Sheppert, Samuel

Say Duran 10x fast and see what name you find. Merry Christmas! It happened! I got transferred. Good bye Ventanas! It was a little sad leaving the homestead but I really couldn't have been happier. I'M IN DURAN NOW and “I'm hungry like the wolf”. In an area called "El Recreo”, or in English “The Recess”. This place is crazy. It's a pretty massive area and the coolest part is there is a massive train track the whole way through the area but the train hasn't come in years so you just feel like in a western movie with the blazing heat and it's quiet somehow every time you walk down it. Lots and lots of walking cause there are so many amazing places to find. They are all just separated in sectors so it takes a minute! Something interesting is the Etapas. These streets that are all closed gated. Much of our area is the Etapas. In specific, the third and fifth. Makes it a fun challenge to find people but we have our ways.  Duran is hot! Much much much hotter than...

Another great week in the vineyard of the Lord! Nothing like a cool December week in Ventanas, Ecuador! Many miracles came to pass, got to go to zone conference at President's house, we helped many people find Christ this week, and got to dance and sing at two different events to represent!!   We were told that a little choir of the church was going to sing for a group of people and they asked us to join. Of course we did! We went and practiced for 15 minutes, and all took taxis to the main center in Ventanas. Little did we know this was for the Grand Ventanas Christmas Presentation! We got private access back stage, and got up after a huge dance number. We, a group of 12 missionaries, and 8 members got up in front of a group of about 1000 after listening to Mariah Carey. We sang the "First Noel" acapella and got down. The spirit was there, but it was a very interesting moment. I'd do it again.  But the real treat was dancing for an old folks home. We walked in and go...

That's the mindset Uncle Rico had, the mindset David Sheppert has, and the mindset I hope to someday obtain. It's just been a great week! I got sick again but that just has become the usual! It seems that in the mission, getting sick is just a mindset too. Everything is a mindset! As we learned at Jason Lee--faith is such a mindset. You can only do what you believe you can do with action. I have been really focusing on increasing my faith. Talking to everybody you see always is a test of faith. I was getting comfortable with that, so God made me sick and said you have to do that all over again but sick. As long as I let the spirit take the wheel, the sickness doesn't matter. The Atonement of Jesus Christ will conquer any trial you face. That's what makes our job of spreading the gospel so doable!  We have been teaching a really really cool family these last few weeks! The Manssur family!! Isabel the mom, who is a doctor, loves everything about the church and wants to tr...

Happy Thanksgiving!! People are always talking about the pumpkin pie, the jello, the potatoes, the turkey. But I'm all about the Rice!! Lots of rice this Thanksgiving and I'm very grateful to be eating!! This was also a rather fast week. There are only two more domingos in this transfer so I really can't believe how fast this thing is going! I will say I didn't realize how deaf I would become to the outside world living in a little farm town in Ecuador! We are now friends with a family who likes keeping up with the celebrities, and I heard something big happened with a lot of celebrities, and another thing about One Direction. Crazy what you just don't know! The only thing I'm a little salty about is that BYU sold the bag to Arizona St. Can't let that one slide. But there's always next year.  We are finding people all over the place! I've been in this area for a long time now and thought that I knew all of the places. I was so so so wrong. It feels l...

A roller coaster as usual! These weeks really zip by fast. In the missionary life there is such an anticipation for each Sunday! We start preparing on Monday for Sunday! And because of that, the weeks go by really really fast! I forgot that we had a P-day for a second. I wish I had that “Sunday Anticipation” before the mission! I think every single person can have it too outside of the mission. I want to be walking into church on Sunday feeling like a champion, ready to partake of the sacrament! Everyone should be walking into church feeling that they are just a tad closer to God! That isn't gonna just happen on Sunday morning! That starts on Monday! I want to challenge everyone to start preparing for Sunday, the Lord's day, little by little, Today!!  Shout out to the goat Uncle Giles one last time!  I used to not like when the lights go out in Ventanas and it's night. But it really turns out to be a huge blessing from the Lord. Families are always together! Without interne...

Transfers are past and it seems that I'm in Simbimbe for one last transfer!! It feels like the last dance, but I know I still just started. Not a bad thing at all. This place is awesome! And more exciting I'm training a young buck up in the righteous ways. Elder Rodriguez of Uruguay! This couldn't be more appropriate because Uruguay was always the funnest International team to play with in Fifa. The first day on the job was stressful but this is just fun! We are running all over the place and finding and teaching and preaching.  I still haven't had the pleasure of having chicken feet soup, but I ate some Cow foot soup a few days ago. It really wasn't that bad until I found out that it was literally just a cow foot. Then I had second guesses. Just muscles and bones and broth.  This Sunday had to have been one of the craziest Sundays of my life. First off, I woke up that morning all ready to go, then was reminded that I had to give a talk but I had completely forgotte...

The mission gets a little more real hearing that The Giles Sullivan is going home. That means it's go time! It doesn't cease to amaze me that every day it just gets a little hotter because I came at the beginning of the cold season. And I thought it was very hot for the record. But the winter is the hot season and the wet season. I believe that I will forget what the cold is very soon. In a similar way, everything tastes different here. It's crazy stuff man. "We forgot the taste of bread." They have a major festival here in Ventanas on the 10th of November because a whole sector is called diez de Noviembre and also the main street that we live on. It was crazy to see the change in the town this week. A whole festival moved into town with rides and stuff. It felt like I was in the Clark County fair all over again!! Maybe a little sadder but it met all the criteria: wild dogs are running around, strange things to eat, sketchy folk, and also people needing to hear th...