Three in a Row...

Elders Smyly, Clifford and Me

Elders Norris, Weiss, Smyly, Me and Brown

Hi Family,

A good story:
This last transfer was my hardest by far , but this last Saturday made up for it completely.  We were following up with a potential and it ended up falling through and not working out, so we were about to leave and I got the impression that we needed to stay and tract the opposite side of the street.  The first door we knock on we find a great young man whose girlfriend is taking the missionary lessons and he was interested himself and was wanting to get a hold of the Book of Mormon. We taught him a little bit and setup a return appointment.  The next door we knock on is a young women who has met with missionaries before, but is worried about church because she believed her last church to be true, but didn't feel that it was, and she didn't want to go through one of those experiences again.  We shared with her our testimonies and gave her a pamphlet of the testimony of Joseph Smith and told her to read it and we would check up with her again.  The next door we knock on is another young woman who was very energetic and taught her a short lesson and she accepted to go to church this coming Sunday.

After we walked away from all of that we were just blown away!  I have never had a more successful hour and a half in my mission up to this point.  It is amazing how the Lord works through ignorant young men such as us to proclaim His Gospel, and what's more amazing is the He makes it work.

love to all,
Jake

Pizza and a Phone Call...

One way to talk to your son.

Got a letter from Jake this week that didn't really say too much and thought he was feeling a little down, so we ordered up Dominos for him.  The delivery time was set for 9:30, and at 9:31 I received a phone call from the delivery guy saying that no one was home.  He agreed to wait for five minutes.  Five minutes later, still no Jake.  I kept him on the phone for a bit, hoping Jake would show up.  It worked!  Jake showed up and I asked the delivery guy to just verify it was Jake Shields.  He asked, "Are you Jake Shields?" Jake responded, "Yeah."  The delivery guy then handed Jake the phone and said, "Here, your Mom wants to talk to you!"

It was not a lie.  I did want to talk to him, but I never would have asked.  But hey, who am I to turn a tender mercy away?  Jake had just returned from a lesson that had just come up during the day.  He was upbeat and excited about the prospects of this new investigator.  It did my mother's heart good to hear his upbeat voice after a letter that indicated otherwise.  Bon Appetit Jake!

The Angry Face...

The Angry Face...when an investigator drops us =/

Me and Elder Norris making pizza at a
recent convert's home

Elders Norris, Shields, Searle, Smyly and Weiss

Hello Family,

My favorite Conference talk was President Uchtdorf's in the priesthood session; it just really spoke to me and brought me comfort.  I also really liked Elder Oaks talk about opposition of the spirit and flesh  because it is related to what I am studying.  We watched conference at the Stake Center.

It is going fine with just Elder Norris, he is much more of a free spirit than Elder Searle or I, but we get along just fine.

I had a cool experience this week.  I felt impressed that we need to focus on working down near the college and we did, and we have started finding much more success!  it was pretty cool :)  We found four new investigators this week!

We don't eat at members very often, probably twice a week.

I am loving the calendar, I still haven't looked ahead!

Have a great week, love ya,

Elder Shields

Brownie and a Qtip...

Me with Elder Hampton at the beach in
Southport after a zone activity

So this area (Raleigh) has been pretty slow overall, but that is how the South is in general, unfortunately.  J. Golden Kimball once said the easiest way to get baptisms in the South, is to burn it down and do baptisms for the dead.  Fortunately, that's not what we are resorting to, but I can see why he said that. Still working hard though :)  So, Elder Searle got transferred to Durham, so it is just me and Elder Norris now.  It was fun being in the trio for a little bit though :)

We came into the area with pretty much no investigators to teach so we have been trying to find a lot. Easter was good, we had a little Easter program with the choir and they did a good job.  Other than that we went contacting a few hours and didn't find anyone interested.  

Elder Norris had his hump day so me and Elder Searle got a brownie and stuck a Qtip in it and lit it on fire for him, so that was fun.

Thanks for the Easter package!  It was so good!

That's how this week went.  I love ya and i can't wait to see all y'al on Mother's Day.

Love, elder Shields

Stick Pull...

I am loving being a missionary, the ward here is great!  We actually get member support here, and the members are feeding us.

We have put in tons of work these past two weeks with little results so hopefully we will start finding success. Well, actually we are finding investigators, the problem is that they all speak Spanish so everyone we find is getting transferred over to the Spanish missionaries, haha.  Here's hoping we can start finding people who speak English, or else I will need to learn Spanish!

One of the things that our mission president is having us do is covenant with the Lord in finding people to teach.

The trio is interesting, we are all pretty introverted so that was a trial at first but things are starting to get better :)  We were playing stick pull one night and Elder Norris ripped his pants and pulled his groin.

Well, I love ya, and hope y'all have a great week,

Elder Jake

Transfer and First Bike Crash...

Elder Searle from Clinton, Utah 

Elder Norris from Modesto, California

Hi Everyone!

We made it to Raleigh, North Carolina!  We packed up our stuff, threw it in a car and drove up to Raleigh.  It was pretty crazy.  We had to fit Elder Hampton, Me and Elder Jorgenson in the car along with all of our stuff so we were pretty crammed.  Transfer meeting was kind of a nightmare, but OK.

My new companions are Elder Searle and Elder Norris.  Elder Searle is more quiet, but a hard worker.  Elder Norris is a licensed massage therapist and is very sassy, haha, he is a lot of fun though.  I like them and I am excited to get to work with them.  None of us have been in a trio before so we are still getting used to that.

I love the new area, the ward is great and functions and there is a lot to do here!  Southport was very isolated, we were an hour thirty minute drive away from the nearest elders, so I am excited to be somewhere where we can actually see the other missionaries.  Not quite sure yet what the investigator situation is.

Our apartment is bigger than the last one, but we are fitting three missionaries in there now so it is about the same amount of room as in Southport.

I got in my first bike crash, apparently it looked really cool.  It was pretty amazing that I didn't get hurt. My bag took the brunt of it.  What happened was we were going down a hill and I put the front wheel brake on too hard and it flipped over.  One of my pairs of pants is so done.

We can't keep up too much on March Madness but Missionary Madness is coming up.  Some of the missionaries make brackets and try to predict who will be speaking in General Conference and their topics.  Haha, so we will see how that goes.

In my studies I am studying how Christ fulfilled the law of Moses, how the law doesn't save us and grace does, but we still need to show our gratitude for the grace that has been given us, and things of that nature.  We have an investigator who is struggling with the whole works versus grace deal and I feel like I have a decent handle on that subject so I am excited to try and resolve the concern.

I love ya, and I hope everything is going well,

Elder Shields

Going to Raleigh...

Just a couple weeks ago we had a gator in the bushes at our church building right next to the entry doors!

This last week was great, it was the most successful week I have had yet, I will be getting transferred so it will be nice to leave the area on a high note.  I will be going Raleigh to be in a trio.  We are getting whitewashed in.  I don't remember what the other missionary's names are but I have heard that they are very hard workers!  I'm excited!

Elder Hampton keeps freezing my name tags in water, he is going to get it on the day before I leave!

I don't need any new bike tubes, mine don't fit Elder Hampton's bike, he has a road bike.  I have liked biking better honestly, because I can't drive the car and I get control over the bike, plus biking is just fun.

We still weren't able to go crab fishing.

Spiritual Experience for the week:  While we were tracting down a road there was a house we skipped.  While we were on our way back to the car we knocked at that house and we found an elect new investigator! (my first one!)  It was good we walked past it the first time because they had just got back from somewhere.  We have an appointment with them later this week, I won't be there :(.

For PDay we have a zone activity at the beach and we will also go to the aquarium.

Tell Kenyon I say congrats and Elder Hampton wants to know if he's invited to the wedding.

Scripture for the week:  Mosiah 2:22-26

22.  And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23.  And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24.  And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he thath paid youl  And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
25.  And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves?  I answer you, Nay.  Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.
26.  And I, even I, whom ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the dust.  And ye behold that I am old, and am about to ield up this mortal frame to its mother earth.

These scriptures help remind us that we are unprofitable servants and without Jesus Christ no one would be saved, we all have reason to be grateful for Christ, but yet we often forget about the sacrifice he made for us.  I am trying to keep him on my mind more often.

I love you,
Elder Shields