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

Rico 2.0 goes missing...

Some fun with Elder Hancock

Hey Family,

To be honest, it hasn't been looking too good for our investigators that we set baptism dates for last week, still staying optimistic but they both had rougher weeks this week.  As y'all (still don't like that word) have known, baptisms are few and far between here, however, One investigator was singing at a memorial service for someone he knew and he invited us to it and we found someone there, which was awesome.

Funny Story:  So as I have said earlier, Elder Hancock is Elder Roses boy, and we had three or so exchanges with them this week, during which, Rico 2.0 (the name of the duck Maddie gave me) was taken along with all of Elder haycock's ties, except his super ugly ones.

In answer to your question about what happened to my shirts?  North Carolina happened to my shirts, it'll get ya!

Elder Hancock is doing good, He's being transferred to Wilmington and I'm staying, but I don't know who is coming here until Tuesday.

Any unusual food?  Everyone in our ward is a grad student at Duke or UNC, so nothing weird.

Scripture for the week:  Ether 12:37

And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me:  If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean.  And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.

Love,
Elder Shields

Numbers are up...

Hey Family,

So this week went very well for us, as far as numbers go it was the best week of my mission.  We were able to set two baptismal dates with our investigators; one on September 10th, and one on September 24th.  We are excited for them, we hope they will be able to make those dates!  Elder Hancock and I are going great.

Scripture for the week:  Ether 6:2

"For it came to pass after the Lord had prepared the stones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount, the brother of Jared came down out of the mount, and he did put forth the stones into the vessels which were prepared, one in each end thereof; and behold, they did give light unto the vessels."

Glad the family is doing good, I bet y'all are excited to have Lauren back for a bit!

Love,
Elder Shields

Spirit was Strong...

Hi guys,

Sorry, I guess I'm kind of boring, but not much to say.  I will be honest, I like replying to actual letters more than emails.  Which I know is more expensive and less good I guess but.....

I got my shirts and the Pizza.  Thank you!  It was funny when the pizza guy came we thought that the zone leaders were coming by because one of them is Elder Hancock's trainer so they just come by a lot.  Elder Hancock loves that kind of pizza now.

Elder Hancock and I are doing well, we get along just fine, haha, he has still yet to win a wrestling match!

Investigator/Finding update:  We found a man who has met with missionaries in the past but has issues with how God will allow the world to be in the state that it is in.  We taught about hope and agency and it was a super good lesson, spirit was strong.  Also we found a taxi driver who was waiting for someone in the church parking lot.

We had dinner with the Svennsons.  They are awesome and we mostly talked about how he is moving to Sweden in a few months.

Funny Experience:  I made Elder Hancock bike.....a lot.

One of the things I love and hate most about the mission is how often your weaknesses are shown to you.  One thing I am beginning to see on how happiness comes is not caring about yourself.  Out here we try to focus on our investigators and home we try to focus on caring more about our wife or children's needs more than ours, and therein lies true happiness.  God is so happy because he is so concerned for all of His children.  Anyway, that is a concept I have been looking into a lot recently.

Scripture:  Mormon 9:21

Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, counting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

Have a great week!