Pleasant Hills So. pictures - November 25, 2013

Sister Jamison - Pleasant Hills So, Orlando, Florida

Sister Baker getting waxed

Anthony - one of their cute investigators

Beautiful Munoz sisters on the left and right with Sisters Baker, Jamison & Salvesen

Pleasant Hills So. - November 25, 2013

Dear Family,

So this week went really well. We had been kind of in a pit for what seemed like awhile and this week we were able to teach a lot of lessons and contact a lot of people! We also got a new companion this week, Sister Salvesen from South Africa. Sister Salvesen was in the MTC with me and we flew out there together, but 5 weeks into her mission she got run over by a car and it completely messed up her leg, her knee cap is all chipped and out of place and her foot had major scar tissue and nerve damage and now she has to walk around with a cane.  The doctor's said that her nerve damage in her foot is permanent, but everything should heal over time, which is such a bummer.  She is only 19 and will have to use a cane for the rest of her life and her foot is always going to hurt. But anyways she was sent to Provo to see doctors and she wasn't released so she did online missionary work at the MTC and now they have approved her to come back into the mission and she is with us! So I am glad to have her back and she is too. She is way cool, she speaks English, ASL, and Afrikaans fluently. Afrikaans is like a mix between German, Zulu and like 4 other African languages I think, but it sounds way cool, she prays in Afrikaans for us. We all get along so great so that is good too. Yesterday was Sister Salvesen and my 7-month birthday in the mission, wohoo! So crazy right? I will be home in less than a year! I really can't believe that! Time goes by so so fast!!!!

Well lets see, so on Monday Sister Baker and I went to a dirty flee market haha it was ok, we just looked around at all the crap, nothing to special there..

Tuesday Sister Baker and I were able to go the RS Enrichment night and it was pretty good.  Certainly nothing extravagant like I have seen in Utah with cute decorations and such, but it was a good night. They made these mod podge pictures of Christ that turned out nice and they had flower arranging and cake decorating, so that was fun.  The Spanish elders investigator Dione (which is pronounced Gee-own-e) came to the enrichment night with us after English class at the church. She is the one from Brazil, she is cool, and seemed to enjoy herself, so that was good.

Wednesday was good we had a jammed packed day full of appointments and every single one of them fell through, ugh it was so sad, but we were able to make up for it the rest of the week!

Thursday was good, we had another lesson with Anthony and Jeff and it went way better this time. Jeff actually let us teach instead of always interrupting, we were also able to watch a Mormon message with them which was good because it is able to hold Anthony's attention.

Friday was of course good because that is when we got Sister Salvesen! We also got to go to the church that night and do a beading project with Sister Padget in our ward and her non member friend who is a little girl that lives by her, some of the young women came too, so that they could meet her and make her feel welcome. We made little Christmas ornaments so that was fun.

Saturday was awesome because we were able to go and see a bunch of less actives in the ward and share little messages with them! and what was really great is we invited a ton of them to church the next day and some of them came!

Then on Sunday we had a great lesson with one of our investigators Sammy, missionaries have been working with him for a long time and we have been trying to prepare him for baptism and we finally got to talk with his guardian Omar, which is his older brother he lives with and we brought up to him about baptism and he said he would talk to Sammy about it (because we can't just baptize a minor without permission) so that was a miracle but that is the next step that has been needing to happen since like July and now it's happening. So I hope they talk again and we can figure this all out!

Today we are going to make home made Pizza and the church for District P-day, that will be fun, we are also playing dodge ball but I don't know if I can play because of my shoulder and neck and all that. Which by the way is doing pretty good, I still get pains in my arm sometimes but not bad, and I still have crazy tissue scarring build up in my neck but I am not approved for anymore therapy and so I just have to try and work on it myself. Dr. McGregor gave me a lot of exercises I can do so I am just doing those.  I still am not allowed to bike yet, but by December I am allowed too. I guess with the concussion and all, even though I have felt fine for quite awhile concerning my head and all I could ride because if I accidently crashed or fell of or whatever again and bummed my head I would be done for mission wise, so ya not takin' that chance!!! But I do walk all over the place, which makes me sore but I get over it, and we drive everywhere too.  But now that Sister Salvesen is here we wont be doing that much walking because it really hurts her so, we just try and set appointments best we can so that we are always busy and not just out tracting!! And so far it is going good! This transfer is already over too I can't believe it, it ends next Monday! wow, weird! I will get to talk to all of you in 30 days!! When I find out when I will be calling I will try and let you know! Ok Bye love you all!!

Sister Jamison

November 18, 2013 - Pleasant Hills So.

Dear family,

How are you this week? I hope really good.  This week has been really good, a lot of miracles!

So this week and last week we have been having some heart crushers because all of our investigators flaked on us and that was terribly frustrating. And now only one of them is still meeting with us, so we were way bummed about that. It is so crazy how people take the gospel so lightly in their lives and how they feel that there is no need to follow Jesus Christ, they can just do whatever, CRAZY. What is even weirder is when we are in a lesson and we are reading from the scriptures and they are like " ya ya amen that is true, praise Jesus" or whatever and then they continue on doing whatever their fancy is. It really blows my mind sometimes. But anyways that is pretty much the attitude of the people we are teaching and no wonder we aren't seeing them that much, we are inviting them to follow Christ so that it will improve their lives and bring them happiness and they just don't have the time.... ahhhhh.  Ok ok but anyways so this week, Sister Baker and I did a lot of tracting and contacting, which is good, we were blessed with being able to teach full lessons to a lot of people at the door step, and that is great because that never happens. Sister Baker and I also tried a new tactic at these door lessons that a Elder Walker a general authority told us that the 1st Presidency and 12 want us to do and that is to just loan Copies of the Book of Mormon. So we did just that, at our lessons we were able to teach about the Book of Mormon and then loan it to the person we taught and we told them that we would be coming back to discus what they had read and to talk more about the gospel, when I first head this idea I was like no way, that doesn't work and so far it has! Most of the people we did that with agreed and we had been able to set up teaching appointments with some new potentials so that was great! 

We also have been able to start teaching Kaitlyn,( she is the daughter of the less active man we found Tony) Tony is not interested in anything that is church related and has told us that he does not want to come to church, but what is interesting is that when we were there talking to them and asking Kaitlyn if we could visit her and bring her to church and get her involved in YW's and such she said that she'd like too, but Tony her dad was like yes she needs to do this and have experience in church. He then went on to tell us that when he was a youth that coming to church served a great purpose for him and now he want's his daughter to experience that, which doesn't make sense because he totally doesn't want to come now, but he is all for her doing that, so that is cool that she has the support. Hopefully as we go over and teach her and get her involved, we can start to spark Tony's interest again.

This week we also were able to finally contact some of the less active sisters in the ward that Sister Gomez the RS president had asked to see, which was such a blessing because we have been trying for a few weeks now and I am so glad that we finally met them.  We were able to teach them and get to know them so hopefully now as we can go back and visit now that they know us we can help them come  back to church!

Haha ok ok so this week as we were tracting there was little old Indian man outside water his lawn and we were walking by and started to talk to his wife and she was like "no thank you I'm Muslim" and so we walked on and by the time we were coming back to go back to the car about 45 minutes later we passed by the house and the old man was still outside and he came scurrying over to us with his hose on and he was yelling " You church peoples, you God peoples, you church God Peoples you come here" and we were like uggghh great haha and he started talking to us and we could hardly understand him his accent was so so strong, but he said that he was a Christian and he started to pull money out of his pocket and we told him that we couldn't accept money and so he just started telling us stories about God and himself and I seriously don't know what he was saying but it was hilarious because he kept smiling and laughing and we had no idea why and he said something about how this world is going cray-cray and God is going to destroy wicked people and this and that, and some other odd stuff, but it was fun. Maybe it doesn't sound that funny, haha I wish you could have heard his accent it was so thick and he spoke so so fast and it was all mumbles haha anyways we just about busted up laughing haha 

We also were able to teach a referral that we received from the YSA elders, it is a young mother and her daughter (Sherry and Kiera). We went over on a Wednesday night for the first time to see them and when Sherry(the mother) answered the door she said "I am so excited that you are here, I have been waiting for you!" We of course were way happy to hear that, so that night we were able to get to know her and her daughter better and start teaching them. Sherry and Kiera live in a really not so good area and you can tell that they have had some major struggles in their lives, and it was nice that we were able to bring the spirit to their home.  When we were there we felt that we should teach them about prayer and the importance of praying to our Heavenly Father and how that is how we communicate with Him. It really brought the spirit and we were able to explain that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that He is so invested in our lives and wants to help and bless us continually and how we can always talk with Him whenever we want, and how it is important that we talk him Him always.  They really liked that and are excited for us to come back on Wednesday, we are very excited too.  They are such a blessing for Sister Baker and I to have the opportunity to teach!

The last awesome thing that happened this week was Sister Baker and I invited soo many people to church and zero of them showed(that wasn't cool) but what was cool is that Heavenly Father still blessed us for our efforts anyways, seriously.  We were at church and their was this man there named Barice and he had met Brother Tucker the 1st counselor in the bishopric and had become sort of friends with him and really liked him, and Brother Tucker invited him to church and Barice said that he would love to come because he was looking for a church to go to and while he was at our church he really enjoyed himself, and I was able to sit next to him in gospel principles and get to know him better and I was able to set up an appointment with him so that we could teach him and that's going to be on Thursday, way cool. I know even though many of our plans these past couple of weeks and investigators have been falling through, that Heavenly Father is very aware of our concerted effort to fulfill our purpose as missionaries, He is always blessing us with people to teach and lives we can bless.  It really is so hard when you are teaching someone that you love and they just drop off the face of the earth or become flakey or whatever the situation. It is hard because you can see their potential and how this gospel can absolutely bless their lives and because of decisions they make or things they let get in their way, they miss out on blessings that will impact the rest of their lives.  People don't realize that it is not about religion, it is not about saying "I'm Mormon, or I'm Baptist or Catholic" It is about the truth and about our divine potential as Heavenly Fathers children. We have it so clear and simple the way that we need to live to return to live with our Father in Heaven and to receive lasting happiness with our families and too many people don't take it seriously, they think they can do whatever they want and that it doesn't matter, well it does matter! It is sad because I have seen on my mission clear as day how people are putting things and live styles and attitudes, wants and you name it before their eternal happiness, it is so crazy it blows my mind everyday what people put as their priorities. I hope so bad that some of these people I have gotten the chance to meet will be able to accept the gospel one day, they need it!!!!! I hope all of you are doing you're best to come closer to the Savior, always striving to become better, we cannot afford not too! I love you all, in the name of Jesus Christ AMEN!!!!

-Sister Jamison

November 11, 2013 Pleasant Hills So.

Hey family,

So this week was good, Sister Baker and I were able to meet with the RS President and talk about what help the sisters need in the ward, and what we can do to help, so that was good!

Sister Grove is also doing really well, A sister in our ward Sister Sharman has been bringing her to church every sunday and it really has made such a huge difference in her life.  I am so grateful for the members that are so willing to help out! Right now we are working on helping Sister Grove prepare to receive her P. Blessing and get ready to go to the temple, she has never had the opportunity to do those things and she is so ready for them.  Even though she has been such a strong member her whole life you can see the impact it has had on her from not really being able to progress that much in the gospel.  Going to the temple is so important, that is the goal and we all need to work towards that. There are so many great members of the church all around the world who are missing out on amazing blessings and happiness because they have not gone to the temple. I hope that all of you make your way to the temple regularly it is such a blessing! I can't wait when I get home and can go to the temple, I am really missing it!

Well lets see, this week we had a really great lesson with a guy named Omar, ha well we thought he was going to be a really awesome potential, because we had such a spiritual lesson with him and the YSA  Elders ( to pass him off to them) and when they called Omar to make another appointment with him he told them he thought he was going to be meeting us with and that he wanted to date Sister Baker and I and now that he can't he's not interested haha oh well? We run into too many people like that which is a bummer, but at least these people can see that we are here with a purpose and that we are sticking to it!

We also were able to meet with Tony's daughter-Kaitlyn (that’s the less active guy we tracted into) and she really likes us and likes meeting with us, and its great because her dad agrees that maybe it be good if she starts going to church! I think she is so great, she is 13 years old and is such a sweet girl, and she doesn't have a mother and just lives with her dad and her dad's roommate. You can tell that she really needs a mother type person in her life and I know this sounds crazy but I so wish I could just take her home with me when I come back and I could adopt her! It reminds me of when I did the Big Brother Big Sister program; even though my experience wasn't what the usual one is I still enjoyed doing it. Sometimes I didn't but it was a fun thing to do. I wish I could do that for Kaitlyn, she is so awesome and just needs someone to talk to who is not her dad. She really gets teased a lot at school and I think that really wears down on her. I think it will be so good once we can get her involved in the young women's program, I think she will really be able to connect with the girls in the ward and it is a great way to for her to be more open too I think! We are going to try really hard to get her dad to be more involved, but as far as things are right now, he's not interested. But that's ok we will just keep trying and visiting them both!

Well the elders in our ward had a baptism this week and it went so well, I was able to play the music for the baptism and that was fun. I always get really nervous to play in front of people but it went pretty good! I also have been able to play for RS and that is usually pretty choppy, ha but that's ok.

Well this week has been pretty good, I am way tired and my brain doesn't work right now haha hopefully I will be able to have more things to tell you next week! Oop I almost forgot to tell you, Fabio got baptized!!!! I am so happy for him! He got baptized on November 2nd, I really wish I could have gone, but that's ok, I am just glad that he was able to receive his answer and be baptized. He is so great, he flew back to Brazil on Saturday the 9th, I have his address so that I can write to him and see how he is doing. He is so great I will miss him! Sister Thomas also says that Loretta is doing really well and that she has a baptismal date, I am so happy about that I can't even tell you! I love Loretta so much and I am so glad that she has finally accepted a date and is working towards that, what a miracle! I think about the people I have taught in Lake Reams so much and I miss them all so so dearly, I wish I could go and visit them before I go home, but I know that isn't going to happen. I can't wait to come back and visit them all. I really miss Florida already! Well my time is up so I better go! I love you all!

and I am so excited about the baby boy!!!!!!!

Sister Jamison

November 4, 2013 - Pleasant Hills So.

November 4, 2013

Hello!

So this week was really good! To start we had a really awesome lesson with Linda and her husband Stan, we taught about the restoration and they really seemed to enjoy the lesson! What is way cool though is that Linda was already reading the Book of Mormon before we even met her! And she has been really liking it, so we committed her to keep reading it and she said that she would and we encouraged her to pray about the things she reads and also about Joseph Smith, Stan has already read the Book of Mormon before but he committed to start reading it again as well! We also invited them to be baptized and they said they need to pray about that, but if they felt from God that they needed to then of course they would which is cool because that's totally going to happen! Whoo!

We also had a really great lesson with Yuritza this week, we taught her lesson 3 - The Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went so well! She, in previous lessons, had told us that she was already baptized and just kept giving the impression that she didn't want to again, but in this lessons she kept asking about it and had us re-explain to her why baptism is important and why the proper authority is important.  We decided to read with her the sacrament prayers and that helped her to better understand the covenant of baptism. By the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized again and she said that she would pray and ask God if it was right and that she would work toward the date we had given her, so we will see how that goes!

The Trunk-or-Treat activity was also this week and that went really well! We combined with the Poinciana ward and had it at our building. There were so many games and treats and food, so that made it really fun for everyone and there were SO many non members there so that was way cool! Sister Baker and I also went crazy calling and texting all the less active families in the area to come and some of them ended up coming! We also tracted into a man named Tony last week who was baptized 18 or 20 years ago and never came back to church and we invited him and his daughter to the Trunk-or-Treat and they showed up and brought like 6 non members friends haha it was sooo cool!!!!!

So what was way cool this week is, I guess in this area the missionaries have never really had a good relationship with the ward members and working together, and that is something I have been way noticing. So obviously that bothered me way bad, like hello we are supposed to be working together! So on Saturday the RS 1st Counselor Sister Smith had a training at her house of the RS teachers and we were invited to help and I was way excited because that is the perfect place to get appointments and network I guess and so at this meeting brunch thing we made a goal that we weren't leaving until we had an appointment with ever sister in that room and BOOM! We got it! Tomorrow we will start with Sister Gomez the RS President and Sister Smith the counselor and that way we can get to know them better and ask them what we can do to help them and the sisters in the ward, we really need to build trust with these ladies so that they can feel comfortable calling us to go and visit members and do whatever else they need, because we are here to help! We also made goals to get around and visit members more, so that we can build strong relationships with them, because zero of the missionaries in this ward do and that needs to change PRONTO! 

The last really cool thing that happened this week is that we were able to provide service for a woman we are teaching named Gevina, her sister in law had a kidney and liver transplant and just moved into a new place by the high school, and needed help moving and cleaning things like that and let me tell you uggh, that place was unlivable when we started cleaning it, truly dirty and it made me so OCD and sad because she needs things really sterile and it was just so dirty, so Sister Baker and I scrubbed that place with bleach the best we could so that she (Brenda) does not get sick. It made me think about you mom and how clean everything has to be so you don't get sick and I just felt so sad for Brenda, so we really helped things look nice even though it is still quite run down. I hope that this place serves her well and that she can recover here! Well that's all I have time to write about this week! I love you all!!!

Sister Jamison