Quien Sigue al Senor

Yet again, a wonderful week serving the Lord (Be sure to check out the new Book of Mormon videos coming out, especially if you don't know much about the book itself).

Amongst the many miracles that happened this week, a few of the highlights were being able to take Many to the Visitors Center, getting to witness someone we'd taught for a while be baptized, have someone else we'd been teaching recieve permission to be baptized, and watch as the entire Relief Society room was filled by this growing branch! Sometimes it may seem repetitious to say that we're seeing miracles happen, but when another member who hasn't been to church in 8 years decides to show up, it's hard to say that miracles aren't happening. This week will be transfers, and Elder Thompson will be heading home. Boy will I miss him. We've put in the work and seen the blessings, but more that that we've grown in our joy of serving the Lord. More than likely I'll be staying here in the branch with a new companion as they dont usually whitewash Zone Leader areas. Cheers to 6 months in Olathe!

We recently sang a song in the branch that I really loved, and it goes like this...

¿Quién sigue al Señor?
Toma tu decisión.
Clamamos sin temor:
¿Quién sigue al Señor?
La guerra es real
con el príncipe del mal,
que lucha con afán.
¿Quién sigue al Señor?

[Chorus]
¿Quién sigue al Señor?
Toma tu decisión.
Clamamos sin temor:
¿Quién sigue al Señor?

 Sigamos al Señor
y dejaremos ver
la fuerza del valor.
¿Quién sigue al Señor?
Marchemos a ganar,
sin miedo de perder,
pues Dios nos sostendrá.
¿Quién sigue al Señor?

[Chorus]

 La piedra rodará;
al mundo llenará.
¿Quién la ayudará?
¿Quién sigue al Señor?
Bandera, alta ya,
al mundo se izó;
ondea con honor.
¿Quién sigue al Señor?

[Chorus]
 La hueste infernal

sus dardos lanza ya;
nos quiere detener.
¿Quién sigue al Señor?
Verdad y libertad
de muerte y pesar
son lemas de la lid.
¿Quién sigue al Señor?

[Chorus]

There are dangers and temptations around us at all times. The world is filled with voices telling us to where we should turn our attention. Amongst the chaos, if we do not turn the the voice of the Spirit, and the quiet whisperings that guide us day by day, we will ultimately be swept up in the whirlwinds of confusion. But, if we heed to the inspiration provided through the Spirit, turn from sin and darkness to that which is pure and light, we can confidently walk in the Savior's footsteps through such perilous times.

Simply put, who'll follow the Lord Jesus Christ?

Make your decision.

Storytime

Here's a quick one for ya.

Today we went fishing as a zone. I kept trying but didn't get much at all for a couple hours. Finally, I decided it was time to catch a darn fish. All I needed was a little faith.

"Watch this... I can already see the fish on the pole!"

Cast

Reel

Bite

Fish

You never know what you can do with a little faith.

Yesterday we had a similar experience setting some big goals for the day. We woke up to do our daily planning and at the end prepared goals for the day. We wanted 20 return appointments and someone with a baptismal date. The day begins, the Lord does His work, all we had to do was literally run from place to place and do His will. The first person we met received a baptismal date, followed by 15 return appointments. We didn't do everything perfectly, but by the end of the night, we were trying to figure out how to squeeze more lessons into the week.

It's a joy to be doing the work of Jesus Christ.

This Week's Actual Email

Surprise!

The only reason I didn't get an email out last week was that my wifi wasn't functioning and I couldn't get it to send in time. So hopefully you've got that one and now we can move on to a brief one from this week.

Things took a pretty sharp turn for sure. I went from super great to having a lot of frustration with myself and where I felt I was at in a matter of hours, so that wasn't good. Luckily, we had interviews with President Love last Tuesday, so I was able to work through that quickly and get a lot of ideas as to how I can improve and grow. Rather than go too much into the here and there of what happened last week, I'd like to share a thought that comes from a lesson we taught this week.

One of the most profound stories that I love so much, is that of Moses and the Brazen Serpent. As Moses and the Children of Israel are out trodding in through the barren wilderness, murmuring, unfortunately, the Lord sent fiery serpents which bit a whole bunch of poor folks. Probably hurt pretty bad, but luckily the Lord provided Moses yet another way to perform a miracle and preserve His people. Gathering what he could, Moses fashioned a brass serpent and put it on top of a staff under the Lord's command. Now here's the good part, all anyone had to do to survive the nasty bite and relieve their pain, was look at the darn serpent. It was right there. Moses was probably shaking it around, begging people to just look. While some did (and were immediately healed by the way), others didn't listen and left their mortal existence because of it. It's a shame, huh? Now if we pull this all back to ourselves, we know that the Brazen Serpent represented Jesus Christ and His ultimate sacrifice. Moses was a prophet of God, just as we have a prophet today alongside scripture. Unfortunately, we've all been bitten by the pitiful plague of sin. There's no avoiding it entirely, but as always, our Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to ease those throbbing pains. Look unto Christ and live. He has made up the difference. He has felt our pains so we don't have to, but He doesn't force anything upon us. We've been gifted with agency, for we "are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27). Christ is begging for us to look, He sends prophets in the past, present, and future to do the same. He loves us eternally, but cannot force His Atonement upon us, nor soothe our afflictions without humbling ourselves before Him. In fine, "Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd... And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you, and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed" (Alma 5:38,60). I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that He loves us individually, as a representative of Him, I'm waving my metaphorical stick and snake, begging for you to look. It's not that difficult, simply LOOK TO THE LORD AND LIVE.

Elder Shepherd

Solo Dios Hace el Hombre Feliz

What a week.

Nothing of grand import has passed this last week, but it has been grueling in the best way possible. Working from dawn to dusk in the work of the Lord is what I need to be doing. We had MLC at the start of the week which is always an uplifting experience; if President Love can't get a bunch of people excited, then no one can, for that man surely carries the name of Jesus Christ and will light up a room with it. A little highlight from the week was having dinner with a member named Brother Balderas. He is a very humble and kind man, and amongst his other skills, he collects jazz music and is writing a book about all of the interviews he has done with jazz trumpet players throughout the years. Pretty cool, huh? I took a picture of a record he has signed by Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. Anyways, back to the most important part of the week, I got the opportunity to go on my first exchange with a fresh missionary named Elder Willis. Let me tell you something, he sure doesn't seem fresh, and I loved being able to just get to work and wear myself out in the Lord's work. We were talking through car windows, running to catch people, and I also had my first opportunity to practice translating for him in our lessons which went way better than I thought possible. To end that wonderful night we had a lesson with a Spanish man named Gilberto who told us he's had 10 wives and 48 children. We've met a bunch of them already so I believe him. Best of all, we were able to teach him the Restoration of Christ's gospel as I translated back and forth from English to Spanish. The Lord is good and does His work, and I surely would be nothing without Him. After our lesson, Gilberto played us a song on his guitar which I'll attach below. It's the best way I can express how I'm feeling as I serve the Almighty God.

Elder Shepherd

PS

Right out of the gate miracles distilled upon the Olathe zone as the dews from heaven today!! Too many miracles to contain we will share another tomorrow, tonight we wind the clock back a few lessons with Mini. So a few lessons in, as we started teaching mini, she talked about this problem at work she was having, as we continued meeting with her it progressively got worse. *Side note, every time we had invited mini to pray about something BOOM she got an answer by the next visit. Ask and ye shall receive, verdad? But with this concern at work got so overwhelming for her that in our lessons it became a bigger challenge to resolve. Finally, we have a lesson with her and the only thing she can think about is this trial, and it was really something nagging at her spiritually and emotionally. With all the things she prayed and got answers to, our invitation for Mini to pray for this individual that was causing her turmoil, she wouldn't do. In this lesson, the lesson plan goes out the window and our team up invites her to pray for this person. Tonight we met with her and Mini was so excited to tell us that she prayed... and the problem at work was completely fixed. Step aside, and let the Great Jehovah do His work!!!

Let'm Have It!

It's been a BUSY week!

We've seen a lot of miracles and success as we've put forth our efforts this week. Early in the week, we had an incredible Zone Conference as usual, and Elder Thompson and I got to give a training. Best of all was a quote by President Love, in reference to the powerful spirit that accompanies the Restoration, which said: "Sledgehammer blow for sledgehammer blow... let'm have it!" It's always powerful to testify of Christ as the work He is doing.

I got to go on exchanges up to Liberty with Elder Clayton which was great as always, but even better, while Elder Thompson was back in Olathe, Mini expressed her desire to be baptized at the end of this month! I freaked when he reported that to me. Mini is the absolute best.

To close of, last night we had a crazy experience. In the last 8 minutes of the night, we were trying to follow the spirit as to where we needed to place our final efforts. We turned down a dark street and parked the car, running up to the door we were feeling. No answer. Turned around and tried talking to someone walking their dog. Nada. As we continued down the street I saw someone peeking out a window. I waved and told Elder Thompson. We ran up to the house and knocked, knowing he'd either answer immediately or avoid us. He opened! 

Well, he also happened to be holding a shotgun and told us to leave. We kept explaining who we were and what we were doing. Again, he told us to leave. We continued until he gave us a final warning, to which we replied with a kindly "have a nice night" and headed on our way. We ran down the street and stopped a car driving down the road and talked for a minute before we hear a voice yelling from down the street. The man with the shotgun was coming towards us and telling us to come with him. He said he wanted to talk. We shook hands, walked to his home, and bore testimony of the Restoration of Christ's gospel. 

He said he came after us because he'd never seen anyone react to a loaded shotgun the way we had. He said we were gutsy and dedicated to what we do, and he knew that we had something he needed.

These are the types of miracles we see while sharing this glorious message. I know it's TRUE.

Let'm have it!

Elder Shepherd

Some of their crazy weather.