tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70564318170309129772024-03-13T06:05:18.902-07:00Bret's Mission to ArgentinaBret Shepherd's missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-81322264673497334182012-02-20T15:21:00.000-08:002012-02-20T15:22:32.362-08:00Don´t have much to write today. We worked really hard this week but at the end of the week it seemed like everything just fell through with our fechas! No se something happened with all of them. It seems like they caught the ¨lie and say we aren´t home sickeness for the missionaries¨. On top of that it rained this sunday and that means that it was hard for people to come to church. So we are a bit down this weekend but we will be working hard this week to see how everything goes. It could have just been a bad day for every investigator at the same time! <br />
<br />
On friday we went to presidents house to have a meeting with the zone leaders. It was great to see all my friends in the mission again! This will be our last time meeting as zone leaders together before we head off to our respective countries lol. I´ll miss these guys but the great thing is that we will all be in touch through tecnologia. <br />
<br />
Today we ate lunch with Familia Guerrero at mcdonalds. I sent a picture! I love this family so much and it was great to see them. Santiago was born on the 16th of January and has grown so much and they told me great news that Juli´s divorce papers will be ending in 6 months and then they can get married and Pablo will be baptized! It was a miracle because it was going to take 3 years but now it happened to take 6 months! They want me to be there when they get married in the temple. They have set it as their goal to get married in the temple. <br />
<br />
So the bad week turned out good and I´m excited for the week ahead! <br />
<br />
Love you guys!KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-15720251156988867352012-02-13T15:22:00.000-08:002012-02-20T15:25:56.095-08:00Hey family!<br />
<br />
Thanks for the letter and I can´t believe it is already valentines day haha. You don´t really look forward to this day on the mision haha. Besides that everything sounds great at home and thanks for the updates on everyone because I like to know whats going on. I´ll be home in 4 weeks! I can´t believe how short that will be and today I recieved my flight ticket and going away surveys etc from the mission. <br />
<br />
This week had been a crazy week. As a zone we had visits from the Asistentes Viajantes to capicitar the zone all week. From Tuesday to Friday we were traveling with them to capacitar the areas.We basically ate hot dogs and kiosko food all week!! We were not able to get back to our area until Friday at night. It felt so weird not being in our area for a whole week and I really felt the need for having to care for our investigators. Being away from them and not being with them really does make you sad because you always want to be there to help them out especially when they are progressing towards baptism. Satan will always try to attack the people in his small ways to have them not come to church on Sunday. <br />
<br />
So with all this captication it was an amazing experience to help the zone and listening to the workshops of the asistentes. Elder Guiterrez, an old companion of mine, is now an asistente. He´s one of the smartest gospel relate people I have met. He will be an apostol for sure.. I´m calling it haha. We are both heading home together. But I learned a lot and I wish I had learned this stuff at the beginning of the mission. But I am still applying what I have learned in my last couple of weeks to do all I can to help the investigators but also the missionaries in my zone. <br />
<br />
With the little time we had in the area we still completed with 80% of the Key Indicators... some areas can´t even complete that in one week. We worked so hard in those last two days. Sunday morning we went out to look for our fechas but everyone was sick, went to the hospital, or couldn´t make it. So we only had 3 people come to church this week but that just means we will have to work harder and this week we will have a full week! I haven´t had a full week in a while!<br />
<br />
On sunday after church we had an asado with the Flia. Merlo. So we enjoyed a great asado with all the family and talked with the father too about the family and we invited him to come to church on sunday and he said he will come! I hope to complete this family before I leave but I know he will take time but we are starting and putting forth a great effort. Milagros told me she loves the book of mormon mckenna gave her but she says his very hard to read haha but she loves it. I´ll take a picture when I can with her and the book.<br />
<br />
I recieved my flight plans today. That was not a good email to recieve but don´t worry I won´t get ¨trunky¨ <br />
<br />
I´ll try to send some pictures over.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-11870939811946990962012-02-06T10:16:00.000-08:002012-02-09T22:20:24.293-08:00Hey mom!<br />
<br />
Sounds like everyone is doing well at home! I totally forgot about the superbowl but sounds like Eli is taking on his brother Payton with more championships now. I´m pretty lost on football right now so I´ll just stick with Baseball and Futbol haha. <br />
<br />
This week has beena full week and we have had little time to work but we completed with all the goals we set and the basic goals of the mision. In fact we reached 100% and more this week. We have been tearing it up here in the area. Heavenly Father has been blessing us generiously. <br />
<br />
During the week it has been super hot and rainy. Of coarse we always get soaked in the rain and many people don´t let us in hah. When we pass by the investigators they let us in :) Shows how awesome they are! The families we have are progressing and the new family we found last week is doing great. The two daughters are super excited about the church and came again this week! One is 19, 16 and 8 and they all came by themselves without their mom and dad. <br />
<br />
Flia Merlo loves us so much that if we don´t stop by the house at 3:00 on tuesdays or thursday or saturdays, even if we are a tad late they always call us and say ¨where are you guys!!¨. Milagros has been reading and she ended the book of mormon drawing book so I gave her the gift from McKenna on suday and she loved it! she gave me a big hug and says thanks to Mckenna. She thinks McKenna is a strange name haha. I seriously love Milagros. <br />
<br />
So this sunday we had 16 people come to church and we have 9 people that want to be baptized. We have been finding new people left and right and this sunday there was a baby blessing so a lot of new people came and told us that they felt the spirit so strongly. We have some appointments with members and some of a new investigators, which are family of the father who gave the blessing, want to have a dinner with us and hear the the lessons! These new people look so promising! I can´t wait to see their progress. There is a 26 year old single mom that has been to church a couple of times a couple of years ago but the missionaries never passed by their house. We gained confidence with the member and now we have a dinner with them and her this friday! She said she felt something special at church and almost cried. <br />
<br />
We are working our hearts out here and on top of that we have to direct the zone. We have been traveling a lot but Heavenly Father has been helping us with everything. I´m thankful for the true church and the blessings of our Heavenly Father.<br />
<br />
This week we will be traveling even more around the zone to do some workshops and we will be back in our area working on Friday afternoon! I´m stressed that we don´t have time to visit out investigators but everything will work out!.<br />
<br />
Thanks about it for the week. I´m ready to take a nap today. i´m dead tired and hungry haha. Thanks for the package it was great and the people will love the gifts!<br />
<br />
Love you guys so much,<br />
bretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-44290305938736949682012-02-01T22:11:00.000-08:002012-02-09T22:16:09.851-08:00Hey Family!<br />
<br />
Well it´s already Febrero and this will be my last full month in the mision! Everything is going fine here in Francisco Alvarez. We have a meeting today in Ramos Mejia so hopefully I´ll be able to recieve the mail and packages that are there. Well we have finished a trasnfer and the zone did really well. This week the zone finished first place in the mision and we were the top baptizing zone in the mision this month. President is really happy with our work but there is always room to improve. We are excited for the next month ahead. It turns out that Elder San Martin and I will be finishing this last tranfer together. He will be killing me here in Francisco Alvarez. It´s crazy to be a ¨Pastor¨ its accomplishing but sad at the same time. I don´t want the time to end.<br />
<br />
This week worked really hard and we are seeing the constant flow of investigators in the church and baptism dates. We finally have found the rythm and process to have at least 5 people in church and 5 people with baptism dates and finding new people at the same time. For the month of febrero we will be planning on at least one baptism every week with a possibility of 10 baptisms this month. We will be working hard to make sure everything works out! This sunday we went to look for two families and they both came to church with us! We passed by at 8:30 and clapped the first door. The mom was all ready to go and then we ran to the corner and went with a family of 5 to church! It was awesome! Then we had to run for the bus before it was too late. We arrived to church with a bunch of people and the day went really well. Hard work brings results.<br />
<br />
Flia Merlo, Milagros and Jesus are all doing super well. We have been passing by there house often and teaching them and really trying to help them learn the basics and get into the rythm of everything. They are all reading a lot and have been coming to church every sunday by themselves. It´s amazing to come to church and see them there all ready in the classes and learning a ful! Yesterday we passed by the church to see if there were any investigators at Mutual. Ends up there were so we played futbol with the kids. It was fun and hah when we were playing 25 ( A game here with futbol) I made the final goal and droped to my knees like all futballers do and Jesus and Milagros came running and like tackled me! It was so funny. I love them so much.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-84696768941879171592012-01-23T14:19:00.001-08:002012-01-23T14:20:01.749-08:00It´s starting to hit me how fast the time passes by in the mission. At the end of the week I´ll only have 6 more weeks left here as a missionary so I´m really sad. Besides that we are still working hard that ever and I´m loving my mission. This weekend we were able to have 5 baptisms!! It really was a blessing to see them enter into the waters of baptism. The day didn´t start off that well because we both woke up really sick from heat sickness. It was a blazing 43º (104º) on Friday and we got to the apartment dead tired drank a lot of water then went to bed. We woke up really sick and without any energy but we still had to get everything ready for the baptism and work work work! We had to travel to another area to look for some baptism clothes then we came back to fill up the font and clean up the capilla. We do so much here! It would be nice to have some help :P I´m always grateful for the strong functioning church back home hah.<br />
<br />
So with everything ready Juan Carlos, Milagros, Claudia, Jesus and Celete all arrived for the baptism but guess what.. the members weren´t there yet or anything so it was a tad akward.. Finally the Branch President arrive with his family of 8 and another family arrived so the capilla was fuller.. haha. These two families take up half of the attendance at church. Everything ended up well. The baptisms were done perectly and smoothly without any interferance and you could feel the spirit so strong. It was so special for me to baptize milagros because she is so special for me. Seing her enter into the baptism font with her face of being nervious but also looking up at me confidently hit me so strong. She really is going to be such a strong member of the church and I love her dearly. It reminded me of baptizing McKenna. Days that you will never forget. At the end of the baptism Jesus and Milagros gave us notes and Milagros told me ¨ Te quiero mucho y gracias por ser mi amigo favorito¨ <br />
<br />
On sunday 4 of the 5 were confirmed with only Celeste being confirmed later on the next sunday to come. The family went to the zoo lol. <br />
<br />
So this was a great week with so much hard work put into the missionary work and were able to see the blessings of our heavenly father. I´m so grateful for my mission. It is so special for me and sacred. All I can say is that every young man needs to go on a mission. <br />
<br />
Thanks for the letter and your love. I hope the package arrives soon and I can´t believe I´ll be home so soon!<br />
<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-33230363796382047222012-01-17T20:21:00.000-08:002012-01-22T20:21:18.574-08:00Hey I´m emailing today!<br />
<br />
Sorry this week has been so busy and we didn´t have anytime yesterday to email because we had meetings and didn´t get back to the area until late at night and on top of that the internet cafes were closed because internet service was out.<br />
<br />
Just a little about this week! The Flia Merlo is all set for their baptisms and the other two people that are going to be baptized. As we got to church on sunday after looking for a bunch of people without success we arrived to find out that 7 people had already arrived! Flia Merlo, Celeste, Juan Carlos and other unsuspected people! It was a blessing to know that these people came to church by themselves. Sunday we complete with 100% of the goals we set and the expectiva as a mision. I´m really tired.. more than ever but we are working hard and the work is paying off. We can´t fail because we have to set the example but I love pushing myself not because I want to get better but I love these people so much. I know through the revelation of our President we can know the ways the the Lord wants us to work and we will have success if we follow the ways, be obedient and be diligent. I have gained a big testimony on working hard and being a líder. <br />
<br />
I love you guys so much and hopefuly I will have more time to talk next monday :)KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-19272492882331204542012-01-09T20:17:00.000-08:002012-01-22T20:19:28.375-08:00Just letting you guys know that it is soo hot today and humid. Just walking outside is like an oven with humidity. Just constant sweating.. I love it haha. Besides that the week has been really productive and we are seeing many miracles this week in the area. At the start of the week we had to go on divisions with some Elders in our area. They are the farthest area in our zone so it is about a 1 and a half hour train ride to get to their area. It is really beatiful out there and a lot of rich people are there so you can expect how it is. I had to do an interview for a baptism candidate and everything worked out and she was baptized this weekend! We have been traveling and working super hard and I can feel it. I was super tired this morning and I am ready for a good nap today when we get home with the ventilador on full blast. <br />
<br />
Right now we have a great pool of investigators. We had 6 people come to church this week. I am really excited for the progress that we are having with the investigators. One of our investigators has had a problem smoking for 25 years but apprently he does not have the craving anymore and its due to the gospel in his life. He is excited to be baptized and will be a strong lider in the future. Flia Merlo had family come over until 4 in the morning but The mom and Milagros came to church anyways after a good morning call at 9 oclock haha. She said she woke up at 8:30 but was contemplating on not going to church but when she came to church she said thanks for calling and that god wants her to be here. Milagros is just the cutest girl ever! We are like best friends and I cannot wait to see this family baptized. We have another family that is going to get married soon but the mom has to get surgery this week so they are just waiting for that to work out but we gave her a blessing and she feels really protected right now. Just so many great people and they are all progressing! It pays off when you work really hard because satan is working his hardest too. I just care for these people so much! You wake up thinking about them, during the day you think about them and at night you think about them. I cannot believe I have 2 months left.. Time flys and I have to finish off strong. <br />
<br />
We found a dog this week that doesnt have the top of his nose lol. I am getting super dark here. People cross me as Latin. So when I get home I will be black lol. <br />
<br />
Love you guys,<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-36442317641596400052012-01-02T20:13:00.001-08:002012-01-22T20:17:18.182-08:00Sorry I don´t have anytime but this week has been super busy! We traveled to Lujan and Mercedes to supervise the elders in every area. We reviewed their work and their penches and were able to see the Cathedral of Lujan! This is the place everyone worships the Virgin de Lujan!! The traveling and work has taken all the energy from us but we still worked really hard and we are seeing a lot of success in the area. As for Milagros and her family they are all wanting to come to church and be baptized. This family is so amazing and I can´t wait to see them enter into the waters of baptism. Milagros is like my little sister here she loves me haha. They werent able to come to church this week because they had visits for the new year. This week ahead we are going to have a lot of success but we are going to work super hard!! <br />
<br />
That´s about it. Sorry that I don´t have that much time but it´s super hot and we are sweating all the time, even at night. The work is progressing a lot. We had a passing away of a hermano here named Hno. Curriese. He loved the missionies so much and passed away Saturday morning. We talked to him on Friday night in the capilla for an hour and he told us how he loved his family and wife so much and the missionaries. It was like he was despidiendose. He said he wanted me to say hello to you guys. He was a great man.<br />
<br />
I was wondering if you guys could send me a quick letter with some Stickers from Desert Book for Milagros. She wants to decorate her Book of Mormon<br />
<br />
Love you guys so much and we´ll be in touch later!KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-46845313903150090382011-12-26T20:10:00.000-08:002012-01-22T20:13:28.760-08:00Thanks for the letter and it was amazing to talk with you guys this week.<br />
<br />
I would like to share an experiencia that happened this week. With one of our families that we are teaching she has been praying for an answer and she said in her dream that she saw her mother and sister who have passed away dressed in white and they hugged her. She said she felt a warm feeling and woke up with an emense joy. She told us the next visit she knows that these things are true and she came to us to church with her two kids Milagros and Jesus who are the cutest kids. Milagros is 11 but she has so much responsibility in the house and is just so cute! I´ll have pictures next week<br />
<br />
It´s just amazing to be here working HARD but being able to see the miracles first hand. Thank you for all the suport you guys give me and I can´t wait to see you guys when I get home!<br />
<br />
Have a great time in Newport for new years. I´ll be passing through another world war 3 here with all the fireworks hahKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-12623199666533205262011-12-22T20:10:00.000-08:002012-01-22T20:10:39.408-08:00Hey!<br />
<br />
Well right now I am changed to the zone of Lujan in Franciso Alvarez as Zone Leader. I´ll have more time to write next week and this sunday!<br />
<br />
We are planning to call at 7:00pm here so it would be around 4:00 there!<br />
<br />
Love you guys! Can´t wait to talk.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-90409128633713245972011-12-12T19:56:00.000-08:002012-01-22T20:05:24.047-08:00Hey Family!<br />
<br />
First this keyboard is pretty bad so I´ll have a hard time writing fast but at least I can write! Well this has been a full week with many new things happening in the mission. This wednesday we had a conferencia with the president and he is changing a lot of the work ethics of this mission. We are now focusing on using the members a lot more because really the work will advance a lot stronger if we use the members. I am really excited for the new changes and it really will make us a better mission because the Lord is having us change and work even harder because he knows we are able to do it. I´m thankful to be in the best mission in the world.<br />
<br />
So lets see what happened this week. First it´s getting constantly hotter and hotter and I love sweating like Niagra Falls here because it´s so humid but on the other fact if there is wind is isn´t that bad. The dogs are still everywhere and they bathe themselves in the ditches with dirty water just to cool them off. I met about 4 talking parots today and the all know how to say the bad words here. I had to give a talk this sunday about missionary work but I only had like 10 minutos so I just bore my testimony and that was about it. The people said it was a really good testimony and asked me a lot of questions after because I shared some stories about the mission to help animate the youth. Ranging from Dogs chasing you, having drunk people try to explain their dreams with a huge machette and finding the most amazing people. <br />
<br />
This week we worked hard but we only had 2 people come to church this week but these two people made me feel something even more special. It was a family that we brought to church with three of their kids. In Argentina it is hard to find families because the dads or either working or they do not want anything to do with religion but this family is special. They are super poor right now and in a bad situation but we have been teaching them about the blessings of our Heavenly Father and about the gospel and they tested their faith and showed up to church. Even the dad came in a white shirt. He´s a stud! Even though we didn´t bring the people we wanted to church seeing this family come was amazing and special to me. There is something about bringing families to church that you cannot explain. The mission is hard. I will not lie. It´s the hardest thing I have done in every aspect but you recieve the best joy and the purest joy along with the love of your family. I am so grateful to be here in the Mission. <br />
<br />
Ps I cut my hair but while I was cutting it in the bathroom I was talking on the phone so I forgot to put the attachment back on and I cut a chunk out of the side of my head.. I look like a Argentina street kid now haha. So I´ve learned not to talk with other missionaries and cut your hair at the same time. :)<br />
<br />
Love you guys and it´s weird that it is Christmas so soon. It doesn´t feel anything like Christmas here but being able to testify of Christ 24/7 makes Christmas even more special. I can´t wait for Christmas and this time to bring many people unto Christ.<br />
<br />
Thanks for the pictures. I wan´t to see more!<br />
<br />
Love you guysKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-60246281452825095862011-12-05T19:52:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:56:12.250-08:00Sorry I don´t have much time to write today we are really busy but the week wen´t really well. We are tearing up the area and are finding new people! Probably the highlight of the week was our english class. We had 35 people come and most of them where teenagers and kids. So there is a house behind the chapel and while we were playing basketball with our investigators all these kids started yelling at us and wondering if they could come play. Like 11 kids hoped over this fence Sandlot style and started playing with us. They were super stoked and wanted to come to the ingles class the next day so we had all these people for the ingles class! Crazy stuff.<br />
<br />
We have a lot of baptisms planned out for this month and we are super excited to keep working hard. It´s getting pretty hot but you just have to keep working! You are constantly sweating though so it´s pretty gross lol. Today I bought the hair machine so I´ll be getting a pretty gnarly haircut by myself if a member can´t do it. I´ve already done it before so it shouldn´t be that hard. <br />
<br />
That´s about it. My mind is really blank right now because I´m super tired from working a lot this week. Random things start popping into my head lol. Don´t worry I write in my journal every night so I´m not loosing anything :)<br />
<br />
Love you guys and hope you have a great time leading up to Chirstmas. Here I´ll just be dying from the heat, hearing loud music and fireworks.<br />
<br />
PS. Boca won last night!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-2461223625142438472011-11-28T19:46:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:52:18.515-08:00I can´t believe that Thanksgiving passed by beause really the time flies by here in the Mission. I hope you all had a great day and next year we will have thanksgiving together!<br />
<br />
Well this week was a solid week with a lot of hard work. We topped the charts in stats and the hard worked payed off. It was sooo hot this week it was crazy. Just walking and sweating all day and even at night. Even in the pench it´s hot and lucky us.. we have a pretty lame fan that doesn´t throw air worth anything hah. The joys of the mission. Besides that the week went great with the hard work paying off. We´ll I should probably go over the highlights of the week right? Well we have English Classes every saturday for two hours and like 12 random people came hah. It was sweet and they all want to come back next week. One of the students came to church this week so this is a great tool to help the mission work. We found an amazing family this week. We were passing by like any other day but we left a folleto with her last week and we decided to pass by this week. She said she was catholic and didn´t want anything but she accepted it and we went on our way. The second time we passes by the kids were playing BASEBALL?! yeah it´s crazy.. Argentines playing baseball? So I had to start playing with them and that opened the door to their house and we talked with the mom and shared the plan of salvation. At first she was a bit hard but at the end she softened up and realized that these things are true. We made plans to have all of the come to church and they were all stoked. Ends up the husband doesn´t want anything to do with us and said they cannot go to church. Heart Breaker! That killed me because this family is sooo dope. We just have to work and get to know the father. We passed by saturday night to see how there plans were to come to church and the mom ( Graciela) was like.. I talked with my husband and he said no.. <br />
<br />
The standard goal for the mission is to have 5 people in church. We had three people right before sacrament meeting and we were pretty let down because we were working so hard and reached all of our goals for the week. We offered a prayer in one of the empty class rooms and we had a miracle. Two random people showed up that went to the church in another area two weeks ago came here this sunday. The mother of 22 with 3 kids loved the church and her mother in law said it was beautiful as well. Wow.. I´m still stunned on how this happened and I´m thankful so much for our Heavnly Father for giving us this blessing. We worked hard and it payed off. <br />
<br />
So after a long, HOT week we reached all our goals. Had success in the area and felt the blessings of our Heavly Father. It´s crazy how we are almost in Decemeber. I´m greatful to be in the mission!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-43026639864318894392011-11-22T19:42:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:46:29.130-08:00Well this week has been a pretty good week. The time seems all the same in the mission and everything just seems to fly. We are having progress with our investigators. Elizabet came to church so we are super stoked on her progress. I do not have to much time to write today just to tell you guys that the week went well. It was super hot this week but it finally rained. The new shoes are amazing.. I can finally walk!<br />
<br />
Besides that everything is going fine here in the area of Rivadavia. Hope you guys have a great week and eat a lot of turkey and I cannot believe that Christmas is only 5 weeks away. We can talk on the phone!<br />
<br />
Love you guys<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-30523907568053634792011-11-14T20:07:00.000-08:002012-01-22T20:07:31.918-08:00Well it´s been a solid week here in Rivadavia. We killed the boards this week and had a lot of success finding new people! We had a confirmation of a baptized that we had this last weekend so the work is going really well. I have a strong testimony that the members are the best way to find new people. We were on divisions with one of the members and we passed by one of his moms friends and she let us in like she already knew us. We talked and shared the message and they were stoked on it. The kids came and played basketball with us on Friday night and she loves us! They were not able to come to church this sunday because they went out to another area to visit family but this week we are planning a Noche de Hogar with this family with there friends who are members. It´s going to so rad! <br />
<br />
We played soccer today for Pday with some elders from the zone. It´s weird being so old on the mission and I officialy have recieved my Trunky papers to have me fill out how I am going to go home.. Weird thinking about that.. I still have a long time to go. So I´m just stoked on this week to come. The weather is warming up and more people are outside so thats a plus. I´m enjoying my time with Elder Kezerian from SLC.. he´s a great missionary and a great guy. He´s a hard worker and we are going to tear it up this week again.<br />
<br />
Thanks for the package! The shoes were very much needed. I can actually walk now hah! Thanks for the love and support. I liked the van stickers and everything hah. I miss you guys a lot but I´ll be able to call home in 5 weeks! Time sure goes by fast. Next thing you know it i´ll be home.<br />
<br />
Make sure to tell Gary that I say hi and that I wish him a happy birthday. Tell him we need to go to some futbol games and watch them on TV too!KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-45270907188887904342011-11-07T19:40:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:41:56.043-08:00Well I have left San Antonio de Padua.. I´m sad like always when leaving an area beacuse you become to attached to the investigators and members. I felt like I did what I was ment to accomplish and I love every single person that I have met there. The converts are amazing and the members are super awesome. I will always be in contact with them and always have a place in my heart for the people of Padua as well as my previous areas.<br />
<br />
So we ended the transfer early on Thursday and I was able to visit families during the week. We had a dinner with a family that is investigating and it was delicious. They aren´t able to be baptized yet because they are working on Sundays but I´ll try my hardest from over here in my area to have them reach the waters of baptism. We were the first elders to enter in their house and they love us now! On Wednesday we finished the day off at Pablos house with his kids that were baptized. We ate humburgers and just spent the night together as a family. I love them so much.. they are so close to me and just super amazing people. I´m so glad I was able to share the gospel with them and to see their two sons be baptized and to see the future baptism of Pablo when all the paper work goes through for divorsement. Those kids are so dope. They love hiphop and skateboarding and want to go on missions! What more can you ask from anyone in Argentina hah. So I´m pretty sad leaving the area but I´ll be able to visit in 3 months before I head home! We need to come back and visit!<br />
<br />
Right now I am in an area called Rivadavia! It isn´t to far away from S.A de Padua only about 40 minutes in bus. I´m companions with Elder Kezerian who was 1 month in the mission. I´ll be finishing out his training. I´ll be running the district here in in Castelar so I´m stoked to do that again. Should be fun and we tore it up this week. We got to the area on thursday with basically nothing so we started working super hard and we reached all our goals! It was a miracle and thanks to members that came with us on divisions we made it. The members are super cool here. The are is poorer so the people are more humble and open to the message. It´s all dirt roads again so I´m not that pumped on walking haha but I´m stoked to be here in the area. This saturday we held an english class and put up invitations all over the place and we had a good turn out of like 15 people with 4 new investigators! They loved it and said I was a rad teacher! We split the group up into two classes and I taught the other one. There was this little girl names Agustina that is adorable,who has 10 years, and went home and told all her friends and family members that she has a cool teacher named ¨Bret¨ haha. She really wanted to know my name so I told her and we ran into her in the street with her aunt and we started talking and she was like ¨Oh so you´re Bret the teacher.. Agustina always talks about you. So she is going to come to class Saturday and she wants to come to church on Sunday! I can´t wait to work with her and her family so the join the church. What a solid way to find new people!<br />
<br />
The weather is heating up. It reached 30º C this week and it was super hot and we are one month away from Summer soo I´m not ready for that.. but at least it rained so it cooled off the area for a bit. Besides that I´m loving it. Elder Kezerian is a great companion and a hard worker so I´m down to give it my all for my last 3 transfers and probably my last area. He is from SLC Utah.<br />
<br />
Thats about it. Had a great week. Tired.. worked hard and ready to baptize here! We have a ton of potencial and I´m stoked!KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-29650785468102247412011-11-01T20:17:00.000-07:002011-11-01T20:17:50.230-07:00Whats up everyone! Thank you for the email fam. You guys are the best and sounds like everyone is doing good back home. <br />
<br />
Well this week has been a crazy workful week leading up to the baptism we had yesterday. Damian and Matias were baptized this Sunday and it was soo great! These kids are like my family and this whole family is just amazing. We´ve been working with them for about 3 months and finally everything worked out. After working so hard in the area we are having success and it is a great feeling. I´ll send some pictures over of the baptism. I can´t wait to see this family go through the temple! So today we had an asado with the district and we bought like 60 pesos worth of meat which could feed any hungry missionary. It was heaven like always then after we played some futbol. Americans vs. Latinos... yeah you can guess who won on that one haha.<br />
<br />
This week we have a sweet schedule. It looks like I´ll be heading out from the area so some families want to do some farewell things. Tomorrow we have another ASADO (boss) and Wednesday night we are going to have an American BBQ (with hamburgers) at the home of Pablo and his family. I seriously love the people here and will always carry them close to my heart like everyone else in the zones I have been in. It´s amazing to receive letters from converts that have made it to one year as a member and tell you how much their live has been blessed and they are going strong in the church with callings. It just makes the hard work seem like nothing because the happiness you feel is beyond measure. <br />
<br />
We ordered a huge pizza this week and with other random orders when we are starving at the pench. Elder Nesbit is hilarious and we already have a lot of inside jokes. We always have trouble falling asleep at night because we always talk, even if we are dead serious about falling asleep... I´ll miss him alot! <br />
<br />
4 months left in the mish... all the elders that have my same time are all telling me how it flys by. I remember I came into the mission with Reese having like 3 months left... it´s just a weird feeling! I don´t want it to end yet.. so I´ll be working hard til the end.<br />
<br />
That's about it. Just a super gnarly week and on top of that two baptisms of the two coolest kids.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-21215271632757239352011-10-24T19:02:00.000-07:002011-10-31T19:08:11.913-07:00Instead of writing about the week I should be writing about the day haha. Well we started the day off playing futbol here in Padua so it´s been a good day from the start then we ate some very chewy milanesas. After that we got back to the pench and ran off to do internet right now and we realized we don´t have money haha. Good thing we have a good realation with the owner of the cyber and he said we can pay him back later. He´s dope<br />
<br />
Well this past week has been a full week! It´s hard to think right now becuase I have a killer headache and I´ve been sick the last couple of days but I got some good medication from an investigator that is in the medicine field. Good stuff! They are going to have a baby in 2 months so we were able to see the video in 4D from the ultrasound and they are stoked that I will be here in Argentina to see it! I can´t wait to come back and visit this family. We are going to be baptising their two sons this weekend and eventually the father after the paper work getings all worked out with his wife. I´m not a fan of 3 year divorce waiting periods...<br />
<br />
So this is probably my last week here in Padua because the transfer is going to be over on the 3rd of Noviembre.. don´t know why but the bumped it up a few days so can´t do anything about that. I have a good interview with President too! Right off the bat he said ¨What has gotten into you Elder Shepherd¨... I sat there stunned like... what did I do wrong?! but he said you have torn it up in the last 4 months and has seen a growth as an Elder... Dope! He says he has plans for me so we will see what we are going to do. <br />
<br />
Elder Nesbit is doing great. He´s probably one of my best friends now he´s a stud. Reminds me a lot of the relationship Cage and I have. We got some good things going for the future... <br />
<br />
Well thats about it! Just another week in the mission. It´s starting to heat up so I´m down but when it´s dead summer it´s going be horrible!<br />
<br />
Love you guys,<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-48028416621219425432011-10-17T18:54:00.000-07:002011-10-31T19:01:48.912-07:00Well, thanks for the letter. I appreciate hearing from you guys every week! It has been a busy week here in San Antonio de Padua and all the work we have been doing has paid off! We were the only zone out of four to complete with all the goals of the mision for the week. We were able to have 5 people come to church and we have 6 people that have dates to be baptized. I´m super excited but I know during this time we need to work even harder to make sure these people reach the waters of baptism.<br />
<br />
We meet a super awesome lady called Mirian through a reference from a member. We had some trouble finding her but everything worked out and we had a lesson in her house and she really got emocional and loved the message. She even came to church yesterday and she took it all in and I can´t wait to pass by this week. A couple members are studs and welcomed her really well and made her feel welcomed. It was pretty cringing because in our two classes we had the topics of Tithing and Patriarcal Blessings.. lol.. super awesome classes for a new investigator. I know everything will work out and the most important thing is that she will feel the spirit. It´ll all be good. <br />
<br />
We have some pretty funny pictures to show you guys hah just a busy week with funny things. I really believe Argetinos are afriand of rain. We were walking passed a school and with the mist everyone was running to their cares and the kids were putting the hands up like the ¨mist¨ would kill them. It was super funny and one of those moments you just had to be there to experience the glory of it. Elder Nesbit and I already have some super funny inside jokes and I´m sure he will be one of my good friends for life. He´s a stud and growing everyday and his spanish is improving really well. It´s crazy to think I was there 15 months ago... time flys!<br />
<br />
I hope I get some letters next week. We have interviews with President and I´m always stoked to meet with him and to see how I can improve. I think this is my last transfer here but we will see. I only have 3 transfers left after this transfer! Stoked and Bumbed at the same time. This mission is the best.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-37377190545599814752011-10-03T14:37:00.000-07:002011-10-04T22:00:55.052-07:00Well I don´t have to much time to write today sorry!! But it´s been an awesome and also let down week. I had planes for so many people to come to the conference but it seems like everyone found themselves in a situation and were not able to come. Besides that we found an amazing man who loves church!! His name is Carlos and when we were on division with Elder Barrios from Columbia we found him in the patio and just started talking and he let us in his house. We started talking about lesson two and he was stoked to come to church this weekend. The next time we passed by with a member his house was super clean and he had the table set with the folleto of lesson 2 on the table. He was ready to hear more! He has a fetcha for the 23rd of October. We have 5 people planned to be baptized this month so we are working hard with them. The division with Elder Barrios was super fun and hilarious. I love that guy and he told me that I need to come to Bogota and visit him. He´s planning to study in the states too. On friday night we brought 7 investigators to the activity and played football, made pizza and everyone got to know eachother. It was sweet! Conference weekend was the best. I really got a lot out of this conference and I am pretty sad to thing how this will be my last conference as a missionary. Understanding spanish seems perfectly normal now and I felt I got more out of conference watching it in spanish than ingles. Funny stuff. For me this conference was ment for us to become better people with our morals and decision. We need to step up and not become in the world. I have many talks that I can apply to investigators.<br />
<br />
Today we played some football with about 9 other elders here in Padua. I need to buy some new shoes. My vans don´t hold up anymore and I almost broke my big toe nail again. So I´ll probably have to buy some new shoes. We found some kittens in front of the church while leaving. Two super cute guys and of coarse with my soft side we had to take them to the pench and we are looking to see if a member can take them because we cannot have pets lol. Besides that it has been a great week. I´m still stressing about our investigators.. I love them so much that it hurts to not see them progress and accept the gospel. Sometimes we have to realize it is in the lords time and not ours but we have to keep loving and doing all we can. We have a family that came about a month ago but ever since they have been busy but sometimes they are able to come to mutual with us. They fit in perfectly but the mother is sick and that complicates a lot of things. We just have to keep working harder... and be guided by the spirit.<br />
<br />
Many investigators are progressing and we are really being blessed. Elder Nesbit is a stud and I love serving with him. He´ll be one of my best friends after the mission for sure.<br />
<br />
Love you guys,<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-33340106773923798392011-09-26T11:56:00.000-07:002011-10-04T21:57:40.131-07:00I can´t believe it is another week in the mission. Time goes by way to fast. So looking back at the week I was really happy at the progress of the people that we have in the area. We had a miracle at church this weekend. Having a super workfilled day this saturday we found some amazing people and with one of them they were really stoked to come to church. It ends up that her cousin is a member in another ward pretty close to here and she came with him. The funny thing she is a Megadeth and Iron Maiden fan, it was pretty funny haha. We passed by her store and taught her a quick lesson and she loved it and came to church. Sweet. <br />
<br />
The family that we are working with are still having troubles coming to church but the kids are coming to the activities like Futbol. They are super awesome and just sundays are really hard for them so we are going to be working super hard with them to help them come to church. They were going to get baptized over 4 years ago but something just came up and now I know we found them again to have them be in the church. <br />
<br />
One of our investigators still comes to church but doesn´t see the need to be baptized. She´s 17 so I wouldn´t really understand it either but the mom says it too so it convinces the daughter even more. The mom has really opened up with us. We met her about 2 months ago and now we are having our second family night in her house tomorrow! She loves us now and she has a kiosco and everytime we pass by she gives us food and stuff. They always wait for us to pass by haha. The only bad thing they are starting to work on sundays but we are working things out so another family member can watch the store!! It´s pretty gnarly hah the daughter plays Call of Duty on the computer sometimes so that was a kick.<br />
<br />
So yeah we have a lot of Progress in the area. We have an interview with President Wednesday with an investigator that needs to wait 3 years to get divorced so I hope everything works out. I´m sure President is going to put goals with him but I am praying he will be able to help speed up the process of the paper work. It´s pretty crazy how it takes so long to get divorced so I understand more how people don´t want to get married! <br />
<br />
Well Love you guys and have a great conference.KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-12503083181362577712011-09-19T12:43:00.000-07:002011-10-04T21:55:39.899-07:00Well it´s been a normal week in the mission hah. Probably the highlight of these week was how Elder Aidukaitis came and visited the mission. We had a conference with him this week and it was really good. I remember how last year he came and gave the mission a little shake up and make us want to do better if you catch my drift hah. I only had 3 weeks in the mission field back then but now I had the same opporunity when I have 18 months. I really took it in a lot more and he gave us great counsil and we felt the spirit imensly. He just makes you want to work harder and harder. He still wants us to baptize every week and we said we will do it!<br />
<br />
We worked really hard to bring our investigators to church this week but it was one of those weeks that everything just didn´t work out at the end. You can only give your best and let everything else work out the way it should. Sometimes as missionaries we don´t put ourselves in the shoes of our investigators but we just have to keep on giving our love to them. I seriously love these people!!<br />
<br />
This saturday we had a service project in Merlo at a hospital and it ended up being with the two stakes of Merlo and Marcos Paz so guess what I was able to see the members from Mariano Acosta! I saw the bishop´s family, Familia Diaz and more! When I walked in I came across Eli the daughter of the Bishops family waving at me and ran down and gave me a hug. I was so stoked to see them and I miss them so much! I realized how much they loved me and all the missionaries say the family always talk about me there. <br />
<br />
This week we are just going to go nuts and talk with everyone hah. We are stoked to just find new people and work hard with the people we have. I´m enjoying the weather before it gets redic hot down here but I´m ready for another summer! <br />
<br />
Just another week in the mission. We found the soccer ball that I accidently kicked over the fence of the church.. we were contemplating hoping the fence of the house to get it but then Heavenly Father didn´t want us to be stupid and sent a huge German Shepherd. We decided not to jump. Elder Nesbit is rad, one of my favorite comps for sure and he´s doing great. He´s from West Jordan Utah so you know mom.<br />
<br />
Love you guys, keep it real<br />
ChauKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-45310994364862564422011-09-12T13:30:00.000-07:002011-10-04T21:53:01.388-07:00Well it´s been a good week. I´m pretty much looking forward to the week right now because we are both stoked to work hard and to do our best. This last week seemed like everything has happened so that our investigators do not come to church but they are still super excited and animados to come to church this next week. Everything is going great here in Padua and it´s starting to heat up too. I´m looking forward to the summer time but at the same time as a missionary it´s pretty gnarly hot. <br />
<br />
Our investigators are still studs and we will be working hard in order for them to be members in the church. Having the new program of the mission is amazing and it´s teaching me more than anything on how to be a better missionary too. I´m really excited for what is all to come. <br />
<br />
We had to clean our pench really well today because Elder Audukietes is going to make some suprise inspections and we actually have a conference with him this week here in San Antonio de Padua. Today on P-day we played futbol with our district and that´s about it. I´m ready to go out and work and have a great week. One of my good friends from the mission here is in the zone. He´s from Bogata Columbia so Dad has to give me some slang to talk with him. I always call him a Lampara. He´s a super chill funny elder with a hard columbian accent.<br />
<br />
We´ve ordered ice cream a lot lately and eating pretty well. I´m preparing myself for a hot summer when you drop a ton of weight hah.<br />
<br />
That´s about it. Just ready for a new week and to tear it up.<br />
<br />
Love you guysKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-58043496806858474252011-09-05T12:38:00.000-07:002011-10-04T21:51:04.938-07:00Just another great week in the mission. We´ve probably eaten more meat in one week than even in my mission. I have a awesome kid so I have to enjoy it. Actually this Saturday we had an asado with a person we met last week just talking with him in the street and he invited us over to have an asado. That´s how cool Argetinos are. We finished up eating and we invited him to the read the Book of Mormon. It was more of a eat and talk session and he loved that. At first he was pretty hard to get to but at the end he really opened up and wants to read the book of mormon. Aparently his best friend from La Plata served a mission in Córdoba, so he already has a good connection with the Mormons. He gave us a lot of praise to be on the mission. So we ate really well! I love asados hah. For mutual we had two investigators come and they loved it and already have friends at the church. The family we are teaching weren´t able to come to church due to a birthday party but they are excited to come next week and to the activities of the church. We had a great lesson with all the family during the week and we challenged all of them to be baptized together and they all accepted! You could feel the spirit so much during that lesson. It´s an amazing family.<br />
<br />
During church we had a miracle with an investigator coming by herself to church with a member friend. It was a shock and now she wants us to come by this Tuesday to have a Family Night and she really wants a change in her life. So the work is going great and my companion and I are really having a great time together. He reminds me a lot of cage with his personality and we pretty much enjoy the same stuff and music so I´m stoked about that. We are working hard together and I love being able to teach him and he´s really enjoying the mission and says that I´m a awesome Dad. So I´m happy.<br />
<br />
Just looking forward to this week, I can´t wait to see the end results of all the hard work and I can´t believe I only have 6 months left in the mission. I´m stressin! I don´t want it to end. Also I´m not ready for the heat to come, even though right now it is perfect!<br />
<br />
Love you guys!<br />
BretKenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7056431817030912977.post-5471661642967459042011-08-29T15:00:00.000-07:002011-10-04T21:47:33.450-07:00Another week in the country of Argentina! The weather is starting to warm up so it´s getting really nice and it feels too much like California so I´m stoked hah. I can´t beleive this mes is reaching an end. It really goes by too fast and I feel like it will only go by faster. So I´ll just start from the top of the week and finish with a Miracle that we had this week!<br />
<br />
Basically we worked really hard this week and I love President Carter. He´s such a great man and President. First before jumping ahead my companion and I had to go down to Captial again so he could start on his paper work to be legal in the country. Again we were able to take the subway downtown and it was awesome like always! I love downtown and it was crazy going down there with the new missionaries and having to translate for them. It makes me realize how far I have come in the language and the mission. After doing the paperwork we went it eat some lunch at Subway and the lady workers behind the counter were laughing at us because we haven´t seen bacon in like 17 months so it was pretty funny. I can´t wait to go back and show you down town, it is amazing! I´ll show you guys some pictures. The mall felt like America 100% but with Argentina European people.. jaja. After that we headed back on the subway, train and back to Padua. In the night we had a great lesson with our investigators and his kids. Then Friday came, the conference of Zone so we had to wake up at 5:30 and take colds showers because our stupid water heated is sketchy but we made it on a over stuffed train. I´ll paint a picture for you guys how crazy it is. Just think of the down stairs bathroom but with 30 people in it. You literally have to fight to get out at your stop hah. It´s craazzy. So we made it to conference and we had a great time! I love the counsle that president has for us and he is changing the mission and I love it. We are focused on talking with more people and relying more on the Lord and working hard! There is a lot of focuses and I like it. I recieved a super awesome birthday gift from the President and his Wife. They are studs!<br />
<br />
Friday night was awesome! So right now we are able to play futbol with our investigators and we had 5 investigators come to the activity. So as long as there are investigatores we are set. They all loved it! Saturday we had an activity with the Qoroun of the Elderes and we ate chorripan and they played futbol! It was rad. I love how everyone is really good a futbol here and they really know how to cook meat hah! Overall a super day but it gets even better. <br />
<br />
During the week we talked with a lady on the street with her daugther. It wasn´t anything special but we were able to write down their direccion and we ended up passing by Saturday. They let us in like they already knew us and we sat down in the house with the Mom and the daughter of 12 years. It ends up she said when she talked to us in the street she knew we weren´t send from God for her and her family. She talked with the missionaries over 16 years ago but even since nothing has happened. So talking with her was so spiritual. She is going through a really hard time with her health and family. They are a family of 8 children. The lesson was super spiritual and I could feel the spirit so strongly in the lesson. I had the impression to promise her if she came to church she would recieve blessings from our Heavenly Father. It just came to my mind during the time and she told us she will try. We told them we would pass by in the morning and she said we will see but I told her, if you have the faith it will work out. We passed by in the morning and the mother and daughter both came out ready to go to church! They are such studs and I knew she wasn´t feeling good but she came anyways. We headed to church in a remis and at the end of church we gave her a blessing. She was super impressed on how everyone cared for her and the daughter is stoked to come to mutual this friday to play some soccer! The 18 year old daugther wasn´t able to come but she want´s to come next week! I really have a testimony that heavenly father puts people in our path so we can be instruments in his hands. It is one of the many miracles that I have seen on my mission. It´s the best feeling ever. I want to help this family so much. <br />
<br />
I´ve found to be obedient to the Lord, Work hard and be real. Its the truth!<br />
<br />
At church we were able to bring 7 investigators and we had the confirmation of Rodrigo! <br />
<br />
Today we went to Merlo to buy some stuff and I bought some Jerseys for super cheep and I am ready to play some futbol this week. I´m getting a lot better. I can´t wait to come back and be an addict to Futbol and Baseball. I can imagen Uncle Gary and I going crazy over Futbol! Aguante Boca!<br />
<br />
This keyboard is so sketchy but I do what I can. Tonight we have a Family Night and we are going to make some brownies! I´m stoked<br />
<br />
Off to another hard working week<br />
<br />
Love you Fam!<br />
Keep it real!KenShepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14273953287425373068noreply@blogger.com0