Another week...

Well, hello everyone

This is just another week. There really hasn't been anything of great report for our area. We have been working with the English elders a lot, and their area is currently flourishing. However, we haven't had much. Since we helped them a lot, our area has been dying down a bit. We're working super hard to change that, though, and we're going to continue to work hard.
As for investigators, one of our investigator families had to drop us because their son, who owns the house they're living in, doesn't want us to go over there anymore. It's sad, because they were SO golden, but the seed has been planted, and maybe someday it can grow and be harvested. Other than that, there hasn't been anything really great to mention. However, I actually just remembered a funny story that happened to me yesterday at a Goodwill store. For those who don't know, Goodwill is essentially like Deseret Industries, just not church-run. Since it was so funny, I shall explain it in novel form:

"And thus it was, Elders Ulloa, Huskinson, Herrera, and myself were in Santa Clarita, having a doctor appointment taken care of. After having been at the mall for a few hours, we went searching around the nice part of our field of labor, Santa Clarita. We searched around and found, sitting atop a hill, a great and spacious Goodwil building. Drawn by the aspect of cheap clothes and ties, we went inside. I was drawn to the electronics department, in search of a novelty. I browsed the movies, DVDs, cassette tapes, records, and old television sets. I was losing hope, because I could not see. Then, when I looked down, I saw, in all it's blazing brown and gray glory, a Nintendo Entertainment System.
My heart leaped, and my wallet was singing with the prospect. I picked it up, examining it, and imagining Handel's "Hallelujah" playing in the background. However, upon searching the bag taped on the top of cords, I noticed that the power cord was missing. The heavenly song stopped, and I could hear my heart sagging in failure. But, I was not to be deterred. I searched the boxes of miscellaneous cords fervently, and found an adequate replacement. Upon finding this, my joy rekindled, and I went to the front to ask if the aged piece of hardware could be tested. I borrowed a game from their shelf, anxiously hooked it up to a television with the supervision of an employee, and pressed the power button, ready to enjoy the nostalgia. However, something happened, that brought back many memories of stress and frustration from my childhood regarding our old NES system: the flashing power bulb, and the strobing gray screen on the television.
My joy was now defeated, and I heard the sound of my heart crying. I tried many tried and true methods to have the decrepit console function, but to no avail. No amount of blowing on the circuitry would revive the poor creature. So, in utter defeat, I unhooked the system, placed it where I found it, and sat in a chair. The lights dimmed around me, except for a single dim light bulb that shined on me. My heart, practically in pieces, was completely broken. I sung my final requiem, and gave up the ghost. And thus it was."

Fin

I hope you enjoyed my presentation, and I thank you for your time. You may resume your normal happy lives now. Thank you.

Elder Shepherd

What an interesting week...

Hello Everybody.

Well, this has been a pretty interesting week, and that's mainly for one reason. There's a greenie in the English Elder's house, Elder Verive, and he has a massive desire to go out and work. However, his companion, Elder Tindall, has been down and out from getting his toes operated on for ingrown toe-nails, and so Elder Huskinson and I have been doing exchanges every day with them, to help Elder Verive get all the experience he can. We haven't been working in our area a lot because of this, and so we don't have a very good week to report. But, generally, every day, we wake up, do everything normal, and go out with Elder Verive. We go from 11 to lunch, then after lunch for a few hours, then one of us goes to dinner with him. Since we've been working so much in their area, their area is BOOMING!...and I really mean booming. It's going so far that it's crazy. They've already got over 4 baptismal dates, and several investigators. They're on fire.
That's about it for them. As for me, there hasn't been anything to really report. The only thing I can even come close to thinking of is that I won the Settlers of Catan game we played. Really, that's about it.
Also, for those who receive this letter and are currently serving, or have served a mission, would you send me experiences on some stuff that may have happened. Most missionaries always explain things about positive experiences or companions they hated, and they rarely talk about how they themselves fared. I want to know mostly about stuff that you would do to keep yourself motivated, keep pushing, times where you think you had been in a slump, or whatever. I'm interested in that sort of stuff, so if you could, that'd be awesome. Thanks, and have a good one.

Elder Shepherd

Happy year mark to me

Yeah, for those who don't know yet, this last Thursday officially marked my one year time of being a missionary. And you know what that means. That means two things:

1. My life's over...
2. FIRE!!! I burnt a shirt. It should be in a video on my next card home.

I don't have a lot of time left now, but that's about it. Thanks everyone for all the support you've given me thus far on my mission, and I look forward to another great year.

Elder Shepherd

Well, that's one year down...

Hey everyone.

As I'm sure you all can see right now, I'm hitting my year mark. I'll have been a missionary for exactly one year at around 8:16 PM Utah time on Wednesday night. I don't really count that as being a missionary, but it's close to the exact time or so. I hope that I don't go absolutely crazy from this, espeically since this first year just flew by like nobody's business. I've heard that the second is always faster, so I have a feeling I'm going to go a bit crazy.
Anyways, things have been kinda slowing down here. I don't really like that and am not too happy about it, but we're trying really hard to improve ourselves. I've been coming out of a slump from the time I spent in Northridge, so it's been slower than I'd like, but I'm still trying. As far as the area, we had a pretty good lesson yesterday. Elder Huskinson and I did splits yesterday with two of the young men from the branch, and we worked in different parts of our area. I taught a family that I think is really ready for the Gospel, but just needs to come to church more, and pray to know the truth. They have no problem doing reading from the Book of Mormon, but they just need to do those two things, and we can baptize them before the end of the transfer. That'd be nice. But, that's really the only thing we've got going for us. We have another investigator who is going along really well, too. I'm hoping that we can get in more lessons with her soon. We'll see, though.
That's about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crawl into a corner and try to take in the fact that I've been away from home for about a year now. That's still freaky to me.

Elder Shepherd

P.S. I've noticed that some of you like sending me pictures. If you would all please keep them a reasonably small size, preferably somewhere in the 500 KB range, I can put them on my mp3 player, and enjoy them outside of email. Thanks.