08/21/17 - Raleigh, North Carolina

This was a busy week, as it should be in the work of the Lord! Last Monday we drove down to Fayetteville after our office meetings to play tennis in a mission-wide tournament called the Dennis Open. President James used to be a tennis coach, so he loves holding these tournaments. It was a blast! I was paired up with Elder McNeill and we won all four of our games undefeated! He's an incredible player, all I had to do was sit back and watch him win for us! The missionaries seemed to have fun so we were happy. We came back to Raleigh after it ended and did our best to finish planning for our round of zone conferences for this transfer! We finished planning our instructions, got the agendas together, and made sure all our sound equipment and everything was ready to go. We had our first zone conference on Tuesday up in Durham. It went very very well!! In honor of Elder Barlow who was my last companion and the previous assistant, we did a football themed conference which I know nothing about! President and Elder Jones have had to explain to me quite a few football references, jokes, and lingo. Elder Jones talks about "summer conditioning" or preparing ourselves to receive the Spirit, President James talks about the "game plan" or role-plays, and I instruct on "calling an audible" or learning to have the gift of discernment in missionary work. When President told me I would be talking about calling an audible, I had no idea what that meant. But the Spirit was strong during the meeting and we are all motivated to be more focused on making the Spirit a big part of the work. At the conclusion of every zone conference, we have a portion where all departing missionaries give their final testimony. I of course was asked to give mine and it was difficult to get through. I was crying so hard I couldn't even talk! Wow. This mission really has been the best two years of my life. I have learned many principles of the gospel, grown in my character, and developed my relationship with God in a way I could have never done without this experience. I will thank God for the rest of my life for the time I have had to serve Him and his children. I am very grateful that it isn't over yet either. I still have a few weeks to give my all and bring others unto Christ. We had three zone conferences back to back to back, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, and I was asked to give my departing testimony at each conference! The first day, I bore my testimony that God is the true source of all power and that it is much better to look heavenward and be happy. The second day, I bore my testimony that the greatest joy in the world comes from being made an instrument in God's hands. The third day, I bore my testimony on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and God's love. I still have two more zone conferences coming up this week so we'll see what I share for those! After the meeting on Tuesday, we visited Mike and Preston and discussed the temple as evidenced in the scriptures. As we opened up both Book of Mormon scriptures, and Biblical scriptures, the Spirit was so thick that we wanted to scoop it up with a spoon and feed it to our investigators! They felt it though and we knew it. They shared with us a few of their genuine concerns and we did our best to address them following the promptings of the Spirit. It was one of the best lessons on my mission and that is because the Holy Ghost was the teacher, not us! Wednesday our zone conference was here in Raleigh and it went even better than the day before in Durham! During my instruction, a few thoughts came to my mind that I hadn't planned on sharing but as I shared them, we were all edified by the teachings of the Spirit. I sat back down in my chair upon finishing and was so overwhelmed with gratitude for God's guidance and direction that I was brought to tears. I have loved more than anything developing such a close relationship to God. I feel him ever near and I know he is involved in the intimate details of our lives. Following our meeting, we taught Yuliya and it was so great to see them. They have been on vacations for a few weeks, but she said that she read the Book of Mormon every single day! She had a few questions about baptism which we addressed using inspired questions and scriptures. She mentioned that she feels she has all the information she is going to get about the church, she just needs to decide whether she is going to get baptized or not. We believe and have faith that she will! Our zone conference on Thursday was in Fayetteville and it was also very enjoyable! Haha right before I got up to give my instruction, President James put his hands on my shoulders and shook me around trying to get me pumped up! It worked ha! After the conference, we went on an exchange with the Fayetteville Zone Leaders and I had the privilege of going with Elder Mueller! We had a memorable night for sure. We started with the best thing in the world, tracting!! After finding a very prepared military family, we found a Hispanic family that was even more prepared! At the close of the lesson, we invited them to kneel in prayer with us and invited the mother to offer the prayer. As she prayed, she asked God if this church was true and told him that she hoped it was! They were extremely excited to come to church! I loved learning from Elder Mueller's great example of leadership on the exchange, he's wonderful. We spent the night with them there and then drove back up to Raleigh Friday morning. We spent a few hours in the mission office trying to get caught up on some of our responsibilities and then were anxious to go work in our area! We talked to Sahr for a good while and he wants God so desperately in his life. We shared a little bit of the Plan of Salvation and are excited to meet with his family in a few weeks. We went tracting for the rest of the night and not only did it feel amazing, but we found a new investigator named Famara! He is from West Africa and was very intrigued with the Book of Mormon. Excited to teach him again this coming Thursday! We had our weekly transfer meeting with President on Saturday. Before we pick trainers or leadership or anything, the first thing we always do is take all graduating missionaries off the board and put them on top of it in what we call "The Celestial Kingdom." I of course was forced to rip my card off the board (while ripping my heart out of my chest) and place it in the kingdom. President took pictures of me and thought my pain was hilarious. Not really, he felt for me, but is excited for my future I guess. We started to pick some trainers, but had to stop early because of an appointment we had. We taught the Borrero family about some commandments and they are on board with everything! Jay and Reuben are getting ready for their baptisms in a few weeks and we are excited for them! We tracted the rest of the night and knocked on some mansions! Falls Lake is such a wealthy area. Wealthiest in the mission! Today was the Sabbath and I love the Lord's day! Going to church and taking the sacrament is easily my favorite part of the whole week. After church we taught Matthew again, the Messianic Jew, and we got into some deep doctrine! He had so many questions and every time we tried to explain something to him, he wanted to get even deeper. We told him that he doesn't have to know our message exhaustively to know it truly. He's got a good heart and real intent and he'll find this is true in no time! We visited a Swahili referral after dinner and have a lesson set up this week to teach a whole family! We tracted for a while and then ended our night by teaching Anthony and Nicole. We hadn't taught them in a few weeks, but their desires are as strong as ever! Anthony is very excited to be baptized and even shared some very personal life changing events that happened a few years ago. I LOVED THIS WEEK! I see miracles every single day. There is no way this isn't the work of God. He is ever present.

Still trying to figure out what an audible is,
Elder Shearer