02/06/17 - Wilmington, North Carolina

I'm so happy I could skin a cat!! What a week. What a week indeed!! Miracles miracles miracles! This is the work of the Lord! No one else. Last Monday we went to the aquarium down here in Wilmington and it was beautiful!! We saw an albino alligator, got to touch sting rays, saw a megalodon jaw, and saw a dive show! Lots of fun. We visited a woman that night that was in desperate need of the gospel and we were able to share the plan of salvation with her. It was a beautiful moment to watch her eyes light up with hope! The gospel brings hope! We found out Monday night that we were supposed to have a zone meeting with our district leaders the following morning so we scrambled to the church and got our monthly numbers and everything ready! The meeting went very well despite our lack of preparation haha! We are excited for our zone training this Wednesday. Hopefully we can light the troops on fire! We had a great active member lesson Tuesday night and are returning weekly to teach them the "how to" behind member missionary work! We taught Esmi, one our Hispanic investigators, and she is so strong. Excited to be baptized in about a month! Can I just take a quick pause and say that I have the best mother on the planet? She is so inspired!! As many of you know, she is incredible at listening to the Spirit to help those around her! I had a really neat experience Tuesday night as I was praying. I was thinking about all that we have on our to do list and what not and these words came to mind "eternal perspective". I took a step back and realized that we don't need to stress about or worry over things that aren't of eternal significance! Wednesday was great! We had a zone conference meaning that President and Sister James, the Assistants, and all of our office staff came down from Raleigh to do a meeting with us. It wasn't the best timing considering that I woke up with the croup, but the show had to go on! I conducted the meeting and it was all outstanding! Even though it was 9 hours long, it was very inspirational! Elder Nadauld and I instructed on how to help our members with missionary work! The thing that I liked the most from the meeting was the theme of losing yourself and getting to work! We cannot let our pride impede the work of the Lord! We went on exchanges after the meeting and I went up to Jacksonville with Elder Walker! We went on base (so exciting!!!) at Camp Lejeune and taught an investigator. He is so strong! He printed out the assigned chapter and highlighted / annotated everything! We set a baptismal date with him and it was so refreshing teaching in great unity with the Spirit! The following morning we exchanged back and a YSA taught us how to make sushi!! Very tasty!! He even gave me a bamboo roll so that I can make it on my own! I will definitely be doing that. We had baptismal interviews that night for our 4 Congolese and they all passed! We tracted a bunch Friday and found a few new people to teach! I just love knocking the doors. It is so much fun to see the people's faces when they open the door and see our huge smiles! That afternoon we went to visit a potential at her church and although the doors were locked, while we were standing there a man approached us asking if we were Mormons! After a brief conversation he told us that his wife had passed away 6 years ago to the day and he had come to the church to pray. We told him the doors were locked, but that we would pray with him. He broke down and gave us a hug. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and the Spirit was strong. It was amazing that we were lead to meet him and that we both got to that church in downtown Wilmington at the same time! Saturday was full of blessings. Our Congolese got baptized!!! Elder Nadauld baptized Furaha and Zawadi and I baptized Sakina and Petro. The entire Mashinga family has now been baptized and confirmed members of the church! That makes 7 Congolese that have been baptized in the past few months. What a blessing. We went over to their home afterwards for a Swahili lesson and while we were there, Johnny wanted us to teach him Spanish! It was so funny to hear him say "buenos dias". Haha he was very excited to write down a list of phrases and use them at work today! Yesterday we confirmed the Congolese in sacrament meeting and we did the confirmations in Swahili! Elders quorum was great and we talked about not being so quick to execute judgement but instead being quick to have mercy. A phrase came to mind! "Focus not on inadequacies, but instead on capacities!" Our Elders quorum president always gives such inspirational lessons! I take so much out of them! The Congolese wanted to feed us in celebration for the baptism last night and it was delicious!! We took pictures of them in front of their new picture of the temple in their home! We also taught them how to tie ties after the dinner and they had a lot of fun! It has been such a privilege to be here in Wilmington with an AMAZING companion and elect people to teach.

Teaching Africans to speak Spanish,
Elder Shearer