Saturday, April 5, 2014

MEMBER MTC, LEGEND GOT BAPTIZED, AND EXCHANGES.

April 1, 2014

My Dearest Fam and Friends!!

     We had such a wonderful opportunity this week to share with our ward about how to become better member missionaries. Last week our bishop asked if we would like to do some kind of missionary program the 3rd hour because it was the 5th Sunday and so of course we jumped right on it. This is a dream for missionaries to have all the young men and women, relief society, and priesthood together to talk about missionary work! We called the program the Member MTC. I don't know if you remember, but we did one of these in Liberty as well and it worked so well that I have been begging them to let us do it hear. The purpose of it is to help members learn how to do missionary work. I feel like at this point, all the members of the church understand that the Lord is hastening his work and that they are huge part of it, but I believe that the bigger thing is that they don't know how they can participate in the work. I mean, we're sent to the MTC for 3 to 9 weeks to learn the how of missionary work! So, we showed them how they could introduce the Book of Mormon to their friends, did some role plays and called member up (that was fun!), and invited them to ponder and write down names of people they are working with so that they could determine the next step in their progression. It all went really well and at the end we had many members coming up and giving us referrals! :) Now, we are going to go into their homes and follow up with a family mission plan. You guys should do one of these in our ward if haven't already! Just an idea!

     LEGEND WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!! Oh happy day! It was so perfect! There were so many people there and the program went so well. Legend was so so happy. I asked him how he felt afterward and he was just beeming and had the biggest grin on his face. I love this boy! It has been a complete joy teaching him. He has waited for 2 years for this day and so I believe he understood it a lot more and it meant so much to him.

     Can I just tell you, I am so so grateful for spiritual promptings. Last week, I was in the shower thinking about the sisters that I am over and I had such a strong impression that I needed to do exchanges with a set of sisters that I wasn't planning on doing them with for a couple of weeks. I knew I needed to go with them yesterday and which sister I needed to be with and that I needed to go to their area. It wasn't seeming to work out the way the Lord had told me to do it but every time I was going to switch it I had a strong feeling that I shouldn't. Long story short, yesterday we went on exchanges and it was so needed for this companionship. It was Sister Johnsen. She joined the church 3 years ago and is such a good missionary. As I was with her, she opened up to me about a lot of personal things that she was struggling with and also about the work. She has been feeling so depressed lately because her companion doesn't really like working so they aren't very effective in their area. I knew that the Lord wanted me to come to their area so that she could go out and work hard. Within the first 2 hours that we were out, we taught 6 lessons and found 5 new investigators! That just doesn't happen in this mission! On average, we find about 2 new investigators a week here. The Lord truly blessed us - there just isn't any other way to explain it. I have a testimony of exchanges. That's kind of weird to say, but I do. I am grateful for spritual promptings that lead and guide us to do what the Lord wants us to do, even if at times they don't make any sense.

     Wow, I feel like this was kind of a long email! I'll wrap it up. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your support, love, and prayers. I am grateful for this past week that has taught me so much. Every single day I can see the Lord's hand in this work. I know that he is the Lord of the harvest and that it is he that stregnthens us in this most important work. LOVE YOU! XOXOX

love always,

           Hermana Jorgensen



 1. Legend's special day :)



2. The family :)

Loving this work


March 25, 2014

My dearest Fam and Friends,

It has been a wonderful week that has gone way too fast! It was transfer week and not too much changed. I'm still with Sister Almodovar in the Inde 1st ward. We did get a new Elder in our ward, straight off the boat from Tonga, so that's been pretty fun. The whole ward loves him because he's Polynesian. I am still serving with Elder Fisehatua. This will be our 5th transfer together. It's crazy, we have been in two wards together so we know all of the same people. The work is really doing well in our ward now and it's exciting!

Highlights of the Week......

- Our cute little boy Legend is getting baptized this Sunday! We are so excited for him. He had his interview this past Sunday and as we were leaving, he was beaming. I asked him how he was feeling and he said he is so excited because he has been waiting for 2 years to be baptized. It has been a such a blessing to take part in teaching him and seeing him enter the waters of baptism. Even though I couldn't teach him in Liberty, the Lord transferred me here so that it could all work out and for that I am grateful. I love that little boy.

- The Lord blessed us with a huge MIRACLE this week! For two days we had been trying to contact former and potential investigators and we weren't having very much success. We were trying to be patient and kept asking ourselves, "What is the Lord trying to teach us?". Finally, we had feeling we needed to go visit a lady in our ward who we had only met once. It didn't make very much sense because she lived clear on the opposite side of our area and we didn't have very much time, but we did it anyway. When we got there, she invited us in and within two minutes of us being there, she told us that her granddaughter Lacey who's 10 has been given permission to be baptized and that she would like us to start teaching her. About 10 minutes later, Lacey and her mom came home and we got to meet both of them for the first time. We taught a small lesson and set up a time to go see her this week. She will be getting baptized in May! Can you believe it?! Another 10 year old! haha Maybe the Lord is trying to teach me I need to be a 4th grade teacher, who knows! This will be our 3rd 10 year old in the last 3 months, not to mention Theo who is also 10 and should be getting baptized in the next month or so. The Lord is truly blessing us. I am so grateful to teach these kids because they are so strong and pure and have such righteous desires and most of them have parents who aren't members or are less active.

- We got to have dinner with our lovely Samoan family yesterday! We sure do love them! It was so fun to get to know them better as we had dinner. We learned that they met fire dancing in Germany! How cool is that!? They are such a cool family and they love us a lot. We got Fata his very own copy of the Book of Mormon in Samoan so that he and Rachel don't have to share anymore. He accepted it (which is huge) and they are going to read a chapter together this week. It was so cool, earlier this week we went over just to see Rachel to see how she felt Fata was doing. She told us that of the 4 sets of missionaries he has had, this is the only time he has allowed them to teach more than once or twice. She said that before us, he wouldn't even open or read the Book of Mormon with other missionaries. That made us so excited! He definitely is a little stubborn, but we can see his heart softening. Whether now is his time or not, he has definitely taken big strides towards accepting the gospel since we have been teaching him.

I have been thinking a lot this week about how the Lord's promises are sure. Time and time again, the Lord has shown me on my mission that He will ALWAYS fulfill His promises to those who are keeping His commandments. That's why to me, obedience is so crucial! I have never understood the importance of obedience like I have now as a missionary. I am so grateful to know that when I am obedient, the Lord's promises are sure. These promises have helped carry me throughout my mission. I love the commandments! I love teaching them to investigators and helping them to see that they aren't restricting them, but freeing them. Living the commandments sets us free.

Well, I love you all so much! Make it a great week! XOXOX

love always,
         Hermana Jorgensen