Lluvia

Well, well, well look who's back. Hows it going? Hope everyone is doing fantastic, I sure am acá en Simoca, not exactly sure how to explain it all, but lets give it a whirl shall we. (Lo siento for the rushed email last week, here goes another one, exactly one hour on the clock, lets go). Lunes/Lunes When you give a Elder Brizuela a Cookie: We made cookies last P-Day, it was really fun, and they turned out all right for being measured soley by eye. A little bready, but cookies, you can't go wrong(actually you probably could). Prayer for Prayer Got an epic scripture from an even more fuego missionary in Orem last week, you should read it 2Nefi4 (highlights 16-30, but the whole thing is fantastico) Martes/Tuesday Tienda Guy: Met a guy in a tienda, and he talked with us and then got around to his one big issue/question with churches, theres so many different ones, with different beliefs and variations, how am I supposed to believe in one. As you started to explain this, I sure hope theres a replay camera in heaven because my gosh it'd be so funny to watch the look on my face, I was like, This Is THE Question. A Dramatic Analogy Here Of course we gave him the answer, it was a great moment. Miercoles/Wednesday Power of Prayer: Needed a ride from a make-shift uber this day to be able to visit the Romano family, but after calling like 12 we couldn't get any to respond, none. So we said a prayer, and literally as we finished, we got a call from one of our driver friends Sebastian, coming in clutch. He pulled up to us in literally under 20 seconds, like he was just waiting for this moment. Always remember we can pray, in any moment, Alma37:37, and God wants to hear from us. Y tambien, that we can be the answers to the prayers of others, should always prepare to be that answer. Templo:The Salta Temple is getting close. Possibly Julio, epicó. I´m so excited for the opportunity that will bring so many families here in Simoca, and it makes me more motivated to work to find more families that will be able to be blessed by the eternal covenants and blessings we can receive individually and with our families in the temples. So cool. Jueves/Thursday LLLLLLLLUUUUVVVVVIIIIIAAAAA: Lluvia/Rain. We finally got rain. It made me so happy, Elder Brizuela used an umbrella, but naturally I did not. I was loving it, bdup bup dup baaa. Might have skipped and danced down the streets a bit. Viernes/Friday The days are starting to mesh together a bit. Not completely, but the time is picking up now that days are a bit more routine. It's just normal once you get familiar with what every day looks like. So I'm trying to focus more on each moment, and make the days special, focus on the people more. Sabido/Saturday Rosa: Almorzabamos con hermana Rosa está día. (We really gotta get a verb for eating every meal in ingles, it's just way to cool. Almorzabamos. Especially pasado/nosotros, literally look at it, Almorzabamos. Too cool). Anyone, we had milanesa, it was really good, got to learn how to make that. She is an amazing inspiracion for me because she has been waiting 30 years to be baptized. We're hoping everything will work out this week so that she can receive this blessing in her life. But it is such an example of faith, endurance, and paciencia. And I know that the Lord gives us trials in our lives to test and build our faith, and for reason we may not understand in that time in our lives. To help others possibly in that time, to help others later in our lives, and/or to strengthen ourselves. Domingo/Sunday Christmas Music: Its like the nativity festival every sunday. Every week we've sung a Christmas song(or what we'd normally consider one), it's really fun, I love it. This week was Come Let Us Adore Him. Sunday was really spiritual, and we had a good amount of our friends come and stay this sunday. Pizza Time: Had Fresh Italian pizza with a few amigos for almuerzo sunday. And talked about the importancia de familias. And family prayer and scripture study. Food is a great thing to center that around, but in general. And how those things can unite a family more, help us to grow together, and is key because the family is central to God's plan for us. 3Nefi18:18-21 Hoy/Today Lots of cleaning the pension, it needed it, since I've got there, it's really needed it. And Last week we cleaned a good bit, but this week, we cleaned to till the cows came home. Made some fire burgers with eggs and queso fresco hoy, muy rico. So excited this coming weekend for General Conference! Literally never been more excited for it in my life, the talks, the music, todo. It's so amazing that we have living prophets and apostles this day. I invited you all to watch, and to invite a friend too. Invitatacion: Make your favorite snack/dessert and invite a friend or family to watch part of conference with you, or send them your favorite talk from this conference ¿Can you all do that? Epicó Seeya, next week. Let me know how it goes. I need a new name tag: Elder Lleperd

Tucuman: Simoca

And there I was, clapping doors, but wait, how´d we get here? 'It's been over two weeks, Elder Shepherd.' Don't worry, I'll take you back. (Imagine VHS Rewind here). (And Here too, It takes a while) (And don't forget to stop the video first, or you'll ruin the tape) The last few days of the CCM wrapped up super fast, I got to say some goodbyes, take a couple pictures, and give my sage wisdom to a bunch of Elders who just got there, I felt like I was on my deathbed telling the youngsters how to live their lives before I passed on. Which I did. Moving Day: 3 days ish before we had to leave the CCM, the Elders in my district and I were evicted from our casa, and had to move all the way to the opposite corner of the CCM, and say goodbye to the giant lego hands in the sky. They told us mid day during class, and we sprinted to our house, and moved everything in about an hour and a half. I felt like I was in episode 22 of a 24 episode season of a series, always the episode with that little plot twist that changes your expectations for the two-part finale. And boy it did. We took this change with a positive attitude of adventure, and boy the new casa did not disappoint. Like the old casa, but everything was a little nicer, a little cleaner, and we had a minifridge to store my Mango Nectar Jumex for the next three days, so I was satisfied. Feels crazy now, again, thinking about leaving my district in the CCM, kindoff like leaving another family. I'm super excited for them though, and for everyone who gets to meet and get to know them as I did. They are all going to do great work. Saying goodbye to them all was another sort of daydream. Elder Siow left at 3am in the morning, 2 hours before me and others in our district, and I really didn't get to say goodbye. Our wave of missionaries headed to the airport at 5am, and like a scene out of a hallmark Christmas movie, we ran into Elder Siow in the airport, right before he had to run off to catch his flight. We said our goodbyes and goodlucks, and he walked off into the sunrise in his majestic maroon suit. A group of about 8 of us, some going to Rosario the rest of us too Salta(No one else from my district), flew together to Buenos Aires. 9 Hours, whoop whoop. Landed and got through security there at about midnight, in the heat and moisture, and headed to a Hotel for the ''night,'' and it was really nice. We got in and to our rooms, ate a tad, and then quickly got to bed. But by this time we had 45min to sleep before we needed to rise and head for the airport for Salta. I might have slept-ish 10, but somehow felt so energized and ready in the morning. Flew 3 more hours to Salta, and got a warm welcome from the Mission Presidente Palmieri y Hermana Palmieri. Got welcomed into the mission in Salta, met my new companion, the legend himself, Elder Brizuela, ate empinadas (So goood), and then jumped on 5 hr bus ride for Simoca, Tucuman!!! We dropped of our stuff and headed out to work... ...And there I was, clapping doors (Don't knock, when in Argentina you clapp, it´s what you do...if you wanna save 15% or more on car insurance...). We had a couple lecciones that night and contacted a few amigos before wrapping up this one long day. The first week was wild, just happened to be zone exchanges, my first full day so I spent the day with Elder Zaro in San Miguel, hopping buses, giving a bunch of lessons, and trying to keep up with the language. The next day was back with Elder Brizuela, went right to work again. The weather here is like if Florida was cranked up about 5 levels, very hot and humid. You are dripping sweat constantly, before you leave the house, but at least it's a constant variable, so you kind of forget after the first couple days. We teach lots of lessons throughout the day and get to talk with a lot of amigos, and in the first few days, it was difficult sometimes, just because I was in my head a bit. But, as I have worked to focus less on myself and not worrying about the right words to say in Español, I have been able to feel the spirit more and the words are there when I need them. And they say Tucuman is the most difficult dialect in the mission, but understanding is coming along more than I would have expected by now, and much more than I could have done on my own. But it's not easy. It's kinda-off like playing dodge-ball with a bunch of words just being thrown at you, and you try to catch all these words as they're flying past, sometimes one knocks another out of your hand, sometimes the just bounce-off and sometimes you catch most of them, but like over your shoulder, and so you understand about 2 sentences behind. I think I got the easier mission. Lots of people want to hear the message or at least are welcoming. And they are so humble and grateful for the little things, it inspires me to be better, to be more grateful for even one more day. To be grateful for every new day. Every new sunrise. We've had the opportunity to teach lots of families and other friends these past couple of weeks. One of those families was the Romano Familia. Getting to see their understanding and testimonies of the gospel grow has been amazing, and in the lecciones and teaching by the spirit, my testimony of so much of the evangelio has grown. And tambien how much of a blessing the gospel is in the lives of families and personally. And I am learning more and more not to take for granted the things of the gospel in my life, from having a living prophet, the scriptures (especially the Libro de Mormon), and the power of prayer in nuestras vidas. And the joy, light, and spirit of the baptism this weekend has inspired me even more. And I am so glad to be just a small instrument in the hand of the Lord to help these people. Here's some notes for these couple weeks Remember/Record your spiritual experiences/good days, because not every day will be as easy We should have verbs for eating every meal like in espñol, por ejemplo 'almorzar' Try not to take for granted the blessings of the gospel: Like We Have a Living Prophet, that 's legendary. (And perfect, it's almost conference). Be grateful for our trials and take them head on, with God and Christ to help us through, they are opportunities for us to grow and improve in this life Failure is Always an Option: Trials, personal and of the world, are not usually what we want, but our opportunities to learn to pick ourselves up, rise, overcome, change, and improve.

I Am Alive

We'll see if an email gets out today, it's been crazy and I have an hour transit back home in a minute. I'm alive. Oh, you don't know where I am either. Tucuman-Simoca. You should look it up, it's been great. I'm a little upset you didn't wait to go skiing with me. My companion is from Buenos Aires, and I understand a good bit of the people, so that's cool, they are impressed with how much I can understand and say. A lot of room to grow though. If all goes well you'll see some pictures in white next week.

Llegada Del Elder Shepherd

Argentina Salta Mission Office Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 2:40 PM to me

¡Hola queridos padres de Elder Shepherd! Queríamos agradecerles por el apoyo que le han dado a su hijo para servir una misión. Les informamos que él llegó bien y se encuentra muy animado. Él está con su compañero, Elder Brizuela, para conocer Simoca, su nueva área. Seguramente él le estará llamando para darle más información. Les agradecemos nuevamente de parte de La Misión Argentina Salta. La MAS.

Ultima Semana in the CMM

This week has flown by again just like the last one and it feels like it was just P Day yesterday. Everyday is full of great things and definitely feels like we're accomplishing a lot and learning a lot but the weeks just vanish. Spanish came a long way this week, especially grammar, and just overall with the whole District. We've been working really hard and it has shown. Still tons more to learn. Still don't have my travel plans, but all I do know is that I should be in another country, in Argentina, early next week. Here's the Highlight Reel of this week -Always look and plan to serve everyday, Cada Dia. -Elder Lyon and I practiced memorizing the first Vision together. Now we've got it down and that was fantabulous -The lord loves you sometimes it's hard to remember that, but he does. he loves us and is ready with open arms for us. He loves you individually, sometimes it's hard to remember your value and that you're a loved child of God, but he's always there for you -Elder Lyon "It's going to be tough... it's nothing we can't handle." -Some stranger from Arlington hit me with a hacky sack in the hall this week -Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy-Absolute Fire -Pizza Time, was with the President this week. -Choir, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," it's always been one of my favorite songs and apparently the spirit even stronger in both Spanish and English. -What a privilege it is to serve. We got to listen to an Elder Ballard devotional live from Provo. It's a marvelous message we have and these two years are going to be 2 years we can look back on and the road behind us for these two years, will be Holy Ground for us. Something to always remember and recall what a privilege it is to serve him. -At this moment at any moment you have to challenge of being all that he wants you to be. These couple weeks in the MTC have not been easy but have been full of work. I know I don't feel fully prepared but I have my testimony. And I can can talk and listen enough in Spanish to at least share that. There will still be work to put in every day for the rest of your life not just the mission and I'm excited to keep working. Now that we're about to leave of course I feel closer than ever with my companions Elder Jones and Siow, and my district as a whole. As a companionship we got to teach a couple lessons these past couple days and and we had struggled before to just to nail them down but these times we we were able to share simple truth simple messages through the spirit from what we knew in our hearts and and share effectively some lessons with those outside of the CCM and they went so well it's fantabulous. We have a loving Heavenly Father and that's something everyone should have the opportunity to know. It's crazy to believe I've been here a month now and that I've only known this District these people my companions for a month we we are truly a family. The CCM it's like a weird time bubble I feel like I've spent months through even years here like like this is everything I've ever known just I've been here forever but at the same time every every day every week I realize how much time is passed and how the time is just flying by. I still remember so vividly showing up that first night and an awkwardly hugging Elder Siow, Elder Jones and Elder Supinger coming in with Elder Lyon, in our in our casa over the top of suitcases and just getting to meet them for the first time. They still feels like yesterday and then again that feels like this is everything I've ever known. I'm so excited to see you where this family goes well what they accomplish the people they meet than to hear the stories when they when they arrive home this is only the start of the world and it never ends. Most of this was speach to text, lo siento