place down here the lady asked me if my name was spelled right and then looked at me and said "I think we will just give you a license for 10 years, is that okay?" And I replied "That’ll be fine." That was a real blessing because had she wanted to she could have expired my license in August with my Utah one. The good news: I can drive without any problems in Uruguay until July 2019. I compared the pics of my 16 year old license to the Uruguay one and I have concluded that I have grown up a lot in 4-5 years.
This week Elder Harmon went up to Rivera and I stayed in our area with an Elder Martinez from El Salvador. He was really cool and really good at English. We had some good lessons together, including a lesson in the chapel with Lorena, the girl I wrote about last week. We do divisions every week for half the week or more. It gets tiring because we come and go on buses and don’t get much sleep at nights on the buses. I am really tired today and I didn’t even have to travel this week.
Have ye any questions for me? Anything y'all wanna know? I don’t know if there is much left to tell. Take care! I love you all!
Andy
Yesterday I went down the street to my last area of Barrio 12 to baptize Kariza Nuñez Vargas, an 11 year old girl of a member family that I was teaching while I was there. When the Elders gave her a baptismal date they asked who she wanted to baptize her and she said "the tall blonde that used to come". And thus I was called upon to baptize Kariza. Her parents are both police officers, named Leonardo and Mariza, and they are way cool people. I like them a lot. It was really good to see old friends and my old ward. My old ward mission leader’s wife is pregnant. I asked her what they were going to name the baby girl and she said "Mía", which means "Mine". I said that that wasn’t a good idea and that they would regret that when she was a teenager because she would have teenage boys calling her "Mine" all the time. So I suggested a middle name to make the name more safe: "Mía No-Me-Toques Gutierrez", or "Mine Don’t-touch-me Gutierrez". I thought it was a hilarious idea and it made her laugh, but I got a scold look from our Zone Leader Elder Perez.
Tonight we have the baptism for Dardo, Graciela, and Santiago. They had their interviews this week and Elder Layton, my old companion, did the interview and said that they seemed REALLY prepared. Elder Harmon and I are going to do another musical number. We have done so many musical numbers together that I have lost count.
I am driving now. I got lucky because my Utah license expires next month but my Uruguay license doesn’t expire until 2019. At the DMV place down here the lady asked me if my name was spelled right and then looked at me and said "I think we will just give you a license for 10 years, is that okay?" And I replied "That’ll be fine." That was a real blessing because had she wanted to she could have expired my license in August with my Utah one. The good news: I can drive without any problems in Uruguay until July 2019. I compared the pics of my 16 year old license to the Uruguay one and I have concluded that I have grown up a lot in 4-5 years.
This week Elder Harmon went up to Rivera and I stayed in our area with an Elder Martinez from El Salvador. He was really cool and really good at English. We had some good lessons together, including a lesson in the chapel with Lorena, the girl I wrote about last week. We do divisions every week for half the week or more. It gets tiring because we come and go on buses and don’t get much sleep at nights on the buses. I am really tired today and I didn’t even have to travel this week.
Have ye any questions for me? Anything y'all wanna know? I don’t know if there is much left to tell. Take care! I love you all!
Andy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
