Sheppert, Samuel

Really just another week for the books. I had Zone conference and went on two exchanges. I had the opportunity to lead the area which was tough. Every street looks the same because it is so dusty. People hose the roads not to clear the dust, but to just keep the dust down for the day. So you can imagine: I've got some Elder waiting for me to find where we needed to go 10 minutes ago but I just don't know. Things worked out smoothly in the end and we never had an unsuccessful day.  There was a group of 10 kids ranging from 10-15 years old that saw us and asked me if I was Mr. Beast. I said, "No, but I am the Mr. Beast of Baptism." They started clapping and thought that was so cool. I told them that unlike Mr. Beast (on YouTube), they'd have to work for a baptism. We handed out a pamphlet to one of them and everyone else started begging for pamphlets. We took this as an opportunity to teach. I handed out some pamphlets to the other kids and we taught all about bapti...

Wow! How fast did this week go by?? Elder Anderson and I got to work. We met so many new people and we were spreading the good word of God all day, every day!! Now, when your Spanish is still not impressive by any means, it is hard going up to random people when you know you will mess up 99% of the time. For motivation to have no fear, I've used a phrase from Phineas and Ferb. Specifically, Doctor Doofenshmirtz's father's phrase and adopted by my oldest brother Alex, “Are you a man? Or a schnitzel?!?” As a young Doctor Doofenshmirtz and today-me would say: “I am a man! I am a man!” proceeding to full send with a very fluent “Como Esta?” and then “Cual es su nombre?”. And just nodding at what they say back sometimes. It has been a whole lot of fun. My great friend Elder Grundy bought a bracelet but gave it to me. It had a name engraved on it, which was Pablo.This has many special meanings to me, but it has one in specific. Now you might think that it is referring to the amaz...

Sam has sent quite a few photos recreating Provo MTC photos that were sent by other Elder  Shepperts . Just for fun, here are a few of them put together. Elder Sam Sheppert Elder David Sheppert Elder Christ Sheppert Elder Sam Sheppert Elder David Sheppert Ice Cream Sandwich Competition (Note the wrappers) Elder Sam Sheppert with 15 sandwiches Elder David Sheppert with 12 1/2 sandwiches Elder Chris Sheppert with 11 Sam recreated my mission plaque pose: The Original Elder  Sheppert  in the Provo MTC Elder Alex  Sheppert  trained in the Mexico City MTC

 Well where do I begin!?!?! I guess I might start with the last MTC business. I ate 15 ice cream sandwiches in one go so I'll take the title from David in that friendly, uncompetitive competition. ECUADOR!!! Oh my goodness. This place is all that and a box of chocolates on all fronts. It appeared to be cold but as soon as I stepped outside the plane, it was toasty for the next two years. I don't know if I'm used to it now but I keep saying it's very doable and now it is. Light work. I got to baptize Hermano (brother) Gabriel in Guayaquil and it was awesome! My Spanish is limited but I am grateful to do that!  I got to play a ton of soccer today with all of the kids in the city. We played for almost 4 hours and we were playing well. It felt like I was at an open gym for Skyview Hoops. These kids are good but I was thinking like Lucas Witthauer would've ran these kids easy, USA all day. I was so gassed though cause it was soooo hot when we played.   Right now I'm ...

It felt very appropriate to have a patriotic send off 4 days before heading down to Ecuador. It made me realize I'm definitely going to miss a lot of people and things but hey! There is not a day in my life I don't love! I'm blessed to see the growth in every trial I have. Luke 17:32 and PSALM 23 We could kinda hear the Jonas Brothers concert from the MTC and got to watch the massive fireworks show that the Stadium of Fire puts on. They'll never be One Direction though so it's okay that I missed. My favorite hymns right now are “Praise to the Man” and #1001 “Come Thou Fount” (which I like for how it sounds like LOTR but also the lyrics). As part of the festivities here at the MTC we watched a movie about Joseph Smith for the 4th. What a sacrificial journey that man had! I'm so glad for the freedoms we have in this country! Praise to the man! This also made me think about my incredible ancestors and people that paved the way for me. I got to read a letter from GG...