1. I'm giving twenty-minute lessons in Spanish
2. I spend all of yesterday speaking in just Spanish as much as possible
3. I think (or hope more likely) that I've gained a little weight.
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| Christmas presents: toys, for when you need a little downtime |
Being away from home during the holidays can be difficult, but I've been really blessed with a great district who are understanding and supportive through all of our trials. We've grown really close together which is really special, primarily because we're all really open but also just because it's only been a month. On the other hand, our incredible zone, completely and utterly left us alone as they headed out to their respective missions. After making good friends through zone classes and other activities, like eating, it was really hard to see everyone but our district go. We thought we may be alone for this week, but the next day we got new missionaries in that filled our small district back up. When everyone left, they passed on some Once (Zone 11) traditions, one such item was a guide to everything you need to know about the CCM. It wasn't too exciting because we'd already learned everything, but the best thing we got was the Once Crocs. They've been passed down through 6 generations now and I've rocked them for gym time and also as I write this email.
I expected to be either a district or zone leader through all the changes, yet for whatever reason, all of the open positions were filled by new missionaries who had been there for two days. It was confusing to me but I guess I'm just going to have to figure out how to lead behind the scenes as I have been trying to before. I cried for the first time this week, I won't say why, but just know that although learning about Christ and the gospel brings so much joy and the spirit into your life, there are always challenges and stresses that make moving forward difficult.
On a different note, the food this week hasn't been nearly as good because Esteban has been gone. For instance, we had hamburgers for lunch the other day (definitely a favorite meal), but get this, we could have hamburgers for dinner too. All we had to do was walk over to a couple nice big bins that were full of old hamburgers. Mmmmmm, I was loving that. Anyways, they made up for it last night with some good ole corndogs. I had four and a half. We love our American food. We got our teacher Hermano Jimenez to watch Nacho Libre finally, and so he came back to our class one afternoon and we just made references to the movie the whole time. I miss movies... and music... and lots of things, but I'm also really blessed to be here and have so much going.
I saw Zane Anderson from home which was really cool. Seeing new people is really exciting, and I was just able to share with him all the exciting things that'll happen for him. We had a lot of good devotionals this week, and my main takeaways are to "Do it the Lord's Way" and work to see what God sees in me and wants from me. In my studies, I've gotten frustrated, yet I've just pushed myself until my head hurts and trust that the Lord will make up the rest. I'm really learning how to have that trust and to know that He may have a different plan than I do, and ultimately I know that as I trust in Him, everything will work out.
I expected to be either a district or zone leader through all the changes, yet for whatever reason, all of the open positions were filled by new missionaries who had been there for two days. It was confusing to me but I guess I'm just going to have to figure out how to lead behind the scenes as I have been trying to before. I cried for the first time this week, I won't say why, but just know that although learning about Christ and the gospel brings so much joy and the spirit into your life, there are always challenges and stresses that make moving forward difficult.
On a different note, the food this week hasn't been nearly as good because Esteban has been gone. For instance, we had hamburgers for lunch the other day (definitely a favorite meal), but get this, we could have hamburgers for dinner too. All we had to do was walk over to a couple nice big bins that were full of old hamburgers. Mmmmmm, I was loving that. Anyways, they made up for it last night with some good ole corndogs. I had four and a half. We love our American food. We got our teacher Hermano Jimenez to watch Nacho Libre finally, and so he came back to our class one afternoon and we just made references to the movie the whole time. I miss movies... and music... and lots of things, but I'm also really blessed to be here and have so much going.
I saw Zane Anderson from home which was really cool. Seeing new people is really exciting, and I was just able to share with him all the exciting things that'll happen for him. We had a lot of good devotionals this week, and my main takeaways are to "Do it the Lord's Way" and work to see what God sees in me and wants from me. In my studies, I've gotten frustrated, yet I've just pushed myself until my head hurts and trust that the Lord will make up the rest. I'm really learning how to have that trust and to know that He may have a different plan than I do, and ultimately I know that as I trust in Him, everything will work out.
Love,
Elder Shepherd
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| How many ties was I supposed to bring? |
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