This is me hearding sheep! (actually I was first in charge of the goats but I hearded sheep next:) It was the neatest experience and I will not forget all of the things I learned while I did it. Our object was to split up the sheep and the goats and so once we did that we were to get both groups to the watering hole- have them go around that – and then into their pen. Holy moly! It was really fun and really hard. The sheep only really know how to follow. When they have no goat to lead them (especially the alpha goat) they don’t know where to turn and get distracted easily. So we lead the goats where they needed to go and then I cam eback to help the sheep hearders with their silly sheep. The best way to heard a sheep is not to lead from the front (like most people think) the best place to be is in the back and to the side. This way you are more pushing the sheep forward and making sure they stay close together while they follow the alpha goat. So... here are some parallels we talked about after we finished this experience. First off there are two parallels to the shepard. The shepard could be Christ - many times in the scriptures He is called the Good Shepard. The sheep would be us and the alpha goat would be the prophet with the other goats being the apostles and our church leaders. Something we talked about was that the shepard never works alone - most times he will have other shepards or his goats and dogs to help. Hence the prophet and his apostles. I also thought about how Christ really has shown us the way and he is our leader. So maybe the shepard can be Heavenly Father and He trusts Christ to be the leader who leads us to water and to our final destination. One thing I loved talking about is that the shepard noramally does lead from the back BUT he goes wherever he is needed. If there is a predator or some wandering sheep he will move there. I learned so much from this experience and I now read the scriptures about shepards and sheep with a lot more insight.
