Frozen Dog, Old Lady, and Cussing

So Pretty Alright week.

We did some pawn shopping last monday which was pretty cool. Then this week we worked a lot on some visual aids. First was a little wood set of the plan of salvation, and then an arch with with the gospel showing the Key stone and all that god stuff. 

We had some good food this week. We went to a Hmong family for dinner and that was a good foreign meal.  They were watching The Arrow so it was really hard to not watch haha. Then on friday we had an adult ward social. We were out with no bikes so we had to walk about 3 miles in about 30 degree weather. a few days previous we had biked past a little lost dog and when we walked by friday the dog had froze to death so that was sad. then later on we ran into an old homeless couple. the wife had fallen down so the husband asked us to help her up or she would freeze and die that night. So  i can check saving a life off my bucket list!  The food at the social was super good and we got sent home with a full pumpkin pie and about 5 pounds of BBQ. Our ward loves us.  

Then yesterday we went out with a member and his 4 year old son. We tried to contact some people but got nothing so he said we should visit one of his friendly neighbors. We got there and he told us to go visit the empty house next door. Then our exchange asked if the man remembered him and replied "yea youre the guy i didnt want to F-ing talk to" so we left. I felt bad for our exchange cuz his son was there and this was a guy that he thought had liked him.

Im excited for this coming week. We have like 6 families fighting for us to come over for Thanksgiving. well try to see as many as possible and not eat ourselves to death. Hopefully we will hit the standard. It would be a first in like 6 months. Fun stat our zone is the fastest improving zone in the mission. went from a zone total of 40 some lessons a week to about 160 in the last few weeks. Its good to see progress.

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving week and remembers all the many blessings we have to be thankful for.

Elder Shepherd

Baptism

Its been a good week. The weather here feels pretty much just like at
home, maybe a little less rain. I am still pretty lost without the
mountains.  Can't tell which direction I'm driving haha. I still haven't
done any tracting. My comp really doesn't like it. Earlier this
week he went on an exchange with a ZL and they contacted a bunch of
people and got some Potential Investigators. I went with the Spanish
elders so i was on vacation, as everyone refers to it (and they have
queen beds so that was nice). We had a baptism on Saturday which was
really cool - really awesome family. I forgot my camera so I'll send
pics next time. It's good to hear that people still remember me. . .

1 MONTH!!

Alright so things are really starting to pick up here. We have 4 Progressing Investigators right now so thats awesome and all of them are pretty much ready for baptism. One is a 9 year old girl in foster care so thats not even fair but it counts as a convert baptism. This past week we decided to really start working with Richard who past missionaries dubbed an Etern-igator.(Eternal investigator)   We didn't like that. One day during comp study "the conversion of a catholic" started playing. it was cool but kind of random. the next day we visited Richard and it PERFECTLY fit his concerns. He teared up at the end and it was amazing. He's pretty much there. He knows everything, he's just worried about his families reaction. Super excited for him. We have a baptism this week! Kaitlin Nazar from a part member family so we get to go to the temple with them so were super excited about that!!
Then we have our Hmong investigator who is doing really well. She's really just waiting to set her baptismal date for when her boyfriend can come home from school. She also helped us with our Hmong study. We can carry out simple conversations and we got some music so that's pretty cool.
Last night we went out with a member (we get exchanges pretty much every day) and tried to contact some less actives knocked 10 houses in less then an hour. Most people don't even answer but my favorite excuse is a family that every time we go the mom is in the shower.  She must be a very clean person! My comp says that's why tracting doesn't really work. People don't even open the door so that's frustrating. Well I'm excited for our successes and plan to keep improving.
Love you all,
Elder Shepherd

Halloween and Apartment Pics

We were riding our bikes home from the
trunk or treat on Wednesday and a member actually picked us up because
it was to dangerous to ride home at like 8:30   like 3 miles.  so that's
fun.   haven't had any really crazy experiences.  we bought Bonsai trees.
haven't done any door to door  tried to do less active contacts but no
one lets us in or opens the door. companion is alright - actually
reminds me of dean goofy and enjoys arguing but we both like to cook
so we've had some good homemade meals.  don't have any new investigators
 and yup (Hmong) is its own language.  i can say hello and how are you and
introduce myself and that's about it.