Here's my new year's resolution (In November)

So,

We haven't been having the best weeks, lately. The problem is that Elder Adamovich has insomnia, and so he doesn't get the greatest sleep in the world. He usually sleeps past 7:15, and so that's been a problem. It's not for him, since he has medical permission to do so, but it's a problem for the rest of the people in the apartment because it's contagious. We have been trying hard to get up, but it has so far been unsuccessful. We are going to try, however, from now on to get up, and work out at 6:00 AM. It's really hard, but I have 15 pounds of weight to lose, so I'll do anything to do it. Also, proselyting work hasn't been too great, so we're making a resolve to up our efforts in that. So yeah, there's my November years resolutions.
As far as the work, we haven't been getting much different. We found a less-active family, and we're trying to bring them back to church. As for our investigator, she came to church, but her autistic son was acting up, and so she excused herself and left. I was really disappointed when that happened, because she's progressing really well. We're praying that something good happens soon, though.
That's about it for this week. Stay tuned till next week.

Con amor

Elder Shepherd

Emailing on a Wednesday

Wednesday Email!!!

Yeah, we were supposed to email yesterday, but that didn't work out because the car elders had no free time for email. So, we're doing it today. Not too bad, though. Anyways, here's my update.
The area has been doing okay since the transfer. We got one of our solid investigators to come to church. She said she really liked it, and we have now begun teaching her the commandments. She is progressing really well, especially since she's already in the late Mosiah chapters. We're still shooting for her baptism this month, and things are looking up. However, we've noticed that our ward isn't as strong as what it should be, so we are going to focus this transfer a ton on less-actives. We're hoping that if we can re-invigorate the ward with some more members attending, things will start picking up.
As for any funny experiences, we decided to regress to childhood and make a fort on P-day. I've got some awesome pictures that I expect will be posted on my mission blog when I send the card home. Keep an eye out for those.
Well, that's about it, I'm almost out of time, and I got some more stuff to do, so, I'll talk to you all later.

Con amor

Elder Shepherd

New Transfer, New Companion, Same Area

Hey Everyone

This week was transfer week, so that means I'm now two transfers out of sixteen down. I'm not really trying to count, but I guess it just happens. I'm really excited because this week has been fun. Mainly because it was Halloween. I'll have to probably keep this short because I'm running out of time.
On Friday, we had a ward activity called Trunk-or-Treat. Elder Houghton and I chose not to go because it didn't seem to get much promotion, and sounded a bit lame. We chose to work, and eat dinner at a member's house. She said it was actually pretty fun. Serves us for our pre-conceived notions. On Saturday, because that was the day that we get our transfer/leadership calls, Elder Houghton gets a call that says he's leaving, I'm staying, and that he's going Zone Leader. I was excited for him, but also sad because he's come to be a really good friend. We stayed inside on Saturday packing. Later that night, we bought pizza from Costco, and had a small district party. We ate, played Settlers of Catan, and, don't freak out, watched a movie. We only watched it because proselyting on Halloween is pretty risky. It's the new version of "Bridge to Terabithia." If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's pretty cool. On Sunday, it was a lazy Sunday because we didn't have much energy. We continued packing, and had our regular dinner. Nothing too eventful. Yesterday, Elder Houghton left around 2:30, and Elder Adamovich, my new companion, came in around 3:00. We came inside, and played Magic the Gathering for about two hours. I should stop playing it because I'm starting to like it, and I don't need a trading card game to blow money on. Elder Adamovich is actually a really cool guy. He was actually my former Zone Leader for these last two transfers, and so he had to be released from that. He's pretty cool, though. He works a bit differently than Elder Houghton, but I imagine I'll be just fine.
Unfortunately, I don't have much else to report. The area has been fine, and we are going to start extending baptismal commitments. We haven't been doing it because for some reason Elder Houghton thinks that it'll be kinda pushy on our investigators, but we have to do it at some point. So, we're going to be doing a lot of that these next few weeks. That's about it. Thanks everyone for your support, and I'll still try my best to keep you guys up to date.

Con Amor

Elder Shepherd

Last week of transfer two

Hey everyone.

I'm just about out of time for this email, so I'm gonna have to be quick.As far as investigators, we've found a high school grad kid thatmy companion thinks could easily be baptized. That's a rarity, becausehe said that he never says that about anyone unless he's sure, andhe's been out about a year, so I trust his judgement. As for ourother investigators, nothing really. We've been working on them, butit's going a bit slower than we'd like.As for my apartment life, a funny experience happened to ourpraying mantis, Max. We stuck a snail in there, and, like always, hetried to take him out. However, his claw got stuck in the snail, thesnail retracted, pulling the claw in, and then proceeding to spray Maxwith slime bubbles. We had to spray him with water because we thoughtthat he'd suffocate. He's still alive, but I think his pride got hurta bit with that snail. It was funny, but I'm coming to be kindaattached to Max. It's weird. Also, I got a new board game calledPandemic recently. It's a fun game. Also, whenever I have time atnights after proselyting time, and on P-days, I'm making a board gameof my own. I know it sounds weird, but having something like that tolook forward to working on keeps me somewhat sane. I'll let you knowhow things are going with it soon.I don't have much more time, so I gotta go. I'll talk to you alllater, and please...PLEASE stay cool, y'all.

Con Mucho Fuerte Amor

Elder Shepherd

Another Week, I guess

Man, hombres

Things are kinda sluggin' along here. This transfer has really been somewhat slow for me. It's still only the second, but it's been a bit slow. We haven't really found anything different ever since last week. So, I guess that I don't have much to add. Except that our pet praying mantis fully devoured a bee one day, and I watched the whole thing. It was the most intriguing thing I've ever seen. He literally tore pieces from it. Nothing was left, no legs, no stinger, no nothing. It was cool.
That's about it, I guess. Watch for next week, where I'll try to post some pictures from my SD card. Stay tuned

Con amor

Elder Shepherd

4 months already?!

Hola mis amigos.

Like the title to the email says, I have already been away from home for four months. I really can't believe that. The time is going by way too fast. I got to the MTC thinking that two years would be forever, but I blink and I'm a sixth of the way through. Man, time is so unforgiving sometimes. Well, that's enough of my time spiel.
I've got the wonderful news that we have a baptism date at last. We've been working with an awesome investigator from our now-defunct English classes, and we challenged her to be baptized. She said she still has to learn, but we know that she'll be ready when the time comes. I'm really very excited for this. We also got a new investigator who has a ton of questions about life. He has been going through some really tough times in his life, and we think that the Gospel is just what he needs, especially since he has the question of which church would be the best for him. We're going to keep working with him, and see if we can get his questions answered.
As for me, I've got a cool story. On Sunday night, my companion was outside doing jump rope, and we say a preying mantis walking by. We caught it, and stuck it in an empty pretzel jar. His name is Max, and he's awesome. Yesterday, we put a moth and a pill bug in the jar, and when we came back, only the wings and the pill bug's shell were left. I even got video of when he caught the moth in his scythes. It was cool. Maybe you'll get to see it when I said my SD card back. But, I've still got a ton of pictures that need to be taken, so we'll see.
Well, that's my update. I hope all is well with all of you, and I look forward to more great weeks here in the SF Mission.

Les amo

Elder Shepherd

One more week gone, three more investigators

Hey everyone,
 
     So conference this weekend was awesome. I actually found it easier to listen in on it this time than I ever had in the past. Let's face it, if you are able to sit in on over four hours of class in the MTC every day, you are able to withstand practically anything. That, however, didn't stop me from getting a little heavy-eyed. I tried so hard not to fall asleep, but sometimes, the body does what the body does. I didn't fall all the way asleep though. And I did get some great messages out of the apostles and First Presidency. It really was awesome, and hopefully I won't fall asleep, I mean, shut my eyes the next conference.
     As for the area, we have just finished our English classes, and two of the regular students asked us to keep teaching them privately. Naturally, we're going to be teaching them English, but we're also using it as prime time to teach them the gospel. One of them had actually come in contact with missionaries before, and had a Book of Mormon. It was from forever ago, though, so we don't know whether she got dropped or not. We'll find out. As for the third, we were passing by a street one night, and she was out playing soccer with her son. We passed by, said hi, and found out she was actually being evicted from her house. She was housing a few friends, and they had agreed to pay their portion of the rent. But, she woke up one morning, and they were gone, and she couldn't pay, so she got evicted. We helped her move the next day, with the help of an awesome member, and she actually called us this morning to ask if we could stop by. If you ask me, that sounds pretty golden. I'm hoping that we pass by her soon and teach her more. As for our other investigators, it's becoming really hard to keep in contact with them, especially since Elder Houghton's bike got stolen. We've been forced to going on foot, which slows us down tremendously. We're just going to have to be a bit more careful with our planning. We're thinking about buying Razor Scooters, because they are cheap, you can take them into the house with you, and they're faster than walking. The other companionship in my apartment actually already have scooters, so we're thinking of copying them. But, we'll see. I still have my bike, so I may not have to buy one.
     That's about it for things going on around here. We are still working, and loving it. I really think that the mission is the greatest thing to ever happen to me. It's definitely the hardest thing ever, but it's the most rewarding ever.  Well, that's my opus.
 
Elder Shepherd.