Busy Week

Good morning everyone!

It's Cold!

Today has been a super busy week, primarily because I've done two exchanges, had zone conference and had interviews with the president. I had my first exchange of my mission with Elder Bowden last Tuesday. He's the district leader and definitely a great example for me. We had a really busy day planned, but as usual, it didn't quite work out as we'd expected it to. After trying to meet up with a few people those Elders have been teaching, we did a little tracting. First, we ran into an older Spanish lady who I started talking too, but Elder Bowden had to take over. Spanish has been tough, and my opportunities to use it seem to have decreased recently, even though it had only been once a day if I was lucky. Anyways, after that, we knocked into this guy who, by the end of our altercation, we'd named Crazy Jeff. We heard this dude upstairs yelling, but then he came down when we knocked, said to come in, and proceeded to pull out a Book of Mormon as well a Proclamation to the Family. We thought we were in for a miracle, especially after he started to say how much the Proclamation meant to him. Very quickly though, he completely turned and started saying how scripture was of the devil, how people thought he should be a prophet, and that Moses used ancient Egyptian technology from aliens in the form of an obelisk to part the Red Sea. Finally, he closed saying that you didn't need faith and that faith didn't exist. As we tried to get out he asked for our number to stay in contact. He now in Elder Bowden's phone as "Crazy Jeff!" so he knows not to answer. He was a hoot and a half for sure. I was able to teach a lesson with some girls who'd been recently baptized, and we had dinner at a super awesome family for dinner. I really enjoy being able to talk to and teach this simple gospel to little kids. It's incredible what the kids and youth of the church know, and the joy and love that you can see during those quick lessons. We ended the night with some 48 cent ice cream cones. 

Zone Conference was truly insane. Oh and quick side note, the missionaries are singing at the royals game later this year, I think in July, so keep an eye out for that. Back to the point, zone conference. Bishop Ames, a former mission president and current bishop up in a ward up in Liberty, taught about the Doctrine of Christ and did so brilliantly. Our study, which primarily came from the Bible, really enlightened our promises, purpose, potential, and how to get there. It was really powerful, and I'm working on preparing myself better each week to partake of the Sacrament. I can tell you that as I did that this Sunday, my experience was tremendously improved, and I felt the love and cleansing power of Christ's Atonement even more.

We got a car!

Later this week I went on splits with the zone leaders. Elder Roberts stayed with Elder White, and I went out with Elder Clayton. This kid is crazy. He talks to everyone he sees, he'll stop cars to talk, and runs around trying to spread this message to as many people as possible. It made the work so fun and exciting, but also truly shows how important our message is. I was also able to go to a baptism with him. President Love was there, along with many others, but I was able to see and experience that sweet moment for the first time in a while. The spirit was extremely strong then, along with the rest of this week. I've been happy and excited and learning a lot. 

I had an interview with President Love over a video call because it had started snowing so hard and he wasn't able to make it to our apartment. It was pretty quick but he said I had a great smile and spirit about me, and to just keep learning. He also said to tell my mom that shes raised a great son. You catch that mom? He's really great and very serious yet incredibly enthusiastic about the work and I've started to find that joy more and more every day. The hardest thing is as I grow in my faith and desire to serve, I  just want more people to be willing to listen. Everything aside, I just wish that people could see me smiling, recognize the sacrifice we've made to be here, and then just listen for just a few minutes. That'd be really great, but until that day I'll keep walking around in this snowy, cold weather. 

To end I'll just leave you guys a few talks to read

1. The Puryfing Power of Gethsemane

2. Lost Battalions

3. To the Friends and Investigators of the Church

I hope everyone has a great week! I know that as we keep Jesus Christ at the forefront of our thoughts and actions, it'll all turn out all right.

Elder Shepherd

Short and Tall!