04/18/16 - Siler City, North Carolina

This week we had the Temple trip!! It was amazing. So uplifting and edifying. The temple is the place to be. I wish I could go more as a missionary instead of just once every six months.. So take advantage of the chance to go whenever you want peeps! I'm jealous of you. We also had Zone Conference this past week and it was amazing. We had it out in Durham and we had some really great speakers. President Epps of our mission presidency spoke about the power and the need of the Holy Ghost in the work of the Lord and it really hit me! I was crying like nobody's business as he talked about having to "pay the price" to know the Spirit. Feeling the Holy Ghost is not a right that we have, it is a privilege. We must live worthy and really feast after it. We must sweat over it! It was a great talk. After the meeting, all of the northern kingdom of the Raleigh Mission went to Duke Gardens and it was gorgeous! We got to see Duke Chapel and even got to go inside of it! Amazing architecture. Elder Niko and I had another marvelous tracting experience this week! We had covenanted with the Lord that we would be able to find one new investigator as we took an hour to tract. Upon reaching the close of that hour, we came up to a house and knocked the door. A woman came out and began to speak with us. She told us that she had just decided that morning that she wanted to change her life around and began heading her bible again! She began to cry and told us that she believes that God sent us to her to help build her faith once again. We were able to turn it into a great teaching experience as we shared our purpose as missionaries. We have set a baptismal date with her and are excited to watch her progress in the gospel of the Lord! Very special tender mercy from Heavenly Father! Last Saturday our ward helped participate in something called Habitat for Humanity. It is an organization that builds homes for people that can't afford one! We spent most of the day building houses with them and it was a great experience! I got to paint the siding up next to the roof, lay the insulation down underneath the house, and do a few other miscellaneous projects! I love serving other people! It always feels so good. Haha so a few days ago Elder Niko told me something funny that I had done in the middle of the night before. Apparently around 2 o clock I sat up in my bed and started screaming! Elder Niko flicked the lights on asked me if I was alright. I stopped screaming, turned to look at him, and said "Godzilla". I then laid down again and went back to sleep! Haha I'm so weird.. But anyways, it was a great week! Definitely less life threatening than last one, but we'll see what happens with the court date this Wednesday. Oh yeah, one more thing! This morning in the shower, I found a tick!! I didn't know what it was so I ripped it off, but thankfully the head came with it. Sketchy! There are ticks and things all over the place here. Well on that note, talk to you next week! Love you all, byyyyeee!!

Dreaming about dinosaurs taking over Asia,
Elder Shearer