Top of the mornin all!! haha
This past week has been a crazy/brilliant/successful one! Best of all...its finally summer weather!!!!!! jk that's not the best of all, but it's ranking high in my books right now. Its funny how the weather truly does affect people's moods. Especially here in England for some reason.
Anywaysss...first off, I will talk about Steven's progress. He accepted a baptismal date for the 25th August!!! The lesson we had when he accepted the date was too legit. We gave him a tour of the chapel and finished up at the baptismal font. We then watched the Restoration DVD in the font area and spoke about how he feels about everything. He said that he had prayed that morning about baptism and that he hadn't gotten an answer yet. Well, after the DVD he got his answer!!! He said about how he felt this was the true church and that he couldn't be baptised in any other one! SHWEET! He came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. He was even giving good input in all the classes!
On Tuesday we had the opportunity to do a service project with the rest of the missionaries in the District. We went and helped Liz out some more and boy did we get work done! There were 7 of us working on her garden/painting her fence! We filled up the skip in no time! There is still quite a lot of ivy left to be taken care of and a few trees/ but we ran out of room to put it in the skip. Brother Tong said that when he gets back from his holiday he will take it all to his allotment and burn the rest. It was just fun to work as a district to help someone in need. This time, though, I didn't get smacked in the face again by a thorn bush hahaha
We had a special dinner appointment with the Garner family on Wednesday. They initially wanted us to come for dinner because they had been watching the Preach My Gospel DVDs and had a question for us about one of the clips. Turns out that Sister Garner met up with an old friend of hers the week prior and spoke about the gospel. She wanted to know if we could role play with her and give her suggestions on how to invite her friends to be taught!!!!! First time EVER that a member has asked us to role play with them!! We watched that clip from the DVD that had inspired her to invite us over and talked about what was good/bad. We then role played with her and she was overcome by the spirit and started to cry tears of joy. She followed the spirit in what to say and did brilliant; we set a date for her to talk to her friend. At church, Sister Garner came up to us with a big smile on her face and said that she had spoken to her friend and that it went well!! Her friend will be going to theirs for a meal on the 18th August and Elder Patten and his new companion will be able to be there as well and hopefully invite her to take the lessons!!!
Remember me speaking about Debbie and her two children last week? Well we had out lesson with them and it went so well!!! Turns out that she only has one daughter and the other one is a son (names Megan and Jordan). The spirit definitely directed out thoughts and words and we taught them about the restoration. They had loads of 'ohhh' and 'a hah' moments. It was brilliant. Unfortunately, Debbie's two younger kids got the chicken pox, making her unable to attend church. We will see them this week though for sure!!! Good things will come from that family.
I have learned something very important this week. The lesson comes from a ward activity that we had on Friday. It was about survival and what to put into a 72hr kit. We did this fun game where we had to put 15 items in order of priority if we were to be stranded in a desert. fyi, out of the group of people who showed up, I would had been the 4th person to die hahaha But the lesson that I learned was, no matter what the ward activity is, to attend it!!! Not to demean the members here, but only 9 people showed up, including us. It hurt me to see that nobody cared too much to come to the activity, which someone took time out of their life to prepare. Ward activities are a wonderful way to fellowship with one another, which is necessary for our endurance in the gospel. So to those of you who don't really attend ward activities, change your attitude and support the ward! You will find out in the end that you had fun at the activity!!! :) I say this with much love.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
p.s. Everyone who reads this email should make my last pday a really good one and send me an email to read!!!! :))
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Monday, July 23, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
The blessings of fasting are beautiful!!
Hey everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the nice hot weather you have, while those of us in England are getting drenched with rain each day!!! hahaha Well, it was nice yesterday so I can't complain.
This past week was pretty sweet. We were able to double the number of our lessons from 9 to 18, so that was brilliant! The secret? We spent some time on Sunday after church lining up appointments for the week and getting some members out with us. We did it again yesterday, so we should see even more improvement!!
To start off today, I want to talk about a new investigator of ours called Steven. We met him on the street 2 weeks ago and gave him a Book of Mormon to read. A week later, he called us up and asked us to come around. So we saw him on Tuesday and had a wonderful lesson with him. We spoke about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. We got to know him a bit more and discussed his religious background He said that he genuinely wants to know what our beliefs are all about and if they could help him out. Bingo! haha We stated our purpose as missionaries, so now he knows what we are there for, to increase his faith and help him come closer to his Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We went back to see him on Saturday and he had read the chapter we left for him and had some questions lined up. we tried teaching him about the restoration and Joseph Smith, but he kept going off track haha We got to the point of teaching about the role of a prophet. We then spoke about prayer, because that's the subject he brought up. We taught about how the spirit will answer his prayers. We invited him to be baptised, and he said that he would give some serious thought to it, that he knew it was a big commitment. Brilliant eh?! He wa gonna come to church yesterday, but we couldn't get him a lift, which he was bummed about...oh well. Next week!
The next wonderful thing that happened in the week was with a less-active member called Bro. Phillips. He has come to church that Sunday and asked us to call him to arrange an appointment. So we did, and had a great lesson with him on Tuesday! He spoke about his conversion to the gospel and how he knew that the Lord directed it. A sweet spirit always enters the room when a conversion story is told. That opened things up to us talking about why he doesn't come to church and how we can help him. He pretty much just lost the flame on the gospel burning inside his heart. We shared with him the parable of the prodigals son and spoke about mercy. Bro Phillips said that he felt the spirit and wants us to come over again. Unfortunately, he didn't come to church yesterday, but we do have an appointment with him for Thursday.
Wednesday we had interviews with Pres. Rasmussen. I'm not gonna lie, it was weird. The whole 10 minute experience was spent talking about my family and my plans for going home haha I love Pres. Rasmussen. He is a loving guy and I'm bummed that I only have these 6 short weeks with him. He told me that he was grateful for my service in the mission, which really meant a lot to me. But yeah, it was weird/really good.
Another new investigator that we got was the husband of one of our investigators named Anita. We taught her about the restoration and her husband, Frank, sat in too! He is a staunch Irish Catholic, but we could tell he was listening. Anita is really keen on learning about the gospel and coming to church She is just really busy with her business, so we haven't been able to see her much. It was a good lesson though. Anita was listening with intent and was really concentrating on what we were teaching, all good signs!
So, amongst all of these blessings, we received even more yesterday while we were fasting. We went by this potential name Debbie to see how her Book of Mormon reading is going. She went on holiday last week and even brought the book with her! She is understanding a bit more about us now. She has all of these wonderful questions and is really golden!!! We set up an appointment with her for Thursday morning. As we were about to leave, she asked if we would mind if her 2 daughters (ages 14&12) could sit in on the lesson too, and we just got wayyy excited!!!! Blessings! Then after our dinner appointment, we were on our way to try by someone, when a member pulled over to talk to us. He had a former investigator with him too and told us that the former, Paul, had some questions for us and that he had been starting to read the scriptures again. We soon left to go to Paul's house and had a lesson! Paul is wanting to give the gospel another go and try to make it to baptism this time!!! The member, who is already best friends with Paul, bore pure testimony that the gospel would help him out and that it would be a great blessing to him! Solid! I love fasting, because it works! haha
I'll end my email this week with a funny story. So we have been doing this service project for a nonmember woman(Liz) for the past week. Liz is friends with Sis. Tong, and that's how we got the project. Bro. Tong has been helping us out a ton with it because he garden (yard) was a jungle! Well on Saturday, we were working on getting all these thorny bushes out. Bro. Tong grabbed on and tried to through it to the side, but it stuck in his glove and got his finger. He was waving his hand around and everything you do when you get pricked, while I was laughing haha He then picked up the thorny branch again, but this time it stuck to his glove and wacked my in the face! hahaha Rigth below my eye on my check it scratched me and so now the roles were reversed, I was holding my face in pain while Bro.Tong laughed hahaha To tell the truth, I was laughing pretty hard too! :D Good times.
God lives. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and can heal us of our ills in life. I know this to be true.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
This past week was pretty sweet. We were able to double the number of our lessons from 9 to 18, so that was brilliant! The secret? We spent some time on Sunday after church lining up appointments for the week and getting some members out with us. We did it again yesterday, so we should see even more improvement!!
To start off today, I want to talk about a new investigator of ours called Steven. We met him on the street 2 weeks ago and gave him a Book of Mormon to read. A week later, he called us up and asked us to come around. So we saw him on Tuesday and had a wonderful lesson with him. We spoke about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. We got to know him a bit more and discussed his religious background He said that he genuinely wants to know what our beliefs are all about and if they could help him out. Bingo! haha We stated our purpose as missionaries, so now he knows what we are there for, to increase his faith and help him come closer to his Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We went back to see him on Saturday and he had read the chapter we left for him and had some questions lined up. we tried teaching him about the restoration and Joseph Smith, but he kept going off track haha We got to the point of teaching about the role of a prophet. We then spoke about prayer, because that's the subject he brought up. We taught about how the spirit will answer his prayers. We invited him to be baptised, and he said that he would give some serious thought to it, that he knew it was a big commitment. Brilliant eh?! He wa gonna come to church yesterday, but we couldn't get him a lift, which he was bummed about...oh well. Next week!
The next wonderful thing that happened in the week was with a less-active member called Bro. Phillips. He has come to church that Sunday and asked us to call him to arrange an appointment. So we did, and had a great lesson with him on Tuesday! He spoke about his conversion to the gospel and how he knew that the Lord directed it. A sweet spirit always enters the room when a conversion story is told. That opened things up to us talking about why he doesn't come to church and how we can help him. He pretty much just lost the flame on the gospel burning inside his heart. We shared with him the parable of the prodigals son and spoke about mercy. Bro Phillips said that he felt the spirit and wants us to come over again. Unfortunately, he didn't come to church yesterday, but we do have an appointment with him for Thursday.
Wednesday we had interviews with Pres. Rasmussen. I'm not gonna lie, it was weird. The whole 10 minute experience was spent talking about my family and my plans for going home haha I love Pres. Rasmussen. He is a loving guy and I'm bummed that I only have these 6 short weeks with him. He told me that he was grateful for my service in the mission, which really meant a lot to me. But yeah, it was weird/really good.
Another new investigator that we got was the husband of one of our investigators named Anita. We taught her about the restoration and her husband, Frank, sat in too! He is a staunch Irish Catholic, but we could tell he was listening. Anita is really keen on learning about the gospel and coming to church She is just really busy with her business, so we haven't been able to see her much. It was a good lesson though. Anita was listening with intent and was really concentrating on what we were teaching, all good signs!
So, amongst all of these blessings, we received even more yesterday while we were fasting. We went by this potential name Debbie to see how her Book of Mormon reading is going. She went on holiday last week and even brought the book with her! She is understanding a bit more about us now. She has all of these wonderful questions and is really golden!!! We set up an appointment with her for Thursday morning. As we were about to leave, she asked if we would mind if her 2 daughters (ages 14&12) could sit in on the lesson too, and we just got wayyy excited!!!! Blessings! Then after our dinner appointment, we were on our way to try by someone, when a member pulled over to talk to us. He had a former investigator with him too and told us that the former, Paul, had some questions for us and that he had been starting to read the scriptures again. We soon left to go to Paul's house and had a lesson! Paul is wanting to give the gospel another go and try to make it to baptism this time!!! The member, who is already best friends with Paul, bore pure testimony that the gospel would help him out and that it would be a great blessing to him! Solid! I love fasting, because it works! haha
I'll end my email this week with a funny story. So we have been doing this service project for a nonmember woman(Liz) for the past week. Liz is friends with Sis. Tong, and that's how we got the project. Bro. Tong has been helping us out a ton with it because he garden (yard) was a jungle! Well on Saturday, we were working on getting all these thorny bushes out. Bro. Tong grabbed on and tried to through it to the side, but it stuck in his glove and got his finger. He was waving his hand around and everything you do when you get pricked, while I was laughing haha He then picked up the thorny branch again, but this time it stuck to his glove and wacked my in the face! hahaha Rigth below my eye on my check it scratched me and so now the roles were reversed, I was holding my face in pain while Bro.Tong laughed hahaha To tell the truth, I was laughing pretty hard too! :D Good times.
God lives. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and can heal us of our ills in life. I know this to be true.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, July 9, 2012
1 month left!!! I'm not dying...just twinkling!
Hi all!!!
Whats up ducks? Funny thing, in this part of the country, they call you 'duck' instead of mate or sir or pal. I laugh every time haha its mainly old people though that say it.
This past week had been pretty good. The numbers weren't the best, but our efforts were effective!
On Tuesday, we had a brilliant lesson with Mark, a less-active we are trying to teach. He is struggling in life to find out what he wants to do and in what direction he should take it. Also, we were able to contact Amy! If you remember, she's the one that came to church randomly with her grandma a few weeks ago. It was her birthday this past week, so when we asked if she would be at church, she said that she will probably be drunk an partied out hahahaha We all laughed, she knows its not the best for her to do.
Wednesday we had the first Zone Conference with our new mission president. His name is President Rasmussen. He and his wife are from Idaho. They know Elder Patten's grandparents!!! So we got the hook-up that way ;) He is a wonderful man, and will be a fab mission pres. He spoke about how important we missionaries are and how much our work effects people daily. He spoke also about how there are people out there who REALLY need the gospel. I always think about how there are people who are ready to accept it, or who are looking for guidance in life. But when he said that people out there really need the gospel, it hit me to the core. It gave me a risen commitment to work hard and talk with everyone! One blessing that has come from this was given yesterday. We were going to try by some potentials, and I decided to ride by the street a bit to talk to this one guy. We talked about how he doesn't really know if God is there or who He is. I was able to testify that God is there and that He loves us all. Because of this love, He has a plan for us in life so that we can receive a fullness of joy. He really liked what my companion and I said and accepted a leaflet and return appointment! Isn't is cool that if we act on received revelation, the Lord will bless us?!
Oh yeah, and we had a 4th of July party! The Fisher's had us over for dinner and fed us some cook-out food! They even decorated their house an colour coordinated the food! haha Before we blessed the food, we all sang the first verse of our national anthem while their 2 little kids waved print-off American flags!!! It was so cool :)
Thursday was good! We went on exchange and Elder Wilkey came here to Cannock with me. We had two wonderful lessons with less-actives. One with Donna, we spoke about the mercy of the Atonement and how we can make it to the Celestial Kingdom even if we are living the commandments right now. If we try out best starting today, we can still get there. Our other lesson with Mick and Jean was sweet too! We spoke about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how we need to be patient with our learning. Alma speaks about it when he compares faith unto a seed. Through patient and diligent nourishing our the seed, we can grow a tree with loads of precious fruits! The spirit was strong in both lessons.
The last thing I want to speak about is our lesson with Theo and Diana on Saturday. We had Bro. Clarke come teach with us and we spoke about pre-earth life. It was cool to see Theo and Diana truly comprehended the significance of our existence before this life. We may not think about it too much, but it is vital to know that we lived before this life as spirits. It would be wonderful if you all could pray for Theo and Diana that they will receive answers to their prayers so that they will have true conversions
Follow the spirit always!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Whats up ducks? Funny thing, in this part of the country, they call you 'duck' instead of mate or sir or pal. I laugh every time haha its mainly old people though that say it.
This past week had been pretty good. The numbers weren't the best, but our efforts were effective!
On Tuesday, we had a brilliant lesson with Mark, a less-active we are trying to teach. He is struggling in life to find out what he wants to do and in what direction he should take it. Also, we were able to contact Amy! If you remember, she's the one that came to church randomly with her grandma a few weeks ago. It was her birthday this past week, so when we asked if she would be at church, she said that she will probably be drunk an partied out hahahaha We all laughed, she knows its not the best for her to do.
Wednesday we had the first Zone Conference with our new mission president. His name is President Rasmussen. He and his wife are from Idaho. They know Elder Patten's grandparents!!! So we got the hook-up that way ;) He is a wonderful man, and will be a fab mission pres. He spoke about how important we missionaries are and how much our work effects people daily. He spoke also about how there are people out there who REALLY need the gospel. I always think about how there are people who are ready to accept it, or who are looking for guidance in life. But when he said that people out there really need the gospel, it hit me to the core. It gave me a risen commitment to work hard and talk with everyone! One blessing that has come from this was given yesterday. We were going to try by some potentials, and I decided to ride by the street a bit to talk to this one guy. We talked about how he doesn't really know if God is there or who He is. I was able to testify that God is there and that He loves us all. Because of this love, He has a plan for us in life so that we can receive a fullness of joy. He really liked what my companion and I said and accepted a leaflet and return appointment! Isn't is cool that if we act on received revelation, the Lord will bless us?!
Oh yeah, and we had a 4th of July party! The Fisher's had us over for dinner and fed us some cook-out food! They even decorated their house an colour coordinated the food! haha Before we blessed the food, we all sang the first verse of our national anthem while their 2 little kids waved print-off American flags!!! It was so cool :)
Thursday was good! We went on exchange and Elder Wilkey came here to Cannock with me. We had two wonderful lessons with less-actives. One with Donna, we spoke about the mercy of the Atonement and how we can make it to the Celestial Kingdom even if we are living the commandments right now. If we try out best starting today, we can still get there. Our other lesson with Mick and Jean was sweet too! We spoke about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how we need to be patient with our learning. Alma speaks about it when he compares faith unto a seed. Through patient and diligent nourishing our the seed, we can grow a tree with loads of precious fruits! The spirit was strong in both lessons.
The last thing I want to speak about is our lesson with Theo and Diana on Saturday. We had Bro. Clarke come teach with us and we spoke about pre-earth life. It was cool to see Theo and Diana truly comprehended the significance of our existence before this life. We may not think about it too much, but it is vital to know that we lived before this life as spirits. It would be wonderful if you all could pray for Theo and Diana that they will receive answers to their prayers so that they will have true conversions
Follow the spirit always!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
Monday, July 2, 2012
Its July!!!
Hiya! Hows everyone doing? The reason I didnt send out an email last week is because it was transfers. Elder Patten and I are staying together here in Cannock for my last transfer! Oh Im happy about that. I would hate to have moved haha
The past two weeks have been interesting. The first of the two was really good, but this past week was a tough one. I will give some updates on some of our investigators, talk about this new family we are teaching, and tell some funny/brilliant stories that has happened! Ready?
So, update on Theo and Diana. Two weeks ago, we taught Diana. We spoke again about how she feels about baptism. She says that she has not gotten an answer to her prayers yet. She is very open to it, but she just wants to make sure its what God wants her to do. We also spoke about church attendance. She knows the importance of church, we just wanted to check for that because they have not been the past couple weeks. She did not come to church that week, but Theo did. And it was Stake Conference, which was good. We taught Theo yesterday, after he did not come to church due to Diana being in London. We follow-up'ed on his prayers about baptism. He expressed concerns about how if he got baptised he would feel like he was leaving his extended family, who are all Baptists. He is though, willing. He knows, and expressed to us, that if Heavenly Father tells him that he needs to join the church and get baptised, that he will do it. So that was good to hear. They havent ruled it out, but they are looking for the will of God.
We are now teaching this wonderful family that live just around the corner from us! They are Paul and Kelly, and they have two children. We have been trying to get an appointment with them for ages, and we finally did 2 weeks ago. Elder Patten taught them when we were on splits and they were really receptive to the message. We went around again two Sundays ago and they are willing to learn. They listen with intent for how they can enrich their family life and be with them forever. unfortunately, we were not able to teach them last week, but they are still solid! We will hopefully read 1 Nephi 8 with them and talk about how they can reach the end goal of eternal life!
Okay, time for some cool stories! So two weeks ago, as we were biking through Chadsmoor, we saw this dog booking it down the street. I didnt know what to think, so i just watched it. Then we see this young girl running towards us with a leash and screeming bloody murder! She was crying and screaming so loud for someone to get her dog, it scared the poo out of me! haha We tried getting the dog, but it just ran away. We spent like 15 minutes looking for it, but had no luck. It was a weird experience. Story 2-We were cutting the grass of this members lawn a couple days ago in our shirt and tie just because haha While Elder Patten was cutting the grass, he hit a soft pile of poo and it flung all over his nice new white shirt!!!!!!! hahahahahaha It was so nasty. Story3- The Olympic torch went through a town in our area on Saturday morning, and so we went to see it! We had to, its a part of history haha It was cool to see the runner with the Olympic torch and fire going through the street. I took a sweet video too. haha
Spritiual timeee!!! We had Stake Conference two Sunday's ago and Elder Teixera from the Europe Area Presidency came and spoke. He talked about the parable of the Talents and the scripture in Matthew 6:19-21 We need to make sure that we are seeking after and working towards treasures in Heaven. If we do so, our hearts will be focused on the Saviour. Also, we must use the things we are given in this life to serve others. As we do this, we are thus working towards treasures in Heaven and our hearts are unified with Heavenly Father's and Jesus Christ's. I know that true happiness comes from this teaching. As we serve others and focus on things in heaven, we will gain peace and joy in this life, and in the life to come :) Let us all work for our God!
Do what is right.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish
The past two weeks have been interesting. The first of the two was really good, but this past week was a tough one. I will give some updates on some of our investigators, talk about this new family we are teaching, and tell some funny/brilliant stories that has happened! Ready?
So, update on Theo and Diana. Two weeks ago, we taught Diana. We spoke again about how she feels about baptism. She says that she has not gotten an answer to her prayers yet. She is very open to it, but she just wants to make sure its what God wants her to do. We also spoke about church attendance. She knows the importance of church, we just wanted to check for that because they have not been the past couple weeks. She did not come to church that week, but Theo did. And it was Stake Conference, which was good. We taught Theo yesterday, after he did not come to church due to Diana being in London. We follow-up'ed on his prayers about baptism. He expressed concerns about how if he got baptised he would feel like he was leaving his extended family, who are all Baptists. He is though, willing. He knows, and expressed to us, that if Heavenly Father tells him that he needs to join the church and get baptised, that he will do it. So that was good to hear. They havent ruled it out, but they are looking for the will of God.
We are now teaching this wonderful family that live just around the corner from us! They are Paul and Kelly, and they have two children. We have been trying to get an appointment with them for ages, and we finally did 2 weeks ago. Elder Patten taught them when we were on splits and they were really receptive to the message. We went around again two Sundays ago and they are willing to learn. They listen with intent for how they can enrich their family life and be with them forever. unfortunately, we were not able to teach them last week, but they are still solid! We will hopefully read 1 Nephi 8 with them and talk about how they can reach the end goal of eternal life!
Okay, time for some cool stories! So two weeks ago, as we were biking through Chadsmoor, we saw this dog booking it down the street. I didnt know what to think, so i just watched it. Then we see this young girl running towards us with a leash and screeming bloody murder! She was crying and screaming so loud for someone to get her dog, it scared the poo out of me! haha We tried getting the dog, but it just ran away. We spent like 15 minutes looking for it, but had no luck. It was a weird experience. Story 2-We were cutting the grass of this members lawn a couple days ago in our shirt and tie just because haha While Elder Patten was cutting the grass, he hit a soft pile of poo and it flung all over his nice new white shirt!!!!!!! hahahahahaha It was so nasty. Story3- The Olympic torch went through a town in our area on Saturday morning, and so we went to see it! We had to, its a part of history haha It was cool to see the runner with the Olympic torch and fire going through the street. I took a sweet video too. haha
Spritiual timeee!!! We had Stake Conference two Sunday's ago and Elder Teixera from the Europe Area Presidency came and spoke. He talked about the parable of the Talents and the scripture in Matthew 6:19-21 We need to make sure that we are seeking after and working towards treasures in Heaven. If we do so, our hearts will be focused on the Saviour. Also, we must use the things we are given in this life to serve others. As we do this, we are thus working towards treasures in Heaven and our hearts are unified with Heavenly Father's and Jesus Christ's. I know that true happiness comes from this teaching. As we serve others and focus on things in heaven, we will gain peace and joy in this life, and in the life to come :) Let us all work for our God!
Do what is right.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish