Return With Honor: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

March 31 2014

Hola Familia, I just have one question for you...

Have you ever dressed a dead man for his burial?

Well, now I can say that I have! And I have to say that that was the highlight of the week. Elder Flores and I were walking in the street one day, in the very merry month of... March, when, suddenly, a man approached us. "Hello, Elders," he began, "You don´t know me, but I know you. Actually, I´m an inactive member of your church and also a returned missionary. My father just died, and we have to dress him in his temple clothes so he can be buried. But I don´t remember how the temple clothes go, so I want to know if you two can help me."

Needless to say, we called the mission President to ask his permission. "Elders," he began, "I´ve done this before, and it will affect you both a lot psycologically." he told us some other things along those lines, and it was enough to have us scared halfway out of our minds when we got to the funeral home. The hermano started to undress (Yes, we had to touch a naked dead man), and then dress his father, requesting our help when necessary. When we got about halfway through the process, the bishop arrived, and started to help us. when he put on a part of the deceased hermano´s clothes, he told us something interesting: "I have to put this on well," He said, "because this is how the Hermano is gonna look when he wakes up in the ressurection, and I do NOT want him to walk around in that day saying, ´Bishop Robles didn´t dress me right!´"

At first it was funny, but then we got to talking about judgement day, our ancestors, and the Ressurection, and everything took on a new perspective for us. an experience that was heavily awkward only moments before, turned into one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission :)

That´s my story of the week, because nothing else I can tell you can really top it. My comp and I get along great, and I hope we stay that way until the end of all this... even though I miss Jackie Chan... oh! and my last General Conference in the mission is next week! so we´ll see how that goes :)

Stay In school!

Elder Stormy Sheppard

March 24 2014

Hola Familia,

Okay, so this week, number wise, has probably been my best week in the mission, and I feel really good about it :)

My comp, Elder Flores, and I, are getting along swimmingly, and yesterday I turn 22 mission months old :p It feels so crazy knowing that I´ll be home in such a short time, but It doesn´t really effect the work. Oh! this week, we found 10 new investigators, And they´re all, as E Flores says, "PURO PODER!" They´re all so awesome, and they all went to church. There´s one family, the Cruz family, Who loved the church meeting. Jorge already wants to get baptized, And the rest of his family went for their first time yesterday. it was awesome, they´re gonna progress a TON. But that´s really my only update, we´re working even harder than before now that the end is near, And I feel better and better about it every day. I´ve now filled up tow journals here with mission stories as well as self evaluation, and I´m starting my 3rd today. This has been the best experience that´s happened to me in my 21 years of earthly existence, and I´m ready to keep going :)

Stay in school!

Elder Stormy Sheppard

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March 17 2014

HOLA FAMILIA,

Okay, so this probably wasn´t my BEST week ever, but it wasn´t the worst. just normal. I´m starting to get into a neutral state of feeling... not to the point where I stop working! haha, don´t worry about that, I´m still the same diligent Elder Sheppard, I just feel like nothing really noteworthy happened this week. I didn´t even take any pictures! How crazy. Well, the only big news is that next week, I´ll only have 2 months and 3 days of mission left :p, and it´s been going really well. I´ve reached almost every goal I set before leaving my old life, and I´m starting to realize that I really have no regrets :) now, I just plan on doing more. Sorry this wont be that long, but there are too many things that I have to tell you all when I get home, and I´ve written it ALL down. From day one until now (I´ve only missed like, 4 days cumulitavely, haha :p). Hopefully I´ll have a story of the week next week. until then, Stay in school and Church :)

Elder Stormy Sheppard

March 10 2014

HOLA FAMILIA,

Alright, so a LOT changed this week. Pretty much the ENTIRE ZONE had transfers... including Jackie Chan :( he got changed to the area I was in before being his companion. Remember Salamanca? Elder Aldana? Yeah, now E´ Poma is over there... Now they´ve given me a companion from the state of Mexico, from where I was before I got switched to the Querétaro mission. Everythings getting switched around. My new comp´s name is Flores, and he´s actually way cool, but that doesn´t change the fact that the zone isn´t that cool anymore. I honestly though I´d be finishing my mission with the zone I was with... but you can´t have your cake and eat it too, hah, I just gotta make the best of this zone now. but is it weird that in a little less than 3 months, I´ll be home? I Don´t even feel like I´m close to leaving :p sometimes it hits me, but then I get over it again.

ANYWAY, we had 2 baptisms this Saturday! Rogelio and Cristina. haha, I love them, they´re like my Mexican grandpa and grandpa :) it was quite the adventure too, because Cristina´s way sick. In her liver, her brain, and other things that made us doubt the possibility of her baptism happening, but she asked for a blessing, and told us that God would give her the stregth, and just to schedule the ordinance. So we did. And when she came out of the water, she started coughing up blood, and passed out. my companion told me to help him pull her out, and I did. later we found out that she hadn´t taken any of her pills that day. We sat her in a chair, got her to wake up, and the first thing she said to me was, "Elder Sheppard... did I get baptized?" I told her yes, and her eyes filled with tears, and all she said was, "Thank you." It was crazy. it touched my heart... I didn´t cry though, haha, but this couple will always be a huge exaple of faith for me, just like Fabiola, wherever I go from now on.

Well, That´s all for this week. It was a good story to analyze for the next few weeks, right? haha, I´ll talk to you all next week! stay in school (If you´re actually doing the work).

Elder Stormy Sheppard

March

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Sunday, March 9, 2014

March 3 2014

James Sheppard

Mar 3 2014

FAMILIA,

This is a day of great mourning and lamentation. last night, the asistants gave us the transfers... and the legendary Rush Hour duo has come to an end. E´Poma´s getting moved out of Celaya, and I´m staying here to finish out the rest of my mission with a different elder... It´s not a happy day for us, but we gotta make the most of it, because it´s our last one together.

Anyway! this week, I have another story to tell. E´Poma and I got on a bus, and a white guy with a moustache and a limp got on and sat across the isle from me. he turned to me and said, "Que Pais?" I told him, "Los Estados Unidos." he said, "What part?" "Utah, and you?" "Ohio."

I asked him what brought him all the way out here to Mexico, and he said "Jesus Christ sent me." I asked him if he was a missionary, and he said, "I´m not a missionary per se." then he went off the deep end talking about how the christian doctrine these days is apostasy, and how Joseph Smith´s got it wrong. he started talking to me about the gathering of Israel, and how he´s a lone soldier of the Lord who doesn´t need anyone´s help to get to the celestial kingdam, because he follows the example of Jesus and "is Crucified daily" as he put it. Jackie Chan was completely lost, and I wasn´t too far ahead of him. I was gonna send E´Quist to him, because he lives in their area, but I didn´t have time to get his address down, because he suddely stood up, said "I´m getting off here" in the middle of the conversation, and left... who knows where he was going, or where he come from, but he was very confused. and that got me thinking about how there are still people in the world who think that whatever "Doctrine" they create in their own mind is right, just because they thought it up. it´s sad, but those are the updates of this week. the legendary Rush Hour companionship, and Even the zone in it´s entirity are getting split up. this is the last photo we´ll take together until we take one anew in the mansions of our Father. Hahaha, okay, well, that´s it. I´m outie. stay in school, and we´ll see each other in 12 weeks and a day :p

with much Love,

Elder Stormy Sheppard

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February HOLA FAMILIA.

This is getting so crazy! yesterday, I completed 21 months on a mission. time flies by so fast it´s not even funny anymore... this week was a little better :) okay, A LOT better. First, we took the bus to the middle of nowhere, and the funniest part about the whole thing is that we saw a sleepin girl, who´s mouth was WIDE OPEN. haha, I guess you would´ve had to be there.. because it was a lot funnier than it looks reading it...

Anyway, in other news, we found this old married couple, back when I first got to this area, and they have a daughter that´s a less-active member. but those two (Rogelio and Cristina) wanna get baptized big time. At this point, Rogelio can do it whenever he wants, the problem is that he wants to get baptized with his wife, and that means she has to go to church... but every week, as the last minute, she´s too sick to go. which is true, because she has more diseases than I can count.. this past week, we gave her a blessing, and she went to church for the first time! we´re finally on the road to success with them, and Jackie and I are way happy for them :)

This week, we had a very important meeting with President Mejorada about the limits we put on ourselves as missionaries, and as human beings.. I´ve realized that, mentally, physically, and spiritually, I´ve been subliminally putting limits on myself my whole life. actually, we all have, haha. we have to think about this though: for God, nothing´s impossible, and, as Children of God, that makes us potential gods, which means, with his help, nothing´s impossible for us either. just think about that the next time something seems "impossible", a word I´m removing from my vocabulary starting today >:)

Anyway, here are some pictures. stay in school! thou shalt not kill. bye!

Elder Stormy Sheppard

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