Hurricane Matthew & Zone Conference...

Video is of Southport, NC (Jake's first area) during Hurricane Matthew

Questions:

Tell me all about the storm! 

     So the storm where we were at was very lame, just overcast and rained all day, not eve very big rain, we did lose power though which was interesting.  There was hardly any wind.

Did you have to stay in your apartment?

     No, we went out for a little bit.

Any flooding in your area?

     None.

Are you going to go help with the clean up?  

     There isn't anything to clean up in our zone so, not really.

Investigator Update:
     "B" has a baptismal date for the 19th of November so we are excited for that.  I told him that we were leaving in six weeks and would love to see it happen before then.

Did you find anyone new?

     We had meeting all this week so we didn't have much time to get out and go finding.

Tell me about zone conference:
     It was a lot of fun, our zone won the activity contest so that was great, I was able to see the Hydes again, so that was great.  They go home in November so y'all will have to go see them.

Funny Story:
      I got in the dryer.

Scripture for the week:  Romans 1:16

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:  for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Love ya!

Elder Haslam and I fishing in the background
(We caught the biggest fish!)

Log Run competition, yup, we won!

And the most humble zone apparently won.

And the winner is...

Hey Dad,

So this last week was meetings and meetings and more meetings.  We were hardly able to get any missionary work done, which is frustrating, but it happens.  And, yes, Elder Haslam and I both caught the biggest fish, it was tons of fun.  Our zone won the competition that they held.

Thought for the week:

Everytime I leave a lesson, I feel that there is always something that I could have stated more clearly or boldly, but then I remember 2 Nephi 33:1, that it's the Spirit that carries what we say the their hearts and what matters is that we help provide an atmosphere where the Spirit can dwell and it can only carry the message to their heart if they choose to let it in.

Love ya Dad!

Bikes are found!

Hi Everyone,

We found a man tracting this week, we were impressed to knock on his door, he was busy but we said we could share what we had to share in five minutes, so he let us in and we shared a short restoration. He was very prepared and we invited him to be baptized on the 29th of October and he accepted!

Interesting story, we get a call from a former member of the ward who lives in New York but is traveling to NC to pick up some things and apparently he loves Koreans, and he found a Korean hitch hiker who he picked up and he wanted us to teach him so we shared the message of the restoration with him.

My favorite conference talk was given by Elder Cornish.  One of our investigators came with us to watch General Conference, it was a wonderful experience.  We got the pizza after the priesthood session, priesthood session goes until about 10:00 so we didn't get it until later but it was delicious.

So, we found our bikes!  A former investigator of ours stole them.  We found him riding on it and we confronted him and he gave it back, his friend took the other one so we went to their house and picked it up.

Scripture:  D&C 58:40-43

"And also let my servant William W. Phelps stand in the office to which I have appointed him, and receive his inheritance in the land; And also he hath need to repent, for I, the Lord, am not well pleased with him, for he seeketh to excel, and he is not suffciently meek before me.  Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.  By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins--behold, he will confess them and forsake them."

Love ya!

Snail Mail...

I love it when we get real letters, this one came just today...

Dear Family,

So, first, in response to Dad's question about Bible Bashers.  President James exact words on bible bashing, "Don't bible bash, but if you do, you better win!" (haha)  So, I don't bible bash.

A great quote "Without faith even seeing won't be enough."  The Pharisees saw Christ, and saw him heal, but were not convinced.  Laman and Lemuel did everything that Nephi did, but still turned out the way they did.  You can shove truth at anyone and everyone, but if they don't have faith, they will not receive it.  They need to let that seed work in them.  It is important to know your Bible so you can use something in teaching that people can relate to and already believe in.  Testifying of the divinity of the Bible and the Book of Mormon together is definitely most important.  Testimony plants seeds of faith better than facts can, and that is that.

Well, an update on what has been happening here in the Chapel Hill First Ward.  Everyone dropped us this week so we are back to square one.  Not quite, I guess, though "A" got really sick and we won't be able to go over and see him for awhile, but it has been really disheartening to finally be able to get people progressing, coming to church and commit to baptism and then all of it slipping away.  I understand none of it is really my success and my job is to be as pure a vessel as I can be and carry out God's will and that I shouldn't measure my success on the agency of others, but it's really hard not to sometimes ask myself, "Everyone else is doing the same thing I am doing and having success, am I just not as good?"  or, "Everyone else in the group that came out with me has baptized, they should be the ones training, not me."  I realize these thoughts are not of God and I'm doing my best at trying to put them away, but it is hard.  A scripture that has brought me a lot of comfort recently is a familiar one, "Awake my soul no longer droop in sin.  Rejoice O my heart and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.  Do not anger because of mine enemies do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions."  2 Nephi 4 28-29

How often do we slacken our strength because of our afflictions?  When the road gets tough how often do we droop and feel sorry for ourselves and "slacken?"  I like to compare it to biking, because we are in Chapel Hill ,and they put the "hill" part in there for a reason, as we are going along our bicycle trail of life when we come to a hill, that is when we need to be pedaling the hardest.  Praying harder and studying harder.  When you do finally get to the top don't slacken, watch and pray always and keep that pace so every time you come to the top of a hill you are always moving faster than you were before, until you finish your course.

I love you family!

Elder Shields

An Adventure...

Hi Guys,

I heard about the tornadoes from someone else, crazy how fast news can travel these days.

The marks on my face are from wrestling with Elder Hancock.  Elder Haslam and I are good with working out in the morning, he has been sick recently but I still workout.

I heard that in Russia they can't proselyte anymore and the missionaries are all called volunteers is that still a thing?

Investigators:  "A" is really sick and it has been hard to see him, we had to drop "K" because her boyfriend won't let us meet, and "B" is still doing alright.  We found an Arabic family with a guy who is a truth seeker and very anxious to learn.

Funny Story:  Elder Haslam is lactose intolerant and he has these pills he takes to eat lactose, and it is just an adventure.

Scripture:  Matthew 6:21
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I love you and hope all goes well this week.
Elder Shields

Full week of dinners!

Elder Haslam and I 
(The scrapes on my face are from a wrestling match.)

Hi Family,

Well, "A's" baptism was canceled, it was causing contention in the home.  We are seeking advice from President James on what to do.  Baptism is essential, but we don't want to ruin a marriage either. We are holding off until we can receive more counsel.

Investigators:  We are teaching a practicing Jew who is very smart and just an all round great person, and "K", who when we contacted her recognized that the bible talks of one true church and it is a matter of trying to find it, she is solid.

Our spider's name is Bert.  No word on the bikes, we forgot to bring the lock, so they weren't locked up.  You don't need to do anything, we will just borrow mission bikes until further notice.

This ward is great, we had a full week of dinners!

love y'all,
Elder Jake

Pet Spider & Stolen Bikes...

Elder Haslam's first week on the job

Family,

Wow, Kate is engaged, that is great!  Tell her I say all the good stuff you are supposed to say to engaged people!  That is interesting for Spence, hopefully he gets the job, funny how that works out. And that is weird that you are in school again, when do you finish classes?

Elder Haslam has been doing just fine and adjusting well, he prepared beforehand very well.  The connection with Elder Haslam is through Robert Haslam our Great, Great Grandfather.  Our great grandfathers were brothers, David Jeremy Haslam Sr. and Byron Haslam, hence the 3rd cousin relation.  We get along just fine, no problems.

Elder Haslam and I have a pet spider outside of our apartment that we catch bugs and feed, and also, less funny, our bikes got stolen, but we called the police and filed a report and we have borrowed bikes from the mission that we are using for now.

Favorite food item for the week was a Ghana dinner we had last night with some members, it was super good!  This week for dinner, we had three food drop offs, and two at a members home.

Investigators:  We found a guy who is Rastafarian, Bob Marley is their prophet, we will see how that goes.  We found another woman who is a Lutheran Priest, and a nice older woman.


Scripture:  Revelation 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from theri eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:  for the former things are passed away.

Love ya,

Jake

Training...

My new companion Elder Haslam (straight from the MTC)

All in the family, we are 3rd Cousins!

Hi Family,

I'm training!

So, we just did relative finder and we are 3rd cousins, Elder Haslam is from Kaysville, Utah.  He pole vaulted and played volleyball.  He went to SUU for a year before he came out.  We get along great! We are both more introverted, so it's quiet, but we get along just fine.  The training is going great, he has adjusted very well.

Investigators:  We are meeting three times a week with one and have a baptism date set for the 24th, but no longer have a date set for J, but doing alright and still moving in the right direction.

We have been working with a less active and went and visited him this week.  He was wasted and just acted super drunk.  We got out of there pretty quick.  We've seen an unusual amount of crazy this week to break in Elder Haslam.

Laundry is working out well, we have a washer and dryer so things have been doing fine.

Scripture:  Luke 12:6-7

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not therefore:  ye are of more value than many sparrows.  

Love ,

Elder Shields