PONGAL

Tell me how the superbowl goes. Maybe the teams don't matter but it sure is fun to
watch and be with friends and eat junk food. What's going on at work? It sounds like
you're working very hard, but you're changing jobs? I'll continue to pray for you
and family of course.


Pongal is... I'm not sure. A full week of holiday for some Hindu reason. It means
that nothing gets done... more. There are tons of holidays and plenty of days for
taking off of work and not going to school. Which is sometimes good for teaching,
but sometimes it means that everyone leaves Raj. My companion is excellent. He's
been out for 13 months now. He's a relatively new convert so his testimony is strong.

I've notice that for relatively recent-converts that they tend to either be very
gung-ho or pretty passive. They have strong testimonies, but sometimes they like to
say things very boldly and quickly. They don't realize that they were taught slowly
and line upon line. Haha, they challenge the beliefs of others quickly and love to
demand that investigators believe instantly.

The most recent letter that I've received from you was a drawing of myself looking
much thinner than I actually am. It was quite entertaining. I also received a package
from sister Dickson. Please tell her thank you very very much and the contents were
delicious (what was left of them, seriously, the Indian postal people opened the box
and ate half of the butterfinger bar and a package of koalas (this is a fact, it
wasn't rats.)) And for mom: they sell or sold those koalas in America also, some
people had them in their lunchboxes in elementary school, they were good enough to
have remembered them that far back.

I'm working hard of course. We've *almost* moved into the new apartment, we'll be
shopping for a fridge, washing machine, and stove today, so hopefully we'll be in
later this week.

I love you soooo very much, and I'm working on humility every day.
Keep sharing the gospel!
Kyle

MORE love!

Weird things that happen in India (you have to be prepared to read this)

1. Large groups of children run in packs, they're about 8 years old and can only say "Hi how are you fine." and attack missionaries and prevent them from moving for five minutes.

2. Ocassionally, random people on the street will try to hop onto my bike.

3. Ladies or children with a monkey that looks 100+ years old try to make me give them money. They say "monkey!" and point at it thinking it's a good reason for me to give them money.

4. People of all ages pooping in the street or on the side of the road. It's gross/ridiculous.

We usually do lessons with recent converts in the morning, then visit with lucky new investigators mid afternoon and at night we run frantically trying to visit all of our progressing investigators. We are working closely with people who are mostly students because they actually know english. Most are from the ages of 15-25, although we sure wouldn't mind teaching a family. Our finding is always in areas that we have already been to, since we have suuuuuuch a small area. We generally just find more young people while the older people just scowl at us or smile, either way in Telegu. Most of what I see is people on motercycles weaving through traffic on small roads, I see cars that have no regard for the lives of those on the road and will cut off anyone and ride all of the way to their destination on the wrong side of the road. I see countless people pooping in the streets and I see lots of old people begging for money. I see hundreds of cows that wander around the roads and go for a nap in the middle of intersections. I see hundreds of tiny shops that all sell the same thing and I wonder how any of them get business, since you could buy that stainless steel plate at any of the other 30 stores in a 50 yard radius (this is not a joke nor an exageration.) I also see a lot of the different political parties fighting for power. An election is coming up and the anti-Christians are up against the neutrals who are up against the "People's pary" which is headed by a popular actor (kind of like Arnold in Cali.) For the most part that's what I see. My comp worked in the American embassy in Nepal before coming and also at a NorthFace factory. He had a motorcycle, had long hair, played soccor, and was a recognized judo fighter. Our first approach when trying to snag anyone is go for the family. In our lesson if they're Christian then we'll sail through and focus on the Apostasy and then Joseph Smith. It's pretty easy.

Elder Shahi is the short dark one in case you didn't recognize him. I still really enjoy our companionship

Thanks so much for your love and support, keep sharing the gospel!
Love,
Elder Shep

SIVA & RAMMENI

I am still in Abhishaik's area. I'm actually teaching his family now. His sister is doing really well, and her mother is too... but she doesn't speak english :( Oh well, we ignore rules and teach people the gospel, jk. The gospel is for everyone she just will have a hard time understanding in church, the mother I mean. Abhi is still doing great. He's my first baptism, but I've two more... haha, yeah. I baptized Siva and Rameni last sunday, it was a real treat. They had learned the lessons for 8+ months now and were finally willing to be baptized now.

I guarentee that India is dirtier than any American city, maybe even twice as dirty. Mother, the sewers are open on the sides of the roads. I don't remember if I told you this but my OLD bike fell into one of those ditches. It was perhaps the grossest thing you can imagine. Fortunately I have a new one, completely new and amazing.

Your grasp on the hymns sung by newly formed branches in foreign countries is exactly correct. There are creative timings and unrecognizable tunes sung for the 5 different songs that they know and cycle through every week. They sing "repent and be baptized..." every single week. It's cute (and annoying.) We're teaching our converts how to broaden their repetoire and sing songs correctly and so are the couple missionaries. I don't play piano in sacrament, two or three have enough piano skills to play the hymns. I play for district meetings though.


Here's something for my blog, which, as the emails I am receive are telling me, everyone is really liking so keep up the good work!
------
1. First of all, we as members represent the church, that's true, but remember that the church is JESUS CHRIST'S. If you really believe that, then you should be able to overcome the hypocrisy you see around you. Trust me when I say that nobody is perfect, not even me. Only to Jesus Christ can we look to as a perfect human example as we try to be perfect "even as [our] father in heaven is perfect." People will make mistakes, and may make the church look bad, but that in no way means that the church IS bad, rather that it is misrepresented. We were provided the atonement because we are mortals, we will make mistakes, but through the power of His mercy we can be clean again. That opportunity is extended to ALL, including members of the church who profess cleanliness but practice uncleanliness. Therefore, when you go on a mission you do not represent the sins of all the church members, but rather Jesus Christ and the opportunity of reprentance that he gives to all men.

2. I'm a *pretty* straight shooter. In this case, I'll be direct and to the point. EVERY PERSON IN THIS WORLD MAKES MISTAKES. I make ridiculously stupid mistakes and you've made mistakes too. When we recieve forgiveness for our mistakes, when we truly repent and cease to continue in unrighteousness, then we are clean, and our sins are forgotten. WHATEVER sin occured in your past, if you can accept your repentance, if Jesus Christ accepts your repentance, and if required church intermediators have told you that your repentance has been accepted, then I will join in saying that you are not only clean enough to represent the church, but more prepared than countless others, because you have a firsthand knowledge of the forgiveness that Jesus Christ offers in its fullest.

3. Go on a mission. There are so many reasons to do it. There are a lot of selfish reasons not to. Believe that there is a life after this one and that we will be infinitely rewarded for our devoted service to the Lord. Know that the blessings that are extended to us on a mission cannot be completely provided by any other means than by serving a mission. Your testimony will increase tenfold, your knowledge of the gospel will increase tenfold, and your love for the Savior and capacity for charity will increase tenfold. I do not regret coming on a mission, and I never will. You will regret not going on a mission. All worthy males are provided the duty, all worthy females are extended the opportunity. The sacrifice is not a small thing, but it's not the whole world. The blessings ARE the whole world. GO ON A MISSION.



I love my Savior and have a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I love that I have the best family in the world, life sure is easier that way. Thanks for everything!
I love you soooo much.
Kyle

HELLO!

So, my new companion is awesome. Elder Shahi is Nepali, but his ancestry is from China. He knows how to work very hard and genuinely cares for all of the people we meet. I'm starting to be able to do the same. I've almost got it down. He has not climbed mount everest, but you're right, it's in Nepal. He's 22 and was baptized maybe 5 years ago. He's a lot of fun and really wants to cook, so I let him... he cooks well. We're almost ready to move into an apartment. It's pretty nice. Marble and a full kitchen. Wood cabinets and guards. Its in a commercial area and should serve us fine if we get it approved. We don't, however, have a cell phone. We also don't have a landline. The other elders we're staying with just lost their phone... so it's VERY difficult to get a hold of our people, and since we just split our area, we really need to follow up with potentials that were ignored due to our previously less-than-satisfactory area book. I'm excited to get to work... again.

Here are the names of people I have been teaching...
Abhishaik: boy 18yo, I baptized him this sunday (yeah, I did it)
Chaitu: girl 19yo, INCREDIBLE testimony and now has a huge knowledge of the gospel. Wants to be baptized but her father will not allow it.
Naresh's Parents: They don't speak much english but we can teach them because they are a part-member family. We helped his father overcome alcoholism and they are finishing up getting over tea addiction, then they'll be good as far as the WoW goes. They love us and want to baptized, so they're doing their best to get eligible.

Since our boundaries just got split (4 elders in RJY 1st instead of 2) we have an incredibly small area and I lost many of the people I've been teaching previously. Some of them are:
Silaja, Amar, and baby Lucky: Silaja is a teacher and speaks english. She is soooo good, but is pregnant again and is getting sick, and is unable to attend church. She follows through with comittments well other than that. Amar speaks little english and went from tolerating us to really enjoying our lessons. He doesn't read the BoM as often as he should though. Lucky is the cutest little boy. Always smiling, rarely making noise.
RaShaker: boy 18yo Works out a lot and is starting to get built. He promised to come to church everyweek and sincerely meant it, came for 2 weeks in a row and then didnt come once. It was sad, but is very ready to overcome his parents unwillingness to let him get baptized and go through with it.
There are others...


Actually, yesterday we had a lesson with Chaitu and since there isn't anything left to teach her we discussed Corinthians 11 about the covering of our heads when we pray. One thing that isn't difficult for people to accept here, but is a culturally common practice is for women to cover their heads with their sari as they pray. No one knows why they do it, it's just that everyone does it so they assume it's the way it should be done. Well, Paul explains it away when he talks about a woman's hair is a covering for her and it is glory for her. Weird stuff.
Anyways, Chaitu asked me to bear my testimony to her, it was a little unexpected, but an awesome experience. The missionary work really is very exciting. I've managed to learn so many things and the gospel just gets more and more interesting the more I learn.

The doctrine that most people have trouble accepting is... different per person. Some can't accept that new prophets are called, they believe that revelations ceased with the death of Christ. Most often it's just confusion of what we teach mingled with things they heard from other people. If they are willing to listen to us and what we are actually teaching we can clear up concerns, but a struggle sometimes is getting them to let us teach what we believe, sometimes they would much rather tell us what we believe. Haha, we can only knock Christian doors for safety reasons and most of what we get is "I already know about Jesus and I've been saved, you aren't on a mission to save the people who already know about Jesus, go teach the Hindus!" That's the funniest, some of them tell us they already know everything about Jesus and that we have nothing to offer... those types of things. It's really quite sad, those with beliefs that are similar to ours seem to be our worst enemies. It obviously isn't the case every time. Many times we are urged to come in and pray for their family. Many want us to eat with them the second they see us, having never met them before. It's sad when we have to turn away people because there isn't a male in the house and we couldn't get a member to come, or because they only speak Telegu and we can't communicate. I'm hoping that we can teach in the native tongue soon.

I love you ALL!

Elder Shep

Merry Christmas!

(6 elders, including me, and their luggage in 1 auto going home from Visak)



It's Christmas Eve. Awesome. It hardly feels like Christmas (it's like 85 degrees outside,) there aren't any Christmas lights up, and I haven't heard a single Christmas song on the radio (then again, I don't listen to the radio,) but it just so happens that it will happen tomorrow whether it feels like it or not. Nevertheless, (that's scripture speak) I'm excited. We get to eat dinner at Naresh's house tomorrow and I'm really excited for that too. His mom made chipatte(sp?) and chicken curry for us last time and it was soooooo good. I'm really liking the food here now. I though at first I was going to get really sick or crave food from back home... but I'm doing just fine. Right now my favorite food is butter nan with... maybe butter chicken. It's not as buttery as it sounds. It is, however, delicious.

I recently got a haircut, it looks fine. I'm wearing my contacts more, which is really nice because wearing a bike helmet with glasses has proven to be really obnoxious. I've acquired some new ties, and I'm anxiously awaiting the completion of this burlap tie that a member is making for me. It should be amazing.

Transfers came! My current companion and I will be split up, but at the same time, we won't be. Here's the deal: there are currently 6 elders in Rajahmundry. In Rjy 1st branch there are 2 elders and in 2nd branch there are 4. Rjy 1st is getting an additional 2. I will get an elder from NEPAL named elder Shahe as my follow-up trainer and Elder Addagabottu will be getting another greenie to train. Cool. One of my batchmates is transfering from Chennai to Rjy and will be in the 2nd branch. His name is Elder Chagoya and I'm excited to see him again, we really hit it off in the MTC.

Now that the temporal things are out of the way, here's the update on the MISSIONARY WORK. We have about 8 groups of progressing investigators and quite a few with some pending baptismal dates. I'm not sure if I told you but the rule in this mission is that an investigator must attend church for 3 hours for 3 sundays in a row in order to be baptized. It's worked wonders for retention, it's worked frustration for many an elder. Nevertheless (scripture speak again,) we are working with some investigators and their baptisms. The fact is: we haven't had a baptism for 2 weeks :( No problem though, we've been working hard. Abhishaik is getting baptized this sunday, and I'm uber pumped for him. He went from denying commitments to excelling in participation and effort. He's been hanging out at church every day and befriending church members. He's doing so well. Chaitu and Mani, we're still working with them. Mani should be ready soon, and Chaitu is *still* working with her father for permission. We're praying a lot for help. Silaja, Amar, and baby lucky are doing AMAZING, their family is sooo much happier the more they learn. Anyways. We're working hard over here. It's good stuff.

Testimony wise: I've definitely increased in my love of the prophets. I've been reading conference talks and loving them. "You Know Enough" by Anderson in the presidency of the seventy is really good. Also, I really like Uchdorf's talk on Hope, I forgot the title. And of course, Monson gave really good talks. I'm prompted to make everyone look up Elder Octaviano's talk given in the second session of November 2007. I still remember that I really like that one. The Church is true!

Peace,
Elder Shep

Week of the 15th!

this is a little random because i pieced together little sections from the different emails he sent to our family.

Some elders gain wait, some lose, few stay the same. Some binge on the unlimited food we get at restaurants (we go every day) and get bellies, not large, just bellies. Some elders ride bikes (that's me) and sometimes forget to eat food (yeah...) and don't have enough time to cook (me again.) I'm still getting better and better looking every day though. My abs are coming in nicely and my face has thinned out a bit, can you believe I've been here a month?

Missionary work is great, Scripture study is amazing, and there are some truly prepared people ready to recieve the gospel. It's very helpful that religion gets so much attention here. Christians are MUCH more prominent than the government is willing to recognize (easily 20%) but Hindu's are still the bulk of our investigators, which has no impact on their willingness to accept the gospel. I can't single out one lesson, but there are some lessons that make complete sense to people, whether it be about Joseph Smith and his question, the beauty of repentance, or the fact that we will live in happiness with God again, and the spirit is so strong that you feel like you can swim in the room, those are the best.

Christmas traditions are different here. No cold, no snow, so none of those ideas are here. Santa isn't a part of culture. All the christians put up a glowy star outside, which makes it really easy to proselyte around Christmas. I've seen 1 christmas tree here. People aren't nearly as excited as in America, and stores don't play up the season (not that there are any real stores here in Raj.)

Everyone loves to sing, but their tone is off, it's funny. They slide around all the notes and throw random notes in, most can't read music at all and have never had to hit a pitch. I try to lead by example, but they sing really loud, so it doesn't help them much.

Let everyone know how much I love them, and how important missionary work is. It really changes people's lives. It's AMAZING to help people gain some eternal perspective.

Have a great christmas
Kyle

Love!

The missionary work is going very very well. Our discussions (based on their religion) tend to focus on God's love for us in conjunction with families, the importance of authority, and the need for additional scriptures. People rarely have trouble accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet, although Numbers 12:6 and 8 is AMAZING for making his claims more credible. Discussions are difficult due to communications gaps and the difficulty of getting investigators to actually DO committments, rather than just accepting them. My personal study is yielding very intense results. Jesus the Christ is absolutely amazing, and I've really been studying the preordination of Jesus Christ and the organization of intelligences before the world. For zone conference (in Visakaputnam (which are some of the pictures)) I had an awesome discussion with sister nichols about the order and way that the premortal life worked, using Abraham a lot.





Do I get enough to eat? Yes, but no. Whenever people cook for me I almost die from the sheer amount of food they FORCE me to eat (It's really good though.) When we go out for food we can get unlimited food for under $1, so I'm eating lots of rice there. At home, I don't eat much at all. I eat a few biscuits for breakfast, maybe cereal, and toast for dinner. Therefore, the food is there, but I'm watching my weight (and seeing the results.) My abs are starting to come in, and I'll surprise you with my incredible physique when I return home (hopefully.)



Church meetings are interesting. There are varying degrees of English capabilities, and some talks or testimonies devolve back into Telegu, which is uncomfortable because I don't understand and sacrament meeting is strictly ENGLISH. However, the members (specifically in Rajahmundry 1st Branch) are SO sincere. They are irreverent though, and I'll be working with the branch president to change that soon. There are lots of investigators there weekly though (4-7) and so Gospel Principles is very packed.


Thanks for your prayers, and be sure to get me those family pictures!!!
Help out the missionaries in our branch, they need it much more than I do.

I LOVE YOU (whole family included)
Elder Kyle Shep

A few weeks in

Well...
Thanks for your email, I was kind of hoping that I would receive more this week. It's weird to think that Michael is leaving now, and that's cool that nonmembers came. I'm excited for him.

It IS nice to teach the restored gospel. The best part is when investigators start the lesson with "Okay, I'll listen to the message but I'm concerned that there are so many churches, how do I know which is the true church?" Easy. Actually, english here isn't that great. For the most part we have to work really hard to find people who know more than Hi, Bye, and How are you? And once we find people with a humble english vocabulary we have to make sure they actually comprehend what we say. It's working out fine though.

So, we had another baptism this sunday. Her name is Shirley and she is the daughter of a convert who has been a member for a few months now. Their family is awesome, and Prashanti (Shirley's mother) has a mother who makes us really good food. So good. Shirley is the first baptism I've gotten that is based wholly on the work of Elder Addagabottu and I, so it's really rewarding. She really is an awesome person, very knowledgeable.

Regarding food, I've been eating LOTS of rice, and lots of spice. I've handled the food really well, and I like a lot of the things, while I hardly dislike anything, although there are some things that I regret eating for the next 15 minutes or so. For breakfast and dinner I mostly eat cereal and raman noodles. Also, I survive mostly on Maaza and biscuits. So, Maaza is this awesome mango drink that I get whenever possible. Remember that Great Britain colonized India, and they left an influence that still affects what sweets are liked now. Biscuits are like a combo of crackers and cookies. I'm addicted. You can get a package of 15 for 10 rupees, so like 70 cookies for $1, I bet Marie is excited right now. Haha.

For Thanksgiving I ate: cereal, some biscuits, toast and jame, and drank Maaza. Very special. I don't know if I told you, but although it's not impossible to get beef, it's uncommon. However, there are some good places to get beef biryani, which is just roast beef and rice. It's good, and comforting to eat sometimes. Which reminds me, I really miss music. I don't know if this is innapropriate, but I'm singing songs that pop into my head (which is every 10 minutes.)

As far as normal day to day, we are keeping very busy with appointments and the members and recent converts are AWESOME at helping us out. Naresh (baptized 1.5 weeks ago, has followed us around and helped us every day. Almost every lesson is with a member present, and their permission to translate English to Telegu is so valuable when a point needs to be made.

This week please:
1. Tell me how much my camera would cost in America.
2. Get Beth to write me an email.
3. Tell the Thompson family (not Matt's) thanks for the letter.
4. Let everyone in the ward know that I'm safe from terrorists, but hardly safe from the traffic here. Anyways, I'll probably make it home alive.

Other things...
Umm, the cost of pants here: 200-300 rupees... so like 5 bucks for a pair of quality dress pants, which are even washable. Tailoring is extremely cheap also. So wow. Shirts are like 100-150, 2 to 3 dollars. Ridiculous much? I may come home with lots of clothes.

I'm still losing weight, I'm two loops down from when I was working at Verizon and it's loose. I'm working out every day and we ride bikes everywhere, so it's been really beneficial for my health. I've done ab workouts every day, and you can start to see lines now. Watch out, I may come home even better looking than when I left (if that's possible.)

That's all I can think of to say. More pictures on the way.

I love you so much, Elder Kyle Shep

Now in INDIA!

Kyle arrived in India on wednesday Nov 12th along with 13 other Elders who will be in his area. He sent a short email because he didn't have much time. Hopefully we'll get more out of him next week.

I won't be told and be sent to my new mission until tommorrow. I'm still in Bangalore now, it's awesome. We will have hot water. My mission president said to work hard and be obedient.
My first impressions are the India is weird, it's technology crazy but in a slum... so conflicting ideas here. The people are awesome and nice.

The plane really was nice, but the flights were too long. Germany was crazy. India is beautiful and I'm excited to be here. I did in fact talk to someone for about 2 hours and he accepted the book of mormon and to read it! I have his information so... it was awesome. More info coming soon as I get settled. Love you all!

Update from the MTC

This is sorta late but I still wanted to post his email from the MTC.

My companion and I have been made zone leaders. We got the calling on the sunday we came in and its extremely rare that missionaries here for only three weeks will receive the calling, but it came out of necessity as all of the foreign language elders leave this week from our branch and we don't get new missionaries until next wednesday. So, that's cool news I guess.

In India we will only be teaching english speakers, that aren't muslim, and are wealthy in order to build up a strong foundation for later converts in India. This is so when welfare is needed there will be self-sustained area fast offerings and tithes to contribute to those needs. English because of the urgency and its correlation with wealth (no political correctness necessary.)

I love the MTC so far. It's not too hard to wear a suit every day, although I'm not in India yet, so that may change. And the lessons and progress I'm making in preparation is pretty incredible.