December 10, 2012

FAMILIA!

I´m glad things are going well. haha Christmas is gonna be so different. it´s like 80 degrees here still. and It doesn´t ever snow. haha before I forget, if you guys wanna send me like 4 short sleeved shirts of size 16 and 1/2, and like 2 pairs of pants size 38x30 for christmas, that would be awesome :) haha just because every bit of clothing I have now is WAY to big. haha don´t even get me started on my suit jacket. Can I ask y´all a favor? could you lock my facebook pictures and things from the outside world for me? thanks, haha i prefer to remain an enigma.

well, no complaints this week. 15 days and I´ll be skyping you guys, so we can catch up then. could you please send me the skype info of whoever has skype in our house? haha, I still don´t know what time I´ll be on, so I´ll update you on that... anyway, hope all is well. we´re finally getting investigators that really have a desire to change their lives for the better. I´ll keep you updated :)

Oh, ps. I completely exploded at my companion this week and told him everything I hate about him. now we get along. at least better than when he didnt know haha. alright. talk to you all next week. MERRY CHRISTMAS :) 

Hola Familia!

Okay. Como estan las cosas?  So this week, we've been in a bit of a rut, we have no one who wants to get baptized and almost no investigators, so we've stopped visiting ALL OF THEM.  we've decided to search only for the people who have been prepared   to receive the gospel.  I still don't really talk much these days, but it's cool because at least I'm no longer arguing with my companion.  I kept everything bottled up so long that I finally exploded the other day and went off on everyone haha. . .but that's okay because I feel better now. mostly.  Okay! story of the week!

We met John the beloved and the virgin, Mary the other day.  There was a guy walking with his robes (yes, he was wearing robes) and his hood up, and like 3 bags of who knows what and he stopped when he saw us, threw the bags down and exclaimed, "ELDERS!" and opened his arms to hug us.   He said, "do you have a Book of Mormon for me?"  We handed him one, realizing he was drunk haha.  He said, "I would baptize myself in your church, but I don't believe in Moroni.  If you can show me proof that he existed. I'll get baptized."  So I told him that the Book of Mormon is the proof, then, this woman came up from behind (As far as we know, her and the man didn't know each other) and the woman said, "What's your name?"  he said "I am the voice that cries in the desert."  and we were like wow you're  John the beloved and he said, call me matthew. then he hugged each of us, picked up his bags and stumbled away  The woman was nowhere to be found.

Does anyone have an interpretation for this incident?  haha hope all is well!  Talk to you all next week!

November 26, 2012 

Hola Familia!!

Haha I can tell you all thought of me this Thanksgiving by the fact that my inbox is completely devoid of anything recieved from a blood relation. haha it´s all good, don-e´worboudit. Anyway, things are okay. my companion absolutely refuses to do anything that´s my idea though. haha I´m more amused than mad about it. today, we sat in the house for an hour and a half doing literally NOTHING. why, you ask? because Elder Otaño couldn´t think of anything to do. haha he asked me, and I came up with like 6 ideas, but because none of them were derived from his own personal thought process, we ended up sitting in the house from 11am until right now. thats my funny story of the week :p I completed 6 moths in the mission on the 23, so my first quarter is over. it was a bit bumpy, but I learned a ton so we´re good :) Until next week! this is Elder Stormy Sheppard, signing off.

On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 2:16 PM, 

Familia!

What up dawg? okay, so i´m feeling pretty good about everything right now. I didnt get to send any letters out, because it´s some sort of holiday. but right now there are really no complaints. I got them all out last week haha. we have two people who have recieved the answer to their prayer and want to get baptized. and for now we´re focusing on finding new people. which is hard because we´re not allowed to knock doors or contact in the street anymore. we´re working strictly with member referals, so if you have family and friends living in Cuautitlan Izcalli, GET THOSE REFERALS SENT!!! because we need all the help we can get. right now, nothing crazy or out of the ordinary has happened, I dont know why, because the life of an LDS missionary is usually such a party :p. no. but anyway, I´ll keep you guys posted. If someone wants to send me a million dollars, that´d be cool too. just a suggestion.

August 27 2012

FAMILIA!

What´s up? this week, I almost lost my life. no i didn´t get mugged, shot at, chased, arrested, or anything like that. I HAD TO CLEAN OUR BATHROOM. okay, I didnt HAVE to clean it, but it hadn´t been cleaned in like, 4 months. and i was sick of paying 3 pesos every time i had to use a public restroom... anyway, this week didn´t really contain much.. no baptisms... nothing but toilets... oh, and i got all my mail this week too, so that´s pretty cool :) anyway, I´ll keep yáll updated

Monday, November 5, 2012

Okay, this week has been crazy. We lost an entire family because we (and when I say we I mean my companion) Went over the heads of our higher ups and told this 9 year old kid we´d baptize him even though his parents aren´t members, married, or interested in keeping the commandments... which isn´t allowed in the church. obviously because our goal is eternal families. Anyway, needless to say our president said no, but the family had already invited everyone over and bought the white clothes and everything, so we had to go to the house in front of everyone and tell them that our president said no. the mom got so mad that she pulled a Natalie Sheppard and called the authorities of the church :p you have no clue how much trouble we were in... now the family says our church isn´t of God and they never want anything to do with it again. but Elder Piotroski wrote them a letter saying that it wasn´t the fault of the church, it was our fault because we went over everyone´s heads just because my companion wanted a baptism before his transfer.... it´s been an insane past week...

Well, I have a new companion now. Elder Otaño. he´s cool, doesn´t talk much, always looks mad. reminds me of me when I first got here :p tune in next week for more from the adventures of Elder Sheppard: México Edition.

October 22, 2012

Hey familia :) so this week was pretty normal. I baptized Heberto and found out that the first person I baptized the first week I got here Already forgot that he was a mamber of the church and goes to a different religion. haha talk about horrible memory, but whatever. Anyway, we´re searching for new people right now so nothing really new. I speak spanish now. and i´m gonna start searching for the 3 nephites. thats about it. haha hope you´re all safe and stuff. until next week!!!

October 15, 2012

Thank you for those songs. and I´m glad you liked my letter. you can pretty much use anything that isn´t directly intended for the family as blog information.

So there´s this investigator named Heberto, and pretty much every missionary in the world has tried to convert him and failed. his wife is a member and he does everything that members do, but he didn´t want to be baptized still. so my companion and I went to him for the last time to tell him that, since he wasnt progressing, we would have to stop coming to his house.

We arrived, and we started talking about the temple and eternal families. it got to the point where i said to him, "Heberto, why do you pay your tithing?" he said, "because I´ve seen the blessings from it and I believe in it." so i pretty much went off for like 10 minutes Stormy Sheppard style about how he´s never gonna see the blessings of an eternal family if he´s never baptized, and that´s why we focus so much on it. so to stop focusing so much on how pressured you feel by the missionaries and start thinking about how you feel about your wife.

He´s getting baptized this Sunday >:)

That was my experience of the week, haha.

Septermber 3, 2012

¡Familia!

Hola familia, nothing really new this week either, just preaching the word as always. I´m also learning the piano, sign language, and spanish all from the same Family. we´ve been teaching and baptizing each of them one by one and learning things from them as well. Raul, the father, teaches how to play every musical instrument ever invented, and he´s a pro in all of them. Eric, the son, is fluent in english and spanish, plays the guitar, and probably every other instrument as well haha. Carito, the youngest Daughter, is fluent in english, spanish, japanese, and is now learning chinese. she´s 14 :p Alejandrina, the oldest daughter, well, we don´t see her much. she works a lot. but i know she speaks english. she can probably fly and shoot lasers from her eyes too. i wouldn´t be surprised with this family.

anyway, that´s today´s message. talk to y´all later!

September 24, 2012

Familia! no, I didn't see the ceremony, is there a new temple there? Thank you for sending those books mom :) I´d still like to know if Nataliej is actually reading the parts i send to her of these emails I´m sending.

I just got to the computer right now because, While my companion's a really good teacher in Spanish and the gospel, he still doesnt respect anyone´s time including his own. haha we´re not supposed to talk bad to the president or other missionaries about our companions, so I´ll just tell you guys because I´m tired of being 30 minutes late to everything, thus never having time for anything. Oh well, I´ll survive. I baptized someone last Sunday (pictures coming soon, Today there's no time)

September 17, 2012
¡Familia!

first off, happy Birthday to mom. and tomorrow to Nataliej. it´s easy to lose track of time here, so I just realized that it´s already september.
haha, i´m learning so much here. spanish is almost second nature, so that´s not that big of an issue anymore :p
I´ve written some letters home, so let me know when you get them. other than that... i don´t know, preaching, baptizing, weird looks on the street as usual. it´s not bad though. a lot of times we dont have to contact people because they´re so amazed by seeing a black person, that most of them ask us about ourselves on their own. haha well, back to spreading the word :)

August 6 2012

Okay, so I had my first baptism this past sunday, I actually baptized the guy, so here are those photos.

tambien yo tengo photos de when we at chinese mexican food.

also when I ate grasshoppers. (It was funny because I ate like 50 before they actually told me what they were :p)

Some more from the MTC with my teachers... and yeah, I think thats it. more to come!

September 3 2012
¡Familia!
Hola familia, nothing really new this week either, just preaching the word as always. I´m also learning the piano, sign language, and spanish all from the same Family. we´ve been teaching and baptizing each of them one by one and learning things from them as well. Raul, the father, teaches how to play every musical instrument ever invented, and he´s a pro in all of them. Eric, the son, is fluent in english and spanish, plays the guitar, and probably every other instrument as well haha. Carito, the youngest Daughter, is fluent in english, spanish, japanese, and is now learning chinese. she´s 14 :p Alejandrina, the oldest daughter, well, we don´t see her much. she works a lot. but i know she speaks english. she can probably fly and shoot lasers from her eyes too. i wouldn´t be surprised with this family.
anyway, that´s today´s message. talk to y´all later!

August 27 2012

¡FAMILIA!

What´s up? this week, I almost lost my life. no i didn´t get mugged, shot at, chased, arrested, or anything like that. I HAD TO CLEAN OUR BATHROOM. okay, I didnt HAVE to clean it, but it hadn´t been cleaned in like, 4 months. and i was sick of paying 3 pesos every time i had to use a public restroom... anyway, this week didn´t really contain much.. no baptisms... nothing but toilets... oh, and i got all my mail this week too, so that´s pretty cool :) anyway, I´ll keep yáll updated.

August 20, 2012Familia!

How are things? for me, they were good until today. I´ll get back to that later :p
Anyway, I´m finally fulfilling my dream of learning the piano! haha one of our investigators gives music lessons so, while we were teaching him, I mentioned wanting to learn the piano, and the rest is history. I´m also learning how to snap, haha apparently here it´s hilarious that I don´t know how... -_____-
Okay, so here, I went to a house and they were watching Dora the explorer, and here, she teaches kids english and the rest is all in Spanish hahaha I heard it and was like ¨Where AM I?¨
Is it weird that all the movies I wanna watch right now are kids movies? haha stuff like The Emporer´s New Groove and Tangled... anyway, we´re so much more involved with the members here than the missionaries in the US. I´ve never even met a missionary in the US, but here, all of the missionaries are friends with everyone haha. what´s wrong with that picture?
Everyone here is apparently still surprised that black people exist outside of television, but it´s okay, at least that draws attention to the church.

Familia!

Another week down haha. If there´s one thing i´ve realized about México, it´s that there are 3 types of personas:

1. the ones that make fun of me because i´m black.

2. the ones that want to marry me because i´m black ;)

and 3. the ones who can´t decide so they sit and stare at me waiting to watch me sprout wings and fly off into the heavens with book of mormon in hand.

Haha but it´s cool i love it here. I´m learning so much about the doctrine and the language. haha I may forget english though... the people are so humble and loving though for the most part. they want to feed you til you explode. and a lot of them are studying english so they sypathize with my disability... hahaha :p we had 2 more baptisms this sunday. not by me because i still need to get new white pants, but still, BAPTISMS :D I´m bout to go convert this whole country. I´M FINISHED. WHERE DA INVESTIGATORS AT?!

¡Hey familia!

it was great to see you at the airport :) The first thing I´ve noticed after my first week of being a Mexican is that about 30% of the people here don´t speak any english. so the language gap is huge. the people talk so fast that, after a week, the only person I can really understand is my compañero, Elder Piotroski. haha but it,s okay, because when the people try to make fun of my Spanish, I just go english on them and they don,t know what happened >:)

I,ve met a ton of new people but I don,t really talk much to anyone but my companion, the bishop´s wife, and like, 4 of our investigators haha. those are the only people i can keep up with in spanish at the moment :p I taught a familia in english (partially) last night and afterward my companion told me I have the potential to be a great leader with the power of my words then he said, ´´if you ever learn spanish´´. haha yeah.... ANYWAY, the language is coming pretty well. If I thought anyone besides Lisa Wiseman would understand, I´d type in español ;) anyway, the first week is down and I´ve actually spoken in probably 2 lessons :p out of like 50... I´ll keep everyone updated, and if you wanna send me anything, this is the address to send it to:

Elder James Stormy Sheppard

Apartado Postal 98

Cuautitlan Izcalli, Edo. De México 54740

that´s it for now, next week I´ll be back with more! Also, no baptisms yet. but I´ll give it another day >:) 

ps. sorry about the typos. this keyboard´s insane.

e received Stormy's first letter today, and we were ecstatic! We can already see that he has changed a bit, but he's still the same old Stormy. Enjoy!

Dear Familia,

Hey, how is everyone?  If I don't break the rules, it'll be at least a week before you recieve this.  If not, you'll know your Son is A REBEL.  Haha  I don't know if I sound like I've changed, apparently everyone does after the first day. . . .anyway, now that I've been here for a day ther is DEFINITELY stuff I need!
.  first things first.  Envelopes, Stamps. (seriously?)
.  Second, those Athletic shoes. (size 12. we get 1 hour of gym time 5 days a week!  Smiley face
. A watch.  I haven't known the time all day!  I'm losing my mind, brah! (there's one on the floor or on a shelf in my room somewhere.
. A PICK. (it's on the floor by my bed)
. Tasha (Just kidding.  Not really)

I'm pretty sure that's it.  Which reminds me:  Now you can get into my facebook.

Anyway , I miss you guys and my wife already.  I really need that stuff too though.  So as soon as possible please! Like last week.  Anyway, let me know how everyone's doing.  Even though it hasn't been long at all.  Be sure to post my contact info on my facebook and tell everyone to write me and send me things because this feels like the hunger games.  Anyway, this'll probably be the last letter this family ever gets if I don't acquire the things on this list.  Amen  Elder Storm - dawg

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (D&C 18:10)

On February 7, 2012 Elder J. Stormy Sheppard received his Mission Call to Mexico Mexico City North Mission Spanish speaking.  We are so proud of him for his commitment and determination to serve the Lord in Mexico.  The idea of learning a new language was even more intriguing.

Stormy was give a booklet to read in its entirety prior to beginning his mission.  He had to get a missionary physical, have his teeth taken care of.  Lucky for him, he has perfect teeth but he did have to have his wisdom teeth removed surgically.  He spent a couple of weeks recuperating.  He was so funny on the medication when he was trying to recuperate.  Stormy was hilarious with cracking jokes and making off the wall jokes and comments.
Stormy was not happy when he had to get immunizations related to his mission.  Stormy spent a lot of time with his friends and when his sisters wanted to spend time with him he said he knew they would be here when he returns but that he was not sure if his friends would be here.

We learned that Stormy would be reporting to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on May 23, 2012.  Stormy continued to prepare at his leisure believing he had "all the time in the world."  Stormy received so many books on being a missionary it was probably a little overwhelming for him.  He continued to read and study his scriptures something he had been doing since he was 6 years old. 

Stormy started getting things together like buying his suits and clothing including his garments on April 30, 2012. He along with his mom and Aunt Christine went to the Mens Wearhouse and Aunt Beth and cousin Rickey showed up to assist.  Aunt Christine insisted on paying for Stormy's entire wardrobe and his garments.  Stormy was measured and received his clothing in full on May 11, 2012.  He had already picked up his garments with his mom on May 9, 2012 in preparation for taking out his endowments.

Stormy was endowed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on May 10, 2012 at 9:00am.  Stormy and his mom and dad were there at 7:00am for preparation.  Some of our friends including Tamu Smith,  Jamie Driessen and Hauryo Wright and Darius Gray and Kathy Hawkins were in attendance. 

Stormy's farewell was held on Sunday May 20, 2012 at 1050 hours at the Daybreak First Ward located in South Jordan.  There were over 150 people in addition to our ward families in attendance that day.  A brunch was held afterwards at the Oquirrh Park Clubhouse with meet, greet, chat and say good byes to Stormy for two years as he begins his committed service to Our Heavenly Father.

After much preparation, May 23rd arrived and we were off to the Missionary Training Center to drop Stormy off on the curb.  James, Natalie, Nataliej, Stormy, Destinae, Tasha, Aunt Beth, Rickey, Hailee, and Shae shae went to Provo and took pictures in front of the Provo Temple.  We arrived in Provo at 12:00pm noon and Stormy needed to be at the MTC at 1:26pm.  Although I had told James and everyone that he had to be there at 1:00pm that was to assure we were there early enough to take pictures and kiss and hugs before leaving Stormy at the MTC.

We all piled into my Mercury Mountaineer (10 people) and drove across to the MTC because the rule was only one car per missionary was allowed.

While he is in the Missionary Training Center you can wriite to Stormy at Elder James Stormy Sheppard, MTC Mailbox #308, MEX-MEXN 0723, 2005 North 900 East, Provo , UT  84604-1793, United States,  Stormy's email address is James.Sheppard@myldsmail.net