Hey everyone!!!!
I hope yall had a Merry Christmas!!!! We went over to two members houses and just ate loads!!! haha Sooooo good. It was fun just to chill with a family and be apart of their day. The best part of the day though was being able to Skype my family! It was nice to see their faces and just talk about random stuff haha The mission makes you random....or maybe its just me. Hmmmph.
Today is Boxing Day!!! Its like Thanksgiving and Black Friday alll packed in one, its amazing. We came over and ate another Christmas dinner with the Robinson family. They are so cool. Wayy funny to be around, everything seems like a joke haha Good times on the mission.
I don't have too much time to email because we have to go do some stuff, but I just wanted to bear my testimony on this season. Church yesterday was lovely. So many people came to church that either haven't been before or been in a while. It was a sweet feeling to be in the company of so many saints, all professing that Jesus is the Christ and that he came to the earth as the Son of God. He lived the life that we should strive to live as well. We must come unto Him in order to have true, lasting happiness. I love my Saviour and I am extremely grateful that He was born for our sakes. He gave His life so freely so that we could receive life eternal. I know that Christ lives and that this is His restored church on the earth. I hope that we all can take some time in the next week to review the way we live our lives. Ponder upon if the path we are on will lead us to accomplish the desires of our hearts. Righteous desire will create treasures for us in Heaven.
My love goes out to all of you this wonderful season.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
CHRISTMAS!!!
Hello. hahahha I typed that and was about to erase it because just hello by itself looked awkward, but i laughed, so im keeping it.
Hello...
So We have had a lot of blessings here in Notts 4 lately!!
We were able to have a lesson with a less-active lady named Rose who we have been trying by for months and finally got a hold of her! We talked about the Atonement and how we are in relation to Heavenly Father. The member we took out with us to teach Rose really appreciated the lesson. He was feeling down and needed to feel the spirit, of which circumstance we didn't know he was in at the time. It was nice to find out that not only did we help Rose out, but we were able to help out the member as well. We had another similar experience again, but this time with a young man from the church named Matt. We taught Ivan and Wendy about faith and repentance. Ivan has a problem understanding what counts as a sin. He thinks that he hasn't sinned because he lives a good life. There are so many ways that we can sin, but just realising it is the first step. Matt was able to bear his testimony of the gospel and how it has blessed his life. The spirit was there and everyone in the room could feel it. Matt seemed to appreciate the lesson, but we didn't see the strong effect it really had on him. Elder Dudley talked to Matt's mom on Sunday and she said that Matt talked to her about the lesson and said that he really felt the spirit, and that for like the first time in his life he recognised the spirit and knew that he had a testimony of his own. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but this is a wonderful example of fulfilling our purpose as a missionary. We aren't just called to helped nonmembers, but EVERYONE. I love this gospel and the enlightenment and hope that is brings to our lives. Being able to help someone feel the spirit is so rewarding, its the best! haha
We are working hard to find a family to teach this season. Its like a mission-wide goal that we are all trying to achieve. We had success the other day when Elder Dudley went to see this "lost sheep" family that came up on the church records the other day. This family has been less-active for a while, well since the husband came back from the war in Afghanistan. They are from Fuji and had 3 kids. Both the parents and the oldest child are baptised, but the middle child is not and is 9!! We will be able to start teaching them this week! The father said that he has had certain feelings telling him to come back to church so that's wonderful!! The Lord is truly working by our sides.
I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, restored by Himself through a modern-day prophet! I know that Christ lives, and that we may too live again, hopefully in His presence. I saw this sweet little sign at a members house the other day that relates to Christmas that I will end my email with, "It's not about the presents, but His presence."
I wish you all a Merry Christmas :)
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Hello...
So We have had a lot of blessings here in Notts 4 lately!!
We were able to have a lesson with a less-active lady named Rose who we have been trying by for months and finally got a hold of her! We talked about the Atonement and how we are in relation to Heavenly Father. The member we took out with us to teach Rose really appreciated the lesson. He was feeling down and needed to feel the spirit, of which circumstance we didn't know he was in at the time. It was nice to find out that not only did we help Rose out, but we were able to help out the member as well. We had another similar experience again, but this time with a young man from the church named Matt. We taught Ivan and Wendy about faith and repentance. Ivan has a problem understanding what counts as a sin. He thinks that he hasn't sinned because he lives a good life. There are so many ways that we can sin, but just realising it is the first step. Matt was able to bear his testimony of the gospel and how it has blessed his life. The spirit was there and everyone in the room could feel it. Matt seemed to appreciate the lesson, but we didn't see the strong effect it really had on him. Elder Dudley talked to Matt's mom on Sunday and she said that Matt talked to her about the lesson and said that he really felt the spirit, and that for like the first time in his life he recognised the spirit and knew that he had a testimony of his own. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but this is a wonderful example of fulfilling our purpose as a missionary. We aren't just called to helped nonmembers, but EVERYONE. I love this gospel and the enlightenment and hope that is brings to our lives. Being able to help someone feel the spirit is so rewarding, its the best! haha
We are working hard to find a family to teach this season. Its like a mission-wide goal that we are all trying to achieve. We had success the other day when Elder Dudley went to see this "lost sheep" family that came up on the church records the other day. This family has been less-active for a while, well since the husband came back from the war in Afghanistan. They are from Fuji and had 3 kids. Both the parents and the oldest child are baptised, but the middle child is not and is 9!! We will be able to start teaching them this week! The father said that he has had certain feelings telling him to come back to church so that's wonderful!! The Lord is truly working by our sides.
I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, restored by Himself through a modern-day prophet! I know that Christ lives, and that we may too live again, hopefully in His presence. I saw this sweet little sign at a members house the other day that relates to Christmas that I will end my email with, "It's not about the presents, but His presence."
I wish you all a Merry Christmas :)
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Monday, December 12, 2011
Decoratign the house
Mornin everyone!
I cant believe its already pday again! haha Transfers are the best when you don't get transferred. Which I'm not sure if I mentioned last week or not, but my companion and I are staying together for Christmas! I'm happy about that. I have grown close to Elder Dudley. He is a wonderful missionary and a great friend. It's gonna be fun and a privilege to be the his last companion!
The last few days since Wednesday have been pretty good. We have done a lot of service lately. On Saturday, we spent a while helping some investigators, Ivan and Wendy, put up decorations outside of their house. It was so much fun to be able serve Ivan and spend time getting to know him better. We have been struggling to meet with them and have a solid lesson. We ended our visit with an invitation for us to come back soon and teach them more about the gospel, which they said yes to. I'm excited for that lesson so that we can reestablish out purpose with them and teach them the restored gospel of our Saviour.
We tired to meet with a few other people this week, but it just seems like Satan keeps getting his foot into our friend's lives. Everyone we are teaching seemed to not have time or some kind of situation came up where we couldn't properly teach them. That just means that we have to work harder and punch Satan in the face! haha!
One nice story we had this week is that Sarah Hulse came to church again. Her daughters were supposed to come, who aren't members, but they had to go see their dad instead. But they almost told their dad they were going to church! Which is sweet since they are only 17 and 9 and they want to come to church. The good feeling of the spirit is addictive. We will hopefully be able to invite them this week to be baptised. I think they they say yes, we just need to have them feel the spirit and recognise it.
This week should be very good. We watched the 1st Presidency Christmas devotional last night. I was able to gain a re-dedication to serving my Saviour through the thoughts that the First Presidency had for us. The spirit truly testified to me that the work I am doing is true. And that many more people need to hear it's message of love and hope. I know that this church is true and that God lives. I hope we can all feel the Saviour's love this week and for the weeks to come up to Christmas.
I hope all have a great week and really search for the feelings of the spirit.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
I cant believe its already pday again! haha Transfers are the best when you don't get transferred. Which I'm not sure if I mentioned last week or not, but my companion and I are staying together for Christmas! I'm happy about that. I have grown close to Elder Dudley. He is a wonderful missionary and a great friend. It's gonna be fun and a privilege to be the his last companion!
The last few days since Wednesday have been pretty good. We have done a lot of service lately. On Saturday, we spent a while helping some investigators, Ivan and Wendy, put up decorations outside of their house. It was so much fun to be able serve Ivan and spend time getting to know him better. We have been struggling to meet with them and have a solid lesson. We ended our visit with an invitation for us to come back soon and teach them more about the gospel, which they said yes to. I'm excited for that lesson so that we can reestablish out purpose with them and teach them the restored gospel of our Saviour.
We tired to meet with a few other people this week, but it just seems like Satan keeps getting his foot into our friend's lives. Everyone we are teaching seemed to not have time or some kind of situation came up where we couldn't properly teach them. That just means that we have to work harder and punch Satan in the face! haha!
One nice story we had this week is that Sarah Hulse came to church again. Her daughters were supposed to come, who aren't members, but they had to go see their dad instead. But they almost told their dad they were going to church! Which is sweet since they are only 17 and 9 and they want to come to church. The good feeling of the spirit is addictive. We will hopefully be able to invite them this week to be baptised. I think they they say yes, we just need to have them feel the spirit and recognise it.
This week should be very good. We watched the 1st Presidency Christmas devotional last night. I was able to gain a re-dedication to serving my Saviour through the thoughts that the First Presidency had for us. The spirit truly testified to me that the work I am doing is true. And that many more people need to hear it's message of love and hope. I know that this church is true and that God lives. I hope we can all feel the Saviour's love this week and for the weeks to come up to Christmas.
I hope all have a great week and really search for the feelings of the spirit.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
December Sundays!
Top of the mornin to ya everyone!
Sooooooo, this week was good! Well the past week and a half haha This week was transfers; Elder Dudley and I are staying together so you know what that means...I get to kill him!! muahahahaha Well, not in a literal sense. This is his last transfer. But the tricky thing is that he is going home 3 weeks early to go to school, so that leaves me with no companion for the 2nd half of the transfer. My mission president hasn't told us yet what exactly will happen to me, but whatever becomes of me I know its the Lord's will. I'm excited though because that means I'll probably be in a 3-some hahaha I am very grateful though to spend 3 more weeks with Elder Dudley because he is an amazing missionary.
The week was fairly good. The only rubbish part was that we still have yet to get into contact with Wendy. We tried calling her and stopping by her home, but nothin. So gay haha I am more worried that she is okay than that she isn't getting baptised this week. I just want to help her out. We are going to try by today so hopefully we will be blessed to find out whats up.
We have spent a lot of time finding this week, which has been really fun. Its a bonus to have a university in your area! haha I have met people from Australia, China, Taiwan, France, Latvia, Slovakia, and different parts of England all in the space of like two days! Its pretty sweet. Who would thought I'd go on a world tour on my mission! haha We gave out a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon, which has been a great blessing. We met this one kid the other day who has become interested in religion just because of school. He took a Book of Mormon pretty easily and was happy to have us come around to explain more sometime. We gave him our phone number and he gave us his address, that was it. Then we get a text from him like 2 minutes later saying that he just wanted to give us his phone number so we could contact him! haha Elect!
The month of December is like the best opportunity of the year to invite people to listen to a message about the Saviour, to bring someone to church, or just serve the homeless. The Europe Area Presidency has made a challenge to all the wards here to allow the feelings of Christmastime to enter our hearts, and to express our love for Jesus Christ by inviting/bringing some one to church every Sunday in December. Whether it be a nonmember or less-active member it doesn't matter. What matters is the effort you make to help someone during the holiday. I want to extend the same invitation to all who read this email. Look outward instead of inward this Christmas and allow the spirit to work in your life, to bless the lives of others. Also, watch the video on the main page of www.lds.org.uk Its awesome!
Much love. And Godbless,
-Elder Jaquish
Sooooooo, this week was good! Well the past week and a half haha This week was transfers; Elder Dudley and I are staying together so you know what that means...I get to kill him!! muahahahaha Well, not in a literal sense. This is his last transfer. But the tricky thing is that he is going home 3 weeks early to go to school, so that leaves me with no companion for the 2nd half of the transfer. My mission president hasn't told us yet what exactly will happen to me, but whatever becomes of me I know its the Lord's will. I'm excited though because that means I'll probably be in a 3-some hahaha I am very grateful though to spend 3 more weeks with Elder Dudley because he is an amazing missionary.
The week was fairly good. The only rubbish part was that we still have yet to get into contact with Wendy. We tried calling her and stopping by her home, but nothin. So gay haha I am more worried that she is okay than that she isn't getting baptised this week. I just want to help her out. We are going to try by today so hopefully we will be blessed to find out whats up.
We have spent a lot of time finding this week, which has been really fun. Its a bonus to have a university in your area! haha I have met people from Australia, China, Taiwan, France, Latvia, Slovakia, and different parts of England all in the space of like two days! Its pretty sweet. Who would thought I'd go on a world tour on my mission! haha We gave out a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon, which has been a great blessing. We met this one kid the other day who has become interested in religion just because of school. He took a Book of Mormon pretty easily and was happy to have us come around to explain more sometime. We gave him our phone number and he gave us his address, that was it. Then we get a text from him like 2 minutes later saying that he just wanted to give us his phone number so we could contact him! haha Elect!
The month of December is like the best opportunity of the year to invite people to listen to a message about the Saviour, to bring someone to church, or just serve the homeless. The Europe Area Presidency has made a challenge to all the wards here to allow the feelings of Christmastime to enter our hearts, and to express our love for Jesus Christ by inviting/bringing some one to church every Sunday in December. Whether it be a nonmember or less-active member it doesn't matter. What matters is the effort you make to help someone during the holiday. I want to extend the same invitation to all who read this email. Look outward instead of inward this Christmas and allow the spirit to work in your life, to bless the lives of others. Also, watch the video on the main page of www.lds.org.uk Its awesome!
Much love. And Godbless,
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, November 28, 2011
Oh Canada
Hey yall.
This week wasn't too bad. We had some more blessings, but some unfortunate things happen.
Thanksgiving was good! We have some members from Canada in our ward so we went over there for some dinner! It definitely beat last years meal of Chinese take-away haha The unfortunate events that happened on Thanksgiving day started in the morning. We went and taught this man named Keith, whom I believe I mentioned last week. Well he told us that the church wasn't something he wanted to pursue right now and that he felt more comfortable in the "traditional" way of church, meaning just one preacher speaking to the congregation. We testified of the restored church and taught about the plan of salvation. We tried explaining that sometimes new things take time for us to get used to. Any kind of change can make us feel weird. We talked about the good feelings he was getting and that they were from the spirit, but he still insisted to not go to church again. He is willing to still have us come over though, so that's not too bad. The next event happened later that evening. We got a text from Roy saying that's he didn't feel well and that he didn't want us to come over the next day. He also said that he didn't want to join our church because he was happy enough with the one he attended. Darn. We are giving him a few days before we go see him again. He had a baptismal date for the 10th. I hope that he is okay and that nothing bad has happened to him to make him change his mind so suddenly. Ill let yall know how it goes.
The good part about this week is amazing!!! Its like almost what every missionary dreams of! Less-active work is progressing like none other! haha One got him temple recommend back. Another got a temporary one to do baptisms for the dead. Another one is just an interview away to get her recommend to take out her own endowments, and another is a meeting away form regaining her membership!!! Hopefully my companion and I will be able to go to the temple next month! Its up to our mission president to determine that, since the temple is outside of our mission. I think he will let us go...i hope! hahaha But yeah, so that is what I received my greatest joy from this week. It just feels good to see someone you have grown to love enter in to the house of the Lord.
My testimony is stronger than ever. I know that this church is true. Sorry for the short email, but one again time has slipped out of my hands. It seems to be doing that a lot lately! haha
Take care all.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
This week wasn't too bad. We had some more blessings, but some unfortunate things happen.
Thanksgiving was good! We have some members from Canada in our ward so we went over there for some dinner! It definitely beat last years meal of Chinese take-away haha The unfortunate events that happened on Thanksgiving day started in the morning. We went and taught this man named Keith, whom I believe I mentioned last week. Well he told us that the church wasn't something he wanted to pursue right now and that he felt more comfortable in the "traditional" way of church, meaning just one preacher speaking to the congregation. We testified of the restored church and taught about the plan of salvation. We tried explaining that sometimes new things take time for us to get used to. Any kind of change can make us feel weird. We talked about the good feelings he was getting and that they were from the spirit, but he still insisted to not go to church again. He is willing to still have us come over though, so that's not too bad. The next event happened later that evening. We got a text from Roy saying that's he didn't feel well and that he didn't want us to come over the next day. He also said that he didn't want to join our church because he was happy enough with the one he attended. Darn. We are giving him a few days before we go see him again. He had a baptismal date for the 10th. I hope that he is okay and that nothing bad has happened to him to make him change his mind so suddenly. Ill let yall know how it goes.
The good part about this week is amazing!!! Its like almost what every missionary dreams of! Less-active work is progressing like none other! haha One got him temple recommend back. Another got a temporary one to do baptisms for the dead. Another one is just an interview away to get her recommend to take out her own endowments, and another is a meeting away form regaining her membership!!! Hopefully my companion and I will be able to go to the temple next month! Its up to our mission president to determine that, since the temple is outside of our mission. I think he will let us go...i hope! hahaha But yeah, so that is what I received my greatest joy from this week. It just feels good to see someone you have grown to love enter in to the house of the Lord.
My testimony is stronger than ever. I know that this church is true. Sorry for the short email, but one again time has slipped out of my hands. It seems to be doing that a lot lately! haha
Take care all.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, November 21, 2011
15 months goes by fast...
Mornin all!
This past week was so good! One more person committed to baptism next month, a new person at church, a few referrals, and a less-active preparing for the temple!
The new person with a date is Roy, whom I have mentioned before. We had a prime lesson with him at the beginning of the week. We read from the last two chapters of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon and helped him understand how he can get s sure testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I bore my testimony on the order that those two paragraphs give, namely that if we read, ponder and pray about the book with a sincere heart. we will feel that its true. Once we know the book is true, then we will know/come closer to Jesus Christ and then come to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He realised that he had already done that and that he had a testimony! We invited him to set a goal on December 10th for baptism and he said yes!!
The new man at church was Keith. I believe I mentioned him last week, about how he was a referral from one of our investigators. Keith had a good time at church. He just wants to do whats right and become a better person. He agrees with all that we have taught him the two times we have seen him. We are gonna try and set a date for baptism with him next week. I think he will accept. He said he will be baptised anyways, its just sometimes people get afraid when they see a date haha
Those who get referrals are the ones that don't really need them. That is a quote in our mission and its true haha We were blessed to get 3 referrals from various sources and we are already teaching loads of people :) The Lord is merciful.
The less-active who is going to start preparing for the temple is Kerry! She met with the Bishop finally and got everything sorted out. She is gonna go do baptisms for the dead soon, of which she is wayy excited about!!! Its just so cool to see someone get excited about the gospel. It brings us so much happiness, just to know about the plan Heavenly Father has for us. I know that the gospel changes lives. I hope that none of us are afraid of change...
Sorry for the shortness of email. Time has escaped me once again. I just want to send a Happy Birthday shout out to my Uncle Mark, Uncle Frankie and Ellie1I hope yall have a great bday week :)
Take care all.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
This past week was so good! One more person committed to baptism next month, a new person at church, a few referrals, and a less-active preparing for the temple!
The new person with a date is Roy, whom I have mentioned before. We had a prime lesson with him at the beginning of the week. We read from the last two chapters of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon and helped him understand how he can get s sure testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I bore my testimony on the order that those two paragraphs give, namely that if we read, ponder and pray about the book with a sincere heart. we will feel that its true. Once we know the book is true, then we will know/come closer to Jesus Christ and then come to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He realised that he had already done that and that he had a testimony! We invited him to set a goal on December 10th for baptism and he said yes!!
The new man at church was Keith. I believe I mentioned him last week, about how he was a referral from one of our investigators. Keith had a good time at church. He just wants to do whats right and become a better person. He agrees with all that we have taught him the two times we have seen him. We are gonna try and set a date for baptism with him next week. I think he will accept. He said he will be baptised anyways, its just sometimes people get afraid when they see a date haha
Those who get referrals are the ones that don't really need them. That is a quote in our mission and its true haha We were blessed to get 3 referrals from various sources and we are already teaching loads of people :) The Lord is merciful.
The less-active who is going to start preparing for the temple is Kerry! She met with the Bishop finally and got everything sorted out. She is gonna go do baptisms for the dead soon, of which she is wayy excited about!!! Its just so cool to see someone get excited about the gospel. It brings us so much happiness, just to know about the plan Heavenly Father has for us. I know that the gospel changes lives. I hope that none of us are afraid of change...
Sorry for the shortness of email. Time has escaped me once again. I just want to send a Happy Birthday shout out to my Uncle Mark, Uncle Frankie and Ellie1I hope yall have a great bday week :)
Take care all.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, November 14, 2011
Zone Conference and Funny B-day Story
Hiya! How's everyone been this week? Its been brilliant this week! So many blessing from Father in Heaven.
This week we had a Zone Conference with Elder Donaldson who is an Area 70. He pretty much rebuked us for slackin on the baptismal commitments. He challenged us to Invite people to be baptised on the first visit. I believe that I had no problem with this because I tried my best to prepare for it. That right there taught me about how important preparation is for anything. I wouldn't had been able to learn as much as I did if I didn't spiritually prepare for the conference. Elder Donaldson also spoke about the importance of the spirit in conversion. My favourite part was when he talked about how significant the Book of Mormon is in our lives. We will lose light if we don't open the Book of Mormon each day. We will be held accountable if we fail to use it correctly as well. If we continually implement the scriptures into our daily lives, we will create a more personal relationship with Heavenly Father. He also talked about prayer. He stated that the true order of prayer is as follows: To the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Just think about that...
We were able to make those improvements with our investigators that we wanted to andddd...we got a baptismal date!!! We met this woman named Wendy like a month ago. We couldn't contact her so we stopped trying by. Well during splits with the Zone Leaders, Elder Dudley and Elder Morrissey went by Wendy and spoke to her again! They talked about the Book of Mormon and its role in bringing us close to Christ. She ended up giving them her personal diary to schedule in a reading assignment each day for the next month or so, and told them to come again the next day (Saturday). Well we went by, with a member, and taught he the lesson of the Restoration. She felt the spirit. She told us how her life is kinda jumbled up and she just wants to get back on track with the Lord. She really liked what we taught because it felt good and sounded familiar to her. She accepted to be baptised on 10 December!!! She had an amazing time at church yesterday as well! The ward just fellowshipped her like crazy!!!
That was pretty much the most exciting parts of the week. One of our investigators, if you can remember me talking about Ivan, took us to see one of his friends to teach! haha Referral from an investigator baby! The rest of the people we are working with had a rough week, was too hungover, just didn't feel like it, or was too scared to go to church haha But I'm happy with the one that came :) We have a lot of really good appointments set up for this week and we made it a priority to get members scheduled already to help us teach these people. It really makes a difference when you have a member teaching and bearing testimony with you!
Quick funny story of something that happened on my birthday. So we didn't have anything to do that night, so we decided to do some street contacting. We talked to this one drunk guy who had just lost his fiancee and was a complete wreck. We tried to comfort him. We even said a prayer on the street corner! He hugged us and said thank you. He then took my hand and kissed it!!! hahahaha I was like uhhhh...I felt really bad for the guy, but there wasn't much we could do. Then we went to try by someone else that wasn't in. Elder Dudley decided to make phone calls, so that left me to talk to people as they passed by. Well, after a couple of people rejecting my conversation invitations, I realised that I was standing on this dark corner where the only light flickered from this half broken street light...no wonder nobody talked to me. hahahaha
Thats it for me today. I hope everyone has a smashing week!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
This week we had a Zone Conference with Elder Donaldson who is an Area 70. He pretty much rebuked us for slackin on the baptismal commitments. He challenged us to Invite people to be baptised on the first visit. I believe that I had no problem with this because I tried my best to prepare for it. That right there taught me about how important preparation is for anything. I wouldn't had been able to learn as much as I did if I didn't spiritually prepare for the conference. Elder Donaldson also spoke about the importance of the spirit in conversion. My favourite part was when he talked about how significant the Book of Mormon is in our lives. We will lose light if we don't open the Book of Mormon each day. We will be held accountable if we fail to use it correctly as well. If we continually implement the scriptures into our daily lives, we will create a more personal relationship with Heavenly Father. He also talked about prayer. He stated that the true order of prayer is as follows: To the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Just think about that...
We were able to make those improvements with our investigators that we wanted to andddd...we got a baptismal date!!! We met this woman named Wendy like a month ago. We couldn't contact her so we stopped trying by. Well during splits with the Zone Leaders, Elder Dudley and Elder Morrissey went by Wendy and spoke to her again! They talked about the Book of Mormon and its role in bringing us close to Christ. She ended up giving them her personal diary to schedule in a reading assignment each day for the next month or so, and told them to come again the next day (Saturday). Well we went by, with a member, and taught he the lesson of the Restoration. She felt the spirit. She told us how her life is kinda jumbled up and she just wants to get back on track with the Lord. She really liked what we taught because it felt good and sounded familiar to her. She accepted to be baptised on 10 December!!! She had an amazing time at church yesterday as well! The ward just fellowshipped her like crazy!!!
That was pretty much the most exciting parts of the week. One of our investigators, if you can remember me talking about Ivan, took us to see one of his friends to teach! haha Referral from an investigator baby! The rest of the people we are working with had a rough week, was too hungover, just didn't feel like it, or was too scared to go to church haha But I'm happy with the one that came :) We have a lot of really good appointments set up for this week and we made it a priority to get members scheduled already to help us teach these people. It really makes a difference when you have a member teaching and bearing testimony with you!
Quick funny story of something that happened on my birthday. So we didn't have anything to do that night, so we decided to do some street contacting. We talked to this one drunk guy who had just lost his fiancee and was a complete wreck. We tried to comfort him. We even said a prayer on the street corner! He hugged us and said thank you. He then took my hand and kissed it!!! hahahaha I was like uhhhh...I felt really bad for the guy, but there wasn't much we could do. Then we went to try by someone else that wasn't in. Elder Dudley decided to make phone calls, so that left me to talk to people as they passed by. Well, after a couple of people rejecting my conversation invitations, I realised that I was standing on this dark corner where the only light flickered from this half broken street light...no wonder nobody talked to me. hahahaha
Thats it for me today. I hope everyone has a smashing week!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Monday, November 7, 2011
Transfers
Mornin everyone!
So we got transfer calls on Monday night, and yep, I'm staying!! Elder Dudley and I are staying here in Nottingham. I'm excited to be able to be with him for another transfer! Well, actually, he only has a transfer and a half left so I'll most likely be 'killing' him! haha I hope so because I don't want anyone else to have the honor of finishing this fine missionary.
The past week and a half has been brilliant! We are being so blessed by the Lord. I reflected back to when I first arrived here in Notts 4 and we had absolutely nobody to teach. Over the past 12 weeks the Lord has blessed us so much and our teaching pool is getting jam packed! I'm not boasting in my strength or work, but in the work of the Lord! I'm grateful that the Lord is right by our side fighting this war with us! My testimony has increased this past week as to how much diligence pays off. I felt an increase to just give everything thing I had and boy did it work. People took copies of the Book of Mormon like a kid in a candy shop. The other day we passed out 7! We went to a part of our area called Beeston, which is where the university is. We met a girl from Malaysia/Australia, two guys from here in England, a woman from Tanzania, and a guy who is from Uganda! The last guy just stopped and talked to us. After a few sentences were said, he just took the Book of Mormon out of our hands and said he would read it and call is to teach him! Sweet eh? I felt the spirit just bursting within me as I was eager to let everyone know of a living prophet of God.
Another cool story we had this week comes from flogg10ing. This is when we tract around a teaching appointment we have, whether they are in or out. We had a member out with us as well! His name is Sam. He is 23 and never got to serve a mission because he just started coming back to church this year and is already engaged. I was making some phone calls while Elder Dudley and Sam went to knock on some doors. Sam decided that he wanted to knock the door and in was the funniest thing ever. This is how it went according to Elder Dudley:
So Sam says "Hello"
Guy at door"hello"
pause
Sam "how are you today?"
Guy at door "good"
pause
(I didn't want to take over just to give Sam the experience even though i know that he was waiting for me to step in)
Sam "Hey do you know who we are?"
Guy at door "No"
pause
Sam"would you like to know who we are?
Guy at door "sure"
Then i stepped in and said we were missionaries and bla bla bla.
Well we met with them 3 days later and they were really prepared. We found out this guys name was Daniel. He had a son called Kory (after lead singer of slipknot) Daniels partners name is Ashley and Ashley has a daughter called Mae. Ashley had read the plan of salvation leaflet and loved it and you could really tell the spirit was working on them. It was a pretty good experience to start our Saturday off on!
We had Zone Conference this past week and I will refer to something I learned there to end my email with. President Ogden instructed us on how we need to use more 'heaven sent' questions. Using good questions is crucial in order to someone open up to us, create a sense of trust, and know what to teach. Also, this way the person becomes an agent unto themselves instead of an object. Spirit will teach spirit and conversion will take place. I love this gospel so much. I love how everything just makes sense. I know through many experiences I've had with searching for a 'heaven sent' question that the Lord will give us what we need to say when we need it.
Speak to yall next week.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
So we got transfer calls on Monday night, and yep, I'm staying!! Elder Dudley and I are staying here in Nottingham. I'm excited to be able to be with him for another transfer! Well, actually, he only has a transfer and a half left so I'll most likely be 'killing' him! haha I hope so because I don't want anyone else to have the honor of finishing this fine missionary.
The past week and a half has been brilliant! We are being so blessed by the Lord. I reflected back to when I first arrived here in Notts 4 and we had absolutely nobody to teach. Over the past 12 weeks the Lord has blessed us so much and our teaching pool is getting jam packed! I'm not boasting in my strength or work, but in the work of the Lord! I'm grateful that the Lord is right by our side fighting this war with us! My testimony has increased this past week as to how much diligence pays off. I felt an increase to just give everything thing I had and boy did it work. People took copies of the Book of Mormon like a kid in a candy shop. The other day we passed out 7! We went to a part of our area called Beeston, which is where the university is. We met a girl from Malaysia/Australia, two guys from here in England, a woman from Tanzania, and a guy who is from Uganda! The last guy just stopped and talked to us. After a few sentences were said, he just took the Book of Mormon out of our hands and said he would read it and call is to teach him! Sweet eh? I felt the spirit just bursting within me as I was eager to let everyone know of a living prophet of God.
Another cool story we had this week comes from flogg10ing. This is when we tract around a teaching appointment we have, whether they are in or out. We had a member out with us as well! His name is Sam. He is 23 and never got to serve a mission because he just started coming back to church this year and is already engaged. I was making some phone calls while Elder Dudley and Sam went to knock on some doors. Sam decided that he wanted to knock the door and in was the funniest thing ever. This is how it went according to Elder Dudley:
So Sam says "Hello"
Guy at door"hello"
pause
Sam "how are you today?"
Guy at door "good"
pause
(I didn't want to take over just to give Sam the experience even though i know that he was waiting for me to step in)
Sam "Hey do you know who we are?"
Guy at door "No"
pause
Sam"would you like to know who we are?
Guy at door "sure"
Then i stepped in and said we were missionaries and bla bla bla.
Well we met with them 3 days later and they were really prepared. We found out this guys name was Daniel. He had a son called Kory (after lead singer of slipknot) Daniels partners name is Ashley and Ashley has a daughter called Mae. Ashley had read the plan of salvation leaflet and loved it and you could really tell the spirit was working on them. It was a pretty good experience to start our Saturday off on!
We had Zone Conference this past week and I will refer to something I learned there to end my email with. President Ogden instructed us on how we need to use more 'heaven sent' questions. Using good questions is crucial in order to someone open up to us, create a sense of trust, and know what to teach. Also, this way the person becomes an agent unto themselves instead of an object. Spirit will teach spirit and conversion will take place. I love this gospel so much. I love how everything just makes sense. I know through many experiences I've had with searching for a 'heaven sent' question that the Lord will give us what we need to say when we need it.
Speak to yall next week.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Another Smashing Experience
Hiya all!
Oh boy this past week was brill! haha We are being even more blessed. We better be anyways, after all the tracting in the rain we did this past week hahaha That's right. Good ole sunny England is finally giving us some wet weather to work in! Well, the weather has been super weird this past week. If anyone visits the country, the basis of any conversation is the weather, so thus why I started out my email the way I did. haha
Anyways, yes, we had a goal of speaking to all of our investigators about how they feel they are receiving the message so that we could determine whether or not to continue teaching them. We were feeling slightly ruthless because nobody we are teaching was really progressing. We good things came out of it! Our investigator called Emma kept her commitments to read and pray. She is also still excited to learn and grow. The only thing she is concerned with is with she can make friends with the young women or not. Easy concern to resolve. Our investigator called Roy is also doing alright. We thought he was avoiding us, but he just had a rough week. He is actively learning about the church through mormon.org and is creating a desire to change his life to be in accordance to what the Saviour wants of him. He expressed the good feelings he is getting while reading the Book of Mormon as well, so that's good!! Our other investigators are still good as well and we had some good spiritual lessons with them as well. Ive come to learn that nothing happens unless the spirit teaches the individual. You know its working when both student and teacher are learning. Its just so cool when you learn something when you are the one that's suppose to be teaching! haha
Another smashing experience we had this week comes from how useful pass-along cards are. They are the best! So we got this text from the office saying that we got a referral from church headquarters, which like never happens so I was just excited from that! haha We went by the next day to see this guy, who's name is Ben, and he is so cool. He met missionaries while working in Stoke, which is like 60 miles away. They gave him a pass-along card and must have told Ben that if he went on the website, some missionaries would come visit him. Well He let us straight in and was like, okay lets see this book. haha we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how is testifies of the Saviour Jesus Christ. He told us how he is tired of the same scene of a friday or saturday night and that he wants to find more purpose in life. He wants to know about the after life and what he needs to do in order to get the most peace. He says he wants to fill the hole in his heart! Yeah buddy!! That's what an Elder wants to hear haha We talked about baptism and he seemed to like the idea. We are going to see him on Wednesday. I'll tell yall how is goes next Monday in my email.
So yeah, that's pretty much the best parts of my week! I have learned this week that attitude counts for something. The way you look at doing the work will have an affect on the outcome of your success. I have been excited to work these past weeks and as a consequence, we are being blessed! Or that's what I think haha
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Follow the promptings of the spirit always. They will lead you to do good.
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Oh boy this past week was brill! haha We are being even more blessed. We better be anyways, after all the tracting in the rain we did this past week hahaha That's right. Good ole sunny England is finally giving us some wet weather to work in! Well, the weather has been super weird this past week. If anyone visits the country, the basis of any conversation is the weather, so thus why I started out my email the way I did. haha
Anyways, yes, we had a goal of speaking to all of our investigators about how they feel they are receiving the message so that we could determine whether or not to continue teaching them. We were feeling slightly ruthless because nobody we are teaching was really progressing. We good things came out of it! Our investigator called Emma kept her commitments to read and pray. She is also still excited to learn and grow. The only thing she is concerned with is with she can make friends with the young women or not. Easy concern to resolve. Our investigator called Roy is also doing alright. We thought he was avoiding us, but he just had a rough week. He is actively learning about the church through mormon.org and is creating a desire to change his life to be in accordance to what the Saviour wants of him. He expressed the good feelings he is getting while reading the Book of Mormon as well, so that's good!! Our other investigators are still good as well and we had some good spiritual lessons with them as well. Ive come to learn that nothing happens unless the spirit teaches the individual. You know its working when both student and teacher are learning. Its just so cool when you learn something when you are the one that's suppose to be teaching! haha
Another smashing experience we had this week comes from how useful pass-along cards are. They are the best! So we got this text from the office saying that we got a referral from church headquarters, which like never happens so I was just excited from that! haha We went by the next day to see this guy, who's name is Ben, and he is so cool. He met missionaries while working in Stoke, which is like 60 miles away. They gave him a pass-along card and must have told Ben that if he went on the website, some missionaries would come visit him. Well He let us straight in and was like, okay lets see this book. haha we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how is testifies of the Saviour Jesus Christ. He told us how he is tired of the same scene of a friday or saturday night and that he wants to find more purpose in life. He wants to know about the after life and what he needs to do in order to get the most peace. He says he wants to fill the hole in his heart! Yeah buddy!! That's what an Elder wants to hear haha We talked about baptism and he seemed to like the idea. We are going to see him on Wednesday. I'll tell yall how is goes next Monday in my email.
So yeah, that's pretty much the best parts of my week! I have learned this week that attitude counts for something. The way you look at doing the work will have an affect on the outcome of your success. I have been excited to work these past weeks and as a consequence, we are being blessed! Or that's what I think haha
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Follow the promptings of the spirit always. They will lead you to do good.
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!!
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
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 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
Thursday, August 25, 2011
One year down, one to go...
Hiya everyone! Today is a beautiful day for playing football! The real kind of football haha
This past week has been quite amazing!! Can you believe it...I have officially been out on my mission for a year!!! It doesn't really feel like I'm that old haha But I am and I'm feeling great!! I love being a missionary. Its hard work, but its good work. Sometimes I find it weird that I'm smiling all the time haha But I'm just purely that happy!
Anywaysss, we have been working really hard this past week and it has paid off! We found this family whilst tracting last Monday after pday. They are from Scotland so that's sweet! We went over for a return appointment this past Wednesday and it was brilliant! The whole family sat in and were involved in our chat about life's choices and where faith comes into play. They have two children, ages 16 and 14, one boy and one girl. The mom is Catholic, dad Atheist. The children go to this youth born-again church where they often dance and sing and sometimes 'speak in tongues' hahaha They find it quite hilarious what some people do. The mom interpreted what speaking in tongues sounds like and it was so funny! It sounded like some kind of gibberish that a baby would do in church hahaha Yes, well we had a good conversation with them and they pretty much set up the return appointment where they are going to feed us and everything!! So cool. We invited the mom to read the leaflet about the Restoration and the daughter to read the intro to the Book of Mormon. We mentioned about them coming to church next week and they seem pretty accepting to come and see what things are like! So that's way awesome! I love how the Lord answers your prayers when you take the time to set a vision for what you want to happen in the work, then go out and do it! God blesses those who are proactive about improving their situations. I know that faith is an action word.
Another tender mercy that the Lord has blessed us with is a new less-active member to teach! We found her, Kathryn, in the area book. She had stopped the Elders a year or so ago and said that she wanted to come back to church. On her teaching record, it showed only one visit and that was it. I found it quite odd that this was the case for someone who had approached the Elders on her own free will! Well my companion and I decided to visit her and she was home! She invited us inside and we got to know her and just asked her what things she wants to change in her life. She mentioned to us that she has a desire to come back to church. We talked about how we could help her and shared a scripture from Alma 37. She is the only one in her family that is a member so she and we are expecting a little bit of opposition, but that wont stop the faithful who have a desire to progress in the gospel! She has expected to be taught the missionary lessons again so we are super excited to see her again tomorrow!!
I have seen so many tender mercies from the Lord in the short year I have been serving him. I have come to know my Saviour in a more personal way. I am thankful that I can hold the Priesthood and have authority given me to act in the Lord's name. It is truly a wonderful message that we bear that Christ lives! That He has restored the authority to receive the ordinances of salvation so that the great plan of our Creator can be fulfilled!! I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ restored in these the last days. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week. The letters are starting to get less and less so people pick up the slack!! hahaha Cheerio for now!
-Elder Jaquish
This past week has been quite amazing!! Can you believe it...I have officially been out on my mission for a year!!! It doesn't really feel like I'm that old haha But I am and I'm feeling great!! I love being a missionary. Its hard work, but its good work. Sometimes I find it weird that I'm smiling all the time haha But I'm just purely that happy!
Anywaysss, we have been working really hard this past week and it has paid off! We found this family whilst tracting last Monday after pday. They are from Scotland so that's sweet! We went over for a return appointment this past Wednesday and it was brilliant! The whole family sat in and were involved in our chat about life's choices and where faith comes into play. They have two children, ages 16 and 14, one boy and one girl. The mom is Catholic, dad Atheist. The children go to this youth born-again church where they often dance and sing and sometimes 'speak in tongues' hahaha They find it quite hilarious what some people do. The mom interpreted what speaking in tongues sounds like and it was so funny! It sounded like some kind of gibberish that a baby would do in church hahaha Yes, well we had a good conversation with them and they pretty much set up the return appointment where they are going to feed us and everything!! So cool. We invited the mom to read the leaflet about the Restoration and the daughter to read the intro to the Book of Mormon. We mentioned about them coming to church next week and they seem pretty accepting to come and see what things are like! So that's way awesome! I love how the Lord answers your prayers when you take the time to set a vision for what you want to happen in the work, then go out and do it! God blesses those who are proactive about improving their situations. I know that faith is an action word.
Another tender mercy that the Lord has blessed us with is a new less-active member to teach! We found her, Kathryn, in the area book. She had stopped the Elders a year or so ago and said that she wanted to come back to church. On her teaching record, it showed only one visit and that was it. I found it quite odd that this was the case for someone who had approached the Elders on her own free will! Well my companion and I decided to visit her and she was home! She invited us inside and we got to know her and just asked her what things she wants to change in her life. She mentioned to us that she has a desire to come back to church. We talked about how we could help her and shared a scripture from Alma 37. She is the only one in her family that is a member so she and we are expecting a little bit of opposition, but that wont stop the faithful who have a desire to progress in the gospel! She has expected to be taught the missionary lessons again so we are super excited to see her again tomorrow!!
I have seen so many tender mercies from the Lord in the short year I have been serving him. I have come to know my Saviour in a more personal way. I am thankful that I can hold the Priesthood and have authority given me to act in the Lord's name. It is truly a wonderful message that we bear that Christ lives! That He has restored the authority to receive the ordinances of salvation so that the great plan of our Creator can be fulfilled!! I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ restored in these the last days. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week. The letters are starting to get less and less so people pick up the slack!! hahaha Cheerio for now!
-Elder Jaquish
half way through...
Hiya everyone!!
So I'm guessing that most of you have heard about the riots that have recently been in London and other surrounding cities. Well, the other night, things started to kick up here and it was mad. This one kid kicked in the front of this nice Jaguar and tried breaking into it. So I went over and talked to him, trying to get him to understand that it was wrong and made him realise how he would feel if it were his car. Amazingly enough, he stopped and started talking to me really deep like and his whole attitude changed. My companion came over and invited this kid to be baptised and he said yes!!! Crazy huh? hahahahah Yeah, that would be totally sick, if it really happened hahahahah yeah, just kidding. The riots never spread over here where we live; we are about 25 minutes from the city centre so we were pretty safe. The other Elders inside the city though said they saw a bunch of people all dressed up and walkin around with bandannas on and their hoods up. The riots were even more intense in Birmingham though. We actually had to go in early on Tuesday just in case things kicked up. The whole thing was just silly. People just wanted to loot shops and cause a ruckus.
This past week was pretty good. We have been working hard and it has paid off a little. We got 2 new investigators. They are in the beginning process of being taught so we don't really know where things are gonna go just yet. We just need to work even harder now to find more prepared people to help and teach about the good news!! We made some good plans last night on how we are going to improve our diligence. The bulk of our plans and intentions come from Mosiah 28! Such a good chapter about the sons of Mosiah.
there is one specific experience that I want to share this week. Its about a returning member names Kerry and her husband Andrew, who isn't a member. Just real quick, Kerry just randomly showed up at church one Sunday about a month ago having the intentions of coming back to full activity and going to the temple! So she is solid. Okay, so we went with Kerry and Andrew to a baptism that the Elders in Nottingham 2 had on Saturday morning. It was a really good service and Andrew had a positive experience! Kerry also was reminded of her own baptism, so that was a win! Later that afternoon, we went to their house and did some service for them in their garden. After that, Kerry cooked us a lovely Chicken Alfredo for dinner! The whole time while we were over at their house, we were getting to know Andrew a bit more and were just joking around with him and having a blast! The conversation after dinner just perfectly opened up and we talked about the good and bad things that has happened in our lives and how we overcame any trials. Andrew freely talked about how he has had some pretty tragic events happen to him that has made him question whether there is a God or not. We just bore testimony on how God has had a helping hand to him in his life and that the things he's been through testify that God is real and that he loves us. It was powerful. Andrew accepted a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read Alma 36. I believe that things in his life will start to progress and he will want to take the lessons and attend church by the end of this month. It builds my testimony every time I meet someone who has had a tough life and how amongst every trial, you can see evidence of God existing.
My scripture for this week is simple, but powerful. Its one of my favourite to share with people who find it hard to believe in God because of science. Alma 30:44 is brilliant.
I am so very grateful to be a missionary and that I have the opportunity each day to share my testimony with many of my brothers and sisters! It brings so much happiness to my life! I know that the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true.
I hope everyone has a smashing week!
Much love,
-Elder Jaquish
So I'm guessing that most of you have heard about the riots that have recently been in London and other surrounding cities. Well, the other night, things started to kick up here and it was mad. This one kid kicked in the front of this nice Jaguar and tried breaking into it. So I went over and talked to him, trying to get him to understand that it was wrong and made him realise how he would feel if it were his car. Amazingly enough, he stopped and started talking to me really deep like and his whole attitude changed. My companion came over and invited this kid to be baptised and he said yes!!! Crazy huh? hahahahah Yeah, that would be totally sick, if it really happened hahahahah yeah, just kidding. The riots never spread over here where we live; we are about 25 minutes from the city centre so we were pretty safe. The other Elders inside the city though said they saw a bunch of people all dressed up and walkin around with bandannas on and their hoods up. The riots were even more intense in Birmingham though. We actually had to go in early on Tuesday just in case things kicked up. The whole thing was just silly. People just wanted to loot shops and cause a ruckus.
This past week was pretty good. We have been working hard and it has paid off a little. We got 2 new investigators. They are in the beginning process of being taught so we don't really know where things are gonna go just yet. We just need to work even harder now to find more prepared people to help and teach about the good news!! We made some good plans last night on how we are going to improve our diligence. The bulk of our plans and intentions come from Mosiah 28! Such a good chapter about the sons of Mosiah.
there is one specific experience that I want to share this week. Its about a returning member names Kerry and her husband Andrew, who isn't a member. Just real quick, Kerry just randomly showed up at church one Sunday about a month ago having the intentions of coming back to full activity and going to the temple! So she is solid. Okay, so we went with Kerry and Andrew to a baptism that the Elders in Nottingham 2 had on Saturday morning. It was a really good service and Andrew had a positive experience! Kerry also was reminded of her own baptism, so that was a win! Later that afternoon, we went to their house and did some service for them in their garden. After that, Kerry cooked us a lovely Chicken Alfredo for dinner! The whole time while we were over at their house, we were getting to know Andrew a bit more and were just joking around with him and having a blast! The conversation after dinner just perfectly opened up and we talked about the good and bad things that has happened in our lives and how we overcame any trials. Andrew freely talked about how he has had some pretty tragic events happen to him that has made him question whether there is a God or not. We just bore testimony on how God has had a helping hand to him in his life and that the things he's been through testify that God is real and that he loves us. It was powerful. Andrew accepted a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read Alma 36. I believe that things in his life will start to progress and he will want to take the lessons and attend church by the end of this month. It builds my testimony every time I meet someone who has had a tough life and how amongst every trial, you can see evidence of God existing.
My scripture for this week is simple, but powerful. Its one of my favourite to share with people who find it hard to believe in God because of science. Alma 30:44 is brilliant.
I am so very grateful to be a missionary and that I have the opportunity each day to share my testimony with many of my brothers and sisters! It brings so much happiness to my life! I know that the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true.
I hope everyone has a smashing week!
Much love,
-Elder Jaquish
Religious Movment
Top of the mornin' to ya everyone!! haha
How is everyone doing?? I'm doing pretty well, thanks! Nottingham is treating me well so far. Church was pretty good yesterday. All the members seem like they have pretty strong testimonies, which is good for us because we can start getting them to do some major missionary work!! The area that I am in isn't too bad. We aren't teaching anyone at the moment, but that is going to change very soon. There are a lot of people always out to talk to so that's good! My favourite part about my new area is that there are lots of families that are out just walking around or going to the park! I have a good feeling that we will find a good family to share the gospel with. Oh yeah, and there is a University in our area!!! Sick huh?? So yeah, lots of young people to talk to and meet with! They actually just had, or are still having, EFY at this university haha And later this month they are having a YSA convention. As soon as I start learning a bit more about the history of Nottingham and everything I will have to talk yall about it in my weekly emails! We are going to city centre today so I will be sure to pick up some brochures haha
Well we have only have a few days of work so far here so I don't really have too many stories yet. One I can think of happened on Saturday. We talked to a lot of people and got a few potential investigators, which was good, but one guy is sticking out in my mind. It was this young kid named will, about 18 yrs old. We said that he was trying to start a religious movement and trying to do missionary work. His principles consisted of theories about how good and bad energies control our body. Also how there are certain things that we can do to feel the love of God, or be absorbed with pure light that will allow us to do anything. I'm pretty sure this kid was on something hard core the previous night haha He was going crazy and was just talking about a bunch of rubbish. We gave him a Book of Mormon and talk him he could come to church...afterwards we were worried that he would actually show up to church and creep people out hahaha Oh how I love missionary work! You never know what kind of people you are going to meet each day.
My spiritual thought for this week is from Moroni 7:31-32 which talks about the work of a ministering angel. They are commanded by the Father and sent down to preach repentance and fulfil the covenants of the Lord. They are also to prepare the minds and hearts of everyone to have faith in Christ and do good works. It eases my heart to know that we aren't the only ones involved in this work. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are working hard right along beside us in trying to help and bless our brothers and sisters. It is up to us though to be the hands and help our loved ones make covenants in earth with their Father in Heaven. The only way we can receive true happiness is by serving and I am thankful that I am found worthy to serve. I know that this work is true and that the message that each and every one of us, full-time or member missionaries, bears is divinely correct! May we all strive to be partakers in this marvelous work!
Best wishes to everyone as they embark on whatever journey this week holds for them!! :)
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
How is everyone doing?? I'm doing pretty well, thanks! Nottingham is treating me well so far. Church was pretty good yesterday. All the members seem like they have pretty strong testimonies, which is good for us because we can start getting them to do some major missionary work!! The area that I am in isn't too bad. We aren't teaching anyone at the moment, but that is going to change very soon. There are a lot of people always out to talk to so that's good! My favourite part about my new area is that there are lots of families that are out just walking around or going to the park! I have a good feeling that we will find a good family to share the gospel with. Oh yeah, and there is a University in our area!!! Sick huh?? So yeah, lots of young people to talk to and meet with! They actually just had, or are still having, EFY at this university haha And later this month they are having a YSA convention. As soon as I start learning a bit more about the history of Nottingham and everything I will have to talk yall about it in my weekly emails! We are going to city centre today so I will be sure to pick up some brochures haha
Well we have only have a few days of work so far here so I don't really have too many stories yet. One I can think of happened on Saturday. We talked to a lot of people and got a few potential investigators, which was good, but one guy is sticking out in my mind. It was this young kid named will, about 18 yrs old. We said that he was trying to start a religious movement and trying to do missionary work. His principles consisted of theories about how good and bad energies control our body. Also how there are certain things that we can do to feel the love of God, or be absorbed with pure light that will allow us to do anything. I'm pretty sure this kid was on something hard core the previous night haha He was going crazy and was just talking about a bunch of rubbish. We gave him a Book of Mormon and talk him he could come to church...afterwards we were worried that he would actually show up to church and creep people out hahaha Oh how I love missionary work! You never know what kind of people you are going to meet each day.
My spiritual thought for this week is from Moroni 7:31-32 which talks about the work of a ministering angel. They are commanded by the Father and sent down to preach repentance and fulfil the covenants of the Lord. They are also to prepare the minds and hearts of everyone to have faith in Christ and do good works. It eases my heart to know that we aren't the only ones involved in this work. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are working hard right along beside us in trying to help and bless our brothers and sisters. It is up to us though to be the hands and help our loved ones make covenants in earth with their Father in Heaven. The only way we can receive true happiness is by serving and I am thankful that I am found worthy to serve. I know that this work is true and that the message that each and every one of us, full-time or member missionaries, bears is divinely correct! May we all strive to be partakers in this marvelous work!
Best wishes to everyone as they embark on whatever journey this week holds for them!! :)
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Sherwood Forest...
Hey everyone!
I have been transferred!! The news was a shock but I'm prepared to work in my new area! So I've been moved to the great city of Nottingham, home of Robin Hood! haha Thats pretty sick. My new companion's name is Elder Cloward and he is from Springville, Utah. He has been out on his mission for about 3 months. I am now his follow-up trainer so I have more responsibility now being the senior companion. I cant wait to get started on the work; its going to be so much fun!!
I will share one spiritual experience with yall before i have to go. Anthony told us on Sunday that he wanted to go tracting with us and that he had a street picked out that he had prayed for. We picked Tuesday to go and boy was it a sweet experience! The first house we knocked on let us into their back garden and we talked to them about who we were and a bit about the church. The lady seemed pretty cool and wanted to learn more. Anthony bore some solid testimony and we gave her a leaflet. The next house we knocked on was a french man. We got him to speak some french to us! haha Anyways, he let us into his home and we shared a quick message about how the gospel blesses families. He liked what we were saying and said we could come back by again!! By the time we were finished teaching him, it was time for us to leave haha The Lord blessed us with a few of his tender mercies.
My new address for everyone/anyone who wants to write me is now:
20 Hamilton Rd.
Long Eaton
Nottingham, England
NG10 4QZ
Godbless,
-Elder Jaquish
I have been transferred!! The news was a shock but I'm prepared to work in my new area! So I've been moved to the great city of Nottingham, home of Robin Hood! haha Thats pretty sick. My new companion's name is Elder Cloward and he is from Springville, Utah. He has been out on his mission for about 3 months. I am now his follow-up trainer so I have more responsibility now being the senior companion. I cant wait to get started on the work; its going to be so much fun!!
I will share one spiritual experience with yall before i have to go. Anthony told us on Sunday that he wanted to go tracting with us and that he had a street picked out that he had prayed for. We picked Tuesday to go and boy was it a sweet experience! The first house we knocked on let us into their back garden and we talked to them about who we were and a bit about the church. The lady seemed pretty cool and wanted to learn more. Anthony bore some solid testimony and we gave her a leaflet. The next house we knocked on was a french man. We got him to speak some french to us! haha Anyways, he let us into his home and we shared a quick message about how the gospel blesses families. He liked what we were saying and said we could come back by again!! By the time we were finished teaching him, it was time for us to leave haha The Lord blessed us with a few of his tender mercies.
My new address for everyone/anyone who wants to write me is now:
20 Hamilton Rd.
Long Eaton
Nottingham, England
NG10 4QZ
Godbless,
-Elder Jaquish
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
...wow...
The only words I can think of to describe this past week is wow. I don't know what we are doing right but the Lord is just throwing down blessing after blessing upon our heads. Just so I make sure I include everything that happened this week, I will go day by day.
Monday: Pday. We went to the oldest church in Tamworth here to check it out. It dates back to like the 1200s. Its a Church of England chapel and its huge!! haha
Tuesday: Service for the Dowlings. We had a great lesson with the new young family we found last week, Ryan and Charley. They accepted a baptismal date for the 20th of August!! They are golden! Then we went by some people and set up appointments. Oh and we had a dinner appointment with a family in the ward which was a lot of fun!
Wednesday: We did service for an investigator in her back garden taking out some trees! We visited and taught some investigators then went to ward missionary correlation, of which only one ward missionary showed up hahah So the meeting was slightly awkward.
Thursday: District meeting and exchange with Elder Card in Burton-on-Trent. Ah man we had an amazing experience on our exchange that built up my testimony! So we showed up early to our dinner appointment and was told that it wouldn't be ready for another 15-20 minutes. I looked at Elder Card and kinda motioned for us to go out to tract around the members home. He agreed and we went off. We decided to go across the road and start knocking on doors. The second door in we met this Indian family who are Christian! We showed them the Book of Mormon and said they had one in their own language!! We were quite shocked haha The wife told us that her husband had brought it home from work one day and that they had read through it and were interested! So we set up an appointment to come again to teach them and they said yess!!! So cool. We could have just spent those 15 minutes sitting inside talking to the members we had dinner with, but the Spirit told us we should go work for those 15 minutes and we found an elect family!! Oh, something else that was cool. We met this young Muslim guy and talked about faith. He said he wished that he followed his faith a little more. We told him about what makes us unique; the belief that we have a modern-day prophet. He was like whaaattt? We gave him a Book of Mormon and was wanting to learn! haha Sweet huh?
Friday: Elder Ruesch had an appointment at the hospital and we did weekly planning. On exchange here in Tamworth, Elder Ruesch talked to these drunk guys who wanted us to come around to their house because they had questions. Well, today we went by and they were home! Which was surprising. And what else was surprising was that the whole family joined i non the lesson! We talked about Adam and Eve and the fall. Also, we mentioned how agency, or free will, is vital to God's plan for us. They had loads of questions and were really interested! We are gonna go again to see them this week.
Saturday: Anthony got baptised!! A member of the ward baptised him. It was so good to see Anthony finally get baptised. He's been through a lot and was super excited about his baptism! He was counting down the hours haha He's a cool guy. The baptism went really well! Afterwards there was a ward activity. We played this game called Boulder Dash. Look it up, its pretty cool.
Sunday: Anthony was confirmed! The senior missionary couple who is in charge of the Young Single Adults here in the stake also attended Sacrament Meeting to watch Anthony get confirmed. As we were leaving church, they called us over and said that they met someone who wants to be taught. It was funny because we weren't too far from where the person was sitting and they over heard us talking so they yelled over to us and said hi haha So we went over to speak to them. After chatting for a few minutes, we went inside of the home and watched a DVD about Christ. Halfway through the lesson, another family came inside and joined in on the lesson. We taught about faith and how it can help improve the quality of our lives. The lesson went well and we got a return appointment!! Total in number, we taught 5 people. We were so blessed to receive another couple families to teach!! That brought our number of new investigators this week to 9!! Total boss. haha
The Lord blessed us so very much this week. My testimony was strengthened on the subjects of obedience, diligence, and just that the Lord is continually preparing people for us missionaries to teach! The Lord will bless his servants who are worthy of magnifying their calling. I know that these things are true!! The work will progress according to the will of the Lord, not by the sweat of our brow.
Love you all, take care.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday: Pday. We went to the oldest church in Tamworth here to check it out. It dates back to like the 1200s. Its a Church of England chapel and its huge!! haha
Tuesday: Service for the Dowlings. We had a great lesson with the new young family we found last week, Ryan and Charley. They accepted a baptismal date for the 20th of August!! They are golden! Then we went by some people and set up appointments. Oh and we had a dinner appointment with a family in the ward which was a lot of fun!
Wednesday: We did service for an investigator in her back garden taking out some trees! We visited and taught some investigators then went to ward missionary correlation, of which only one ward missionary showed up hahah So the meeting was slightly awkward.
Thursday: District meeting and exchange with Elder Card in Burton-on-Trent. Ah man we had an amazing experience on our exchange that built up my testimony! So we showed up early to our dinner appointment and was told that it wouldn't be ready for another 15-20 minutes. I looked at Elder Card and kinda motioned for us to go out to tract around the members home. He agreed and we went off. We decided to go across the road and start knocking on doors. The second door in we met this Indian family who are Christian! We showed them the Book of Mormon and said they had one in their own language!! We were quite shocked haha The wife told us that her husband had brought it home from work one day and that they had read through it and were interested! So we set up an appointment to come again to teach them and they said yess!!! So cool. We could have just spent those 15 minutes sitting inside talking to the members we had dinner with, but the Spirit told us we should go work for those 15 minutes and we found an elect family!! Oh, something else that was cool. We met this young Muslim guy and talked about faith. He said he wished that he followed his faith a little more. We told him about what makes us unique; the belief that we have a modern-day prophet. He was like whaaattt? We gave him a Book of Mormon and was wanting to learn! haha Sweet huh?
Friday: Elder Ruesch had an appointment at the hospital and we did weekly planning. On exchange here in Tamworth, Elder Ruesch talked to these drunk guys who wanted us to come around to their house because they had questions. Well, today we went by and they were home! Which was surprising. And what else was surprising was that the whole family joined i non the lesson! We talked about Adam and Eve and the fall. Also, we mentioned how agency, or free will, is vital to God's plan for us. They had loads of questions and were really interested! We are gonna go again to see them this week.
Saturday: Anthony got baptised!! A member of the ward baptised him. It was so good to see Anthony finally get baptised. He's been through a lot and was super excited about his baptism! He was counting down the hours haha He's a cool guy. The baptism went really well! Afterwards there was a ward activity. We played this game called Boulder Dash. Look it up, its pretty cool.
Sunday: Anthony was confirmed! The senior missionary couple who is in charge of the Young Single Adults here in the stake also attended Sacrament Meeting to watch Anthony get confirmed. As we were leaving church, they called us over and said that they met someone who wants to be taught. It was funny because we weren't too far from where the person was sitting and they over heard us talking so they yelled over to us and said hi haha So we went over to speak to them. After chatting for a few minutes, we went inside of the home and watched a DVD about Christ. Halfway through the lesson, another family came inside and joined in on the lesson. We taught about faith and how it can help improve the quality of our lives. The lesson went well and we got a return appointment!! Total in number, we taught 5 people. We were so blessed to receive another couple families to teach!! That brought our number of new investigators this week to 9!! Total boss. haha
The Lord blessed us so very much this week. My testimony was strengthened on the subjects of obedience, diligence, and just that the Lord is continually preparing people for us missionaries to teach! The Lord will bless his servants who are worthy of magnifying their calling. I know that these things are true!! The work will progress according to the will of the Lord, not by the sweat of our brow.
Love you all, take care.
-Elder Jaquish
Another week goes on
Hiya everyone!
Oh goodness, this past week was amazing! I know I say that a lot but we are truly being blessed! I'll start from the beginning of the week and go onward...
Monday and Tuesday were good. Nothing too exciting happened. Wednesday was alright until after our ward missionary coordination meeting. We went to try by this less-active, of which didn't answer her door. So we went back towards the direction that we came from and tried by someone else...no answer. We then decided to stop at this corner and make a few phone calls; we did so. For some reason, we just started talking about how we feel the week has gone thus far and what we could do better. We kinda boosted each others faith and made plans on how to spend the rest of our evening. As we were about to take our leave, we spotted a family walking up the street. We went over and talked to them about how families can benefit greatly from a belief in Jesus Christ. They seemed pretty interested and invited us over to their house the next day to share more. We did so and they are prepared to receive the gospel for their family! Their names are Ryan and Charlotte and they have a baby girl named Summer. Ryan used to work with a member, who set a good example for Ryan. Ryan has wanted to come to church and join it ever since. Both Ryan and Charlotte have accepted the invitation to be baptised when they come to know the restored gospel is true!!! They are golden! So we have a new family to teach :)
Thursday was good. We went on exchange with the Zone Leaders and so I got to go back to Wolverhampton for a day!!! Ah man i miss Wolverhampton haha The exchange was good. We had a really fun time doing some tracting and some teaching. We found this less-active part member family as we were tracting! The man of the household is the member and served a mission in Greece. So that was cool to meet them and set up a return appointment.
Friday was good. Saturday was alright. We went by a potential investigator that Elder Ruesch found Thursday while we were on exchange. Her name in Sandra and she is a single mother. She has seem many miracles happen in her life, which has prepared her to receive the gospel! Anyways, we went by and saw here and she has already read the chapter in the Book of Mormon that the Elders left for her! She is excited for our appointment this week so that she be good! She is also golden! haha
Sunday was very good. David got confirmed!!!! Elder Ruesch did the confirmation and it went well. The prayer was very powerful and David felt anew afterwards. We had a good time after church going through some former investigators and trying by them to see if they want to start learning again. We had some success there! Over and all it was a really good week!
My spiritual thought this week comes from 1 Nephi 20:10 Its so good and can relate to anyone in their life. We each have been chosen to go through some kind of "furness of affliction" special to our lives. It is comforting to know that the Lord is allowing us to have trials so that we can be refined, or made new and better! The Lord never forgets us. We are His children. The Saviour physically cannot forget us because of the marks in his hands and feet. I pray that each one of us can face the next trial in our life with courage and trust that it is for our good.
I hope yall enjoy this week!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Oh goodness, this past week was amazing! I know I say that a lot but we are truly being blessed! I'll start from the beginning of the week and go onward...
Monday and Tuesday were good. Nothing too exciting happened. Wednesday was alright until after our ward missionary coordination meeting. We went to try by this less-active, of which didn't answer her door. So we went back towards the direction that we came from and tried by someone else...no answer. We then decided to stop at this corner and make a few phone calls; we did so. For some reason, we just started talking about how we feel the week has gone thus far and what we could do better. We kinda boosted each others faith and made plans on how to spend the rest of our evening. As we were about to take our leave, we spotted a family walking up the street. We went over and talked to them about how families can benefit greatly from a belief in Jesus Christ. They seemed pretty interested and invited us over to their house the next day to share more. We did so and they are prepared to receive the gospel for their family! Their names are Ryan and Charlotte and they have a baby girl named Summer. Ryan used to work with a member, who set a good example for Ryan. Ryan has wanted to come to church and join it ever since. Both Ryan and Charlotte have accepted the invitation to be baptised when they come to know the restored gospel is true!!! They are golden! So we have a new family to teach :)
Thursday was good. We went on exchange with the Zone Leaders and so I got to go back to Wolverhampton for a day!!! Ah man i miss Wolverhampton haha The exchange was good. We had a really fun time doing some tracting and some teaching. We found this less-active part member family as we were tracting! The man of the household is the member and served a mission in Greece. So that was cool to meet them and set up a return appointment.
Friday was good. Saturday was alright. We went by a potential investigator that Elder Ruesch found Thursday while we were on exchange. Her name in Sandra and she is a single mother. She has seem many miracles happen in her life, which has prepared her to receive the gospel! Anyways, we went by and saw here and she has already read the chapter in the Book of Mormon that the Elders left for her! She is excited for our appointment this week so that she be good! She is also golden! haha
Sunday was very good. David got confirmed!!!! Elder Ruesch did the confirmation and it went well. The prayer was very powerful and David felt anew afterwards. We had a good time after church going through some former investigators and trying by them to see if they want to start learning again. We had some success there! Over and all it was a really good week!
My spiritual thought this week comes from 1 Nephi 20:10 Its so good and can relate to anyone in their life. We each have been chosen to go through some kind of "furness of affliction" special to our lives. It is comforting to know that the Lord is allowing us to have trials so that we can be refined, or made new and better! The Lord never forgets us. We are His children. The Saviour physically cannot forget us because of the marks in his hands and feet. I pray that each one of us can face the next trial in our life with courage and trust that it is for our good.
I hope yall enjoy this week!
Godbless,
Elder Jaquish
Fulfilling our purpose...
Hiya everyone!
I hope everyone had a great week last week, I know I did! :)
To start off the email I would like to talk about yesterday, Sunday. David got baptised!!!! I was blessed to dress up in my "whites" and baptise him! His wife Gaynor came to church and the baptism. At the beginning of church, they spoke to the Bishop. I'm guessing everything went well because David got baptised haha Gaynor was having some difficulty just accepting the change that has happened within David and sorta is using it as the excuse of why their marriage is shaky at the moment (even though this was the case when we started teaching them). Well, I believe Bishop sorted it all out; helping Gaynor understand what baptism means to David, following the commandments, paying tithing, and I suppose what the future holds for David. His baptismal service was brilliant. Many people where there and I'm sure Gaynor felt the spirit. One thing that was funny was that Bro. Meegheny, who filled up the baptismal font, forgot to turn off the hot water so that the water was spa temperature! hahaha It was nice for me, but probably not for David since he had to be fully immersed in it! haha He in actuality didn't mind, he just laughed as well and went along with it. I felt the spirit so strongly. As I was saying the words to baptise David, I felt the power of the Holy Ghost upon me and truly felt like I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. It's the best feeling in the world. Words cannot explain. As David and I were getting changed, he turned to me and said thank you and shook my hand. Oh boy did that make me feel good! I love missionary work.
Things with Anthony are going well! He had his interview with our mission president to check on his repentance progress and just to chat with him. We were surprised when President Ogden asked if he could do the baptismal interview as well! He did so and Anthony passed!!!! :) He is set to be baptised in a couple weeks on the 23rd of July. Anthony is pushing stronger than ever and is solid in his decision to be baptised! His mother is still planning on coming so that is a great blessing. We are continually praying for her that she will have her heart softened by the Lord. I believe that this thing is possible, if we have faith. It is going to take a lot of spiritual effort because of the bad relationship Anthony has with her right now according to events that occurred in the past. But, if it is the will of the Lord, it will happen!
Zone Conference was bomb! We traveled to a couple of different church historical places that were smashing! First, we went to the Benbow Farm. Pretty much in a few words, Wilford Woodruff went preaching to this family, the Benbows, as a result of previous work in Manchester and by a spiritual prompting. He traveled to the south end of Worcestershire and found a tiny liberal Christian group called the United Brethren. Elder Woodruff taught many of their members in this farm and converted about 1200 persons in the area. One of the leaders of the United Brethren was John Benbow. After his conversion, he sold his farm and paid for his family and about 40 others to travel to Salt Lake. He also contributed to the fund for the first printing of the Book of Mormon in the British Isles. Lots of history, but a super good story so look it up! The second place we went to was British Camp. British Camp is this high mountain where Wilford Woodruff went about 3 times to meditate and ponder on the work. He, as well with Brigham Young and Willard Richards, dedicated the surrounding areas to missionary work. The spirit on top of this mount was pretty powerful. The third place we went to was the Gadfield Elm chapel, the oldest chapel in the history of the church. It was pretty cool to hold our Zone Conference in this historic building! Good times. I learned a lot about the history of the church on this country which helped me have more love for the people here. It was awesome.
So that's pretty much the highlights of my week!! :) Pretty cool eh?
Well time for a spiritual thought before I go...So I was reading about the Atonement on the True To The Faith book the other day and a certain scripture reference caught my eye. Its in John 16:33 Jesus Christ bears testimony on the purpose of life. We are to have peace. We are to have joy. He says that its inevitable that we will experience difficult times in our live because through tribulation we become stronger. Then He states that through all of our trials, we should have peace because He has overcome the world. I felt the spirit so strongly when I read that verse of scripture. I imagined my Saviour saying that to me. No matter what I may struggle with, He can help me because He has overcome everything and anything. May we all find peace through the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we remember him each day.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week!
God bless.
-Elder Jaquish
I hope everyone had a great week last week, I know I did! :)
To start off the email I would like to talk about yesterday, Sunday. David got baptised!!!! I was blessed to dress up in my "whites" and baptise him! His wife Gaynor came to church and the baptism. At the beginning of church, they spoke to the Bishop. I'm guessing everything went well because David got baptised haha Gaynor was having some difficulty just accepting the change that has happened within David and sorta is using it as the excuse of why their marriage is shaky at the moment (even though this was the case when we started teaching them). Well, I believe Bishop sorted it all out; helping Gaynor understand what baptism means to David, following the commandments, paying tithing, and I suppose what the future holds for David. His baptismal service was brilliant. Many people where there and I'm sure Gaynor felt the spirit. One thing that was funny was that Bro. Meegheny, who filled up the baptismal font, forgot to turn off the hot water so that the water was spa temperature! hahaha It was nice for me, but probably not for David since he had to be fully immersed in it! haha He in actuality didn't mind, he just laughed as well and went along with it. I felt the spirit so strongly. As I was saying the words to baptise David, I felt the power of the Holy Ghost upon me and truly felt like I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. It's the best feeling in the world. Words cannot explain. As David and I were getting changed, he turned to me and said thank you and shook my hand. Oh boy did that make me feel good! I love missionary work.
Things with Anthony are going well! He had his interview with our mission president to check on his repentance progress and just to chat with him. We were surprised when President Ogden asked if he could do the baptismal interview as well! He did so and Anthony passed!!!! :) He is set to be baptised in a couple weeks on the 23rd of July. Anthony is pushing stronger than ever and is solid in his decision to be baptised! His mother is still planning on coming so that is a great blessing. We are continually praying for her that she will have her heart softened by the Lord. I believe that this thing is possible, if we have faith. It is going to take a lot of spiritual effort because of the bad relationship Anthony has with her right now according to events that occurred in the past. But, if it is the will of the Lord, it will happen!
Zone Conference was bomb! We traveled to a couple of different church historical places that were smashing! First, we went to the Benbow Farm. Pretty much in a few words, Wilford Woodruff went preaching to this family, the Benbows, as a result of previous work in Manchester and by a spiritual prompting. He traveled to the south end of Worcestershire and found a tiny liberal Christian group called the United Brethren. Elder Woodruff taught many of their members in this farm and converted about 1200 persons in the area. One of the leaders of the United Brethren was John Benbow. After his conversion, he sold his farm and paid for his family and about 40 others to travel to Salt Lake. He also contributed to the fund for the first printing of the Book of Mormon in the British Isles. Lots of history, but a super good story so look it up! The second place we went to was British Camp. British Camp is this high mountain where Wilford Woodruff went about 3 times to meditate and ponder on the work. He, as well with Brigham Young and Willard Richards, dedicated the surrounding areas to missionary work. The spirit on top of this mount was pretty powerful. The third place we went to was the Gadfield Elm chapel, the oldest chapel in the history of the church. It was pretty cool to hold our Zone Conference in this historic building! Good times. I learned a lot about the history of the church on this country which helped me have more love for the people here. It was awesome.
So that's pretty much the highlights of my week!! :) Pretty cool eh?
Well time for a spiritual thought before I go...So I was reading about the Atonement on the True To The Faith book the other day and a certain scripture reference caught my eye. Its in John 16:33 Jesus Christ bears testimony on the purpose of life. We are to have peace. We are to have joy. He says that its inevitable that we will experience difficult times in our live because through tribulation we become stronger. Then He states that through all of our trials, we should have peace because He has overcome the world. I felt the spirit so strongly when I read that verse of scripture. I imagined my Saviour saying that to me. No matter what I may struggle with, He can help me because He has overcome everything and anything. May we all find peace through the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we remember him each day.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week!
God bless.
-Elder Jaquish
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Talkin bout the good stuff...
Hiya everyone!
This week was so good! The Lord is blessings us sooo much, despite our many weaknesses.
David passed his interview yesterday!!! It took forever though. It was our District Leader's first interview though so I will give him some slack hahaha jk David has asked me to baptise him, so I'm really looking forward to next Sunday!! Oh, and some other good news...Anthony has accepted a new baptismal date for July 23rd! He is solid. He is meeting with our mission president this coming Saturday to have a chat with him about his faith and progress in the gospel. Great things are happening! We also we blessed again this week by reaching the standard of excellence again! Good stuff...
The weather was lovely this week. I'd say about five out of seven days were nice and sunny, but pretty humid. I'm trying to work on my tan so I was happy about the sun; I miss my red neck!! hahaha We did a lot of service this week, which was fun. On two occasions, we helped this investigator pull out and deroot these huge bushes and also some smaller bushes. We sorta destroyed her front garden though haha oh well. We have to go back tomorrow to try to chop down these huge conifer trees in her back garden. I'm not looking forward to that hahaha We did some service for a family in the ward. We mowed their gardens, trimmed some hedges, and picked some gooseberries. Fun stuff haha I really enjoy doing this type of service, it gives you a break from always proselyting.
This Wednesday we are having Zone Conference. We are traveling to a place called Gadfield Elm to have it. Gadfield Elm is the site where the oldest LDS chapel in Great Britain is located! There is a pond next to it where the first baptisms in this country where performed as well. Im am so excited to be able to feel of the powerful spirit that resides at this significant place in the history of the church in the country of which i am serving. Its gonna be boss! Also, we got news that in September, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Bishop Burton of the Presiding Bishopric of the church will be doing a tour of our mission and we will be able to hear them speak!!! I cannot wait until then!!
I am definitely enjoying my time serving here in England. I am grateful that I have the many opportunities to help both members and nonmembers here in Tamworth. I have seen so many miracles since arriving here, its amazing! The Lord truly does prepare his people. There is a quote that I heard from a DVD in the which parts of a talk by Pres. Eyring were shown. He said, "The Lord trusts his disciples. He sends His prepared people to His prepared servants." I am grateful that I have a companion that is lovingly obedient. We are working hard and I am seeing the fruits of our labors. I truly believe that we are being so blessed right now because we are doing everything possible to make sure that we are prepared enough for the Lord to open our eyes to find His elect. D&C 29:7 - The elect hear the Lord's voice and harden not their hearts. I know that the scriptures are the word of God. D&C 18:3-5 - We are told to rely on the words that are written, the scriptures. They hold every answer to any question that we may have when faced with a trial. I testify that this is true!
I pray that everyone is reading their scriptures daily! You cant even begin to imagine how much it helps and prepares you for the future. Love you all and will talk you yall next week!!
-Elder Jaquish
This week was so good! The Lord is blessings us sooo much, despite our many weaknesses.
David passed his interview yesterday!!! It took forever though. It was our District Leader's first interview though so I will give him some slack hahaha jk David has asked me to baptise him, so I'm really looking forward to next Sunday!! Oh, and some other good news...Anthony has accepted a new baptismal date for July 23rd! He is solid. He is meeting with our mission president this coming Saturday to have a chat with him about his faith and progress in the gospel. Great things are happening! We also we blessed again this week by reaching the standard of excellence again! Good stuff...
The weather was lovely this week. I'd say about five out of seven days were nice and sunny, but pretty humid. I'm trying to work on my tan so I was happy about the sun; I miss my red neck!! hahaha We did a lot of service this week, which was fun. On two occasions, we helped this investigator pull out and deroot these huge bushes and also some smaller bushes. We sorta destroyed her front garden though haha oh well. We have to go back tomorrow to try to chop down these huge conifer trees in her back garden. I'm not looking forward to that hahaha We did some service for a family in the ward. We mowed their gardens, trimmed some hedges, and picked some gooseberries. Fun stuff haha I really enjoy doing this type of service, it gives you a break from always proselyting.
This Wednesday we are having Zone Conference. We are traveling to a place called Gadfield Elm to have it. Gadfield Elm is the site where the oldest LDS chapel in Great Britain is located! There is a pond next to it where the first baptisms in this country where performed as well. Im am so excited to be able to feel of the powerful spirit that resides at this significant place in the history of the church in the country of which i am serving. Its gonna be boss! Also, we got news that in September, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Bishop Burton of the Presiding Bishopric of the church will be doing a tour of our mission and we will be able to hear them speak!!! I cannot wait until then!!
I am definitely enjoying my time serving here in England. I am grateful that I have the many opportunities to help both members and nonmembers here in Tamworth. I have seen so many miracles since arriving here, its amazing! The Lord truly does prepare his people. There is a quote that I heard from a DVD in the which parts of a talk by Pres. Eyring were shown. He said, "The Lord trusts his disciples. He sends His prepared people to His prepared servants." I am grateful that I have a companion that is lovingly obedient. We are working hard and I am seeing the fruits of our labors. I truly believe that we are being so blessed right now because we are doing everything possible to make sure that we are prepared enough for the Lord to open our eyes to find His elect. D&C 29:7 - The elect hear the Lord's voice and harden not their hearts. I know that the scriptures are the word of God. D&C 18:3-5 - We are told to rely on the words that are written, the scriptures. They hold every answer to any question that we may have when faced with a trial. I testify that this is true!
I pray that everyone is reading their scriptures daily! You cant even begin to imagine how much it helps and prepares you for the future. Love you all and will talk you yall next week!!
-Elder Jaquish
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
tententen months....
So, as I was amidst my pondering session on Monday morning, I realised that I have been out here in England for 10 months. Let me repeat that, ten months has gone by in the blink of an eye!! I can't believe how quickly time is going by nowadays. Oh, speaking of time, this transfer has already gone by and today starts a new one! Elder Ruesch and I are staying together here in Tamworth, which I'm very excited about!
The past week and a half has been lovely! Well, except for last Thursday when I had the fly bug. It was not very fun to have to sit in the flat all day, but I did catch up on some crucial sleep that catalysed my recovery. Also, I had my companion give me a blessing so that helped too :) We were back out on our bikes workin the next day. Now I just have this rubbish cough to put up with haha Okay, that's enough complaining, lets talk about the good things that happened this week!
David has a baptismal date!!!! Yes, he accepted the date of July 10th! He has requested his baptism be on a Sunday because he pretty much cant get off of work, which is alright. He is doing so well though! He is already telling everyone that he is getting baptised. Oh, and he asked us for more pass-along cards because he ran out! haha David is the man. We retaught him the Restoration lesson on Monday, which was a success. He told us that he had a super warm feeling inside of him, like he was getting emotional; he has definitely felt the spirit testify to him that this gospel is true! Gaynor is still a little iffy, but that's alright. It will just take some time for her. But Spencer loves church! He will most likely get baptised when he turns 8.
Anthony is doing very well! He is receiving help from the Lord each day to fight off Satan and his desire to read and pray more has gone up!! He is getting involved with YSA now so that's a great blessing. It will help him mucho to be around people his age who live the high moral standards that he is striving to keep. Oh, something cool that happened was that in the lesson at institute they talked about finances, which means they brought up the law of tithing, a lesson we hadn't taught Anthony yet. He asked us about when we saw him the other day, so we explained it briefly to him just to answer his question (we are planning to teach the full lesson to him in the very near future). He pretty much said that he understands and is prepared to pay a full tithe when he gets baptised! So that was a great blessing for Anthony this week.
I think one of the most eventful days that was full of unfortunate events was yesterday, thus why I'm telling y'all about it! So the day started off nice, we were going to contact a referral. As I was riding down the street, this car was driving closely behind me. I was trying to figure out why it didn't go past me because there wasn't any cars on the other side of the road, but nonetheless, I decided to ride up on the sidewalk to let it go by. This is when I realised that it was a hearse that was driving behind me and that I was holding up a funeral! hahahaha I just kinda chuckled and started riding again. Later on that morning, I almost got ran over by car car while talking to someone on the street. I think I was trying to be told something by someone of which I didn't like...hahaha But anyways, the day went on. Our dinner appointment was the scene of the next unfortunate event. My companion told the family that I could touch my elbow with my tongue, they were amazed and begged me to do it. Now I will be remembered by that family as the Elder who is pretty much a freak hahaha The next thing happened at the very end of the day. We had 5 minutes left before we had to go in for the night, so we decided to try to speak to one more person each. I spotted my victim walking on a nearby path, so I rode over and started speaking to him. As I was talking, he started to look towards the bushes and just stand there with his back to me. After 30 seconds of silence, I asked him if he was looking for something or if he was peeing. He mumbled some words of which i couldn't understand. But what I did hear was some kind of liquid hitting the grass where he was standing, so I got the answer to my question! hahahahahaha Needless to say, I had a pretty good journal entry for yesterday hahaha Good times on the mission.Good laughs and lots of fun sharing the gospel to a variety of people!
My spiritual thought will be from Moroni 9:25. This thought goes out to anyone who is struggling with whatever kind of trial in their life at the moment. Whoever you may be, replace "my son" with your name and read the verse. Focus on the later part of the scripture after the semicolon. Please, always remember that there is someone who loves you. There is someone who can perfectly relate to anything that's is happening in your life. Have faith that Christ is there. Have hope that through Him, your future is bright. Please allow yourself to be a partaker of His sacrifice for you, and receive rest in your soul.
I love you all and hope that everything during the week goes according to plan. Follow the spirit in all things! Be excited for my email next week! haha
-Elder Jaquish
The past week and a half has been lovely! Well, except for last Thursday when I had the fly bug. It was not very fun to have to sit in the flat all day, but I did catch up on some crucial sleep that catalysed my recovery. Also, I had my companion give me a blessing so that helped too :) We were back out on our bikes workin the next day. Now I just have this rubbish cough to put up with haha Okay, that's enough complaining, lets talk about the good things that happened this week!
David has a baptismal date!!!! Yes, he accepted the date of July 10th! He has requested his baptism be on a Sunday because he pretty much cant get off of work, which is alright. He is doing so well though! He is already telling everyone that he is getting baptised. Oh, and he asked us for more pass-along cards because he ran out! haha David is the man. We retaught him the Restoration lesson on Monday, which was a success. He told us that he had a super warm feeling inside of him, like he was getting emotional; he has definitely felt the spirit testify to him that this gospel is true! Gaynor is still a little iffy, but that's alright. It will just take some time for her. But Spencer loves church! He will most likely get baptised when he turns 8.
Anthony is doing very well! He is receiving help from the Lord each day to fight off Satan and his desire to read and pray more has gone up!! He is getting involved with YSA now so that's a great blessing. It will help him mucho to be around people his age who live the high moral standards that he is striving to keep. Oh, something cool that happened was that in the lesson at institute they talked about finances, which means they brought up the law of tithing, a lesson we hadn't taught Anthony yet. He asked us about when we saw him the other day, so we explained it briefly to him just to answer his question (we are planning to teach the full lesson to him in the very near future). He pretty much said that he understands and is prepared to pay a full tithe when he gets baptised! So that was a great blessing for Anthony this week.
I think one of the most eventful days that was full of unfortunate events was yesterday, thus why I'm telling y'all about it! So the day started off nice, we were going to contact a referral. As I was riding down the street, this car was driving closely behind me. I was trying to figure out why it didn't go past me because there wasn't any cars on the other side of the road, but nonetheless, I decided to ride up on the sidewalk to let it go by. This is when I realised that it was a hearse that was driving behind me and that I was holding up a funeral! hahahaha I just kinda chuckled and started riding again. Later on that morning, I almost got ran over by car car while talking to someone on the street. I think I was trying to be told something by someone of which I didn't like...hahaha But anyways, the day went on. Our dinner appointment was the scene of the next unfortunate event. My companion told the family that I could touch my elbow with my tongue, they were amazed and begged me to do it. Now I will be remembered by that family as the Elder who is pretty much a freak hahaha The next thing happened at the very end of the day. We had 5 minutes left before we had to go in for the night, so we decided to try to speak to one more person each. I spotted my victim walking on a nearby path, so I rode over and started speaking to him. As I was talking, he started to look towards the bushes and just stand there with his back to me. After 30 seconds of silence, I asked him if he was looking for something or if he was peeing. He mumbled some words of which i couldn't understand. But what I did hear was some kind of liquid hitting the grass where he was standing, so I got the answer to my question! hahahahahaha Needless to say, I had a pretty good journal entry for yesterday hahaha Good times on the mission.Good laughs and lots of fun sharing the gospel to a variety of people!
My spiritual thought will be from Moroni 9:25. This thought goes out to anyone who is struggling with whatever kind of trial in their life at the moment. Whoever you may be, replace "my son" with your name and read the verse. Focus on the later part of the scripture after the semicolon. Please, always remember that there is someone who loves you. There is someone who can perfectly relate to anything that's is happening in your life. Have faith that Christ is there. Have hope that through Him, your future is bright. Please allow yourself to be a partaker of His sacrifice for you, and receive rest in your soul.
I love you all and hope that everything during the week goes according to plan. Follow the spirit in all things! Be excited for my email next week! haha
-Elder Jaquish
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Miracles in Tamworth!
Hello everyone!
This was wonderful! Lots of miracles are happening here in Tamworth! To start off, I would like to talk about Anthony. So we did what our mission president told us to do, we gave him some breathing space. His fellowshipper in the ward, Bro. Siswick, called him and asked him how things were. Anthony told him pretty much that he was struggling with a particular commandment and just doesnt think he can live it. Bro. Siswick said that thats okay, that he could still come to church and everything. Anthony was surprised and said that yes he did want to come back to church! That he wants to see us again and start over! We ran into Anthony on Wednesday in town centre and set up an appointment to see him the next day. At our appointment, he said that he was sorry for the text message he sent us and doesnt feel that way anymore. He knows that he shouldnt have thrown the gospel out the door and that he wants to come back and just put everything behind him! We sorted everything out and read a few scriptures with him to bring the spirit. I know that Anthony felt the spirit once again and regrets his actions. He knows that he has a testimony and has the faith that these experiences he has gone through will do nothing but strengthen his testimony! He came to church yesterday and is doing brilliant! This has definitely boosted my testimony that the Lord is merciful to his children. That this work is His! He will not let Satan win!! I have been blessed to see this great miracle happen, of which I am grateful so dearly for.
Miracle #2 David is doing well. We hadent been in contact with him for a week because he had surgery and the family was busy. His wife Gaynor sent us a text saying that she didnt want to learn or go to church anymore, that its just not for her. We finally saw David on friday when we tried by his house. He said that he thinks Gaynor is just in a phase thing and that she will want to start learning again haha David is so cool. He and his son Spencer came to church yesterday!! David even took some pass-along cards to give to his co-workers! When I asked him about why he took the cards, his reply was, "People at work has been asking me why I have staopped drinking tea and coffee, and I told them it was because I was getting into religion and everything." Total boss! haha David is so ready for a baptismal date!
Miracle #3 We had a new face at church today!!! Rachael came to church today and enjoyed it. Rachael is the sister of an investigator named Chris who was also suppossed to come, but was called into work. Rachael ended up knowing a couple ladies at church who she used to go to school with so that was awesome!!! Hopefully we will be able to start teaching her as well now.
Just one quick funny story before I close. Elder Ruesch and I were riding down this road on Saturday when this car goes by with a woman sticking her head out the window yelling, "Hey there gorgeous" at us. I just kinda chuckled and kept riding. I then realised that they got held up at the red light just up the road. I caught up to the car and stopped right next to it. The passenger was just a laughing as she looked over at me; I then motioned for them to roll down the window. The passenger was shaking her head no while she was getting super embarrassed, but the driver rolled down the window anyways! I said, "Hey whats up?!" and just smiled at them. Then I pulled a pass-along card out and gave it to the lady and said something clever hahahaha She was bright red in the face, it was hilarious. I said my goodbyes and road off hahahahaha Good stuff
Anyways, here is some spiritual food for the day. There is a key word that is throughout all of the Book of Mormon, that word being remember. It seems to be that everytime one nation went wicked, the Lord sent his servants to "stir the people up to rememberance." But why did He want the people to remember? I believe its because it compels oneself to become humble. Only when we are humble will the Lord make us strong. If we remember how merciful the Lord has been to us, and give Him gratitude for what we have, only then will we receive more. We must always be in a state of progression to gain entrance into the Kingdom of our God. This is why it is important to always remember.
Have a great week everyone! I hope that by some chance my words this week will compel someone to look for miracles that are occuring in their life. Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
This was wonderful! Lots of miracles are happening here in Tamworth! To start off, I would like to talk about Anthony. So we did what our mission president told us to do, we gave him some breathing space. His fellowshipper in the ward, Bro. Siswick, called him and asked him how things were. Anthony told him pretty much that he was struggling with a particular commandment and just doesnt think he can live it. Bro. Siswick said that thats okay, that he could still come to church and everything. Anthony was surprised and said that yes he did want to come back to church! That he wants to see us again and start over! We ran into Anthony on Wednesday in town centre and set up an appointment to see him the next day. At our appointment, he said that he was sorry for the text message he sent us and doesnt feel that way anymore. He knows that he shouldnt have thrown the gospel out the door and that he wants to come back and just put everything behind him! We sorted everything out and read a few scriptures with him to bring the spirit. I know that Anthony felt the spirit once again and regrets his actions. He knows that he has a testimony and has the faith that these experiences he has gone through will do nothing but strengthen his testimony! He came to church yesterday and is doing brilliant! This has definitely boosted my testimony that the Lord is merciful to his children. That this work is His! He will not let Satan win!! I have been blessed to see this great miracle happen, of which I am grateful so dearly for.
Miracle #2 David is doing well. We hadent been in contact with him for a week because he had surgery and the family was busy. His wife Gaynor sent us a text saying that she didnt want to learn or go to church anymore, that its just not for her. We finally saw David on friday when we tried by his house. He said that he thinks Gaynor is just in a phase thing and that she will want to start learning again haha David is so cool. He and his son Spencer came to church yesterday!! David even took some pass-along cards to give to his co-workers! When I asked him about why he took the cards, his reply was, "People at work has been asking me why I have staopped drinking tea and coffee, and I told them it was because I was getting into religion and everything." Total boss! haha David is so ready for a baptismal date!
Miracle #3 We had a new face at church today!!! Rachael came to church today and enjoyed it. Rachael is the sister of an investigator named Chris who was also suppossed to come, but was called into work. Rachael ended up knowing a couple ladies at church who she used to go to school with so that was awesome!!! Hopefully we will be able to start teaching her as well now.
Just one quick funny story before I close. Elder Ruesch and I were riding down this road on Saturday when this car goes by with a woman sticking her head out the window yelling, "Hey there gorgeous" at us. I just kinda chuckled and kept riding. I then realised that they got held up at the red light just up the road. I caught up to the car and stopped right next to it. The passenger was just a laughing as she looked over at me; I then motioned for them to roll down the window. The passenger was shaking her head no while she was getting super embarrassed, but the driver rolled down the window anyways! I said, "Hey whats up?!" and just smiled at them. Then I pulled a pass-along card out and gave it to the lady and said something clever hahahaha She was bright red in the face, it was hilarious. I said my goodbyes and road off hahahahaha Good stuff
Anyways, here is some spiritual food for the day. There is a key word that is throughout all of the Book of Mormon, that word being remember. It seems to be that everytime one nation went wicked, the Lord sent his servants to "stir the people up to rememberance." But why did He want the people to remember? I believe its because it compels oneself to become humble. Only when we are humble will the Lord make us strong. If we remember how merciful the Lord has been to us, and give Him gratitude for what we have, only then will we receive more. We must always be in a state of progression to gain entrance into the Kingdom of our God. This is why it is important to always remember.
Have a great week everyone! I hope that by some chance my words this week will compel someone to look for miracles that are occuring in their life. Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, June 6, 2011
Ups and Downs
Hey everyone! You alright?
So my mind cannot wrap around the fact that it is already June 6th. Time is flying by quickly!! crazyness...
This week was one filled with ups and downs. I will start off with the bad news first. So does everyone remember Anthony? Well he was like our most solid friend whom we were teaching; he was dead set on being baptised and had received a spiritual witness that the church is true. He recently sent us a text at the beginning of the week saying that he doesnt want us to call him at all and that hes leaving the church. Last monday we had a really good lesson with him about the Atonement and how he can sow up and wound that we have from sin. He understood it, but still wanted to rely somewhat on science. After having the spirit of discernment with us, we taught to his needs and eventually he confessed to breaking a commandment. He has been struggling with a specific commandment all his life and Satan had a strong hold on his life. With the help of the gospel though, that grip lessened quite quickly; it was a miracle if ive ever seen one! Well, Anthony slipped the week before and hadent been reading his scriptures and praying every day. He allowed Satan to open the door once again, but this time, we caught him before he wrapped his filthy hands on our friend. After our lesson, Anthony was back to his normal self, testifying that the gospel is true and that he is nothing without it. He felt the spirit and we could see it in him once again. All was good when we left, or so we thought. Thats when we got the text message from him the next day. I tell you what, my companion and I had our hearts drop, but it didnt hurt ironically. We talked about it and both of us had the feeling that it wasnt over with Anthony. This text message was too sudden and wasnt like him. We looked to our mission president for counsel and he told us to leave Anthony alone for a bit, he has his agency and he knows where the church is in case he wants to come back. All he told us to do is write our testimonies and slip them through his mail slot. Thats all we can do. Im just praying for the best to happen. Its not over though...
Everyone else is doing well. David had surgery this week so they werent able to make it to church. Kieron and Keely are doing really well! We had a couple of spiritual lessons with them this week and they want it. When it came down to Sunday though, they sent us a text saying that Kieron was sick so they couldnt make it to church. Lame huh? Once again though its their agency. aghhhhh haha Such is life. I just recently heard that phrase so its my new favourite one to use haha Anyways, so yeah it was a bummer to have no investigators at church, but we had 7 returning members come so that was a blessing!
One cool thing that is happening in the Europe Area that has been set forth by the Area Presidency is a special June fast. Yesterday, we all fasted our voice of warning and testimony to be heard among all who live in Europe. We fasted for those who have not been introduced to the true gospel or who have fallen away, that they would come back. A challenge was set forth to every member to bring one new face to church every Sunday in the month of June. Im pretty excited about this! I have faith that it will bring many miracles to Europe. Many amazing teaching opportunities will arise is response to this challenege given us by General Authorities!!!
I learned something cool this week in personal study that I want to share with everyone! I think that Ether 12 is my new favourite chapter ever haha I want to specifically pay attention to verse 7. Moroni is talking about how because of faith, Christ has shown himself to many. He has stretched forth his hand because some one had faith. It made me think of dispensations and what constitutes a new one to begin. Its because at least one person has exceeding faith in Christ to the point that this one small voice will be heard among many people. I know that in these last days, that one small voice was Joseph Smith, who from humble beginnings, has brought forth the restoration of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Also that through faith, we may be partakers of the heavenly gift that our Saviour has offered us thorugh his Atonement. I know these things to be true. I challenege everyone to read this chapter in their own time and think about how they can increase their faith! :)
Love you all and best wishes for a great week!
So my mind cannot wrap around the fact that it is already June 6th. Time is flying by quickly!! crazyness...
This week was one filled with ups and downs. I will start off with the bad news first. So does everyone remember Anthony? Well he was like our most solid friend whom we were teaching; he was dead set on being baptised and had received a spiritual witness that the church is true. He recently sent us a text at the beginning of the week saying that he doesnt want us to call him at all and that hes leaving the church. Last monday we had a really good lesson with him about the Atonement and how he can sow up and wound that we have from sin. He understood it, but still wanted to rely somewhat on science. After having the spirit of discernment with us, we taught to his needs and eventually he confessed to breaking a commandment. He has been struggling with a specific commandment all his life and Satan had a strong hold on his life. With the help of the gospel though, that grip lessened quite quickly; it was a miracle if ive ever seen one! Well, Anthony slipped the week before and hadent been reading his scriptures and praying every day. He allowed Satan to open the door once again, but this time, we caught him before he wrapped his filthy hands on our friend. After our lesson, Anthony was back to his normal self, testifying that the gospel is true and that he is nothing without it. He felt the spirit and we could see it in him once again. All was good when we left, or so we thought. Thats when we got the text message from him the next day. I tell you what, my companion and I had our hearts drop, but it didnt hurt ironically. We talked about it and both of us had the feeling that it wasnt over with Anthony. This text message was too sudden and wasnt like him. We looked to our mission president for counsel and he told us to leave Anthony alone for a bit, he has his agency and he knows where the church is in case he wants to come back. All he told us to do is write our testimonies and slip them through his mail slot. Thats all we can do. Im just praying for the best to happen. Its not over though...
Everyone else is doing well. David had surgery this week so they werent able to make it to church. Kieron and Keely are doing really well! We had a couple of spiritual lessons with them this week and they want it. When it came down to Sunday though, they sent us a text saying that Kieron was sick so they couldnt make it to church. Lame huh? Once again though its their agency. aghhhhh haha Such is life. I just recently heard that phrase so its my new favourite one to use haha Anyways, so yeah it was a bummer to have no investigators at church, but we had 7 returning members come so that was a blessing!
One cool thing that is happening in the Europe Area that has been set forth by the Area Presidency is a special June fast. Yesterday, we all fasted our voice of warning and testimony to be heard among all who live in Europe. We fasted for those who have not been introduced to the true gospel or who have fallen away, that they would come back. A challenge was set forth to every member to bring one new face to church every Sunday in the month of June. Im pretty excited about this! I have faith that it will bring many miracles to Europe. Many amazing teaching opportunities will arise is response to this challenege given us by General Authorities!!!
I learned something cool this week in personal study that I want to share with everyone! I think that Ether 12 is my new favourite chapter ever haha I want to specifically pay attention to verse 7. Moroni is talking about how because of faith, Christ has shown himself to many. He has stretched forth his hand because some one had faith. It made me think of dispensations and what constitutes a new one to begin. Its because at least one person has exceeding faith in Christ to the point that this one small voice will be heard among many people. I know that in these last days, that one small voice was Joseph Smith, who from humble beginnings, has brought forth the restoration of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Also that through faith, we may be partakers of the heavenly gift that our Saviour has offered us thorugh his Atonement. I know these things to be true. I challenege everyone to read this chapter in their own time and think about how they can increase their faith! :)
Love you all and best wishes for a great week!
Happy Birthday Dad!
So I wanted to start off my email by giving my dad a shoutout saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Sorry its one day late haha I hope it was a good one :)
This past week has been a really good one! Everybody we are teachig is still progressing really smoothly. Blessings! haha One cool thing we did this wee is teach the Faith in God kids (8yrs old and up) how to play baseball! That was super fun! And best of all, David and Gaynor brought their son Spencer! SO that was some sweet fellowship, even though Gaynor got hit in the face ahahaha But good news is that she didnt get a black eye! haha She was cool with the whole thing anyways. We have had a couple good lessons with them this week that has shown some progress! Of course David is full throttle with everything its Gaynor that is having a hard time with it all. We are teaching simple, but strong lessongs about the family and how the gospel blesses them. They are praying as a family and reading the scriptures together so thats cool! Ohhhh, and David said the closing prayer a couple days ago!!! Just brilliant! They have been coming to church the past few weeks so they are doing solid right now. Hopefully we can commit them to be baptised soon.
Another family we are woprking with is Kieron and Keely. They are doing well also! We had a great lesson with them the other day, talking about what they want in life and if we can help, or really if they want our help. They really want a fresh start in life and to have their baby girl growing up ion the proper home. Along with many other people in England, Kieron is struggling to find a job. We shared some scritptures that helped him see that God will help him if he turns to him. He is reaing the Book of Mormon like crazy! Hes a cool guy who wants the best for his family, and the gospel can give them that. We plan on teaching them the Plan of Happiness this week so they can really see how their family can be together forever. The gospel is so powerful to the hearts of men.
Anthony is doing really well! He had some trials this week with receiving a blessing from God, and then loosing it. He got a job, but just didnt perform to his potential. He fell ill his first night on the job and ended up loosing it. When we met up with the the following day, he told us that he thinks it was just a test from God to see how commited he is to the gospel. Anthony told us that this trial did not shake his faith at all! He is totally ready for his baptism in June! He just needs to be interviewed by our mision president one more time.
This past weekend we had stake conference, which was actually a mulit-stake conference for the whole of Uk and Ireland. It was broadcasted via satellite from Salt Lake. The speakers were Elder Kearon of the 70, Sis Thompson from the presidence of the Relief Society Elder L. Tom Perry from the 12 and President Monson! They mainly talked about reaching out to those who are lost. That our duty as members is to be a rescuer. If we magnify our callings we will receive great blessings. We need to have the faith to know that we will recognise those who need rescuing. It was a brilliant conference that really boosted everyones desire to do missionary work for everyone! We should never give up because people can change. It was so spiritually feeding; it was amazing.
I just encourage everyone to reach out to one pariticualr person who has been on their mind for a while, and help them. I know that the Saviour's love is real.
I hope everyone has a wondefrful week!
-Elder Jaquish
This past week has been a really good one! Everybody we are teachig is still progressing really smoothly. Blessings! haha One cool thing we did this wee is teach the Faith in God kids (8yrs old and up) how to play baseball! That was super fun! And best of all, David and Gaynor brought their son Spencer! SO that was some sweet fellowship, even though Gaynor got hit in the face ahahaha But good news is that she didnt get a black eye! haha She was cool with the whole thing anyways. We have had a couple good lessons with them this week that has shown some progress! Of course David is full throttle with everything its Gaynor that is having a hard time with it all. We are teaching simple, but strong lessongs about the family and how the gospel blesses them. They are praying as a family and reading the scriptures together so thats cool! Ohhhh, and David said the closing prayer a couple days ago!!! Just brilliant! They have been coming to church the past few weeks so they are doing solid right now. Hopefully we can commit them to be baptised soon.
Another family we are woprking with is Kieron and Keely. They are doing well also! We had a great lesson with them the other day, talking about what they want in life and if we can help, or really if they want our help. They really want a fresh start in life and to have their baby girl growing up ion the proper home. Along with many other people in England, Kieron is struggling to find a job. We shared some scritptures that helped him see that God will help him if he turns to him. He is reaing the Book of Mormon like crazy! Hes a cool guy who wants the best for his family, and the gospel can give them that. We plan on teaching them the Plan of Happiness this week so they can really see how their family can be together forever. The gospel is so powerful to the hearts of men.
Anthony is doing really well! He had some trials this week with receiving a blessing from God, and then loosing it. He got a job, but just didnt perform to his potential. He fell ill his first night on the job and ended up loosing it. When we met up with the the following day, he told us that he thinks it was just a test from God to see how commited he is to the gospel. Anthony told us that this trial did not shake his faith at all! He is totally ready for his baptism in June! He just needs to be interviewed by our mision president one more time.
This past weekend we had stake conference, which was actually a mulit-stake conference for the whole of Uk and Ireland. It was broadcasted via satellite from Salt Lake. The speakers were Elder Kearon of the 70, Sis Thompson from the presidence of the Relief Society Elder L. Tom Perry from the 12 and President Monson! They mainly talked about reaching out to those who are lost. That our duty as members is to be a rescuer. If we magnify our callings we will receive great blessings. We need to have the faith to know that we will recognise those who need rescuing. It was a brilliant conference that really boosted everyones desire to do missionary work for everyone! We should never give up because people can change. It was so spiritually feeding; it was amazing.
I just encourage everyone to reach out to one pariticualr person who has been on their mind for a while, and help them. I know that the Saviour's love is real.
I hope everyone has a wondefrful week!
-Elder Jaquish
People Watching!
Good morning!!
Just to start off my email, I want to tell yall about something funny that just happened here in the library...These women came in here talking really loud and joking and laughing with each other, juts being loud. This older gentleman said something to the effect of asking them if they would be quiet because he was studying. They just brushed his plea off and laughed. Then these two guys started pretty much telling the girls off for being rude! hahaha If was so funny! I love easedropping (sp?). It brings me back to the days of people watching at BYU. Hmmmm, Im a creep hahahah jk
Anyways! This past week has been amazing! We have had some wonderful lesson with some good friends. The first one was with a family. The husband and wife names are David and Gaynor. They have a young 5 yr old boy named Spencer who is the man! haha David had a baptismal date, but wasnt able to keep it because he was just too busy with work and we couldnt visit with them hardly. Well we finally got to have a lesson with just Gaynor on tuesday. We talked mainly about families and how they can be blessed through the Gospel of Christ. We shared with her "The Family: A Proclamtion to the World." She really liked it and enjoyed our visit. Then we were able to see them again, the whole family this time, on saturday. We pretty much did an overview of the Resortation and answered some questions they had. It went really well! We invited them to come to church, of which they were a little not sure about it. But I can tell you right now that miracles happen!! The whole family came to church for all 3 hours of church! And they enjoyed it! We even went over to their house last night and taught a lesson on top of that! They were excited about us coming over! We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and watched a DVD with them about the life of Christ. Everything went so well! The spirit was supper strong. They have some great potential to be baptised within the coming weeks! It is just up to the Lord what happens as long as we work our hardest!
Another sweet experience that happened this week involved Anthony, our most solid investigator with a baptismal date. He just moved house and we were able to help him along with some members from the ward. Anthony has really made friends with the Siswick family; they usually take him to church. Well when brother Siswick was helping with the move, Anthony asked him if he would baptise him!!!! And the best part is that we have been trying to get Anthony to be baptised earlier than planned because of his giant progress and he prayed about it and got his answer! He will be baptised a week earlier making the date June 18th! Exciting huh?!?! On Sunday, he asked us if we would give him a blessing of comfort to resist temptation from Satan because he really wants to be baptised! He asked me to give the blessing and boy was the spirit strong! I could felt the Lord speaking through me. It was awesome :)
We have another cool young family that we are teaching right now as well! Their names are Kieron and Keely. We have been having some really spiritual lessons with Kieron and we have even invited him to be baptised! He really wants to be baptised, so we told him to pray about June 18th and see if Heavenly Father wants him to be baptised then. He was supposed to come to church yesterday, but never showed up. I just think they slept in and were slightly lazy hahaha Its all good though!
My spiritual thought for this week will go along with all the storied I have mentioned in this email. The scripture is found in Mormon 9:19-20. This is a legendary chapter so everyone should read it! haha But these specific verses refer to miracles and why lots of people say that there are none in todays world. I can tell you right now that there are miracles happeneing all around us! You have just read about 3 that are happening here in Tamworth. God is an unchangleable being. He has alwaysed performed miracles, therefore, he still does perform them today! We just have to be believing, doubting nothing. If we have faith, we can see miracles, or ever be a part of one! It is because of our unbelief that we dont receive these special blessings. Trust in the God that you know and love, for he truly is an unchangeable person! He loves us all and will continue to bless us, if we just have faith. I know this is true.
I hope everyone has a brilliant week! Take care :)
Just to start off my email, I want to tell yall about something funny that just happened here in the library...These women came in here talking really loud and joking and laughing with each other, juts being loud. This older gentleman said something to the effect of asking them if they would be quiet because he was studying. They just brushed his plea off and laughed. Then these two guys started pretty much telling the girls off for being rude! hahaha If was so funny! I love easedropping (sp?). It brings me back to the days of people watching at BYU. Hmmmm, Im a creep hahahah jk
Anyways! This past week has been amazing! We have had some wonderful lesson with some good friends. The first one was with a family. The husband and wife names are David and Gaynor. They have a young 5 yr old boy named Spencer who is the man! haha David had a baptismal date, but wasnt able to keep it because he was just too busy with work and we couldnt visit with them hardly. Well we finally got to have a lesson with just Gaynor on tuesday. We talked mainly about families and how they can be blessed through the Gospel of Christ. We shared with her "The Family: A Proclamtion to the World." She really liked it and enjoyed our visit. Then we were able to see them again, the whole family this time, on saturday. We pretty much did an overview of the Resortation and answered some questions they had. It went really well! We invited them to come to church, of which they were a little not sure about it. But I can tell you right now that miracles happen!! The whole family came to church for all 3 hours of church! And they enjoyed it! We even went over to their house last night and taught a lesson on top of that! They were excited about us coming over! We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and watched a DVD with them about the life of Christ. Everything went so well! The spirit was supper strong. They have some great potential to be baptised within the coming weeks! It is just up to the Lord what happens as long as we work our hardest!
Another sweet experience that happened this week involved Anthony, our most solid investigator with a baptismal date. He just moved house and we were able to help him along with some members from the ward. Anthony has really made friends with the Siswick family; they usually take him to church. Well when brother Siswick was helping with the move, Anthony asked him if he would baptise him!!!! And the best part is that we have been trying to get Anthony to be baptised earlier than planned because of his giant progress and he prayed about it and got his answer! He will be baptised a week earlier making the date June 18th! Exciting huh?!?! On Sunday, he asked us if we would give him a blessing of comfort to resist temptation from Satan because he really wants to be baptised! He asked me to give the blessing and boy was the spirit strong! I could felt the Lord speaking through me. It was awesome :)
We have another cool young family that we are teaching right now as well! Their names are Kieron and Keely. We have been having some really spiritual lessons with Kieron and we have even invited him to be baptised! He really wants to be baptised, so we told him to pray about June 18th and see if Heavenly Father wants him to be baptised then. He was supposed to come to church yesterday, but never showed up. I just think they slept in and were slightly lazy hahaha Its all good though!
My spiritual thought for this week will go along with all the storied I have mentioned in this email. The scripture is found in Mormon 9:19-20. This is a legendary chapter so everyone should read it! haha But these specific verses refer to miracles and why lots of people say that there are none in todays world. I can tell you right now that there are miracles happeneing all around us! You have just read about 3 that are happening here in Tamworth. God is an unchangleable being. He has alwaysed performed miracles, therefore, he still does perform them today! We just have to be believing, doubting nothing. If we have faith, we can see miracles, or ever be a part of one! It is because of our unbelief that we dont receive these special blessings. Trust in the God that you know and love, for he truly is an unchangeable person! He loves us all and will continue to bless us, if we just have faith. I know this is true.
I hope everyone has a brilliant week! Take care :)
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