Creso! (that is like the equivilent of hello in welsh)
So I will start off with the exciting news...transfers are a couple days early this time so i know what the deal is...and...Im staying in Cwmbran for at least another 6 weeks!! And even more exciting news...The Cwmbran ward building will be opening back up this coming Sunday!!! Oh im excited to get to work for the next 6 weeks now. We will have so many returning members this week and hopefully now we can get our investigators to church! I sense some fruits are come our way haha
Another exciting event that transpired over the week is that I got my first hair cut while in the mission field, and bot is it short! haha But its whatever...I like it ofr the time being, but will definitely not get it this short in the future haha Oh and one more thing that happened that was interesting: While on exchanges this week, Elder Cauffman and I met this couple whom the guy was inactive, have received his patriarchal blessing and has the priesthood. He even still keeps his blessing in a safe place, which was cool! But he has traveled far from the iron rod. We got his details and will get into contact with him soon and bring him back to church!! Do Worrkk. ha
The past week has been kinda rough. Everybody just seems to reject us. Its hard when you go like two or three hours in between each good conversation we have on the street, if that makes sense. People here are really stubborn haha But thats okay, I wont let them tie me down. Elder Cadwallader and I have been focusing pretty hard on faith. We just have to go out each day and to each person with the faith that they will be the one. Its definitely said easier than done, but I have already seen blessings coming from having an attitude of faith everywhere I go. I just love the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love how after having the worst day ever and thinking that tomorrow will be the same, you get proven wrong and have the best day ever. I know that only comes through prayer; asking Heavenly Father to help you in your weaknesses. Its inevitable that you will receive weaknesses, it states so in Ether 12:27. But it also states the reason we have these weaknesses; we are given them so that we can have the blessed opportunity to humble ourselves in order to receive blessings. My wish for all of you is that when you are going through a hard time, either physically or spiritually, that you become submissive to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He was lifted up on the cross so that we can be lifted up in our trials and afflictions. We come to truly know the atonement by coming to Christ first to help us instead of trying the help oursleves first. Always pray and study the scriptures. I love you all!
-Elder Jaquish
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Chavs......
Hello there!!
Wow, its already week 7...and my first transfer in the field is almost over. Transfers are next wednesday, but I believe that we will be staying here another 6 weeks. I will let you guys know what happens! But I kinda want to stay. I know that the work will get better once the ward building opens back up and we can finally get people to church! Not being mean or anything, but the people here come up with some rubbish excuses for why they dont try to get to church, but there you are. (I hope you liked my british accent right there...im working on it haha)
So this week has been fun. Wednesday and Thursday we had a zone meeting in Rhiwbina which seemed to take forever! haha It was nice though. We focused on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. The Holy Ghost is very very important in the work that we missionaries do. Without it, there would be no conversion. We are merely teachers, or in other words preachers, while the Holy Ghost teaches the individual and testifies that our message is true. One experience that happened this week furthered my testimony of this. For once, somebody held their appointment! We found Darren while tracting. He is a pretty skeptical guy, especially on religion. We gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read the introduction and the testimonies of the 3/8 winesses and of Joseph Smith. He asked us question after question while we tried to answer them, not teach him. As I pondered on that night, I realised that a lesson without the Holy Ghost is just an argument, as was our lesson with Darren. If we teach with the Holy Ghost, the lesson will be more like a discussion. We should always strive to have to Holy Ghost as our constant companion because we can teach others by being an example and doing the right always.
One funny thing that happened this week scared the crap put of me (which interestingly enough, crap is a curse word here haha so weird). So first off, they have wannabe gangsters here called chavs. These are kids from the ages of like 12-early 20s who just walka round in large groups and cause havoc. They are stupid though because they are all talk and dont really do anything except dress in sweatsuits haha So anyways...a couple chavs were walking by us as we were talking to this one old fellow. One of them ran up, jumped on my bike and started to ride off. I was about to start chasing him when his friends said that he was only joking. He eventually gave my bike back but my heart was pounding for like 5mins after he left hahahaha I was about to take him down...maybe haha
Quick spiritual though for this week: I read a talked given by Elder Holland in an Ensign yesterday. He talked about the time that the Prophet Joseph Smith spent in Liberty Jail. This moment in his life, other than his martydom, was the worst. Not going into much detail about the conditions he was in or the circumstances the saints and his family were going through, Joseph cried to the Lord for help. He was calmed by the tender voice of the Lord and told that his afflictions would only be but a short season. Elder Holland relates this event to the Saviors life and to our lives. We each will experience a time when we will be in, what Elder Holland calls, a temple-prison. We will all go through hard times. We must remember that the trials we go through are small compared to what Christ went through and the prophets of the church. We must go through trials to learn and gain experience and knowledge; that is the whole purpose of life. Trust in the Lord and in Heavenly Fathers plan. Lean on them when times seem to be tough, He will never forget you. Jesus Christ is our Savior and dearest brother.
I love you all and I hope that this next week will be full of excitement and happiness.
-Elder Jaquish
Wow, its already week 7...and my first transfer in the field is almost over. Transfers are next wednesday, but I believe that we will be staying here another 6 weeks. I will let you guys know what happens! But I kinda want to stay. I know that the work will get better once the ward building opens back up and we can finally get people to church! Not being mean or anything, but the people here come up with some rubbish excuses for why they dont try to get to church, but there you are. (I hope you liked my british accent right there...im working on it haha)
So this week has been fun. Wednesday and Thursday we had a zone meeting in Rhiwbina which seemed to take forever! haha It was nice though. We focused on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. The Holy Ghost is very very important in the work that we missionaries do. Without it, there would be no conversion. We are merely teachers, or in other words preachers, while the Holy Ghost teaches the individual and testifies that our message is true. One experience that happened this week furthered my testimony of this. For once, somebody held their appointment! We found Darren while tracting. He is a pretty skeptical guy, especially on religion. We gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read the introduction and the testimonies of the 3/8 winesses and of Joseph Smith. He asked us question after question while we tried to answer them, not teach him. As I pondered on that night, I realised that a lesson without the Holy Ghost is just an argument, as was our lesson with Darren. If we teach with the Holy Ghost, the lesson will be more like a discussion. We should always strive to have to Holy Ghost as our constant companion because we can teach others by being an example and doing the right always.
One funny thing that happened this week scared the crap put of me (which interestingly enough, crap is a curse word here haha so weird). So first off, they have wannabe gangsters here called chavs. These are kids from the ages of like 12-early 20s who just walka round in large groups and cause havoc. They are stupid though because they are all talk and dont really do anything except dress in sweatsuits haha So anyways...a couple chavs were walking by us as we were talking to this one old fellow. One of them ran up, jumped on my bike and started to ride off. I was about to start chasing him when his friends said that he was only joking. He eventually gave my bike back but my heart was pounding for like 5mins after he left hahahaha I was about to take him down...maybe haha
Quick spiritual though for this week: I read a talked given by Elder Holland in an Ensign yesterday. He talked about the time that the Prophet Joseph Smith spent in Liberty Jail. This moment in his life, other than his martydom, was the worst. Not going into much detail about the conditions he was in or the circumstances the saints and his family were going through, Joseph cried to the Lord for help. He was calmed by the tender voice of the Lord and told that his afflictions would only be but a short season. Elder Holland relates this event to the Saviors life and to our lives. We each will experience a time when we will be in, what Elder Holland calls, a temple-prison. We will all go through hard times. We must remember that the trials we go through are small compared to what Christ went through and the prophets of the church. We must go through trials to learn and gain experience and knowledge; that is the whole purpose of life. Trust in the Lord and in Heavenly Fathers plan. Lean on them when times seem to be tough, He will never forget you. Jesus Christ is our Savior and dearest brother.
I love you all and I hope that this next week will be full of excitement and happiness.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, October 4, 2010
Mission Football!!!
Hello everyone!
So I'm kinda mad because I didn't get to do email last week because I think the internet hated me and I could not log on to my email. So anywaysss...
Everything is well here in Wales. The past couple of weeks have been rough. Its like nobody wants to talk to us or hold their appointments. We are praying and pondering a lot as how to get this area of the Lord's vineyard progressing. We have many investigators who have the potential to be progressing, but they seem like they dont want to. Its just hard because I just want them to have the same knowledge and happiness that I have, but they reject it. At the end of the day its up to the individual to decide if this is what they want in their life or not. We met this one guy on the street two Sundays ago and is was like a blessing sent from heaven. He expressed his want to turn his life over to the Lord and that nothing would stop him. He stated that he wanted to forget his past life and move on to a life of service. At our return visit two days later, we committed him to be baptized and set a date! The excitement was much and the spirit was definitely present. It was awesome to hear him say "yes, I want to be baptized." He even said he wanted to come to General Conference with us, which added on to the excitement. When we stopped by on Friday to visit and teach him, Elder Cadwallader and I were ready to discuss the restoration with him. We saw him sitting on the couch, or we saw his head. His friend answered the door, but claimed that our investigator was out helping a friend. We knew he wasn't telling the truth, so just to make sure, we walked down the street and stood there for a couple minutes. As we walked back by the window, we saw our investigator slowly sitting back up on the couch. He even saw us outside and we waved at him! haha It was pretty heartbreaking knowing that there was so much potential for that night, but that we got flogged. We tried calling him, but got no response. And we haven't spoken to him since. Its rough but you just have to come to the realization that its up to the person to whether or not they want us to teach them. I hope and pray that he will let us come back and teach him. Your prayers would be much appreciated as well.
So on a lighter note...last Monday we had mission football!!!! This is when the 3 zones in southern wales get together and had a tournament style gameplay. My zone is cardiff and the others are merythr (i don't know if thats how you spell it) and cheltneham. And guess what....we were the champions!!!! We beat the first team 4-1 and the second team 2-0! It was awesome. Funny thing that happened in the first game, while i was showing some of my skills on defense, somebody yelled out "is he english?" hahaha Everybody was surprised at how good i am. It was awesome. Oh and i scored an amazing goal in the first game, even though i was playing sweeper, which is the last defender before the goalie. We had a corner kick and i ran up to receive the short pass in. I did a move to get around a defender and kicked the ball towards the goal. It zoomed by everybody and entered the goal at the upper left corner. Everybody went crazy! One of my teammates gave me the nickname Gillette because my goal was so smooth haha I'm not trying to be prideful or anything, especially after the talk we hear in General Conference, but....I killed it in mission football :D
Spiritual thought: One of the impressions I got while listening to conference pertains to the Book of Mormon. This book is the keystone to our religion. As Joseph Smith puts it, "Without the Book of Mormon and the revelations, we have no religion." The Book of Mormon is essential to the truthfullness of many of the gospel principles. One we gain a witness that this divinely inspired book is true, we will come to find out that Jospeh Smith was a true prophet, and that all of his successors are prophets of God. We will come to know that he receives direct revelation from God for us. We will gain a greater knowledge and testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the saviour of mankind, and that only through His name, we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. I hope that all of you will sincerely read, study and ponder upon the Book of Mormon everyday because it is the most important book on the face of this planet. This is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love you all,
Elder Jaquish
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