Staying positive and patient!!

November 18, 2013

My dearest fam and friends,

      Oh my goodness my Jules is home!!!! She looks so beautiful and happy! Seeing pictures of her come down the escalator is so surreal. It really feels like it was just a few months ago that we dropped her off at the MTC and now she's home. I can't believe it! I think it has helped that we've served a good portion of our missions together,because time on the mission just flies by. I cannot wait to see her! Send her my love please! Oh, and also can you send me a copy of her homecoming talk too:) And yours too dad, I'm sure it will be great!

    

     Well, let's see, another week has come and gone and I'm staying here in Liberty again. I am so happy! Transfers were on Thursday and I was thinking there was about a 50 percent chance I could stay or go. I was thinking I might stay because I'm training and that would allow me to finish training Sister Sommer or that I could easily leave because I've already been here 3 transfers. My prayers the past few weeks started off with, " Heavenly Father, please let me stay here one more transfer, I feel that my work here isn't done" and then they turned into, "wherever you want me to go, I'll go". By the time transfers came, I can honestly say I was okay with whatever the Lord wanted me to do, but I am very happy to still be here! There is work to be done here, Lhaylla needs to get baptized, Mercedes needs to get to the temple, and the Burchs need to be more solid. These are our big focuses this transfer!

     Anyways, we had a wonderful lesson with Lhaylla this week. We talked about faith, repentance, and a little bit about baptism. We had planned on teaching a lot more, but the spirit guided us to know at what pace we needed to go for her. I just love the spirit! I love that only through the spirit can we truly know what our investigators need and how we should teach them. We also had a two good lessons with the Burchs this week. We talked about spiritual goals and their conversion stories. It is incredible to see the light in their eyes as they talked about how they came to know that the church is true. They do know it! Lisa's goal right now is to get to the temple and she wants John to hold the priesthood. She said she was going to go whether he went with her or not. She is determined! John isn't completely there yet but he is getting there and he will get there. We want them to progress together so it's a goal they have together and it doesn't tear them apart like it did before. One thing Sister Sommer and I want to try and focus on this transfer, is helping everyone that we are working with consistently be reading from the Book of Mormon. From now until Christmas, we are reading one chapter from the Book of Mormon each day with the Burchs starting from the very beginning. So far we are one for one! :)

    This week I've learned a bazillion different lessons, as I do every single week in the mission. I am learning the importance of patience, to be patient with myself, my companion, and those we are working with (including ward leaders). I have also learned, to never pray for patience or humility ever again! haha I have also learned that I never want to be flaky. We have so many people set appointments with us and then only so many actually are there and it gets frustrating but then comes in the patience, right. Lastly, mom you would be so proud, I am learning to be positive. This is something I have been trying to work on the entire mission, and I finally think it's coming along. I believe it's largely due to the fact that I had the lovely Sister Rackham as my companion for two transfers. She is probably the most positive person I know and she definitely rubbed off on me. It is a choice to look at things positively and I am consciously trying to make that choice. Sister Sommer and I review and focus on what went well everyday instead of the many things that fell through and didn't work out the way we planned. As we've been doing this, I have noticed an increase of energy to wake up and do it all over again the next morning. Every morning I wake up and say, "....I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life." (3 Nephi 5:13) It helps remind me that this is why I'm here and why I'm awake at 6:30 every single morning! I love my Savior. I know that He lives and that this is His work!

love always,

           Hermana Jorgensen