Transfers…

District Meeting 
The flowers are because Elder Gardner is dying (going home).

Family!

It went great with our two new families and we now have a total of six families that we will be teaching!  The work boomed this last week and we found lots of new investigators.  Also, one of our guys quit smoking last week and is still off so he will hopefully be baptized soon.  We are so blessed.  It really feels like the miracle of the week was finding all of these families.  They all have jobs and are hard working good people.  They all will make good investigators.

This week is transfers and Elder Dudley is going Zone Leader in Wilmington, (he will be my zone leader) and I will be taking over Southport.  Elder Dudley left really big shoes to fill so I am pretty nervous about it.  Pray for me!  My new companion will be Elder Hampton.

I love our district; half of it is leaving this transfer, but they're good, we all get along well.

The storm (Jonas) didn't affect us too much, lots of rain, but we tracked until 9 nonetheless.

That is so awesome that James Bekker will be the new second councilor in the 1st ward!  He will do such a great job, tell him I say congrats!  And not to mess up.

People are going crazy about the Carolina Panthers being in the Super Bowl, it is all anyone talks about at church!

Sorry to hear about Jane's finger, tell her that the booboo will heal and that I got an ouchie on my finger too when I was little and that it will all be OK.

Love,
Elder Shields

Aquarium...

Elder and Sister Hyde took care of us at
Flamin' Amy's

Hey Everyone!

We contacted two new families that we'll be teaching.  We have appointments set up for next week so I will let you know soon.  One of the families we tracked, and also got them on a referral, so someone wanted us to keep talking with them.   Other than that most of the people we teach end up being one and done :/.  They have all been saved by grace and want nothing to do with anything that involves more than that, but we are still working hard.  Still haven't been able to get a hold of "M".. We taught four solid lessons then dropped off the face of the earth.  We have another guy who is working on quitting smoking and wants to get baptized, but still working on understanding tithing.

P-day ferry ride to the Aquarium

The last few pdays have been pretty fun.  Last week was a zone activity we played dodgeball, volleyball and mafia.  Today we went to the aquarium with our senior couple, Elder and Sister Hyde.  My favorite part was the ferry ride over and the albino alligator.The Hydes grew up right around Bountiful area, they knew a Vicki and Ann Haslam, are they your cousins?  They were both teachers and have been out a month longer than me.

Luna, the albino alligator at Fort Fisher Aquarium

Our apartment is average size, not too big, no bugs because we spray the place so it stays free.  The bed is comfy.  Idk, it's nice and quaint, just your average missionary apartment.  We have some people that live beneath us that blast this weird music, and there a big guy that lives by us who sleeps outside in his chair with his shirt off.

We had a funny experience this week, we were tracting and found a guy who was stoned out of his mind, he was telling us how a few weeks ago Thomas Jefferson sent a handful of marines over to the holy land to kill all the people who read the Koran.

Sorry, I had to email later, everything closes on Martin Luther King Day, so we went to the aquarium and then we emailed from the Hydes.

BTW, the bed wasn't mission or apartment property, it was ours, so it's OK!

Love you all,

Elder Shields

The Blue Warehouse...

The warehouse where the Southport Branch meets.

Hey Family!

My talk went well, and I will send you a copy.  I just wrote it all in comp study in a notebook so I will try to get that to you.  I was nervous about it, but I fasted and prayed and the Spirit helped me through.

My training is going well, Elder Dudley is great!  One funny story I can tell you is that we have a  pull out bed and on Christmas we put Elder Dudley into it and folded it shut.  When we did that the frame bent and we couldn't pull him back out, so I had to cut him out of the bed frame!  Haha, it was so funny!

It has kinda been a slow week.  We did a lot of contacting with not much success. (We have to be out contacting until 9:00, so we do) The update on our investigators: "J" is quitting smoking and really working on his word of wisdom issues and will hopefully be getting baptized soon.  We still haven't been able to get in touch with "M", and "I" is doing OK, she might be moving soon but she said she will try to come to church, and most of the others are, meh.  Agency is a tricky thing.

I love the zone leaders, I went on an exchange with one of them and we had great success in his area!   I don't really know the zone well yet, but we have a zone activity today.

I am still exercising, we run every so often and I do the ab ripper every other day, we also have a weight bench in our apartment that we can use.

Some of the different food that I have eaten this week is some stuff called "fat back", it is super crazy salty straight pig fat.  We had collard greens, which is kinda like a greasy salad, and black eyed peas.  Most of the food we have had has been really delicious.

I don't have any alligator stories, they are gone for the winter.

Have a great week, I love you,

Elder Shields

Happy New Year!

Southport, North Carolina

Hey Family,

I got the New Year's package that you sent, all the poppers popped in the package on the way over, but other than that it was great!  We also got the pizza!  It was so fun, it made our New Years, it was great pizza and we ate it all!

We are still working with "M".  It was going really well, but now we can't get a hold of her and she's not home.  She has been struggling with lots of things, but when she meets with us she does a lot better, she just needs to keep meeting with us and make the connection that it's the Spirit that's been helping her.

We also have high hopes with another investigator that we have been working with. "H."  She is the referral from the senior couple in our area.

One thing that's been going on with me is I realize how little I know about this gospel, and there is so much to learn about it and so little time.  I could study everything about a simple topic in the scriptures for years and still not know everything.

I looked at the blog and it looks great, I will try to send more pics, but the pics are more megapixels than the church email will send, or something like that.  I will work on that and hopefully I will be able to send a bunch next week.

I am doing good, just a little stressed about a talk I have to give this Sunday, but other than that I'm doing OK!

I love you, and hope you have a great week!

Elder Shields

PS  Gum is against mission rules :/  I love that you send it and are thinking of me, but I can't chew it :/

Settling in...

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, the library was closed and we couldn't email so we got permission to email today.  The girl I told you about in our Christmas call (let's call her "M") when we visited with her before she was really anxious.  She's calmed down a lot.  We got some members over there to fellowship and that really helped her.  We taught her the restoration and extended the baptismal invitation and she accepted!  Hopefully everything goes well.  We still have a lot to teach her but we have high hopes.  The Senior Couple in our area got a new investigator who they are trying to transfer over to us who is golden, so we will see what happens there.  Things have been going well!

One thing that I have been starting to study about is the relationship between power, faith and knowledge.  I haven't been able to delve too deeply into it, but what I have learned is that the most important of them, and the way you receive the other two, is faith.  I will keep looking into it and I will keep you posted on what I learn.  

PS  One of our less actives told me to tell you guys that you did a good job raising me.

I love you!

Elder Shields

Christmas Phone Call…

Merry Christmas from our favorite missionary!

Our family Christmas photo!

Cheers went up as soon as we saw Elder Shields on the screen.  After many attempts at a three-way Skype, Lauren and Tyler ended up face timing the call.  Not ideal, but the whole family was together in one room for a time.

Jake shared some experiences he had at the MTC, including an intense verbal fight, where he and his district left the scene and had a devotional so as not to be negatively affected.  He also told of his favorite song "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" being sung and comforting him.

Jake looks and sounds great.  He is very happy with his companion who we found out is serving as the District Leader right now.  They have a lot in common and like to share random facts that they each know.  Jake says Elder Dudley is a hard worker and respects his knowledge of the Gospel.  The work is slow; he says that the people respect what they are doing, but are not that interested in what they have  to say.  He did share one sweet experience of contacting a girl who is interested in their message.  They tracted out her dad, who then referred them to his daughter.  Jake was teary as he shared that she has anxiety and is fearful when it comes to going to church.  He can relate to her in a way that others can't and feels grateful to be able to work with her.

When asked what he is looking forward to doing or seeing on PDay, he said they would probably go check out all the alligators!  He is literally in Jake heaven with all the reptile animal life he is surrounded by.

Made it to… Southport, North Carolina!

Me and my trainer Elder Richard Dudley, from Calgary Canada

Me with my Mission President Dennis R. James and his wife Jan James

I'm in heaven, Greg is an alligator who lives nearby.  North Carolina has been great, there are so many animals all over the place, including frogs and snapping turtles!