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