I still don't see how shutting the engine down will have anything to do with it.....

 

that the only way I can get it to shift into gear, other than reverse

 

Makes me wonder if your master cylinder isn't feeding/pumping enough fluid to the slave cylinder in the transmission and while it is running it won't let you do any of the shifting. Hence why you turn it off and it lets it come out of gear. Only thing I can think of really. Check your clutch line for a pinch of some sort, it is right under the master cylinder on the driver side firewall.

 

ok, i'll check for pinch wire