"Sometimes we need to be like a lightening rod and take the heat"

 

Elder Mason and Elder Shepherd out for some exercise

 How was your week?

Eh, it was a rough week. Lots going on and not enough time to think.

Did you get transferred?  If so, where are you going to?  When do you leave?

I´m being transferred to another ward here in Santa Maria. It´s called Itaimbé. My new companion will be Elder Lopes, I don´t know anything about him. I´ll let you know more about that next week. 

Which conference talk was your favorite?

I really liked President Dieter F. Uchtdorf´s and Apostle Robert D. Hales´ talks during Priesthood session.

Where did you watch conference at?

We watched it in English in our chapel. I sat with Elder Mason.

Are your baptisms still on for Saturday?

One of them is. Verá came to all 4 sessions of conference. She´s ready as can be! The other one, Sr. Godoy, fell through because he was hospitalized because of his cancer. 

Hey Family!

So this past week went really slowly. Conference went really well though and things got feeling a lot better. I think that this was a really great Priesthood Session. It got me feeling just pumped to go out and work! The ward I´m going to be going to is struggling a lot right now.  I´ll still be in the city though, so I´ll be able to come back and watch Verá´s baptism. I found out from the Assistant’s at the start of the week that I was going to be moved, so that just kinda dropped me like a rock.

It was so cool to hear how many missionaries are out in the field and being sent out. By the time I get home we´ll be closing in on 100,000 in the world! There really isn´t a lot of exciting stories to tell today. We did a lot of family nights and said bye to a lot of people this week. My companion is going to stay in the area, but he´ll be a senior now. I felt like the general topic during this conference was Families. Almost every single speaker spoke of the importance of children growing up in a really good family. Elder Hales said something so cool. It´s something I´ll never forget.  He said, ``Sometimes we need to be like the lighting rod and TAKE THE HEAT!``. We encounter so many people who just want to fight with us and tear us down. That´s fine! We can take it, because what do we have that they don´t... THE GOSPEL. It is the most powerful weapon in the world. They all spoke of how important it is for little children to feel safe and loved, and for them to be raised according to gospel standards. There are so many things attacking the youth of the church, and it´s so important to remain in Holy places. Something that I´ve noticed is that there is a difference between obedience and obedience with Exactness. That is something that a lot of the talks indirectly said. 

I´ll include lots more details next week about my new area and my new companion. I hope all of you have a great week! Keep me updated on the basketball stuff and any other sports stuff! haha.

I love you all!

Elder Shepherd