September 29, 2014, Clermont, Fl

Hey family,

 How are you? I hope really good.  Well so as half of you already know I got transferred to Clermont, FL, and it is great here! It is really close to Orlando City and it is beautiful! It is way "hilly" too. Ha-ha I didn't think that such a place existed in FL, but apparently it does! Well since it is the end of the month too we have next to no miles so we have been biking every single day all day long and it's killing me... hahaha really though, I have't biked since I have been in Viera because you don't bike in Lecanto and so I am really sore. But we will be better at managing our miles this next month so that we don’t have to bike as much. But my new companion is Sister Lokotui (low-kah-too-e) and she is WONDERFUL! I love her to death, we get along so great, it is seriously like being with Lindsay again. So I am really glad that I have a stellar companion! Sister Lokoti has been out on the mission for almost 5 months, so she's pretty new but she is so good, she really just had it all together if you get what I mean. She is great at teaching and contacting people and just working hard, so it is really nice to be with her and really work equally together. And she is so cute, she is from Australia and she has the cutest accent! I love listening to her talk haha the ward is also really awesome, there are some really interesting characters in the ward but I love them! The first night I got here we went and visited the Gradeless family and they are soo awesome. They are a young couple with a little girl -Easton- who is 4 I think and then a little boy -Rivers- who is 1 and a half. They are such a cute little family. It was so funny because Brother Gradeless seriously is a copy of Gus Garcia haha they don't really look alike but they have the same personality and it was so funny to listen to him talk, it really was like talking to Gus, and then so weird Sister Gradeless looks soo much like Devin Brown it's freaky haha when we walked into church I saw her and had to do a double take because I thought it was Devin haha oh funny. But this area is going to be really fun. It has been worked over like crazy and the people here are a little hard, but it's ok. Sister Lokotui had our first official lesson with an investigator named Kim and her 3 kids on Tuesday and it went really well. The spirit was so strong and Kim was crying through the whole lesson. She and her 3 kids really are so prepared for the gospel. We invited all 4 of them to be baptized and they accepted which was great. But the only bad thing is Kim is separating with her husband right now and they are filing for divorce and it's been so hard on Kim and her 3 kids. 2 boys and the youngest a girl, weird right? But basically the husband is kind of a scrub and just ditched them, but Kim was talking to him the other day on the phone and I guess telling him how she was going to get into church with the kids and that they wanted to be baptized. Well he said no and that he didn't want them to do that, so Kim called us and told us that they couldn't come to our church or be baptized because her soon to be ex doesn't want them to and she feels that she is going against him. Well we told her that we respected her and her decision, but asked if we could still come over to teach her. We feel that if we are still able to teach her and help her to be baptized that eventually one day her kids will want to be too. It is so sad, because you can see that Kim is shying away from the gospel because she is trying to save her marriage and please her husband, but he really just wants nothing to do with them anymore. Hopefully as we teach her she will realize how much this gospel can bless her life and she will take the steps to progress to be an example to her children. I feel bad for the kids though because they really want to be baptized. But I know they can make it there someday with Kim leading the way. So we will see them tonight and we will be talking about the Atonement and the Savior and how He can help us to over come anything that comes our way. And that as we put him first that we truly will be blessed in all other aspects of life. I really hope that it goes well! We also have dinner with the Edwards family tonight and they hopefully will be able to get their non-member friend there so that we can have FHE. Man I cannot believe that I will be home in 5 weeks! It really blows my mind. That is sooo soon. I just can't imagine what it is going to feel like not being a missionary anymore. I feel like this is my whole life, I don't know anything else. I am kind of nervous to go back into the "normal" way of life, definitely going to be a transition for me! But thank you all for all the continued love and support that you give me! I will see you all very soon!

Sister Jamison

Still in Lecanto on this one.

It was raining very hard outside and the improvised hat protects the hair.
Sister Lokotui is not as worried about her hair.

With Sister Low, her original trainer.

September 22, 2014 The day before transfers

Dear Family, 

How are things going this week? Well as you area all probably wondering, yes I am getting transferred tomorrow! Wohoo! I am very excited to be able to move on for the last transfer of my mission. It will be a little odd to be in an area I don't know very well for such a short time, but I really need the change. The Lord is just always changing your life up as a missionary! But anyways this week has been good. I haven't been feeling to good lately so I have been in the apartment for a few days trying to catch up in a sense and that has seemed to help a little. But Angie is doing so well. She is so excited for her baptism and her progress in the gospel. I am of course very excited for her too. We had a really fun FHE with her and her daughter Bianca last week. We talked about the apostasy and played a fun game and Angie made us all an apple cobbler treat for the end. That was nice of her. We also found 2 new investigators this week, which was nice! They are both young and into all the science religion type stuff. But we were able to teach them and have pretty good lessons. Nathan the one guy is 21 and he is actually a less actives son in the ward who isn't willing to come to church, but we were able to meet with Nathan. He had some interesting ideas about life and what happens to us when we die, a very scientific approach, some of the stuff seemed odd, but we invited him to pray and read the Book of Mormon and he said he would!  We also got to teach a 20-year-old guy named Austin and he is all about God and science and what not and I guess he can prove God exist with math, it was interesting as well. But he was very nice. The one thing that was a little hard for me with both of these young guys is that they were very caught up in having to prove everything and science and this and that. So we really trying to help them to see that it is through faith that we can know if these things are true. Not facts from Google. Austin seemed to agree, but it was a bit harder for Nathan. So I guess we will see what happens. But that is kind of all for the week. Like I said I have been a little sick so I was in more than I would have liked to be. But hopefully things are on the up and up now. Only 6 weeks till I see you all. I am way excited! Love you! 

Sister Jamison

September 15, 2014 - Saving one gopher turtle at a time

September 15, 2014

Heyyooooo, 

How is everyone, I am always hoping great of course! Well this week kind of went by fast, but they all seem to do that... Sister Petersen and I had a really amazing miracle this week. Well where to start. We had a lot of people cancel on us this week, which is always a bummer, but as a missionary that's just kind of the story of my life. So we ended up doing a whole lot of tracting and visiting our less active members. Which was nice I love visiting less actives. I don't know if I told you about the less active members that just moved into our ward, the Conkright family. Well anyways we have built a really good relationship with them and we have gotten them to come with us twice! It’s been so great and they are so awesome and really want to get involved in the church again. On Wednesday the 2 kids Nicky and Daniel preformed in the talent show the youth were having and they did a great job! They just seem so much happier now they there are getting more involved in church and I am so glad! So my word and Daniel the punk and I only say that because I love the kid, got a fake snake, and we went over for dinner and they really live out in the middle of the woods and there are a ton of creatures and after dinner it was dark and he had run outside and put the snake on top of the car right on the passenger side, so when I went to open the door it was right in my face and all I could do was scream and then I hear Daniel in the bushes laughing his head off I grabbed the snake and threw it at him. I still have to think of a way to get him back before I go! But they are a really great family and I am really excited to have gotten to know them for the time that I did. 

So I don't know if you remember me talking about a woman that I met when I first got to Lecanto named Angela, but if you don't I will give you a recap. Angie is in her 30's and has MD and she also had a 13-year-old daughter. Angie has been taught by the missionaries for about a year, and she had a baptismal date at one point, but was feeling like she was being pressured into it so she backed out and then the missionaries stopped visiting her. Well when I got here she was an old former investigator and Sister Murphy and I decided to go and visit her and at the time she still wasn't ready to be baptized or anything and she had started smoking again and such. Well ever since that time we have been stopping by and trying to visit her and it's been pretty good, then we didn't see Angie basically all summer because she was having some major health issues and also had to have her gallbladder removed and the hospital that she was at even though it's up the road in Ocala, isn't in our mission. So we weren't able to see her. Well this last week she Facebook messaged us and asked us if we could come over. So we went and visited her and she said "Sister's I need to have you help me make a plan, I have already stopped smoking and I am on a patch program that weans you off nicotine over 7 weeks. I want to be baptized on November 8th when my program is done." Sister Petersen’s and my jaw dropped and she said as well " I have already been reading the scriptures ever day and I also like watching those cartoon scriptures you Mormons make." I was really shocked, so I pulled out my little notebook and made a game plan with Angie on how she is going to accomplish this and the things that she would need to do. It really was a miracle. She also came to church yesterday and stayed all 3 hours, which she normally didn't do in the past. She is really determined to make it to baptism, and we are excited to help her. I am really glad though that I was at least able to be here to hear her decision to be baptized. When I first got here she had a bit of negative feelings about some of the old missionaries that she had and some things about church. But for some reason Angie and I really hit it off when we met and I was able to help her feel better about things and help her to know that she can work at her own pace and that she doesn't have to feel pressured about being baptized. We became really good friends and I think that is why she has felt comfortable to tell me things about her life and how she feels about joining a church. I feel like it has also enabled me to be able to be "lovingly bold" with her, because she knows I'm not trying to be pushy, but because I really care about her, which I am glad. I think that is one thing that I love about being a missionary, people just trust you. They don't even have to know you for more than an hour and they trust you with their whole life. People all the time that I don't even know open up to me about their entire lives and know that I will listen. And I also know that it is not because of me, but because I have the Savior's name on my chest and that is a name that people trust. I hope that I will be able to still help people in the same way when I get home, but I fear that it just isn't the same when you are not a missionary. As many of you know I have been struggling these past couple of transfers with my companion. I have been at the brink of frustration more than I feel is my fair share, but I have tried hard to control my own selfish feelings and just work it out. It still is harder than anything I ever want to do again, but I feel that the Lord is helping me to see that only I can let myself get upset or mad or angry. I honestly can say that I am grateful because it helps me to realize exactly what I can handle and what I cannot. And especially what I am going to expect out of someone when I get married someday. I am in a situation where I cannot just run away, but I have to fix it and try and make it better. I feel that is to some extent what Heavenly Father requires of those that are married. That is the most important thing we do in this life, we are supposed to take care of it, and when it's broken running away shouldn't be the first thought, it should be to fix it. Well that's all I can wisdom up for the week. Today we are going over to Homosassa to look at Manatees. That should be fun. Talk to you all soon, love you 

Sister Jamison

Brandon's baptism - September 6, 2014 - Lecanto, Florida

Bishop Hoki, Brandon, Sister Jamison & Sister Petersen

Brandon's son, Brandon and his mom

Sister Jamison, Brandon & Sister Petersen

The District

September 8, 2014

Hey Family,

How are you today! Wow the time is ticking down for sure isn't it? And thank you for reminding me.... haha anyways this week was a roller coaster! Lot's of good and lots of not so good.

First off Brandon's baptism went so well! The bishop was able to baptize him and about 50 ward members came out to support! It was great, a less active member that we have been visiting we invited to the baptism and she came to so we were way happy about that. Man Brandon is so cool and has been so prepared by the Lord; he is so ready and willing to be dedicated to the gospel. At church he was participating in all the classes and going around on his own to meet everyone and introduce himself, it was great! He also paid tithing as well. I was pretty shocked because usually new members wait until their next paycheck to start doing that, but he did it anyways. So great. His mother and son also came to the baptism and were really happy for the decision he made. They are not of our faith, but they were very proud that he is choosing to follow Jesus Christ. Maybe once they see what a difference all of this has made in his life they will be interested in learning more themselves! We also were able to go and visit 2 less active ladies in the ward that have been so impossible for us to get a hold of, and a less active family that just moved into the ward.  We ended up being able to get the family and 1 other of the less active sisters to come to church and the both really enjoyed their time, the less active family even offered to have us over for dinner this week. It was great! I am really excited to be able to help them come back to church! We also had dinner with a returning member to the church, but the dinner was at her non member friend house, Mike, and we were able to share a little bit with him and set up a return appointment this week to go back and see him, so that is good! Oh my word, so after the baptism Sister Petersen and I went to Walmart to print pictures for Brandon of his baptism to give to him before he left on the road again and we were standing in line to return a photo album we had bought that was the wrong size.  While we were waiting for our pictures to be ready some woman walks up to us and was just staring in disgust at us, and finally Sister Petersen said, are you staring at my tag? And the woman said yes, and then I asked her if she has seen missionaries like us before and she said yes, you are Mormon and you don't believe in Jesus Christ. And I told her "Yes we do, see it's even on our name tag, we are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and we do worship Christ." And then she went off on how we don't believe in Christ and how we are a cult and blah blah, so we tried to address some of her concerns, but she obviously wouldn't tell us what they were, and was just sort of being impossible to talk to. And we eventually just told her if she would like to learn more that she can go to Mormon.org and then we turned around and continued to wait in line, and then I couldn't believe she started making a total scene in Walmart talking to everyone around her and telling them to stay away from us and that we were a part of a cult and worshiped the devil and this and that and I could not believe it. We just ignored her though but it really upset me that someone would do that. I really don't see the purpose. But anyways then as we walked to go get our pictures a man yelled out to us asking us what church we go to. We were able to talk to him a little bit and get his info so that we could go back and teach him. So that was a total tender mercy from the Lord. But I am running out of time now! Love you all and talk to you later!

Sister Jamison

Picture I drew when I was bored.... I know it’s uglyyy...

September 1, 2014 - Labor Day

Hey there family, 

So this week has been a good one. Sister Petersen and I have been working really hard to prepare things for Brandon's baptism, and so far so good! Yesterday we had a bit of a scare though, Brandon was in Arkansas going to church and he parked his truck in the grass/cement at an elementary school right next door to the church and after church when he came out to leave his truck got stuck and sunk down into the mud and broke part of the cement. So we were all worried that this was going to delay his trip and work schedule and that he wasn't going to be able to make it back on time for his baptism but he was able to get someone to tow him out thank goodness! He also had a really great time at church, a few days ago I called the Branch President there to let them know that Brandon was going to be at church and he said that they would look for him and also let the missionaries know. The missionaries really helped him to have a positive experience at church and in the gospel principles class they were talking about the Word of Wisdom and Brandon said that he was able to share a bit about his past and how much his life has changed since he has been living it. This helped the elders out because they had an investigator there that struggled with smoking and Brandon was able to talk to him and about how he was able to quit and some tips, it was really nice of him. Then after church that same investigator was saying how he always wanted to drive in a big truck and so Brandon gave him a ride in his and then of course when they got back is when he got stuck. But Brandon was really positive about it and the elders ended up staying out there with him for a few hours waiting for the tow man to come. Brandon really enjoyed them which is good. He told us that the elders said the were jealous that we got to use Facebook and iPads haha but maybe one day they will too. Mike was also supposed to come to church yesterday but he didn't end up coming, it was a bummer and he kind of keeps flaking on us so we might end up dropping him soon which is sad because he is so cool. But we will see how things go this week. we also got dumped as I would call it by two of our other investigators, Kelly and Daniel. That was a bummer but I guess they just weren't ready. But that's ok I know that the Lord has more prepared people ready for us! We are going to start teaching a family this week, the Nelsons.  Joanna Nelson the mother is an excommunicated member of the church and the rest of her family are not members. But her father is an active member in the ward and he suggested that we go and visit her and so we have been trying to stop by this past 4 weeks or so with next to no luck. We had met them once before like 3 weeks  ago but wasn't able to set anything up with them because they were sick and then after that we just could never get a hold of them. Then about 2 weeks after that we went over and Joanna was home and sick with something else and so we couldn't go inside, but she was telling us about how stressed she was and that things are really hard right now but that she really wants to get back into church. We were able to share Mosiah 2:41 with her and talk about how King Benjamin asks his people to consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandants of God and how they are blessed both temporally and spiritually, we then promised her that as she makes the efforts to keep the commandants and come closer to God that she will see the blessings in her life.  She asked if she could keep the Book of Mormon we were reading out of and if we could mark that scripture for her so that she could share it with her husband. We then had no luck for about another week contacting them until last night we went over and they were home and really not in a good state of things, they hadn't eaten in days and were just really struggling with all sorts of problems. but Joanna was excited to show us that she has a ecig now and that it has been helping bot her and her husband lower their raving for smoking. They also were telling us that they are not going to give excuses anymore but that they really want to change their life and come closer to God and strengthen their faith which is really wavering right now. So we set an appointment for Tuesday, so hopefully that goes through. We were also able to contact this awesome less active family that moved into the ward, the Conkrights. They really liked us and said we could come over anytime. The children seem like they could become active again no problem, but Sister Conkright is the one who is struggling with it right now, its because she smokes though and she doesn't want to be judged at church. She does have the desire to come back though. I think it will be fairly easy to help them back into activity which is good. We will also go and visit Genette this week. I can't remember if I told you about her, but she is a sweet lady, we have only taught her the restoration so far and she really felt the spirit as we were there. So I think things could work out good with her. She also struggles in every way possible as most people out here do. She really is just looking for peace and the hand of the Lord in her life. She will find that as she keeps the commandments and comes closer to the Savior. That is pretty much all the news for this week. I was reading through the email I sent you last week and I realized that I make tons of grammar errors and that half of my sentences don't make sense. Sorry about that, I am typing so fast to get it all down for you that I don't have time to fix it haha oh well. Talk to you next week! Love you! 

 I miss Utah picture

Sister Jamison, the spider killer

Where missionaries eat :)