Still a Missionary

Nothing to exciting to report on this week. Still seeing most of the same people and tracting a bunch. We are doing a lot of good work but it doesn't really go anywhere. Elder King gets upset easy and i guess that kind of rubs of. His last area was pretty legit so i feel like coming here was pretty rough.

We had a couple of fun things though. The YSA Elders apartment caught fire so they had to spend the night with us. There wasn't any damage to their room besides smoke but the neighbors got wreaked. And then i got to go on and exchange with Elder Harris and Elder King went with Elder Wilkey. It was cool because he came out with me so we are both new and liked being more of a lead. We taught a bunch of lessons and had some good tracts. We also went to lunch at a Mexican place and it was super good. Had fresh churros that were the bomb!

We had dinner with a Hmong family and had some really good Pho. It was a huge bowl and neither of us finished it. We felt pretty bad because they feed us the best they have while they just eat rice and meat. They are super nice though. And then i tried a Thai Chile. Dang that was hot. it was like smaller than a finger nail but i couldn't breath for about 5 minutes. While they would just eat them like candy. Elder King didn't even try one so i guess i'm not too much of a wuss. I took a video but i forgot the cord for my camera so i guess that will come next week.

I would just like to say that i have pretty much perfected the breakfast bagel. Its pretty ridiculous. I've been eating pretty good i suppose. I also do fun stuff with pancakes. like mixing in different things. bananas, peanut butter, chocolate, oatmeal, (not all at the same time). And ive started making crepes too. Also I
have really gained a love for QT gas stations. so much food there. fresh doughnuts and snacks and drinks. they are the best!!! they are sooo amazing and gas is super cheap hear like $1.29 Is it like that everywhere?

So i guess the best thing about missionary work is the food. Probably not supposed to be that way but it might explain why i have gained 15 pounds.

Feel free to email me and send letters. Always accepting love and food.

Love you all.

MLK

Well hello everyone, Its not a Monday,so that is a little odd.

We weren't able to email yesterday because of MLK day. and the people in the Family History Center at the church don't like us for some reason. 

But anyway we had another good week here in Brookhollow. It is kind of ridiculous how many Elders tell me that it doesn't get any worse than this area. In terms of the apartment, the ward and the work. So i guess its good because that means that it is only up from here haha. We were able to get the standard again this week. with a lesson at 9:00 on Sunday night ha cutting it a little close. Our District actually hit standard again except for the Elders that got shotgunned in. They are pretty cool though. Elder Nau and Elder Green.

We had a pretty good week of teaching. All of our investigators have problems of some sort that keep them from baptism or they just flake out so that is pretty frustrating. We had a pretty usual amount of tracting. Had some really good experiences and then some really bad ones. Some old guy yelled at me to get off his porch. Another guy chewed us out because Elder King Said "Hola" because the guy looked very Hispanic. He wasn't. He was Native American so he was pretty pissed.

I bought a cheap camera when I had lost my original one (which I found so now I have pictures). But the new one has a bicycle mount so I have videoed a couple times while riding our bikes.

It is really odd now to be out of training. We both really enjoyed that extra hour of study and now it is new to both of us to be out of the apartment at 10. My studies have gotten really good and i love reading Jesus the Christ. I read about 10 min a day and am halfway through. It is amazing to learn more about the savior as i am trying to become more like him. And i can definitely tell that I am. Charity was something I worked on last transfer and wow now I just love everybody and everything and I just feel great all the time. Pretty amazing to see the Atonement and how it works.

Working hard everyday and becoming the missionary that I was called to be.

I love all of you and am so thankful for the love and support I receive. 

Praying Hands at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa

Largest Bronze Sculpture in the World

3 Months and Transfers

Wow. I cannot believe that I have been out for 3 months now. Time really flies by out here. It is still a pretty unreal feeling. And we had the car this past week so it really just flew by. It seems that we always get the car for the weeks when it is nice and then right before we go to bikes the weather sucks. It is supposed to be freezing all week so yay.

This past week our zone set a goal to all hit the standard for lessons and other key indicators(basically stats for all ya non missionaries). Which is pretty tough normally only about 2 areas hit it every week. We all worked super hard and helped each other out and it was super cool because everyone of us hit the full standard. It was a pretty amazing team effort and we saw so many miracles this week.

The Brookhollow area is really starting to get going. We are teaching a ton of people and getting a lot of member support. We had exchanges this week so Elder Peery from Tulsa Spanish came over for a day. He is a great missionary and we had some amazing lessons. We should get quite a few baptisms in this next transfer. The Family from Hawaii/Micronesia is really doing well and we just keep meeting more of them that want to be a part of the church. There is actually one couple that were members back in Hawaii. Love that family but it is kinda rough teaching because there English is not great. And the Hmong group is doing well Padi is progressing so well and it is amazing to just see the change in her personality. She basically bore her testimony to us and told us how much happier the gospel has made her. I dont know i just love Asians. Lots of missionaries out her get Spanish fever but I really love Asian culture.

We got transfer calls on Saturday and im gonna be staying here for another transfer with Elder King. there were a lot of changes made in the zone but it should be a pretty good transfer. 

Im having a great time out here and I hope 2016 is treating you all well.

And quick shout out to the Seahawks for being awesome. Definitely miss Seattle and Washington because Tulsa is pretty boring. Like everyone we talk to says there is nothing to do here and they all want to leave. But i haven't got shot yet so I'm having a good time.

1/8th of the way done!

Love,

Elder Shepherd

P.S  I do accept mail and food donations at this address ;)

Cold

Its cold today. Like in the teens and we went fishing this morning on the Arkansas River and I decided to wear shorts. So yea cold. But this week has been pretty solid. Like Church on Sunday was crazy. We had 3 investigator families at church and a ton of less actives that we had visited. Dont know if it is the work we are doing or the fact that church is now at 11 but either way its great. 

But this last week was a great one to not have the car with the snow and freezingness and all. We bumed a lot of rides from members on their Christmas break. We have been getting a ton of Media referrals which is sweet even when half of them want nothing to do with us. But we have meet a couple of pretty cool people.

We have one family that we are teaching that is from some Pacific Island. They are super cool and respectful and really want to learn about Jesus Christ. They even came to church with the Ward Mission Leader. But they speak barely any English so it is pretty rough. I hope they understand well enough. They do have a BoM in their own language (chuukese) so that is good. Maybe when I get home I will be fluent in like 6 languages.

We have also ran in to like 2 identical older black ladies that are all for the gospel and God. One was a media referral and the other lives where a member used to live so we have had some cool gospel talks with southern black people.

Then we have our one progressing investigator. She and her boyfriend (a member) have a little baby (DBLC). But they are doing well and she is excited to get baptized and they came to church. The guy is super cool and it is awesome to see him coming back to church.

Elder King is starting to make me carry more of the weight so that is kind of stressful. I hope we dont get split up this next transfer. I feel like we are jsut starting to get things going.

Hope you all have a happy new year and make some good resolutions

and actually do them :)

Love  and miss you all