My first of "lasts"...

Ya alright me ducks?! haha

Hmmm, so this is the beginning of the end of my mission. Madness this is. It just doesn't feel like these last 2 years actually happened. It went by so quickly! I feel though that I have served to my greatest capacity. I just pray that the Lord is pleased with my work.

The past week has been intense! One of the Elder's in Lichfield had to go home for surgery, so that left the other missionary, Elder Wilkey, to be with us. We have split our time to work in both Cannock and Lichfield. We will also do the same for this week. Being in a 3-some has been so much fun! It is like ideal for me because we have been super busy so there hasn't been any temptation to waste out! Not like I would waste out anyways, but you know what I mean. We have had some pretty cool experiences in both areas, but I will only mention the ones from Cannock, to save time.

Disappointment came on Thursday at 4pm. Steven sent us a txt saying that he doesn't want us to contact him or try visiting him. We were pretty bummed, but I guess he just isn't ready. Our ward mission leader knows him from a previous job they had together and he said that sometimes Steven has days where he just flips. Hopefully he will contact us soon and ask to continue teaching him.

Wednesday we had Elder Bell with us for the day while Elder Wilkey was on exchange with Elder Hoffmann. Elder Bell recently served here in Cannock, so he was a big help in our appointments. We went to see Donna and Annieka and that went really well. We spoke about how the gospel can help them in their lives. If we believe in the Atonement of Christ, then we have the possibility of receiving promised blessings that are dear to our hearts. It was just so good to have Elder Bell, whom Donna and Annieka trust, to bear sincere testimony of the gospel. Later that evening, we taught Pawel about missionary work. Pawel is so good. He is one of the most solid recent converts I have ever met. He committed to pass out some pass-along cards to his friends and family. He knows the gospel is true and sincerely wants to share it with others.

Thursday was a wayyy sweet day too! While Elder Patten went to an appointment with a member, Elder Bell and I went finding! We spoke to this one girl who was going to help her nan and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was sweet. We will give her a call today to set up an appointment. Afterwards, we did some service for Bro. Clarke. We helped him put some pieces of plywood up in his attic so that he will be more able to walk around up there. We got paid after with some lunch! It was a fun time. Elder Wilkey came back and Elder Bell went to his area right at the time that we had to shoot off to Rugeley for an appointment with Dave and Carrie-ann. Yes, we finally got an appointment with them!!!! It had been over a month since we taught Dave and Carrie-ann. It went really well. They have just been so busy with work and all. They loved it when we would visit and promised to try and find more time to have us over. After their appointment, we had a lesson with Mick and Jean. We spoke about covenants and how we renew them when we partake of the sacrament. I feel like it went well; the spirit was there. After that we went to a birthday party!!! It was a girl in the ward's and she/her family invited us over for dinner. It was pretty fun. We cracked into a game of monopoly, but never came close to finishing haha Food interrupted that.

Friday was pretty sweet. We went to a YSA bbq with Pawel. He was able to make some new friends in the church and get introduced to the YSA program, which will really help him! So that was really fun. On the train ride home, we met some girls from California who had been touring Europe. It was so weird to hear their accents! haha I kinda hate the typical American accent now. Its gross. haha

I know that this church is true. Jesus is the Christ. Heavenly Father is very real and loves us all. I have seen so many lives touched bu His love, so many pieces of evidence that makes my testimony unshaken. I just pray that my faith will never fail. I have received so much joy from serving my Lord. I thank all of you who have supported me while I've been labouring here in England. And also, for all of you who have supported my family while I've been away. My prayers are out to you.

Godbless.
See you all soon!!!!!!!!

-Elder Jaquish

Only one more email left...what??

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!!!! :))

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

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

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

Crazy Blessing!!!!!

Hey yall! I guess I better start practising my southern accent again since my time here in England is growing short haha jk
Sorry my email will be slightly short due to a shortage of time haha

This past week was once again, brillant! Every day, it seems like, we are receiving blessing upon blessing! We met some really nice people who we have return appointments with. Also, we are still having success with our plan of trying by former investigators and knocking on the doors around them. Here is an update on the people we are teaching:

Theo and Diana: We took Bro. Mawle (WML) and taught Theo on Saturday and shared acts 19 to resolve his baptism concern. Bro. Mawle did a good job of helping Theo realise that he needs to pray and ask God what to do. Diana was in London, but Theo really enjoyed the lesson.

Jan: has been dodging us, in a way. We have tried calling him all this week and stopping by his house, and no contact. We don't know whats up. Its sad though :(

Dave and Carrie Ann: Weren't able to see them. They are just really busy! We will hopefully have a teach with them this week. Our lessons are really helping them though.

The less-active work is slowing down a bit. Some of them just don't want to progress and others are doing amazing! We are just trying to focus on finding new investigators.

Our biggest miracle for the week happened yesterday. A member called Sister England brought her granddaughter to church. Her name is Amy and she is in her 20s. She is at a point in her life right now where she needs guidance and understanding. We gave her a blessing after church and she started to cry a bit. She just looked really happy and at peace. Amy said that she will come to church next Sunday for the full 3 hours and then will decided if she wants us to teach her. I have full confidence that once again she will feel the spirit and ask us to teach her and hopefully help her towards baptism!!!! She is so cool though.

I know that this work is true. It is a privilege to be working for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us each individually.

Godbless,
-Elder Jaquish

This week was mad, or at least the weather was!

Hey everyone!

This week was mad, or at least the weather was! Yesterday it was rainy and super windy the whole day! It was so much fun haha

We continued with our finding tactics of flog 10ing formers and we had two more miracles!! We met this woman who had lost three family members since the beginning of the year and had been thinking about the after-life a lot. We shared with her a Plan of Salvation leaflet and set up a return appointment, of which she was excited to accept! As we were riding off to try by the next former, we started talking to this man who had been taught before. He talked about how he loved the church and that it helped him a lot. He told us to come visit him in the week and that he wanted to come to church again!! Within one morning, we found two people that seem pretty solid!
Jan is doing well. He is the one with a date! His father is in the hospital and so its been difficult to teach him again. He called us one day this week and told us that he had contacted his old mate who introduced him to the gospel and told him that he was getting baptised. His mate asked if he could baptise Jan and he said yes! How cool is that? Jan's mate from Newcastle-upon-thyme is gonna come down to Cannock to perform the baptism! Jan wasn't able to come to church due to his dad having to go back to the hospital.
Our other investigators are doing well. All had unfortunate reasons why they didn't come to church (work and illness).
The Lord is blessing Cannock so much right now. Elder Patten and I are trying to work hard and give all our focus to the work. Its nice when you are able to see the fruits of your labour.

We had another cool experience when we tried by this less-active couple. They are struggling with certain things and they were really nice and just opened up to us. We read from Moroni 7:11-13 and helped them realise that whatever their concerns are, they need to step back and view the situation and determine if its bringing them to Christ or not. We also have a nice prayer at the end asking Heavenly Father to bless their home with the spirit and that any bad/evil influences would be taken out. The spirit was definitely there!

I love this work so much! It brings me so much joy seeing others being blessed. I challenge each of you to go out of your way to help someone out. Then see if you are filled with the love of God!

Take care all.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Miracles

Whats up yall!

So this week was really good! We had a couple miracles that I would like to tell you about! Before I do though, I'd like to mention one thing. Weekky Planning with the APs was really good. We have been trying to pick out two formers and two potentials from the Area Book to try by and flog 10 each day, but with the help with the Elder Jean and Elder Schiller, we were able to go through a lot of the old progress records and pick out some formers who either had a baptismal date or had been to church quite a bit. With the help of the spirit guiding us, we chose about 12 people to try by.

Miracle #1 As Elder Patten and I went by this investigator that we havent been able to see for a couple weeks now, we felt impressed to flog 10 the area. As we were going to our bikes after having nobody answer their doors, we stopped to talk to this one guy. His name is Jan and he has just moved here 6 months ago from Newcastle up north. He was being taught by the missionaries up there and tried to get in contact with us down here, but the number he had was the Leeds mission office and so he couldnt find us. He asked us immediately to come and teach him this week! We set up an apointment and got his details. Unfotunately, he had to take his mom to the hospital, but left a note telling us to call him to set up anither appointment for this week. Jan was sooo excited to see us and to have us over to his home.

Miracle #2 Saturday was our first day of trying by the formers that we had picked out from Weekly Planning. We told Heavenly Father the area we were going to be in and asked Him to prepare someone there. We didnt have luck with the former, nor flog 10ing. While talking to everyone on the way to the next former, we met this woman who was waiting at a bus stop with her children. We talked about the Plan of Happiness for her family and how we can learn it from the Book of Mormon. It seemed that with ease, she accepted the book and a return appointment! Her bus came shortly thereafter, but we had just enough time to get her address and a time when we should try by and see her.

Something that I have learned this week from these two experiences is that if you plan with the spirit and ask Heavenly Father to prepare people to be in the planned areas, He will do as we humbly ask. As we show Him faith and do all we can to find them, the Lord will place the elect in our path.

I love this work with all my heart. I know that this is the Lord's work and we need to include Him in it. This past week was a testimony builder for me!
Just a quick shoutout to my dad whos birthday it is tomorrow...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

Its cookin out here this week. It will probably be the only 1-2 weeks of summer we will get haha I got this sweet tan line on my wrist from my watch haha

Gotta go for now. Have a great week everyone!
Godbless,
-Elder Jaquish

Things to see on the train....

Hiya!!

Soooo I didn't write a general email last week because it was transfer week. I "killed" Elder Siegel with some dignity left in him haha Just kidding. It was nice to go around with him and see him say goodbye to a lot of people. I really enjoyed serving with him and I learned a lot. But now he is safely back in good ole Utah. My new companion is Elder Patten. He is from St. George, Utah and has been out only 3 months. I'm his 3rd companion and he was previously in Peterborough. We have a lot of the same interests so its easy to get along with him. He is a really good missionary and works hard.

Its been quite a god week. An interesting one, at the least. So like i mentioned earlier, the beginning of the week started off slow because Elder Siegel was going home. Transfers were on Wednesday. We went to a funeral on Friday because one of the less-actives that we are working with just lost his mother, and so he asked us to come. It was a lovely service. I thought the whole time about how glad I am to have a knowledge of the plan of salvation. It was nice to feel the spirit witness that to me at the funeral service. Saturday we taught Theo. Oh yeah, we invited him and his wife, Diana, on Monday to be baptised! We followed up in our lesson on whether or not they had prayed about it. They said that they had spoken to their mothers in Ghana about it and their old pastor from London and they all said that its not necessary to be baptised twice. We explained to them about the importance of priesthood authority, but I don't think it clicked in their heads. They came to church yesterday for all 3 hours and really enjoyed it. The lesson in Gospel Principles was on prophets and so it was good that they could hear once again the importance/necessity of having a prophet on the earth. This Saturday we will teach them and help them understand more fully that baptism requires the authority of God, not just the authority of man.

Funny thing that happened on Saturday as well. We went to Rugeley for dinner and we taught a lesson to the less-active family that fed us. On the way home on the train, we sat a few rows in front of this couple who were probably in their 40s. Next thing we know they start kissing and stuff. The lady stops because she realises we can see, but the guy keeps insisting. They were being all lovey and we pretty much saw all of it. It was sooooo AWKWARD!!! Elder Patten and I just laughed and turned our heads away. Luckily ours was the next stop, so we didn't have to see any more of it.

This week we will have the privilege of having Elder Jay E. Jensen of the Seventy come and speak to our mission. I'm really looking forward to it! This will be my second General Authority coming to speak to us here in Birmingham. I know that as I pray and seek for inspiration, the Lord will reveal to me the things I need to do here in the area of which I serve. Isn't it cool that we have a line of revelation that we can tap into to seek the will of God?! I am grateful for this church and for the gospel that's in my life. I hope you all spend time reviewing the talks given in this last conference and seek for revelation for your own needs!

Take care all!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Ready to be amazed??

Hey, where did the time go? Can yall believe that its already been 21 months since i left the promised land to come to the home land?! haha Well, despite the fact of quickened time, the British Isles have treated me well thus far! This past week was smashing! Ready to be amazed??

On Tuesday, we had a wonderful lesson with one of the recent converts here. She was preparing to do baptisms for the dead and so we taught her about the temple and what sort of thing to expect. We also talked about the doctrine of doing this type of temple work and how crucial it is to our exaltation. Fast-forwarding a bit for the moment, she went to the temple in Preston on Saturday and absolutely loved it!!! She said that she felt so good going and being near to the Lord. When we went around to talk to her about her experience, she had this lightened countenance upon her face. She just looked so happy! You could definitely tell that she had been enlightened at the temple :) This whole experience made me miss going to the temple so much!!!! And the fact that my companion goes home next week and him making plans to go to the temple the day after he gets home doesn't help things either!! haha Oh well. My joy is in seeing others have joy!

Wednesday I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and got to spend some time in my old area! I was able to see the young girl I baptised there and her family! It was so special to me to see them. They are doing good. Struggling a bit, but don't we all?

Thursday was pretty good too! We found some good potentials to try by this week so that's always a plus!
Friday weekly planning was tough haha It was slightly difficult to stay focused. We go done with it all in the end. We had a lovely dinner appointment with a family that we hadn't been to in a while. Ummm, I think that's it for Friday haha

Saturday we taught a part-member (future) family. It went really well. We spoke about the purpose of life and the things that we need to do while here on this earth. We used Alma 34 to discuss the topic, which I think really helped. It explains very well the fact that we cant really do our labours after this life. Nor will our attitudes towards God and our lives change once we are on the other side. Its interesting to me that progression in the gospel on earth is easier than progression in Heaven. I suppose that's why we are always taught that faith is so powerful! Cool huh?

Sunday was brilliant!! Testimony meeting was legit. A lot of the primary/young men bore their testimonies! It brought a powerful spirit into the room. One thing that happened at church that was funny is that the usual piano player wasn't there, which pretty much leaves us with nobody else to play. This one woman got up and tried playing, but didn't really know the songs. She would only play the beginning note of each verse and some random notes throughout the hymns. I couldn't help but laugh every time I heard the piano!!! hahahaha Bless her cotton socks :)

Since its Tuesday now, I will talk about an amazing thing that happened yesterday. So one of our investigators, Theo, was only able to meet with us in the morning on Monday. Elder Siegel and I decided to sacrifice some of our pday time to teach him anyways! His wife joined in on the lesson and it went so well!!! We discussed the Restoration again and kinda talked about how she feels about faith. She feels the same was as Theo felt, too many churches nowadays are more like businesses rather than places of worship. We spoke about how Christ set up a specific Church when he was on the earth and how that same church has been restored! The spirit was definitely there. They really liked our lesson and accepted an invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon!! They are excited to come to church too!! We are seeing them again on Friday, so hopefully we can talk more with them about the restored priesthood!!

How grateful I am to the Lord that I have been blessed with the gospel. It is the source of my love, happiness, and drive. I love the Christ with all my heart and am grateful for His sacrifice. I pray that we may each understand how much the gospel affects us for the good each day :)

Also, I would to extend a congratulations out to Maria Gage on her upcoming marriage in the Temple.

-Elder Jaquish

3 months left?!?! Shocking

Hiya all!!!

I hope yall's week was as good as mine!!! Even though it rained, once again, every day this week, we had a lot of success!
Can you believe I really only have just over 3 months left?!?! Shocking.

Story #1 this week happened on Tuesday. We had a lesson with Neil and oh did it go well! We talked to him about our purpose as missionaries and how our teachings can improve the quality of his life. We spoke about how prayer can give us guidance. We talked about the restoration of the gospel and about the importance of prophet and the Priesthood. We also watched the Restoration DVD which he loved! He said he felt like Joseph, needing direction from God. He really liked the things we taught and I know that he felt the spirit. You could just see it in his eyes. We will hopefully see him tomorrow.

Story #2 So we were on exchange on Wednesday. I was here in Cannock with Elder Graydon from Northern Ireland. We went to try by this potential investigator, who ended up not being home. Instead, we decided to tract the houses next to the potential. While we were going to the next house, I saw this man walking out of his home. I started talking to him and asked him if he knew anyone who had just experience a death in their family that we could help. Turns out this guy just lost his parents and was feeling down. We got his details to go see him soon. Isn't it amazing that the spirit guided us in meeting this man. And the spirit guided me in what to say to him!!! This is the Lord's work!

Story #3 We were going to shop at Asda for food Monday evening and ran into this bloke named Theo. He is from Ghana and was speaking to us about how he was a Christian. We talked about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read 3 Nephi 11, of which he accepted. We set up an appointment to see him on Saturday. So we see him on Saturday and have an amazing lesson. He asked about why there are soooo many churches and how to tell which one is right. Perfect question for a missionary! haha We testified of the restoration and explained it in detail. He loved it. He came to church yesterday with his son and said that he liked how our church was operated :) Sweet eh?! We are going to see him on Saturday and hopefully will be able to invite him to be baptised!

Nonetheless, it was a briliant week! Elder Siegel and are are so excited about the work that's going on right now. In closing, I want to share some thoughts I received from Zone Conference this past Thursday. I felt impressed about our purpose in this life. We each, being a son or daughter of a loving Heavenly Father, have a wonderful privilege to bear testimony of God's love. We were borne to testify of Christ in our words and actions. I hope that each of us will live our lives so that we can live to testify.

Have a great week all!!!!!
Cheerio.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Hey Y'all!!

Hey yall!

I remember the first time that I tried using my southern accent to get people to talk to me in my first area... and it epically failing hahaha Now people want me to talk like a hick! I find it hilarious when people try to mimic it. Ive had a few people this week say that I sounded more english than american!! Sweet eh? haha Oh, I already had to give a talk in the ward. My second sunday in and they assign me to talk the night before because someone backed out haha I didnt mind though. It was on how understanding true doctrine will help improve attitudes and behaviour

So this past week was pretty good. It literally rained all day every day. Elder Siegel and I made good fun of it though. Very many people didn't want to talk in the rain, but we were able to still meet some cool people. We tried visiting a lot of members and other people we are working with though, just so I can know them and vice versa. We were blessed to get a new investigator this week! His name is Neil and he is the guy i spoke about a couple weeks ago who lived with mormons in Canada for a short while. So it was chuckin it down with rain and so we went around to see if he was home. By the grace of God he was home! but had only like 10 minutes to speak to us before he went to work. He got us out of the rain and we spoke to him about our purpose as missionaries. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and explain briefly its purpose, to testify of Christ and the restoration of His church. He was glad to receive the book and said we could come see him this Tuesday. Hopefully he will be really good and will progress.

The stake that I am serving in right now has made this program where each ward will have its members go out and knock on every door within their boundaries in the next 3-4 years. Cool idea huh? So we went tracting with some people from church on Saturday. I went with this brother on the Bishopric and we had a good ole time. We were able to get some sort of interest out of a few people. Its funny seeing members trying to tract because they have no idea what to do. It reminds me of when I became a missionary and was clueless on what to do also! hahaha Good times...

Ummmmm, nothing else is really going on. We are doing a lot of finding. The ward is incredible! I already have a love for the members. A lot of the returning members and recent converts are getting their Patriarchal Blessings! Good stuff. We are having Zone Conference this week so that should be exciting!

Spiritual thought timeeee!!!
So this week Ive been reading in Mormon of the Book of Mormon and this guy was legit! He did all he could to help out his kindred, but they unfortunately disobeyed God, thus, bringing upon themselves their own destruction. His soul is torn up when he ponders upon the fact that Christ came to see these people, they have had so many witnesses of God and his mercy, but they still choose to do their own thing. But, as Mormon says in chapter 6 verse 21, those who repent and come unto Christ will be forgiven and given glory and never ending happiness. Its never too late to turn to God. His power is mighty enough to save all, who just come unto Him. I am grateful for my knowledge of the gospel that brings so much direction to my life. I just wish everyone could see how vital the gospel and Jesus Christ is in receiving endless joy.

Take care all! Have a great week. Remember, it will only be great if you listen to the spirit :)
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Easter Dinner

I'm glad you had a wonderful Easter! Yes we were invited to a members
home for dinner and it was absolutely delicious!!!!! It was a pretty
good day. I'm glad you enjoyed church and that daddy liked it as well.
That's sad about the thomasville area getting closed down :( But I'm
sure the other elders will make up for the losses.

Yes I got transferred. I'm moving to Cannock with Elder Siegel! He was
trained by Elder Cadwallader as well!!! This is his last transfer so
it will be interesting. I'm excited though. Yes, i will miss Nottingham
and Elder Tulip, but I'm excited for the new experiences ahead!
Here is my new address:
37 Hodson Way
Heath Hayes, England
WS11 7ZQ

I had started this email yesterday, but didn't get to finish
it...sorry I'm in Cannock now and its sweet! We did a lot of finding
yesterday and had some really good success! In 3 hours we found 4 new
potential investigators. One of them, named Neil, saw us as he was
driving by and decided to stop to talk to us. He got out of his car
and started walking towards us with this giant smile on his face.
Turns out that he stayed in Canada for 6 weeks to coach soccer and
boarded with a member family out there! He said he loved how close the
family was and how happy everyone seemed to be. He talked to us for a
while about his experience out there and about our missions. He
invited us over for next Tuesday so that we can have a chat with him
about the church and the gospel!!! Sweet eh?

We have a pretty packed day today with a couple service opportunities
and other people we need to visit. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked
about this transfer!

On a more spiritual note, I have been really thinking about the basics
of the gospel this past week. Its interesting to me how every
principle, either big or small, can trace itself back to the simple
5-part gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endurance). And
then even those principles all relate to the Atonement of Jesus
Christ. Everything that we believe should trace back to the Saviour.
If it doesn't, its not from God. Everybody in the world needs to be
taught of the Messiah. It is only through Him and the gospel that we
can be successful in this life. I love this gospel so very much and
I'm grateful for the leaders of the church who guide us towards the
Christ.

I love gardening...

Hiya everyone

Ohhhhh buddy did you all just love conference?!?!!! Oh my goodness the spirit was so strong in each of the words the General Authorities spoke. I had the spirit witness to me that each person who spoke and is actively serving was called by God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true!! Just as Pres. Uchtdor put it, Heavenly Father is real!!!!! He lives and so does His Son. My favourite talks were Elder Scott's on revelation and Elder Oaks' on sacrifice. In order to obtain any blessing in this life, we must sacrifice something. We could sacrifice our will to keep the commmandments. Or, it could be to sacrifice a specific blessing that has been promised to us. I know that as we sacrifice and give everyting to the Lord, we will become like Him. He sacrificed all to give glory to the Father. We must also sacrifice to achieve glory. I am grateful for trials in my life that teach me and give me the chance to improve. It is such a wonderful time to be alive and to serve God. I dont think I have every felt the spirit so many times as I did while watching General Conference. I have been taught from on high :)

Other news for this week...we had a baptism!!! Lily was baptised on friday! It was a very spiritual service. It is so wonderful to see another one of Heavenly Father's children commit to live righteously! There were a lot of people that attended her baptism, which was really good because it helped her feel loads of support. We may have a couple more people with baptismal dates, but Im a little unsure because they dont completely comprehend what baptism really means. We will have to meet with them soon and see what their real desires are :)

We did a lot of service this week. We went to the horse stables once again since not being there for a month now. haha It was fun and they were so happy to see us! We also did some gardening for a single sister. She cooked us pizza and fries afterwards too!! mhmmm haha Mom, dont get any ideas about me enjoying to garden ahha

Yeah, i dont know what else to write about since I just emailed last wednesday haha So once again, if you didnt watch all sessions of conference, DO IT. If there is anything in you life that is holding you back from experiencing the joys of the gospel, "STOP IT" and then DO IT right. I promise you that as you align your life with the way that Heavenly Father advises us we should live, happiness and true joy will come your way.

Enjoy the week everyone!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Hey peoples!

Hey peoples!

Sorry I didnt write an email last week. I ran out of time/got caught
up in looking at stuff for BYU. Time is creepin up on me! haha And
this email is latter than usual because we had no time on Monday or
yesterday to log on. Monday we had our Semi-annual Mission Football
(soccer) tournament. We had a sweet team, but lost in the last game by
one goal. It was a penalty kick that they had due to me taking out
someone in the box haha It was a clean challenge on my part though. I
hit the ball first and he was off balence and when we ran in to each
other, he fell down and I stayed up hahah I had a blast the whole day
though. I tore people apart in defense hahaha

Yesterday we had interviews with President Ogden. It was my last one
before he and his wife finish their mission at the end of June. I love
them to bits and will definitely miss them. They emulate the
countanance of the Saviour big time!

Ummmm, the past week and a bit has been pretty good. We have had some
spiritual experiences with the Beardsmore family. The Lord loves them
and is really helping out their family and making them stronger in the
gospel! It has amazed me at how many different feelings of the spirit
you can have. My knowledge at how he works is increasing big time!
We have a baptism in two days!!! Lily was interviewed on Sunday and is
set for her baptism. She is such a lovely little girl.
Gareth, our neighbour who was baptised a coupe months ago, is moving
back to Derby :( He was able to get a cheaper place out there and so
he's moving today. Its good that he will be back around all his
family. It will be sad though because we wont be able to work with him
anymore since he will be out of our area.

Sorry everyone, my mind is not here right now and I cant think of what
else has happened recently. Just know that I know that Jesus Christ
lives. He suffered all that we wont have to suffer in this life. If
you need anything, prayer is key. I know that Heavenly Father answers
prayers. Sometimes its quickly, and other times it takes time. I hope
everyone pays close attention to conference this weekend. Bring a
question and it will be answered. Seek revelation from the Lord.
Joseph Smith once said, "A man is saved no faster than he gets
knowledge."

Follow the spirit in all that you do!!
Love you all!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

kids say the funniest things...

Is it just me or did this week go by fast for everyone else too??

While I was giving my district leader the numbers for the week and
talking to him about how the work went, I found myself straining to
remember what the heck we did! hahah Not good. So Im sorry if this
email is short. Its not that a lot of stuff didnt happen or that
things are going bad. In fact, its quite the opposite, it has been a
spiritually rewarding week!

So, Monday we played football! I hate how cycling makes you a terrible
runner. haha After pday, we had an FHE with our ward mission leader's
family! Their kids are crazy!! They like to fight and wrestle with us.
Their youngest child named Adam says the most random things sometimes!
Once he told us that he likes to look at the girls in pregnant ladies
magazine! hahahah He's gonna be a briliant, non-boring, missionary :)

yeahhh, I dont really wanna do a day-to-day synopsis anymore haha OH,
on Saturday Elder Tulip and i were doing some finding around the
church and guess who was also out doing work.....Jehovah's Witnesses.
They always seem to be out in the same exact location that we feel
impressed to go to. Why? I dont know haha But anyways, we talked to
this one guy who tried arguing with us how its not logical to believe
in God. He tried saying that we contradict ourselves...we sorted that
problem out. Them he tried saying that the story of Noah's Ark was
false because the flood would have destroyed all of the vegetation,
thus creating a climate wherewith Koala Bears could not live. I find
it amusuing the lengths people go to to try to prove logically that
God doesnt exist hahahaha It will never be done because Heavenly
Father is proven on a spiritual level, not a temporal one.

This week we were able to start teaching the husband of a returning
member. This man, named Drew, has been prepared his whole life to
receive the gospel. He just needs to trust in God and open his heart.
He asked for a blessing to sort of kick off his journey along the path
and I was honored to give that blessing. The spirit was strong and
Heavenly Father told Drew some things that he yearned to hear. I love
the privelage I have to hold the priesthood of God.

That pretty much sums up the week :) It was a very good one full of
spiritual experiences. I know that we have a Father in Heaven who
loves to hear from us. If we ask Him for the things that we need and
desire, in His time it will be given.

Take care all.
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Hi-up me ducks!!

hi-up me ducks!
Thats the lingo here for hey everyone! hahaha

Oh my goodness this past week and a half was brilliant!!!
We had a baptism on saturday, and I performed it! We had about 5
different missionary teams attend with investigators and a lot of the
ward came as well so it was really nice! The spirit was definitely
there!!!! Chantelle is an amazing little girl. She knows the gospel so
well! She is so innocent and soaks everything up that we teach. The
best thing though is that she doesnt take our word for it, but asks
Heavenly Father in prayer if its true. It was all her decision to be
baptised. Her sister will soon follow! Things are happening in that
family's life and the only person to credit that to is God.

I believe that there is no greater joy in life than to serve others. I
truly have felt so happy this week. I focused on others all day every
day and I have seen the blessings from God roll in to my life. We are
getting so very close to this one family in the ward and I feel the
spirit every time we go to their house. Their kids love us so much
too, its fun to play with them and see the excitement they get when
they see us hahaha We have seen a change in this family that has come
about through the spirit of the Lord. I know that each of us is a
child of heavenly parents and that we are in relation as spirit
brothers and sisters. We need to help out one another as much as
possible. I guarentee that the person who serves other throughout the
week will receive so many blessings that they will not have room to
hold them. The gospel of Jesus Christ is real and He is coming soon.
We must prepare every day for when that happens.

Ummm, so yeah, the rest of the week was sweet. We just really spent
loads of time with the people we are working with. Oh, Elder Tulip and
I are staying together for another transfer!!! That will put my time
here in Nottingham to 9 months at the end of the transfer. I am so
pleased about that. I would stay here for the rest of my mission if I
could! hahaha

My testimony this week is this. God still speaks to us today. He will
reveal His will to us if we ask, and then work. So many times this
week I felt the Lord tell me and my companion so many different things
for the benefit of others. We, having cleansed ourselves first, are
receiving revelation straight from God. How cool is that?!?! Its a
good feeling.

I hope that you all have a great week and search out opportunities to
serve! You will be happier! haha

Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Love and Unity

Good morning all!!

This week was bomb!!! Yesterday we had Stake Conference and it was
focused on love and unity. The talks were amazing and I felt the
spirit in rich abundance!! I learned that whatever we do, it will
effect someone. The smallest thing can create a huge effect in
someones life, so we as missionaries should always be a good example
of the Saviour in ALL that we do. I guess that can be applied to
members as well. Nowadays, people will become converted by the way we
live our lives and the spirit they feel from our examples. We had 2
investigators and 13 less-actives come to conference too!!!!! The
Stake President mad a huge effort to get 1000 people at conference and
I think we may have well hit the goal!! Miracles happen when we give a
little effort.

The sweetest blessing I got this week was a referral from a member.
They have this woman who lives around the corner from them who has
been asking a lot of questions about the church and stuff and they
told her about us. Well it turns out that this woman is from North
Carolina and has been living here for about 2 years; she married an
englishman. We called her on Tuesday and the first this she did was
invite us over for dinner on Sunday!! She asked what I wanted and the
only thing that came to my mind was sweet potato casserole! hahah
Well, she made some for me :) And we also had beef stew with Texas
Pete from Winston-Salem and pound cake for dessert! :) Oh my goodness
it was amazing!!!! She had some friends over as well who are from
Oregon. I think my companion felt a little awkward being around so
many Americans hahaha I loved it. We were able to teach them about
Jospeh Smith and the restoartion. They are all strong Christians and
were pretty interested in our message, but I think they were a little
hesitant to believe it was true. We invited them to read and pray
about the Book of Mormon and they accepted. I know what if they do
this with a sincere heart, God will answer them and they will find out
the truth.

The rest of the week was pretty good too! We helped someone move in,
we were able to teach our friends with baptismal dates for the 3rd of
March; they are doing well. And yeah, it just seems like it was a busy
week. Tomorrow we are going to Birmingham for a Zone Conference and
its gonna be amazing! Im so looking forward to that.

The Lord is blessing us with so many tender mercies right now. I feel
grateful to being able to witness so many of God's children being
blessed. I know that He loves us so dearly and knows our specific
needs. He is the creator of all and come perform miracles if He wants;
and He does, we just need to look out for them. I love the people here
and I love this country. The mission is awesome and is teaching me so
many wonderful lessons and principles to live by in the future.

I hope everyone has a brilliant week!! Look for miracles and record
them in your journal!

Godbless.
Elder Jaquish

6 months left...huh?

Hey everyone.
So I had a nice email all typed up and was about to send it, when I
clicked the wrong button and deleted it all. So gay. So itf this is
short, sorry.

The Lord blessed us so much this week. I think my companion and I are
approaching the Father right because so many people that we are
working with have been blessed.

First off, Gareth was baptised!!! Elder Tulip baptised him and I
confirmed him yesterday. One of the most spiritual meetings ever in my
life. It was powerful! Half the ward came to the baptism too, so the
love in that building was strong. Gareth's mom came to church and
loved it! When they went home, Gareth said that when they got back to
his place his mum went straight to the Book of Mormon and started
flicking through its pages. She wants to come to Stake Conference this
weekend as well so thats sweet!! My joy is full right now in the Lord.
Im grateful that he blessed us with finding Gareth. We became like
brothers and so it was a wonderful experience seeing him get baptised.
He is going to be a strong member of the church!

Secondly, we had some other investigators come to the baptism and they
felt the spirit as well! Two of them told us last night when we went
to visit that they want to get baptised now too. They said it just was
powerful seeing Gareth getting it done. So that is another wonderful
blessing from the Lord.

Thirdly, we visited this family from the church who have been
struggling recently. We got to know them better and talked about the
basics of the gospel. The spirit was so strong in their house. It
reassured them that Heavenly Father cared about them and that all will
be well. The spirit was a unique feeling too, it was lovely. The Lord
has something is store for this family.

So yeah, I am tired. The work of the Lord is hard. The spirit drains
you hardcore haha Its such a good feeling.

Funny story, I tried giving this guy a pass-along card one day and he
had the worse hand-eye coordination ever. On the third time of trying
to take the card, he hit it to the ground. As I was pulling put
another card, he started to walk away mumbling something. But his son
took the card like a champ hahaha I love the English people :) I truly
do though.

I hope everyone works hard at REMEMBERING the Lord and all that he has
done for us. That is how we will receive more of His spirit. And also,
it will keep us from get confused in a "mist of darkness" :) Love you
all!!!

Godbless.
Elder Jaquish

First things first...IT SNOWED!!!!!!

Hey everyone!!!

First things first...IT SNOWED!!!!!! Yes, we got about 5 inches on
Saturday evening into the night! We were up at out Ward Mission
Leaders home for dinner when it was snowing and so we had a snowball
fight with his kids hahaha So sick. We ended up having to walk home
after sitting in traffic for 20 mintues and didnt end up getting in
till 1030pm hahaha Well, we were messing about on the way home and
also helping cars get unstuck from the snow hahaha So that was fun.
Its pretty much all melted away now :(

The week was pretty good. We didnt get as much done as we had hoped
to, which was lame. I think we may have lost focus just because things
werent going well and then we kept getting in late and so we didnt
plan. Also, we had to go to the medical centre for my companion,
nothing serious. Had to take 2 buses to get there and 2 hours and £7
later the doctor told him that she didnt know what was wrong with him
hahahaa just silly. I laughed pretty hard.

Garreth is doing well! He will be getting baptised this Saturday!!!!!
So excited for him. I think he is even more excited hahaha He always
talks about it when we are with him. It has been such a blessing
teaching our next door neightbour! The spirit has been upon him and he
has easily accepted pretty much everyting right away that we have
taught him. I love teaching, especially by the spirit.

Ummmm, Service is going well, didnt have to shovel so much poo this
week hahah The poeple we work with there love us. Its fun to do
service there. Most of the time we are there they ask us a gospel
related question so we get to teach even in that atmosphere!

We had an amazing lesson with a less-active member this week. His name
is Owen and his wife is strong in the gospel and goes to church every
week with their 2 kids, but Owen is slacking a bit haha We watcher the
video about the life of President Monson and he loved it! He started
to cry from the overwhelming feeling of the spirit he got. It was a
tender mercy from the Lord to have that experience with Owen.

So thats pretty much the week, or at least all the exciting stuff I
can think of! haha I love this work and I know its true! Nothing in
the world will ever be able to stop it again! Throughout this week, I
encourage all of you to think of how important it is to have a living
prophet on the earth and think of ways that you can improve in
following his counsel. Much love.

Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

Sign of the times!

Hey yall!!

I think its a sign of the times happening right now be cause time is flying by without me even recognising it!!! Mad it is.
So this week was pretty good. We had to spend a bit of time stuck in the flat though because my companion was ill. Oh well, we made the time we had working effective!

So our friend Garreth is still doing very well! He has been busy with his business this past week so we didn't have too much time to teach him. He came to church on Sunday though and once again loved it! His testimony is growing ever so much now. The stresses of running a business got to him and his mind was pretty much blown from stress. We gave him a blessing and immediately he felt peace. It was the most amazing thing ever for him. I felt the spirit so strongly. Garreth said that he knows that God's power is real. He has a testimony of the Priesthood now, so thats pretty sweet!

Another blessing from this week...The week was kinda going slow and it seemed like nothing was happening and right before we were going to bed one night, we got a phone call from one of the assistants to President Ogden. AP Tonga told us that he has a golden referral for us, so we got way excited! Turns out that this member from LA posted a video of Elder Holland on his facebook and one of this guys friends watched it and felt the spirit. He emailed his member friend and pretty much told him he wanted top learn more about the church, so this member calls our mission office directly to give us the details of this referral! The guy's name is Craig and he is South African!! Sweet eh? We got in touvh with him and will hopefully start teaching him tonight!!! What a brilliant blessing from the Lord. He knows what we need and if our desires are right or not! He will bless us if we ask!

I cant think of anything else that was exciting haha We found a couple new potential investigators to try by this week, so that's great. Ummm, I am beginning to be an expert on fixing racer bikes ahhaha....i wish it would snow but the sky is refusing me! I love this country and the people in it. Congrats on your mission call Heidi!!! Yeah...cant think of anything else haha Sorry. I will make sure I have a good story to tell next Monday! Ill do something funny :P

There is a sweet quote that my district leader said last week that I believe is a good principle to live our lives by. "Give the Lord time to work with you." Amen!
Love you all!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish

DO MISSIONARY WORK!!! :)

Hey everyone!!

Ahh, so this week was transfers and the call came for me to stay with Elder Tulip for another transfer! Im so happy to be staying here. I feel like there is so much more for me to learn from my companion and more work for me to do here on the area!!The most recent blessings was given to us only by Heavenly Father. I dont think we really did anything extra to deserve it, other than prayer. Our next door neighbour moved into the house a couple months ago and we always say hi to him every now and then. One night last week we got to talking to him about life. He said that he is just stressed out and isnt happy. We talked to him about what we did as missionaries and how what we share can improve his life. Turns out that one of his ex-partners was a Mormon, but didnt live the standards. So his knowledge of our beliefs were basic. We went around and taught him the next night about the Saviour and how we can come
unto Him and and be released of all our worries. He asked us what he would need to do to be baptised. We looked at each other, then looked at him with a huge smile!! We were like, ummmm, so we will teach you everything you need to know and you will be ready for the date of 11 Feb. 2012 and he accepted!!! So sweet huh??? So yeah, thats the latest
with the work of progressing investigators. Our other investigators arent really moving forward, so we are giving them a short break. One other cool thing that happened this week is that I got a new bike!!! Well, used bike. Its a Peugot racer road bike and its flippin sweet! £89 and £50 of that I got from selling one of my bikes. Oh yeah.
Well my time has run out because I got caught up in doing others things haha So have a good week everyone and DO MISSIONARY WORK!!! :)

Godbless,
Elder Jaquish

Rainy Days...

Hey guys. I hope you all had a fun New Years!! Mine was pretty uneventful haha I wasn't really expecting much anyways, being a missionary and all haha

Man, it seems like the weeks that you feel like you didn't work as hard are the weeks that you receive the most blessings. The lord really does strengthen us in our weaknesses. Elder Tulip was sick on Tuesday so we stayed inside all day.
Wednesday we went to a Zone Meeting with the missionaries in our zone. We talked about how we need to allow the spirit to take over the lessons and and not be afraid of the silent moments cause that's when the spirit works and speaks to the person's soul. Then they did a role play about how investigators sometimes find us weird and so they may think that the rest of the members are weird haha So they stressed the importance of having members come teach with us and to have the member extend the commitment of church. It was cool. The mini district meeting we had was better though! We talked about how, why, and the blessings of church attendance. We role-played and I got some great ideas from the spirit on how to help our investigators attend church. We were extremely blessed to have 3 investigators and 7 less-active members at church!
Thursday was crazy! We had strong winds and random rain storms that were fun to be in hahaha We did service at the horse stables and got to shovel some more poo haha Always a fun activity...not! lol Then we went to the McDermotts for dinner, except they forgot we were coming and just ordered some chinese. Mhmmm. Just James was there and we had a cool spiritual thought on Mosiah 2:41 and how the gospel and being obedient to the commandments will bring us the most happiness in life. We will be blessed in all things by doing this small and simple things. We also showed him some pictures of the temple which he found amazing. Hopefully the spirit touched his heart when he saw the temples and how beautiful and sacred they are.
Friday was sweet! Some members from Leicester that Elder Tulip worked with came over to visit and took us out to eat! Their family is soooo funny! We were laughing like the whole time at dinner, Also, this family are big Uno fans so we played at the restaurant! hahah Sweet huh?
Saturday cleaned the chapel and had a great lesson with the Hulse's. We had a way spiritual lesson with them about the Atonement. We talked about how the Saviour suffered for everyone, whether or not they accept the gospel. We should partake of the blessings available to us because He has already suffered. The kids who are investigating found it really heartfelt. We also talked about the Tree of Life and how us missionaries are guides to those who want to make it to the Iron Rod and ultimately to the tree! It was awesome. I know the spirit was there.

So that was pretty much my week! We are still trying to find those who are willing to listen to us and give some time to God. It just seems like everybody has turned their back on Him. My advice for this week is to study the Tree of Life (1 Nephi 8) and ask for revelation on how we can help others come on the path.

Godbless.
Elder Jaquish

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Yeah, its boring as a missionary. We went to bed pretty early haha Someone showed us what the celebration was like in London and dang! it was intense. The firework show lasted for like 10 minutes. They even has fireworks coming out of Big Ben. We do it legit style here in the mother country haha

So I forgot to bring my planner today so this email be me just rambling on. Sorry.
Sunday was good! Oh, I have a new companion. Things changed and I'm not with the Zone Leaders, but my new companion's name is Elder Tulip. He is from Gravesend, which is just 20 minutes outside of London. He is a brilliant missionary. He's been out for 14 months and he knows how to teach! But yes, so on Sunday we had a missionary return home and gave his homecoming talk; we also had to speak. I spoke first on the simple things we can do each week as missionary work. My talk was supposed to be 10-15 minutes long, but I was just overcome by the spirit and spoke for 30 minutes! hahahahaha I just lost track of time really, but I'm going with the spirit took control and that's why I spoke for so long haha I sorta rebuked the ward for not having us over for dinner so often. It is our duty as missionaries to leave special blessings on the homes of the members and the best way to do that is by being there for dinner. Good stuff. My companion only got to speak for 5 minutes haha

Ummmm, so yeah, the beginning of the week was just Elder Dudley saying goodbye to different people. Thursday we had District Meeting, which was on updating the Area Book when we have lessons and meet people on the street. Also, we talked about getting members out to teach with us. It is so crucial in this work to involve the members. The number of converts will not increase unless the missionaries and the members are working equally hard. We just cannot bless as many people's lives. Friday we had weekly planning and I felt sick so we just stayed in the rest of the day. Saturday we had a couple appointments and did some finding. We had to go in at 7pm because it was Christmas Eve. Sunday I just talked about, so that's pretty much it haha

I'll leave with a spiritual thought. I will quote the wife of my mission president. She sent us an email and talked about New Year's resolutions. What she says is brilliant. Heed to her plea I know I will. "Making New Year's resolutions is another way of making commitments. I hope that each of you will take the time, if you haven't already, to reflect a little on this past year, and to ponder about improvements you want to make in yourself...both as a missionary, and as a person. Think of Sister Kearon's question..."What lack I yet?" As you do this, please keep a few things in mind. Resolutions are NOT wishes...they are goals and require effort of our part. Thomas Edison once said, "Opportunity is missed by many because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work." In your case, it is dressed in a suit or skirt, it wears a badge....and it definitely IS work!. I know how hard you all work, and I admire you for it so much. With goals (or resolutions) set and in place, your work will become more effective as you are focused on your ultimate goals."

I hope you all have a wonderful week and a good start to the new year!
Godbless.
-Elder Jaquish