08/28/17 - Raleigh, North Carolina

This was a beautiful week. Last Monday we watched the solar eclipse with President and Sister James on the news and it was incredible!! We were able to watch the totality happen a few different times being broadcast from all over the country! At the point that totality hit just south of us in South Carolina, President ran outside and with his naked eye looked up at the sun and yelled "Hey! You can see it! Come check this out!" Haha we all ran out and looked up! He was right, you culd see it! We would've used the glasses and all, but they were sold out at all the stores around us. It's okay though, President said we won't notice any lasting effects from the exposure for at least 9 years. I think that's probably enough time to live a happy life before I go blind! After our super fun solar eclipse viewing with them, we went out to try to visit some less-actives! Sadly none of them were home at the time, but we were able to meet up with them later on in the week. After working for a few hours, Elder Jones and I made our way down south to the border of the mission: Wilmington! We spent the night there with our zone leaders so we could wake up and be ready to go for our Wilmington zone conference! The conference was very enjoyable and I would say it was by far our best one of the transfer, and that's not just because I'm biased towards Wilmington. The Spirit was very present with each zone conference, but for some reason, it was even more overwhelming this time. I bore my departing testimony at the conclusion of the meeting and I decided to share a special memory. Three months before I received my mission call I had a dream that I was called to serve in North Carolina. I woke up from the dream not remembering much about it, other than a very particular alleyway I had seen. I actually forgot about the dream entirely right up until the moment that I read my call to serve. As I read that I was assigned to labor in North Carolina, the dream instantly flooded my mind and I remembered that alleyway in great detail. An excitement and sense of adventure filled my heart and I greatly anticipated the search I was now on. Just as had happened before, that dream was eventually pushed out of my memory by all the hustle and bustle of life. Later on in my mission, I was called to serve in Wilmington as a zone leader. Never before had a Spanish missionary been called as the Wilmington zone leader, so this brought many new changes. I was being taken out of the Spanish work that I had so deeply invested my heart into. At first, this was a difficult transition for me. I prayed to God that he would send me the peace to know that I had in fact been sent to the right area. Not that I had ever doubted President James nor his inspiration, but I simply desired a personal confirmation on the matter. As I bore my departing testimony this past Tuesday, I explained to the missionaries that on one of my first preparation days in Wilmington, my companion decided to take me downtown. As we walked the streets of downtown Wilmington, something we walked past caught the corner of my eye. I felt prompted to stop and take a few steps back. As I did, my eyes beheld a miracle. Standing in front of me was the exact alleyway I had been shown in my long since forgotten dream. The Spirit of God flooded my soul as a similarly Heaven-sent flood poured from my eyes. I felt myself wrapped in the love of my Eternal Father. I was told that God knew me and that He had indeed sent me to serve in that miracle-filled area. Since that day, I have never again forgotten my dream. It remains as a testimony to me that God cared for me enough to prepare a much-needed answer to prayer. I showed that picture to the missionaries and I was so overcome with my emotions, I could hardly speak. Elder Jones and I drove back up to Raleigh after the meeting and made a pit-stop at a famous ice cream shop right on the Cape Fear river. After arriving to Raleigh, we went to visit a less-active our Bishop had asked us to stop by. Pulling up to the home however, both Elder Jones and I felt we needed to try it another night. We went tracting instead and knocked right up until 9! Actually to spill a secret, we knocked until 9:10 because there were a few houses I felt we needed to try and I just couldn't ignore the prompting! The following day we had our Tri-Lake zone conference and it was actually the last one of the transfer! It was a great meeting, and following my departing testimony of the importance and eternal significance of our calling, a handful of missionaries came up to me and specifically thanked me for my testimony. I was so glad to see the Spirit was at work in the hearts of these missionaries. We care for them so dearly and pray for them by name. I decided to pray for each of them by name the night before their zone conference and as I did so, I was reminded of the unconditional love that God has for them. Following Wednesday's zone conference, we went to teach Yuliya and she is to the point that she simply needs to decide if she wants to be baptized or not. Even she mentioned that she has all the information she is going to get, the ball is in her court now. We pray for her daily that she will have the courage to act on the promptings she has received. Elder Jones and I then felt prompted to go back to the less-active we had decided not to visit yet. She was already out in her yard when we pulled up and though at first she was very hesitant to speak with us, we were as friendly as can be and her heart was softened. We met with her for a few minutes and did our best to rekindle her faith, but sadly she was afraid her husband wouldn't let us inside. We asked her who she knew of her neighbors that could use a message of the gospel, and she claimed not to know any. We felt something was off so we asked her again and as we did so, she looked at us with a face that told us immediately she was fighting the Spirit. We waited patiently and she finally followed the prompting to tell us that her neighbor had recently lost her mother to cancer about a month ago. We thanked her, committed her to pick up and read her Book of Mormon again, and with haste went to meet her neighbor. After knocking on the door, a woman opened up and upon seeing us, smiled from ear to ear! She said, "Elders! What are you doing here?" We told her we were there to speak with Dea and she told us that her name was Sister Early, a member from another ward! She had gone over to help Dea pack up her mother's belongings. She was ecstatic to see us and exclaimed that she knew we were sent from God. We were very excited to see her too and asked if we could speak with Dea. A few moments later, Dea came out and we introduced ourselves. We quickly began to teach her the principles of the Plan of Salvation and tears came to her eyes as those beautiful restored truths fell upon her spiritual ears. It was an absolute miracle to have found her. Thursday was a very busy administrative day! We had to plan out an entire meeting for Friday as well as all of our other responsibilities. The Wilmington zone leaders came up halfway through the day and we went on an exchange with them in our area. I was with Elder Hutchings and we had a great time. We first taught Nathan and he told us that he finished the Book of Mormon! He commented that he usually feels a need to be cynical about everything, but since reading the Book of Mormon, that desire is gone! We visited and taught a few other people as well and just had a wonderful exchange. Elder Hutchings is a great leader! We had our meeting on Friday for all of the mission leadership and it was very productive. We made a lot of policy changes and we're excited to watch those play out! Saturday was a magical day, it was my birthday! My family spoiled me and sent me an incredible package!! President and Sister James also spoiled me and got me a wonderful present as well as a super delicious chocolate mousse cake! We got a knock on the door and a missionary that used to serve here had come to visit, Elder Chandler! We had a fun time all being together. Elder Jones and I spent most of the day tracting, my favorite thing ever!! At the end of the night we visited an investigator that has been investigating for a few years and using the Spirit and inspired questions, we finally found out what some of his concerns are. Sunday was an equally fantastic day, of course because it is the Lord's day. Our investigators came to church, loved it, and we did some more tracting. We had dinner with the Madrid Estrada family in the Raleigh Spanish ward to celebrate my birthday and they smashed my face in the cake at the end! Classic... We tracted for the rest of the night and found a very prepared woman named Meatt. I love my mission so much. I do apologize for having such lengthy emails each week, but I simply cannot fit all of God's miracles into a few short paragraphs. I could honestly write a novel filled with the many tender mercies he blesses us with each day. I've said it before and I'll say it again; God is good.

Cherishing every minute of every day,
Elder Shearer