25 July 2011

Well what a week! The mission is going by in a blur seriously. I cannot believe that is already the end of July and my birthday is around the corner. I am pretty stoked haha. But everything is going well here in Padua. Right now I am a little sick but you just have to work through it. Today for P-day we played some soccer and then we back to the pench to eat some chicken noddle soup because it started to rain so it was one of those chicken noddle soup days while it was raining. Fortunately it stopped and now we are sending out the emails and ready to have a great Noche de Hogar.

So we are actually doing really well in the area right now. We have two baptized planned for the end of the transfer and we are planning to have 3 more. Everyone said this area is super hard but we are having success and I know this success comes from our Heavenly Father. People are showing up out of no where at church and it looks like next week we will have 8 people in church. Haha a funny story. We have an investigator who just never wanted to get baptized. So after church I was talking with him ( He´s 13) and I asked him so whats going on and why don´t you want to be baptized.. he told me.. well do I have to do anything more.. I told him ¨Dude you are ready bro just go for it¨ and he said ¨You know what, yeah I am ready. I want to get baptized ¨ Super rad experience.

We are going to have a noche de hogar tonight with Luciano, one of our fetchas, and also a friend of theirs named Tamara. They both come to church yesterday and really liked it so we are going to keep working with them two. Thursday we have a great day planned because we are making tacos with a family and we are going to meet two of their kids. The father Pablo isn´t able to get baptized yet because they are waiting on their paper work for a divorcement from earlier but once that gets done, marriage and baptism and then Temple! They are a solid family and the kids are awesome and want to come to the activities and church.

Yeah so everything is going great! We are eating well due to my companion who cooks really well hah and we are getting along really well. I can´t wait for the week ahead. I am actually going to capital for the 3rd time in 3 weeks to get my paper work done so I won´t be illegal! It´s awesome going down there. It will be fun to head there after the mission.

Love you guys,
Elder Shepherd

18 July 2011

Well this has been a cool week in Padua. Nothing to exciting happened besides that we had interviews with president this friday. He´s a stud and I can´t wait to serve with him for the next 7 months. In my interview with him we got to know eachother and we started talking about Newport Beach and Corona del Mar ward. He said ¨Are you the son of Shannon Shepherd?¨ and he told me I look like you mom hah. Small world. But he really is a great guy and really easy to talk to. He´s a dodgers fan so at least he isn´t a Yankees fan. His wife is really sweet and funny too. We talked about how you know her brothers.

We had a family come to church this week. Actually Friday night we made tacos with the Family Guerrero and they were stoked to come to church this Sunday. They arrived at 8:55 sharp and they loved it. It´s great seeing families at church. Their 3 year old kid was crazy in sacrament meeting. Running all over the place but everyone knows how kids are and it was great! I´ll send some fotos over too after this emial.

Also on saturady morning we had a service project at a school here. All the missionaries from the zone came and we had a great time. Basically we painted and knocked down a huge wall with sludge hammers. It was great swinging a sludge hammer again. I still have a good swing and knocked down a huge wall. The argentines were impressed haha. But that was sweet.

Right now it is raining slightly and it´s a cold day. We have a family night tonight with an awesome family and he are working with a boyfriend of one of the members. Hope everything goes well!

I don´t know what else to say but I´m enjoying every moment of the mission. I can´t believe I have 7 months left.

13 July 2011

Well sorry for the late letter home. We went to capital to do some paper work for my new companion so that took all day because it´s crazzzyy down there. It was awesome seeing capital. The European influence and vibe is definitely felt down town and in all of the country. So after spending a whole P-day we got back right at 6 and went out to work. I´ll save what happened for the next letter home to keep you guys in the anticipation jaja.

Basically we had a really good week. According to the missionaries here before and the whole scene of the area, it is a hard place to work. There is commercial areas, rich areas and the poor area. The area has been down for about two years so everyone is in the mind set that they cannot progress and the missionary work is being done but with all the effort nothing really comes to pass. I see so much potential here we just have to be diligent and do work. This last week we found so many new people, so after starting from 0.. we have a pool of investigators and we will continute to find new people. I have such a craving right now to talk with everyone and to work! It is an awesome feeling. So basically this week will be the week to see the hard work pay off and to see those who will progress and those who unfortunantly will not.

We ran into this one drug addict that lived in San Diego. He had a Hunington Beach shirt and right now is pretty messed up. He told us we came to him at the right time. I want to help him so badly but we still have to be careful because Drugs are gnarly and you never know what can happen. Also with the Family Guerrero, the boyfriend went to New York so it´s so funny to see him with a Yankees hat and gear from the United States. It´s also pretty weird to see a house with an Xbox 360 and Iphones. It´s rare to run into a family like that because usually the wealthy people are the hardest to let us in but he is soo rad and has so much desire to really know if the church is true. His wife is inactive right now but she still has a strong testimony and wants to return back. We are working with them to come to church, take the steps to baptism and to be sealed in the temple when it opens! I have faith everything will work out but Ójo, satan will do whatever it takes so we will just have to out do him because we got Heavenly Father on our side. It´s nice to have him on our side, everything works out. Pablo really is interested how the Church is based on the Family and also how the Catholic church is pretty corrupt. He´s a Psycologist so he understands things really well. I really hope them come to church this week. They said they will! On the way back from a lesson in their house. He took us home in his 2010 Golf and it was super nice. He is a big fan of Hip Hop and he gave me a CD and told me to pick what I liked because I mentioned I like Hip Hop. I recommended A Tribe Called Quest for him so he listed to that on the way back to the house after dropping us off.

It´s been weird to be involved so much in American stuff lately and running into people with connections to the states. Its weiiirrdd.

But the week went great, we worked hard and its stressful training but you lead by example and be obedient! The Mission is awesome and something funny is that I ran into the brother of Sis. Minor. He is serving in the South Mission.

Love you guys, thank you for the pictures and the birthday package!

A few questions. What is my background? I get a lot of questions if I am Brazilian or from Argentina.

04 July 2011

Well I have some big news. I am not in 9 de Julio anymore. I actually have been transfered to the Zone of Merlo! I am in S.A. de Padua with a new companion named Elder Lazaro from Peru. He has about 2 months in the mission so I am practically training him.

I really cant believe that I am not in 9 de Julio anymore. I really thought I would be there until the 15th of August but apprenently President make a lot of changes this Transfer, especially in Campo. When I recieved the call I thought Elder Paxman was joking but it turned out in was really true! It felt so weird to go through the day knowing that I would be leaving. We had so many things planned for the next transfer ahead with activities and to have my birthday with the branch. It ends up things have changed hah. I had the chance to visit the families and to say my good byes. I was not able to say good bye to the family borges because they were in Jujuy. I was able to call them and say my good byes. They were planning a huge thing for me when I left for my Birthday but it will be for another day. I will be able to visit in 8 months and after the mission.

So after leaving the area I am waiting for that time to adjust. I still miss 9 de Julio like crazy and the area I am in now is so much different. I am definently back in Capital with the hustle and bustle of the City Life. I am excited to be here though but sad at the same time. My companion is cool, chill and tells me how the area is hard. But everyone says that but President said he put me in here for a reason to get the area and zone elevated. He said he put in the studs to rebound the area. We do not have any investigators so we are basically starting from nothing. I guess that is good though because it is a clean slate and we just gotta work hard. After a week I will be able to give more details on everything!

So last night we had dinner at the Familia Jaurez and passed by some other families. Ends up that my bus left at 3:00 in the morning so I basically packed at 1 am and just headed straight to the Terminal and went off to Ramos Mejia! Abigail a joven came to the terminal to say good bye ( usually the familia borges and her come to say good bye to the missionaries). She is a stud.I am super tired but I want to meet the people here.

This last weekend in 9 de Julio was awesome. We found a ton of new people and I feel like I left the area better than I found it. It was hard to leave it because we are getting so many new people to teach but that is the life of the mission. These people will always have a special place in my heart. I cannot wait to go back and visit. I am sooo grateful for all the blessings I recieved there and for just being in the houses of the members and the people. To be involved in their lives, to be a counselor in the branch and to give your all for these people. I really do love them.

Well time to get to work, I met President Carter today. He seems super cool and a great man. I brought up the fact that mom knows his wife and he was like No way! I will have to look into that!

Well I love you guys. I cannot believe this is already my 4th area. I will make the best of it!