08/15/16 - Raleigh, North Carolina

This week has definitely been a fast one! We had a very relaxed preparation day as we worked on cleaning our house, catching up on a little bit of much needed sleep, and doing some shopping. I found a pair of nice loafer shoes for 10 dollars! Expecting to gain some Hispanic trust with those real soon.. I also found two very nice ties for 3 dollars each! Tuesday we were able to teach some great lessons as well as plan for our zone training the following day. It went very well! An Elder from another area really needed a haircut so he came over to our house and I gave him one at like 6 in the morning! We left to our meeting afterwards and it was incredible. Our zone leaders gave an instruction on obedience and related it to burying our weapons of war. They asked us each what our "weapons of war" were and as we thought of them, we wrote them on a large arrow with our signatures beneath. We are going to bury the arrow! Super neat idea. I was privileged to be able to give an instruction as well! I instructed on "Catching the Fire". To start the instruction, I lit a fireball about the size of my fist on fire in a frying pan in the parking lot outside. I expressed the need for us to catch this same kind of fire in our missionary labors. It was a very humbling experience as I could literally feel the Spirit working through me. I could feel the power of the work of the Lord and hopefully was able to share some insights to help the other missionaries with whom I serve. I instructed on sacrifice and related it to the biblical sacrifices that were often made: the sin offerings, the burnt offerings, and the peace offerings. They respectively represent the Atonement, sanctification, and fellowship with the Lord. Leviticus 6:12-13 teach us that we need the fire of our altars continually burning. I found it interesting that true fellowship with the Lord comes after and only after true sanctification. We went on exchanges following the meeting and I went with an Elder that is still in his first transfer to his area. We had a GREAT night!! Their area has been struggling a little as they have only been able to teach one lesson a week. And sometimes not even that much.. But we hit the ground running and within the first hour, we got a member referral! We then spent the day tracting and did so for about 3 hours. We had a few interesting door contacts. Upon asking one man if he knew any of his neighbors that could use a spiritual boost, he replied " A spiritual boost? From you? Yeah, I don't think so." He then proceeded to slam the door in our faces. But it was good! I walked away with a smile on my face grateful for the chance to represent this church. We also had another man tell us he wasn't interested unless we could give him money. I told him we could give him Jesus, but he didn't really like that too much and also slammed the door.. After having received much rejection, I had a strong feeling that someone needed to talk to us. However I didn't feel that we were in the right area. I got a prompting to "get in the car and drive." Not knowing the area but full of faith nonetheless, we got in the car and began to drive away. Elder Baker asked me where we were going and I told him I had no idea. As we started driving, an image came into my head of an apartment complex. Unknown to me its location, I prayed with all of my soul that the Lord would direct my paths. It was the neatest experience! While driving, I received strong feelings to turn right here or a left there. After about seven or eight turns, we arrived. It was exactly how I had seen it! I began to look for the right building and felt as though we needed to park immediately. We parked, said a prayer, and left the car. The moment I turned around, I saw it. The building. We approached. Finding three floors we took a moment to pause and reflect on which was the correct one. I was told we needed to stay on the first. So we looked at the doors next. There were three. This decision took a little big longer, but eventually we knew which door we had been led to. We checked our watches to see that it was 8:55, the eleventh hour. We knocked. Immediately a woman came out from around the corner and walked up to the door! We engaged her and began to introduce ourselves. Her name is Sierra. We told her that we were there to help her learn how she can come closer to Jesus Christ. She told us that she is a very religious person, but at the moment does not attend a church. We learned that she has been looking for quite some time. We were able to give her a Restoration pamphlet, share our testimonies, and set up a return appointment. It was the neatest experience ever! I know that if we will simply tune into that Holy Spirit, it will guide us in all aspects of life. It truly will help us find what we are looking for. The following day we had a lesson with our recent convert, Josefina! She shared a missionary story she had had with us! Her neighbor is a very strong Catholic, but Josefina has been wanting to share the Book of Mormon with her for a little while. She actually had been praying for three days to know how to bring it up with her! Well on the third day, her neighbor came to her! Josie was able to share her testimony and even invite her to church! It turns out that her neighbor isn't even Catholic anymore! Plus, she accepted the invitation to come! It is the greatest feeling in the world listening to someone you helped bring into the church bring someone else in as well!! This week I have been trying to be more diligent with using the Lord's time effectively. President James has been cracking down on something called "my time". It doesn't exist! This is entirely the Lord's time. I have been doing my best to study Preach my Gospel or the scriptures throughout the lunch hour instead of napping or doing something else. It has really blessed me! Friday we were able to go out to Knightdale and give the Hermanas' investigator a blessing. He is three years old and has cancer. It was a very humbling experience and I was very honored to give it. Saturday was a busy day! I bought Elder Summers his first boberry biscuit from Bojangles, we were able to catch up with many of our investigators, we had a gay guy hit on us as he told us the door we were looking for was upstairs just so he could, quote on quote "watch us go up the stairs", and we found a very promising new investigator! His name is Ricardo. He has been taught many times, but moves and always loses contact with the missionaries. He was very excited to see us again! Probably the funniest part of the week was when Elder Niko started screaming in the middle of the night. He was screaming "Somebody help! Help me!! Can you see this?? Someone help!!" We all woke up in a fright and asked how we could help when he told us that the top bunk was falling on him! Yeah... it wasn't. But we had a good laugh about it later... Yesterday we had a delicious breakfast in a members home and went to church! Guess who I saw when I was there? That's right, the formerly known Elder Chandler! TC! That was fun to talk to him and catch up. It was a great day at church. This has been a wonderful week! The Lord is truly blessing us with miracles. And guess what?? As of this past Saturday, I only have 13 months left!! Oh how fast the time is flying... I am truly loving and adoring this mission. Thank you all for your support and love. It is much acknowledged and appreciated. Have a miraculous week!!!

Letting the Spirit be my GPS,
Elder Shearer

08/08/16 - Raleigh, North Carolina

I am so grateful for the opportunities we have been heaven-sent to grow! This week has been full of a little bit more trials than the past few weeks, but don't you fear! Elder Shearer is staying strong, positive, and persistent! The first struggle came last Monday when we played some sports with a bunch of other missionaries. While playing a friendly game of soccer, I got kicked in the face! My glasses cut my nose open and I started bleeding! But hey, at least the glasses were intact. The next day was actually a really great one. We had zone council again! It is a meeting wherein the district leaders and zone leaders discuss the needs of the missionaries of the zone. It is very real and so intimate. Easily my favorite meeting. We brought up many good ideas and suggestions to help the missionaries and it got me really excited! Wednesday was another beautiful day. We had district meeting and I instructed on How to Begin Teaching. For those of you that don't know, How to Begin Teaching is a section in Preach my Gospel that us missionaries use to establish expectations with our investigators, members, and everyone we meet! Well this week while studying for district meeting, I came across a great eye-opener. While reading this section, I saw the words "our message" many times. I came to realize that these expectations are not just for our investigators to have. They are also essential for us as the missionaries to have. By changing the wording to read "your message" it speaks to us missionaries directly and teaches us many things. For instance, one point says "Our message cannot be learned all at once. Understanding will come over time through prayer, study, experience, and keeping God’s commandments." This helps the investigator understand the importance of patience and hard work. Now upon changing the wording we come to read it as follows. "Your message cannot be learned all at once. Understanding will come over time through prayer, study, experience, and keeping God’s commandments." This now helps us missionaries realize that we also need the patience and hard work to come to understand the message we share. As I shared this in district meeting, the Spirit was very powerful. Many of us were in tears as we put into perspective not only our expectations for our investigators, but also the expectations we should have for ourselves. And in turn, the Lord's expectations for us. I went on an exchange with an Elder in my district following the meeting and we had a great night biking. An hour to dinner and then an hour back! We also did some tracting in the nighttime and talked to some great people. I ordered some new tags from the mission office and they came this week! They say "Elder Cortador" which is the Spanish translation of my name. Super fun! Elder Summers had his birthday on Thursday and to celebrate, I took him out to lunch. He opened all of his presents including a name tag from me that says "Elder Veranos" and seemed to enjoy the day very much. We also had a member shoot of some fireworks to help us celebrate! I got a package the following day from my Grandma D! It got stuck in the mail for almost a month... I can't believe it! It was amazing. We had a lesson with the husband of our recent convert that just got baptized and he was completely different this time! His whole countenance has changed and he is definitely feeling the Spirit of the message now. We hope to baptize him soon. After the lesson with him, we came outside to find that our bike lights had been stolen! We rode home in the pitch black and almost crashed like 10 times haha! It was a good laughing experience... We biked a lot in the rain this week and biked some pretty heavy days miles-wise. We have also had many appointments fall through. On this past Saturday alone, we had all 7 of our appointments reject us. One of them even told us that she would much appreciate us never coming back haha! I loved it. After every single door that was slammed in our face, we just laughed it off and with a face of determination, set off to continue working in the work of the Lord. And as we kept smiling and pushing on, the Lord granted us a great tender mercy. While tracting, a woman by the name of Tracy pulled her car up next to us and shared her story. She let us know that her son was baptized in the church many years ago, but was now a less active. She too would have been baptized had it not been for a few things in her life at the time. She told us they had been searching for a way to get in contact with the church for quite some time, but didn't know where to look. She had prayed that morning that the Lord would send someone to her and later saw us walking. Not having much time, she gave us her number and told us to give her a call as soon as possible. It was incredible to see that the Lord really does have a plan for us, even when it isn't the one we initially expect! And one of my favorite experiences of the week happened as we were tracting one rainy night. After trying a few doors without any success, I was gentled reminded by the Holy Ghost to try a door I had tried many weeks before. I believe at this point I had tried this specific door at least 5 other times due to other strong promptings. Well this time, it opened! From the second the door opened, the whole mood changed. We immediately connected spirit to spirit and we began talking very openly with one another. She let us know that she is very frustrated and confused with religion and just wants the truth. I was without speech as Elder Summers and I left that contact. We just walked in silence for the longest time. And to top off the week, church was incredible! Josefina, Rony, and their family came and as they walked in the doors, Josefina said "Oh! My church! This is my church!" Rony paid his tithing too on a little bit of money he had made cleaning cars! They are so very strong. A member bore her testimony about the power of Priesthood blessings and told a story about when I gave her a blessing not too long ago. She said that the blessing was an answer to a prayer and through tears explained that it helped her come to truly know of the love of God for her. It brought me to tears as well. This week was a remarkable one. I am trying to look up, look out, and look now. Look up and be positive. Look out and put the needs of others before my own. Look now and enjoy what I have in front of me while I have it. I apologize for such long emails, but there are just too many stories I have to share each week! I hope they are bringing the spirit of missionary work into each of your daily lives. For I KNOW of the blessings that come when we do this, the work of the Lord.

Still squeezing the rain out of my shoes,
Elder Shearer

08/01/16 - Raleigh, North Carolina

Wow! Miracles upon miracles this week!! The first of which being that last preparation day, we had a tennis tournament as a district. The assistants came and joined us as well, and I was undefeated! Definitely some divine intervention in that regard. We also had a great covenanting story. For those of you who aren't familiar with the missionary definition of covenanting, it is when we prayerfully listen to the will of the Lord and then covenant to do our part. For instance, we could feel that the Lord wants us to find 3 new investigators so we covenant through a prayer that we are going to accomplish His will. It is a great opportunity to strengthen our individual relationships with Him and to build our faith! Well on Tuesday, Elder Summers and I had about 10 minutes before dinner was to start. I decided we needed to use the Lord's time effectively and go tracting. We felt that the Lord wanted us to find one new investigator, so we covenanted with Him. Literally the moment we got out of the car, we find a woman named Leticia! She is very confused why there are so many different churches. We were able to share testimonies and bear witness of the reality of a true church as we answered a few of her questions. A great contact! We then did a little exchange with our zone leaders for the night so that they could give baptismal interviews to our 3 investigators. We had a great time! I got to drive a truck for the first time in my life! It is a Chevy Silverado 2015 and it is HUGE! A little intimidating at first, but by the end of the night I had it down nicely. All of our investigators passed with flying colors! They have such strong testimonies. We had district meeting on Wednesday and another miracle happened! I was instructing on how to give good active member lessons and I was really worried that no one would pay any attention, and that they would all be very bored. But after much prayer, it was one of the most lively district meetings ever! I have the best missionaries in the NCRM (North Carolina Raleigh Mission) in my district. Later that night we had a wedding here at the church for our investigator, Luis! He has been wanting to get baptized for a long time, but was not married yet. So they got married on Wednesday by our Bishop and he was baptized on Saturday! A senior companionship went home this week and they will be missed! They names are the Scotts. They were loved by so many missionaries! As a four-man we made a special breakfast for them to say goodbye and it was really fun. Afterwards, Elder Summers and I had interviews with President and Sister James, and they both went very well. President told me that I lift and inspire him. He shared a few of my insights with my companion in his interview and let me know that he is worried we are doing too good together! He said that Elder Summers isn't supposed to be this happy having been out only 2 weeks! Sister James told me in my interview that the missionaries in my district look up to me as their example. That I am their light, joy, and motivation. She said those things are what the gospel is all about and that I am a great example of them to the missionaries here in this mission. The truth of the matter is that I only am who I am thanks to the examples of my wonderful parents, sister, and Savior Jesus Christ! We were not able to teach as much as we would have liked to this week due to the baptism we had to plan for, but of the lessons we did have, they were very powerful! The Lord has His hand in this work and is blessing us greatly. One of our investigators asked me if my father is Hispanic and told me that I speak fluent Spanish, but I let him know they he is not.... so... yeah. We gave Josefina and her son Rony a church tour this week to introduce it all to them a little more and they loved it! We told them all about what was going to happen for their baptism and they were very excited. Saturday finally came around and Elder Summers and I finished the program, set everything up, and filled the font just in time! It was a beautiful night. Being able to see 3 of our investigators in white was a touching sight. Elder Summers and I sang "Senor, Te Necesito" (I Need Thee Every Hour), and the Spirit was there very strong. We had the baptisms immediately after and I had the sacred privilege of baptizing Josefina and Rony. There was such a powerful feeling there! Being able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord and perform an ordinance was a special treasure I will never forget! After I baptized Josefina, she came out of the water and gave me the biggest hug ever. It was so sweet! She went up the stairs to the dressing room and as the door closed, I heard her begin to weep! She let us know after the baptism that she hadn't slept in 2 days! It also turns out that she has been taught for well over 3 years!! And somehow we were blessed enough to be able to reap the harvest and bring her and her son to the waters of baptism. It was a beautiful service! The following morning Elder Summers confirmed them members of the church and gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. He did super well, especially considering it was in Spanish! They are very happy and we hope the rest of their family will feel of their testimonies and be baptized too! After the baptism the assistants came up to us and jokingly told us that they are going to split us up. They said that we are doing too good together! They said they are just going to make a clone of me and spread me all around the mission. What a disaster that would be! It was truly a great week. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of helping someone take the step to be baptized. Thanks for tuning in and for all of the support you each give to me. I am praying for y'all and love you greatly. Have a blessed week!

On fire and ready for some more!
Elder Shearer

07/25/16 - Raleigh, North Carolina

Top of the morning to all of you beautiful people! I hope that you all had a great pioneer day yesterday! Last Saturday was my 10 month mark and I cannot believe it! Double digits.. It is seriously flying by so quickly. We had a good preparation day on Monday eating a lot of food and saying goodbye to members for the other missionaries that left. On Tuesday we had the training meeting for all of the trainers and their trainees. It went very well! I was asked to play the piano for it and as I was playing prelude music, President said to everyone "Does anyone know of something Elder Shearer can't do?" But the meeting was really great. We met our trainees and let me just say that I easily got the best one! Elder Summers is such a winner. I am pretty sure he was called to train me. I am learning so many things! We have a super young district now. We have four companionships with one of them being the zone leaders and the other three being us trainers and our trainees. Tuesday night Elder Summers extended his first baptismal date and we set a date for the end of August with Ina! We also played some soccer with some random Hispanics that we found playing. Super fun! We visited one of our investigators by the name of Ramon on Wednesday night and it was a very sad lesson. We have been teaching for quite a few weeks and he even came to church once! He told us in our lesson that our church lacks power. All we could do was testify to him of the truthfulness and Priesthood power of this church. The Spirit kindly reminded me that we are called to teach the elect. We are not there to convince people of the truth. Very sad night, but we must have downs to have ups! And boy oh boy did we have many ups this week. We have been meeting a lot of the families that the other Elders were teaching in their area and they are soo nice! I cannot wait to continue to teach them, they are so ready to be baptized. Elder Summers and I had a really good tracting story this week. We had covenanted that we would find a new investigator and just as our time was almost up, we knocked on one last door and we met a man named Hilberto. After speaking with him for a few moments about the purpose of our message, he let us inside and we began to teach the message of the restoration. The Spirit was SO strong! Hilberto began to cry and as I asked him if he would like to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet, in the most humblest of voices he said "Yes. I really would." I am so excited for him to learn more about this message as he reads the Book of Mormon and prays to know! We have had quite a miracle this week. Our investigator by name of Josefina and her son Ronny are getting baptized on Saturday! They have both asked that I baptize them and I am beyond excited for it. It will be such a sacred day for them as they make these covenants with the Lord. Josefina has the strongest testimony I have ever heard an investigator have. She has told us that this is the church. That it is her church. That she will defend it until the end. She even invited her friend to one of the lessons this past week and was bearing testimony to her the entire time of the church. It was so powerful! She told her friend that I was very special and that I was an angel sent to her. It almost made me cry! She shared that every time we leave her house at the end of the lesson, something leaves. She said there is a noticeable change. The peace slowly fades, the lights grow dimmer. She is so aware of the Spirit and I love it!! We visited her a few nights ago and found her husband, one of her sons, and a few other guys drinking outside with some loud music playing. She quickly ran out very embarrassed and began to apologize. She told us not to change any plans and informed us that she was going to make it on Saturday. She told us that Satan has been really attacking hard but that she is not going to let him win. The joy I feel when I speak with her is indescribable! Just an incredible woman. We were blessed to beat a few records this week having 6 investigators at church on Sunday and teaching 23 total lessons. This area is on fire! We are working so very hard. I just love to think about all of the people were are meeting and hopefully helping. The Lord is truly working through us. I can't take credit for any bit of this success, it is all thanks to Him. He has blessed me with this great area, these elect investigators, and this prepared missionary as my companion. Elder Summer is so strong. He is such a hard worker and always ready to go out and do the work! He let me know in our companionship inventory that he feels very loved, supported, and confident with me as his companion and that was a huge answer to my prayer. I have been praying and continue to pray everyday for his success. For him to feel loved. I want him to have the best mission in the entire world because this truly is the best mission in the world! I couldn't have been more blessed to go anywhere else. I am grateful for my call and love what I do everyday! I have never been happier!!! I love you all and promise you that the love of the Lord is real! Have a blessed week y'all!!

Filling the font,
Elder Shearer