Transition Time

 It is incredible to see how the Lord sustains His servants. I have received energy and strength more than ever before. Last week we had four-zone conferences we had to set up and help run, and the week ahead is even more insane. Tomorrow night we have our new mission President arrive, and seeing that my companion and I are the APs, we will have the first meeting with them after President Love leaves. The week ahead will have a lot of organizing to take care of, not to mention all the teaching and counseling that will have to happen with the new President.

We'll have the opportunity to take President and Sister Love to the airport and say our final goodbyes, and then its go time. It's extremely exciting to await the possible changes and improvements that will come with new revelation in the mission.

A great scripture that I read last night perhaps sums up how I feel.

Leviticus 19:5 "And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will."

A huge part of learning to serve the Lord is learning to love and follow His will no matter what sacrifice it may require.

True to the Faith

 "Shall the youth of Zion falter

In defending truth and right?

While the enemy assaileth,

Shall we shrink or shun the fight?

 No!

True to the faith that our parents have cherished,

True to the truth for which martyrs have perished,

To God’s command,

Soul, heart, and hand,

Faithful and true we will ever stand."

Golly

 Well, this has been a week, to say the least. I believe we've driven close to 1000 miles just in the last 10 days or so. This has been the busiest week of my existence.

We have spent so much time handling the administrative side of missionary work that we only spent about 6 hours total working in our ward doing "real" missionary work, but it has been great! I haven't had a normal night's rest yet, but I love being busy and being able to help manage so much within the mission. We had transfers this last week and we coordinated all the 23 missionaries coming in, moving 50+ to their new assigned areas, and the 14 missionaries going home over a three-day span. There is so much going on! But, to sum it all up, basically Elder Cruz and I have to set up and manage everything President Love does.

A quick quote for you,

"When you're on the Lord's errand, you're entitled to the Lord's help" -President Monson

I will definitely need His help!

A New Call

 Well, this week has been one to remember.

Everything is a blur. Early this week on Tuesday I got to train in MLC which went great, but that night around 7 I got a call from President Love asking if I could come to the mission home. So we scooted over, he pulled me into his office, and he asked if I could accept the call to be his assistant... so, yeah. Since then I have been in a trio with the other two APs learning the ropes and trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. There is a lot of administrative work to be done, especially with the loads of reassigned missionaries coming into the mission, not to mention the prep for the new president coming in July.

I don't feel adequate at all to be fulfilling this position, but it will be a privilege to learn and grow under this new capacity. A scripture comes to mind as I embark in this new endeavor. It's found in Mosiah chapter 2 verse 21, and it says, "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."

I intend to move forward with all that I can give, and work as diligently and effectively as possible. I know that despite my best efforts, I truly won't ever be a fully profitable servant, but with the Lord's support, all things are possible.

June 12, 2020  



Dear Elder Shepard,  



 After prayerful consideration, it is my privilege  to extend to you the sacred and special calling of Assistant to President .  You have become a wonderful missionary and the Lord is mindful of you.



This calling of highest trust and confidence has come to you because you have distinguished yourself as one who has thrust in his sickle with all his might, mind and strength.  You have the desires to serve that have qualified you for this sacred assignment. 



Many missionaries are called but few are chosen as Assistants to the President.  Be ever mindful of the responsibility this calling brings with it.  Be kind, humble and considerate of the missionaries you serve. Lift and strengthen those that are weak.  Be ever mindful that all the missionaries see you as a perfect example of what a missionary should be and do.



This calling will require you to drive extensively. Be very careful and mindful of your speed, and traffic and road conditions.



You will work closely with me. I look forward to our association.  You will carry out special assignments, help with transfers and serve as needed to support the work of this wonderful mission.  Be prayerful and worthy to respond as needed.



Sister Love and I trust and love you very much and look forward to serving with you.



        May the Lord Bless you always, 

          









Adams J. Love, President

Mission Update

 Dear Family and Priesthood leaders of our Missionaries;


We just wanted to reach out and reassure you the Missouri Independence Mission is doing great! We are being very blessed with good health.

Our Missionaries have been having great success and yes miracles with the technology they are using; if you haven't yet, check out the Facebook page Missouri Independence Family & Friends,here you will see some of the great Facebook ads our missionaries are doing, and they've gotten very creative.
It has been amazing to see people who are responding, in May we had 18 baptisms,!  That's a miracle considering the quarantine situation we've been serving under. People were so ready when we were given permission to hold these small baptisms, with others joining via media!
The Lord is in the details.

Weekly we've been receiving new missionaries who have served the first part of their mission in an International Mission and now serve here!  Wow they are strong missionaries and such a great addition to us. We are so happy to have them join our mission.


The Thoughts and Intents of His Heart

This week has flown by!

Nothing of great interest has really happened this week; though, we did have a flat tire that required us to get new tires. Unfortunately, the day after we got them we ran over a nail... so I'm currently typing this up while we wait for it to get changed. It was just our luck!

Oh, wait, I lied. There were some things of great interest that happened this week! Last Tuesday morning the mission had a personal devotional with Andy Reid which was incredible! He got into coach mode a bit, which I think really pumped up a lot if the missionaries. He taught about a wide variety of subjects, but of the most influential for me was his focus on bringing everything he has every day, and expecting the same from his team. That wasn't even the best part of the week though. Yesterday morning we had another devotional, this time with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland! We just had a big mission wide zoom call with him, so that was great. He spoke a lot about the benefit of a mission experience, and more specifically about the significance of our mission here in Zion. It was definitely a privilege. 

One of the things he mentioned near the end had to do with our relationship with and conversion to the Savior. He said that we can determine how much we love the Lord simply based on the amount of time we spend thinking about Him. Mosiah 15:13 says, "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?"

I think that's a great thought to consider. How much is Christ on my mind? I have found that as I focus my efforts, my mind, and my heart on Him, I am much happier. It's as simple as that.