Happy Halloween everyone! Halloween on the mission is intense. Especially when you're a missionary because everyone tries to yell at us do stupid things. And people here don't really do Halloween like we do back home. Kids go out and ask for money instead of sweets. And when they don't get anything, they will egg your house! hahah Told you it was intense. So we have to go in at 7pm if we don't have an appointment. Luckily though, we are gonna go to two FHE's and carve pumpkins at the later appointment! Definitely excited for that haha
So this week, or should i say the past couple days, I've had some bad luck haha Saturday morning, I accidentally busted a window playing football. As we were fixing it, a piece of glass fell on my hand and cut it slightly in two places. Then later that night we were playing a game with an investigator after dinner and I bruised my knuckle. Sunday after church we were going out to work and found out my bike tire had a puncture in it. As I was fixing that, I scraped the skin off my thumb. Later that night as we were getting ready to ride home, I punched myself in the face putting on my backpack. Then this moring as i was pumping up my flat tire, I pinched my finger, causing that to bleed as well. hahahahaha Oh my days...I must be doing something wrong haha Oh well.
This week we were doing a lot of service. We are helping some members from the church fix up this old wool shop. Thursday we stripped the paint and prepared the outside for painting. It was pretty fun I thought. Reminded me of Taylor Miller's eagle scout project, sorta haha The members are taking pictures of the whole project and putting it in the news papers, so the church should get some good publicity! Saturday we went to Loughborough and cut down some trees for some members and I got to use an axe and show everyone how its done haha We had a pretty good lesson with this man named Roy on Friday. He is getting baptised in a church in like two weeks. We taught him about the Restoration because he had never heard of the Book of Mormon and he liked it. We bore bold, powerful testimony about the necessity for Priesthood Authority, which got him thinking about things. He was gonna try and come to church yesterday, but didn't make it. I'm excited to meet with him tomorrow and see how his prayers went about what we taught him. We are getting a lot of people to teach, but they aren't exactly keeping commitments like they need to in order to find the truth of our message. We are going to focus this week on being more bold in all of our invitations and making sure people know what they need to do to gain everlasting joy.
I was reading in Mosiah 16 this morning and the spirit testified to me of how important it is to have Jesus Christ in our lives. Without Him, we would never be able to overcome our lost and fallen state. Without Him, we could not overcome death and thus progress to have what our Father has. The Lord's hand is always extended towards us. It is our choices in life that make that extension longer or shorter. We must reach out to Christ for His mercy. The choices we make in life are everything. They will determine what kind of life we will have now and forever. I know that the commandments are there to protect and make us free, not to restrict or bind us. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that Book of Mormon to be evidence of God's love for us. I hope that we can each evaluate the decisions we make in life and determine if they are in line with the plan God has set forth for us!
I hope everyone has a great holiday!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Good Stuff
Man, these computers are slow again! And it seems like everyone in this town wanted to come to the library this morning! haha So i dont have that much time, so here's a brief summary of my week! haha
So pretty much we have focused on spending time with part-member families less-actives this week. We were able to get into contact with a few new less-actives this week and set up appointments so that's really good! This one family, who ended up being a part-member, hadn't seen missionaries for a couple years and were quite glad to see us!! We are gonna see then this Wednesday. Oh, we saw this intense car wreck the other day as we were going to contact the family previously mentioned. This guy was going way too fast around these corners on some pretty narrow streets and ended us flipping his car. When we go to the actual scene, he had already gotten out of his car and was talking on the phone to someone. Before we knew it, he started walking away. Then all of a sudden this car comes around the corner and picks up this guy who just flipped his car and they drive off! Crazy huh!! The police got there and talked to us and took our details so we could give them a statement at a later date. Saturday, we did service for this member. Well my companion was out in the garden doing the service while i was inside getting taught by the member on how to make a good Indian curry! I did boss! It was so good haha And we also made a pumpkin pie haha We were able to really fellowship her and her husband, who isn't a member of the church.
That's really the big events that happened this week that I can remember right now. But with 3 minutes to go on this computer, i don't have time to think haha Sorry guys. My quick spiritual thought for this week is on humility. It comes from Words of Mormon 1:7. Read it and think about why its necessary that we are humble and have to have faith. The scriptures are full of treasure, Search them out.
Take it easy.
-Elder Jaquish
So pretty much we have focused on spending time with part-member families less-actives this week. We were able to get into contact with a few new less-actives this week and set up appointments so that's really good! This one family, who ended up being a part-member, hadn't seen missionaries for a couple years and were quite glad to see us!! We are gonna see then this Wednesday. Oh, we saw this intense car wreck the other day as we were going to contact the family previously mentioned. This guy was going way too fast around these corners on some pretty narrow streets and ended us flipping his car. When we go to the actual scene, he had already gotten out of his car and was talking on the phone to someone. Before we knew it, he started walking away. Then all of a sudden this car comes around the corner and picks up this guy who just flipped his car and they drive off! Crazy huh!! The police got there and talked to us and took our details so we could give them a statement at a later date. Saturday, we did service for this member. Well my companion was out in the garden doing the service while i was inside getting taught by the member on how to make a good Indian curry! I did boss! It was so good haha And we also made a pumpkin pie haha We were able to really fellowship her and her husband, who isn't a member of the church.
That's really the big events that happened this week that I can remember right now. But with 3 minutes to go on this computer, i don't have time to think haha Sorry guys. My quick spiritual thought for this week is on humility. It comes from Words of Mormon 1:7. Read it and think about why its necessary that we are humble and have to have faith. The scriptures are full of treasure, Search them out.
Take it easy.
-Elder Jaquish
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Generalsss
Hiya everyone!
This past week flew by! Goodness. It doesn't really feel like we got much done, but we did. I only have 15 minutes to write because the library is very busy today, so lets do it...
Tuesday we went to this less-actives house for lunch and oh boy did she cook us lunch. This lady, Flora, is from Iraq and has been a member for about 4 years. She always cooks us loads of food and just talks for England! haha She has a crazy story for why she doesn't go to church so i wont go into that. maybe another day haha After Flora's, we did some service at the horse farm and then raced up to Wollaton Park for our dinner appointment/lesson with the McDermotts. They are the coolest family ever! We are teaching the less-active father's children who are 19 and 17. I think I talked about them before already. We have a good lesson on faith and repentance with them. We again invited them to read and pray. On Wednesday we did service for a member then came home and prepared a progress record for Ward Council that night. Thursday we had district meeting and exchanges with the district leader. I stayed in Notts and had Elder Santoya with me. We finally were able to teach Doreen, our angel sent from heaven!! We had a really good first lesson with her. We got to know her more, talked a bit about the restoration and kinda set forth the plan that we have for her to pray about what we teach and then when she comes to know if its true or not, be baptised by the proper authority! Solid. We got caught in this torrential rain storm that night so that was fun! haha NOT. Friday we did weekly planning and visited some more less0actives. We also had dinner with our ward mission leader and his nonmember family! Saturday we spent visiting people and getting to know more members of the ward. Sunday I participated in my first baby blessing!!!! It was super cool to be invited to stand in the circle and help bless one of God's children just sent here to earth from his presence. It was such a cool experience!
Well my time is low, sorry this email was me just rambling on! I hope you all have a great week! Seek guidance from the Lord in all that you do.
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
This past week flew by! Goodness. It doesn't really feel like we got much done, but we did. I only have 15 minutes to write because the library is very busy today, so lets do it...
Tuesday we went to this less-actives house for lunch and oh boy did she cook us lunch. This lady, Flora, is from Iraq and has been a member for about 4 years. She always cooks us loads of food and just talks for England! haha She has a crazy story for why she doesn't go to church so i wont go into that. maybe another day haha After Flora's, we did some service at the horse farm and then raced up to Wollaton Park for our dinner appointment/lesson with the McDermotts. They are the coolest family ever! We are teaching the less-active father's children who are 19 and 17. I think I talked about them before already. We have a good lesson on faith and repentance with them. We again invited them to read and pray. On Wednesday we did service for a member then came home and prepared a progress record for Ward Council that night. Thursday we had district meeting and exchanges with the district leader. I stayed in Notts and had Elder Santoya with me. We finally were able to teach Doreen, our angel sent from heaven!! We had a really good first lesson with her. We got to know her more, talked a bit about the restoration and kinda set forth the plan that we have for her to pray about what we teach and then when she comes to know if its true or not, be baptised by the proper authority! Solid. We got caught in this torrential rain storm that night so that was fun! haha NOT. Friday we did weekly planning and visited some more less0actives. We also had dinner with our ward mission leader and his nonmember family! Saturday we spent visiting people and getting to know more members of the ward. Sunday I participated in my first baby blessing!!!! It was super cool to be invited to stand in the circle and help bless one of God's children just sent here to earth from his presence. It was such a cool experience!
Well my time is low, sorry this email was me just rambling on! I hope you all have a great week! Seek guidance from the Lord in all that you do.
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
MVP BABY!!
Hey everyone!
So I don't have too much time on the computer this morning so I will just tell a couple stories that happened this past week. And before I begin, I want to say that the Nottingham Zone Elders won mission football yesterday!!! We dominated! haha It was a fun day playing football (soccer) with all the other missionaries that are up here in the northern part of our mission. I was MVP of the tournament ;) haha jk
On Tuesday, Elder Dudley and I went to a part of our area that isn't really worked to try by this less-active member. After finding that she wasn't home, we decided to knock some doors, of the which we received no response either. As we were leaving the area, this woman, who's name is Doreen, who was pulled over on the side of the road, honked her horn at us. Usually when this happens the person either wants directions or thinks we are police haha Well we went over to talk to her and we come to find out that her sister is a member of the church in Jamaica. Doreen said that she wants to learn more about the church and would love to have us over to teach her more about the gospel!!! I was shocked. This pretty much never happens here. I always thought that when our leaders said that the elect would find us, they were lying. But I've come to know that they weren't. The Lord will send his prepared people to his prepared servants. Cool eh?! I thought so.
I don't know if i have mentioned before this couple that we have been teaching the past couple weeks, but their names are Ivan and Wendy. We found them like a month ago and are starting to really tech them now. We had a wonderful lesson with them last week. They had some confusion with a chapter from the Book of Mormon we left them to read about the plan of salvation, specifically 2 Nephi 2. We spent most of the lesson reading a few verses at a time and explaining what it meant. We did this so that they could get the feel of the language the the Book of Mormon is in and to help them get personal revelation through the book. I was just marveled at how much they wanted to understand the things that they read. They didn't just want to read to say they read. But they wanted to learn and grow! Its just amazing when you see an investigator really eager to learn and strive to get answers to their questions. I have a good feeling about Ivan and Wendy progressing to baptism. We just need to be bold and tell them what they need to do while on this earth.
I hope everyone enjoyed conference this weekend! I surely enjoyed it! It seemed to me that it was focused on getting more missionaries into the field, helping people become more worthy and able to combat against Satan, and also having us come closer to Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. I hope that everyone will take what they learned by the spirit and apply it in their lives! This is the best time to start afresh and do the best we can do!
Take care everyone! Try to invite at least one person to church this week! We all need to be more united in missionary work!!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
So I don't have too much time on the computer this morning so I will just tell a couple stories that happened this past week. And before I begin, I want to say that the Nottingham Zone Elders won mission football yesterday!!! We dominated! haha It was a fun day playing football (soccer) with all the other missionaries that are up here in the northern part of our mission. I was MVP of the tournament ;) haha jk
On Tuesday, Elder Dudley and I went to a part of our area that isn't really worked to try by this less-active member. After finding that she wasn't home, we decided to knock some doors, of the which we received no response either. As we were leaving the area, this woman, who's name is Doreen, who was pulled over on the side of the road, honked her horn at us. Usually when this happens the person either wants directions or thinks we are police haha Well we went over to talk to her and we come to find out that her sister is a member of the church in Jamaica. Doreen said that she wants to learn more about the church and would love to have us over to teach her more about the gospel!!! I was shocked. This pretty much never happens here. I always thought that when our leaders said that the elect would find us, they were lying. But I've come to know that they weren't. The Lord will send his prepared people to his prepared servants. Cool eh?! I thought so.
I don't know if i have mentioned before this couple that we have been teaching the past couple weeks, but their names are Ivan and Wendy. We found them like a month ago and are starting to really tech them now. We had a wonderful lesson with them last week. They had some confusion with a chapter from the Book of Mormon we left them to read about the plan of salvation, specifically 2 Nephi 2. We spent most of the lesson reading a few verses at a time and explaining what it meant. We did this so that they could get the feel of the language the the Book of Mormon is in and to help them get personal revelation through the book. I was just marveled at how much they wanted to understand the things that they read. They didn't just want to read to say they read. But they wanted to learn and grow! Its just amazing when you see an investigator really eager to learn and strive to get answers to their questions. I have a good feeling about Ivan and Wendy progressing to baptism. We just need to be bold and tell them what they need to do while on this earth.
I hope everyone enjoyed conference this weekend! I surely enjoyed it! It seemed to me that it was focused on getting more missionaries into the field, helping people become more worthy and able to combat against Satan, and also having us come closer to Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. I hope that everyone will take what they learned by the spirit and apply it in their lives! This is the best time to start afresh and do the best we can do!
Take care everyone! Try to invite at least one person to church this week! We all need to be more united in missionary work!!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
What a looker
Hiya all!!
I hope everyone's past week was as good as mine here in Nottingham! We got 5 new investigators!! The Lord is blessing us so much. Most of those new investigators are part-member families. One is a friend of a less active and the other is the wife of an investigator! As I have thought about why we had such a good week, I have come to the conclusion that it's because of the spirit. This past week I have seen that the spirit has dictated each lesson that we have taught. My companion and I have been working really well in unity, thus, allowing the spirit to teach the person. We have shown sincere love for them and they have reconised the spirit of the lord in the message that we teach.
So funny story from yesterday! So we get home from church and I step inside the door. I see this little bag on the floor, which looked like it had a picture of a plant on it. I pick it up and look inside to find some kind of brown stuff in it. Elder Dudley said "hey look someone gave us some weed!" I'm thinking to myself yeah okay bro. He then says that he's telling the truth and for me to look at the picture on the front of the bag again. Thats when I realised that the picture was of a weed plant!!! Hahaha and there was some weed left over in the bag. Hahahahahahaha I guess people know where we live and Thought it would be funny to give us some weed hahah I thought it was the coolest thing ever slash the funniest thing ever haha my companion taped it in his journal for memories haha
Oh, another story real quick, we have a new investigator that sorta fancies boys. Well we found out yesterday that he likes my companion haha so I don't know how things will progress with him this week. We will teach him, but if he starts saying rude jokes towards elder Dudley, we will have to be bold with him.
The thing that I have learned the most this week has been the power in unity. The lord sends us out 2by2 for a particular reason; there is order in everything. The testimonies if two is definitely better than one. When we are unified, we can accomplish a goal more efficiently and at a quicker rate. The people here of Nottingham 4 will be able to feel the spirit in a greater abundance as long as my companion and I are unified and bold. Boldness is key as well. I studied Jacob 2 today and the first 10 or so verses are brilliant! Jacob is an incredible teacher.
Hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Jaquish
I hope everyone's past week was as good as mine here in Nottingham! We got 5 new investigators!! The Lord is blessing us so much. Most of those new investigators are part-member families. One is a friend of a less active and the other is the wife of an investigator! As I have thought about why we had such a good week, I have come to the conclusion that it's because of the spirit. This past week I have seen that the spirit has dictated each lesson that we have taught. My companion and I have been working really well in unity, thus, allowing the spirit to teach the person. We have shown sincere love for them and they have reconised the spirit of the lord in the message that we teach.
So funny story from yesterday! So we get home from church and I step inside the door. I see this little bag on the floor, which looked like it had a picture of a plant on it. I pick it up and look inside to find some kind of brown stuff in it. Elder Dudley said "hey look someone gave us some weed!" I'm thinking to myself yeah okay bro. He then says that he's telling the truth and for me to look at the picture on the front of the bag again. Thats when I realised that the picture was of a weed plant!!! Hahaha and there was some weed left over in the bag. Hahahahahahaha I guess people know where we live and Thought it would be funny to give us some weed hahah I thought it was the coolest thing ever slash the funniest thing ever haha my companion taped it in his journal for memories haha
Oh, another story real quick, we have a new investigator that sorta fancies boys. Well we found out yesterday that he likes my companion haha so I don't know how things will progress with him this week. We will teach him, but if he starts saying rude jokes towards elder Dudley, we will have to be bold with him.
The thing that I have learned the most this week has been the power in unity. The lord sends us out 2by2 for a particular reason; there is order in everything. The testimonies if two is definitely better than one. When we are unified, we can accomplish a goal more efficiently and at a quicker rate. The people here of Nottingham 4 will be able to feel the spirit in a greater abundance as long as my companion and I are unified and bold. Boldness is key as well. I studied Jacob 2 today and the first 10 or so verses are brilliant! Jacob is an incredible teacher.
Hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Jaquish
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Canada Eh...
Top of the morning to ya!
I hope everyone is doing well this week. We have had some changes recently. I got a new companion named Elder Dudley! He is from Canada, Alberta to be more specific. He has been out on his mission a little longer than me so things should just take off here in Notts 4! He has some good ideas on hoe we can start getting more people to teach. Also, with working more with the ward, we are gonna try to get into contact with various less-actives and getting members to go finding with us! We also just had Stake Conference. Elder Kerr and Elder Donaldson, who are Area Seventies, came for conference. A new Stake President was called and oddly enough it was the bishop here in Notts 4! haha Crazy eh?! I'm excited for him, but also bummed because he was a super good Bishop. He is gonna do boss things for this stake. Conference was mainly based on doing the basic things in life. Many talks were on the Atonement and how through consistent prayer and individual/family scripture study, we can partake more of the Saviour's love. It was well good. Everyone got rebuked for slacking on the family scripture reading! haha Elder Kerr is such a funny guy, and a brilliant speaker. I felt the spirit so much during conference. They also spoke a lot on succession in the church pertaining to leaders. They focused on the principles of revelation and the authority of the priesthood. The Lord will choose who he wants to be his servant. He will look at the inward characteristics rather that the outward appearance of the man. A supreme example of this is found in the Old Testament- 1 Samuel 16. Good stuff.
Ummm, so yeah this week has been pretty good! We are gonna change our strategy of finding more people to teach by going through all the names in the Ward Directory and picking out the less-actives we don't know and try by them while talking to people along to way! Both Elder Dudley and I love working with less-actives so we believe that this will be the most effective thing to do in this area. We have prayed about it and the Lord seems to consecrate our plans.
I think that's all I have for yall right now! We are still working with a lot of part-member families which is awesome!! They already have friends at church so that makes things a little easier haha Our ward mission leader's wife is starting to open up so much more now! She is having her heart softened more and more each day. We are gonna try and spend more time with them and their boys in hope that it will help.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I would love to hear from any of you so whenever you get a chance, email me or write me! haha
Take care everyone!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
I hope everyone is doing well this week. We have had some changes recently. I got a new companion named Elder Dudley! He is from Canada, Alberta to be more specific. He has been out on his mission a little longer than me so things should just take off here in Notts 4! He has some good ideas on hoe we can start getting more people to teach. Also, with working more with the ward, we are gonna try to get into contact with various less-actives and getting members to go finding with us! We also just had Stake Conference. Elder Kerr and Elder Donaldson, who are Area Seventies, came for conference. A new Stake President was called and oddly enough it was the bishop here in Notts 4! haha Crazy eh?! I'm excited for him, but also bummed because he was a super good Bishop. He is gonna do boss things for this stake. Conference was mainly based on doing the basic things in life. Many talks were on the Atonement and how through consistent prayer and individual/family scripture study, we can partake more of the Saviour's love. It was well good. Everyone got rebuked for slacking on the family scripture reading! haha Elder Kerr is such a funny guy, and a brilliant speaker. I felt the spirit so much during conference. They also spoke a lot on succession in the church pertaining to leaders. They focused on the principles of revelation and the authority of the priesthood. The Lord will choose who he wants to be his servant. He will look at the inward characteristics rather that the outward appearance of the man. A supreme example of this is found in the Old Testament- 1 Samuel 16. Good stuff.
Ummm, so yeah this week has been pretty good! We are gonna change our strategy of finding more people to teach by going through all the names in the Ward Directory and picking out the less-actives we don't know and try by them while talking to people along to way! Both Elder Dudley and I love working with less-actives so we believe that this will be the most effective thing to do in this area. We have prayed about it and the Lord seems to consecrate our plans.
I think that's all I have for yall right now! We are still working with a lot of part-member families which is awesome!! They already have friends at church so that makes things a little easier haha Our ward mission leader's wife is starting to open up so much more now! She is having her heart softened more and more each day. We are gonna try and spend more time with them and their boys in hope that it will help.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I would love to hear from any of you so whenever you get a chance, email me or write me! haha
Take care everyone!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Good Ole American food
Morning everyone!!
This past week was really good! Church yesterday was awesome!! We finally were blessed to have investigators at church...4 of them!!! Chya. Kerry's husband finally accepted to come to church and he had a good time. I was a little afraid when some members (names withheld haha) went up and talked to him, but he seemed to enjoy it all. We had a sweet dinner with them this past week. Since Kerry lived in Utah for a little while like 10 years ago, she likes to try to cook American food for us :) We had these nice huge sirloin steaks, corn on the cob, onion rings and potato wedges!! yesss! haha It was brill. Oh, i forgot to mention 2 weeks ago she bought us some Krispy Kreme doughnuts while she was in Birmingham, which is like one of the only places to get them and they were £15 for 2 dozen...super expensive! She loves us haha Obviously...
One cool experience we had was while tracting one afternoon before a dinner appointment. A few doors and a many more slammed doors by slightly elderly people, I was getting kind of discouraged that this street wasn't where we were supposed to be. We kept on going. Soon we knocked on number 19 where this older man opened the door and his dog came running out. We were playing with the dog at first, but then we introduced ourselves. Immediately the man just smiled and told us to come in. I was shocked, per say. Definitely wasn't expecting this. Anywayys, we went inside and got to know this man, whose name is Ivan. His wife Wendy was also there. They only go to church for the big occasions (Christmas, funeral, wedding, christening) just like every other person here in England. We told him about what we believe in, touching on the restored priesthood and Book of Mormon. He didn't seem too into it, just sorta like everyone to their own. Well we invited him to take a look at the Book of Mormon, which he accepted. We then said a prayer, focusing it on Ivan and the struggles he is going through relating to his present health problems. After the prayer, Ivan started crying. He said that he was feeling something that he had never felt before and that it was unexpected. We taught him about the spirit and asked him to come back, which he also accepted! That is what missionary work is all about. I was able to fulfil my purpose as a missionary by helping this man, this brother of mine, to come closer to his Saviour by helping him feel Christ's presence. It is indeed an experience I will never forget.
Mostly this week we have been trying to find people who have the potential to become investigators, but it hasn't gone so well. We just need to focus on including the Lord in our work to help us know what to do. We are working hard to find those who are the elect! There are so many possibilities in this area, but it is up to the Lord when these opportunities open up for missionary work. I cant believe how quickly time is going by! This will be the last full week of the transfer! Next Monday we will know if we are both staying or if one of us is leaving I think we will both stay though. But, President Ogden likes to throw surprises at us haha
This coming Saturday will be a wonderful opportunity for us in the England Birmingham Mission to hear from an apostle of the Lord, Elder David A. Bednar!!! He will be talking and training us in missionary work so I'm excited for that!! We will have an opportunity to meet him and also have a session of when we can ask him questions at the end of the meeting! Sweet eh?! Oh yeahhhh.
Spiritual thought for the week: Enos. This great prophet may have one of the smallest books in the Book of Mormon, but we can learn a lot from his experience of prayer. Whenever we are faced with confusion, we know that we can receive light into our lives through the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. By prayer, Enos was forgiven of his sins and received direction in his life. Through MIGHTY PRAYER and SUPPLICATION, we can understand what we need to do in our life to make us happy. I know that a loving Heavenly Father listens to us. Try it. Prove Him.
I know that this church is true. Nobody can lead me to deny that things I have felt. My prayer is for everyone else to have faith and receive truth in their lives that will never fall away. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!!
Laters!
-Elder Jaquish
This past week was really good! Church yesterday was awesome!! We finally were blessed to have investigators at church...4 of them!!! Chya. Kerry's husband finally accepted to come to church and he had a good time. I was a little afraid when some members (names withheld haha) went up and talked to him, but he seemed to enjoy it all. We had a sweet dinner with them this past week. Since Kerry lived in Utah for a little while like 10 years ago, she likes to try to cook American food for us :) We had these nice huge sirloin steaks, corn on the cob, onion rings and potato wedges!! yesss! haha It was brill. Oh, i forgot to mention 2 weeks ago she bought us some Krispy Kreme doughnuts while she was in Birmingham, which is like one of the only places to get them and they were £15 for 2 dozen...super expensive! She loves us haha Obviously...
One cool experience we had was while tracting one afternoon before a dinner appointment. A few doors and a many more slammed doors by slightly elderly people, I was getting kind of discouraged that this street wasn't where we were supposed to be. We kept on going. Soon we knocked on number 19 where this older man opened the door and his dog came running out. We were playing with the dog at first, but then we introduced ourselves. Immediately the man just smiled and told us to come in. I was shocked, per say. Definitely wasn't expecting this. Anywayys, we went inside and got to know this man, whose name is Ivan. His wife Wendy was also there. They only go to church for the big occasions (Christmas, funeral, wedding, christening) just like every other person here in England. We told him about what we believe in, touching on the restored priesthood and Book of Mormon. He didn't seem too into it, just sorta like everyone to their own. Well we invited him to take a look at the Book of Mormon, which he accepted. We then said a prayer, focusing it on Ivan and the struggles he is going through relating to his present health problems. After the prayer, Ivan started crying. He said that he was feeling something that he had never felt before and that it was unexpected. We taught him about the spirit and asked him to come back, which he also accepted! That is what missionary work is all about. I was able to fulfil my purpose as a missionary by helping this man, this brother of mine, to come closer to his Saviour by helping him feel Christ's presence. It is indeed an experience I will never forget.
Mostly this week we have been trying to find people who have the potential to become investigators, but it hasn't gone so well. We just need to focus on including the Lord in our work to help us know what to do. We are working hard to find those who are the elect! There are so many possibilities in this area, but it is up to the Lord when these opportunities open up for missionary work. I cant believe how quickly time is going by! This will be the last full week of the transfer! Next Monday we will know if we are both staying or if one of us is leaving I think we will both stay though. But, President Ogden likes to throw surprises at us haha
This coming Saturday will be a wonderful opportunity for us in the England Birmingham Mission to hear from an apostle of the Lord, Elder David A. Bednar!!! He will be talking and training us in missionary work so I'm excited for that!! We will have an opportunity to meet him and also have a session of when we can ask him questions at the end of the meeting! Sweet eh?! Oh yeahhhh.
Spiritual thought for the week: Enos. This great prophet may have one of the smallest books in the Book of Mormon, but we can learn a lot from his experience of prayer. Whenever we are faced with confusion, we know that we can receive light into our lives through the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. By prayer, Enos was forgiven of his sins and received direction in his life. Through MIGHTY PRAYER and SUPPLICATION, we can understand what we need to do in our life to make us happy. I know that a loving Heavenly Father listens to us. Try it. Prove Him.
I know that this church is true. Nobody can lead me to deny that things I have felt. My prayer is for everyone else to have faith and receive truth in their lives that will never fall away. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!!
Laters!
-Elder Jaquish
Lessons on timing
Hello everyone!!
This week was good and it was bad. I learned a wonderful lesson on the timing of the Lord and how important it is to recognise that it is up to him when and how things happen.
Last pday day, our plans fell through, so we decided to do some tracting. I had in my heart a prayer that we would find someone because we pretty much have no one solid to teach right now. With this prayer in my heart, we started tracting. A few doors in, we met this young woman, Joanna, who had just moved back to England after living in Pennsylvania for a few years. She mentioned how she was looking for a church to go to, so we whipped out a Book of Mormon and testified! She accepted and was excited for us to come around again in a couple days. Well Wednesday pulls around and we arrived at Joanna's house. We sat down and started to talk about what we wanted to talk about. Next thing we know her friend comes in. Let me tell you right now, her friend is the most awkward guy I have ever met in my life. Goodness. Anyways, we started teaching and invited the spirit. Joanna said that she had felt something different. From that point though things started to go downhill. We failed to follow the spirit in our teaching and the rest of the lesson was confusing. I really don't know what happened, but it wasn't as we had planned. Despite all that, Joanna accepted to pray about what we taught and set up another time we could come back.
We got a phone call yesterday saying that they didnt want to be taught anymore. This really put me down because I feel like we failed. We didn't teach properly and clearly. I felt like poo haha As I talked to my companion about it, a feeling came to my mind that I dont need to worry about my weaknesses; it just wasnt the right time for Joanna. I know that I am a servant of the Lord and my calling is to do what the Lord would have me do. I am to do nothing but His will. Sometimes I just need to be patient in the work and understand that maybe sometimes my timing is not the same as the Lord's.
Well, time is short so I will say my farewell. I hope everyone might learn a lesson from this experience.
Talk to yall next week!!
Elder Jaquish
This week was good and it was bad. I learned a wonderful lesson on the timing of the Lord and how important it is to recognise that it is up to him when and how things happen.
Last pday day, our plans fell through, so we decided to do some tracting. I had in my heart a prayer that we would find someone because we pretty much have no one solid to teach right now. With this prayer in my heart, we started tracting. A few doors in, we met this young woman, Joanna, who had just moved back to England after living in Pennsylvania for a few years. She mentioned how she was looking for a church to go to, so we whipped out a Book of Mormon and testified! She accepted and was excited for us to come around again in a couple days. Well Wednesday pulls around and we arrived at Joanna's house. We sat down and started to talk about what we wanted to talk about. Next thing we know her friend comes in. Let me tell you right now, her friend is the most awkward guy I have ever met in my life. Goodness. Anyways, we started teaching and invited the spirit. Joanna said that she had felt something different. From that point though things started to go downhill. We failed to follow the spirit in our teaching and the rest of the lesson was confusing. I really don't know what happened, but it wasn't as we had planned. Despite all that, Joanna accepted to pray about what we taught and set up another time we could come back.
We got a phone call yesterday saying that they didnt want to be taught anymore. This really put me down because I feel like we failed. We didn't teach properly and clearly. I felt like poo haha As I talked to my companion about it, a feeling came to my mind that I dont need to worry about my weaknesses; it just wasnt the right time for Joanna. I know that I am a servant of the Lord and my calling is to do what the Lord would have me do. I am to do nothing but His will. Sometimes I just need to be patient in the work and understand that maybe sometimes my timing is not the same as the Lord's.
Well, time is short so I will say my farewell. I hope everyone might learn a lesson from this experience.
Talk to yall next week!!
Elder Jaquish
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