March 24, 2014

Buenas tardes mi familia!

Wow so this week was sooo long haha but a good one at that!

So basically we had no solid investigators besides Nathan, and now that he is a member we are back to square one! Last week as we were doing weekly planning we knew that this week would be tough because we would be looking A LOT, but the Lord has truly blessed us so much.  So last Tuesday Sister Kreiberg and I had nothing to do, no one to see, and everyone who is anyone was busy, so we went and tracted for 6 hours straight and by the end of it I am pretty sure I wanted to cry because of how drained I felt. It is pretty hard to tract on the North side of Viera which is our area because everyone has a nice home and a job and not many people are home during the day expect for older retired people. But we were able to meet some very friendly people who allowed us to talk with them and pray with them so that made it all worth it. I don't think I could have handled anyone screaming at me that day. By the end of the day though Sister Kreiberg was ready to call it quits for sure. But surprising (but not really) the rest of the week wasn't too bad at all. When we got home Tuesday night before we did our planning for the next day we knelt down together to pray and plead with Heavenly Father that he would help us to accomplish all of our goals this week, and that we would be able to use our time productively and all I can say is that we were blessed so much. From about Wednesday on as we made calls to visit less active families in the ward a lot of them had free time open up to where we could share lessons.  When we went out to find we were able to teach many people on the doorstep and get return appointments and we placed 6 copies of the Book of Mormon this week, wow it was amazing for us. We also saw many great miracles as well. For one about 10 weeks ago Sister Kreiberg and I stopped a woman while we were biking and asked if we could come and visit her, well she gave us her number and as we called she had never really been available to meet with us, well this last week we went to go and visit a potential investigator that we had met at the park and the woman we had met many weeks ago (Margret) happened to be his neighbor. When we tracted into her door she seemed to be less busy and we were able to set up a return appointment with her and now we are going back again tomorrow to visit her. What was so cool though when we went to see her the first time is that she already had a copy of the Book of Mormon from 50 years ago. She and her husband moved and a really good friend of theirs gave it to them as a going away gift. On the inside the friend wrote, " This may seem a little odd as a going away gift, but I feel as though it is the most important thing I could ever give you. I hope you find the happiness and joy that I have found in this book." Margret's husband has died now but she kept it because she said is was so dear to him. We were able to teach her out of the copy when we saw her, it was very neat.  Then this week one of our potentials (Tommy) Margret's neighbor wasn't able to meet with us because he was going to go out of town with his family. Well this week as we were at the park to teach a less active who didn't happen to show up, Tommy and his family were there. He said that his trip had been canceled and so we were able to teach him and his wife at the park instead and set up another appointment to see them later this week, way cool. One last miracle, ok so... We received a referral from someone in the Viera 2nd ward (Mark) this week for a Chinese lady (Nancy) that came to church with him last Sunday, so we called this lady and of course we can barely understand each other, but we managed to get an appointment with her. Then when we went to visit her she wasn't home. K bummer.... then yesterday we had decided to go and try and see if she was home again and she was and right when she saw us she welcomed us in. We sat on the couch and she couldn't say more than two words to us, her son Alex who is 10 or 11 was translating for us, we were able to set up an appointment with her for tonight and a Chinese woman in our ward Sister Campbell is going to come with us. We are so excited.  This lesson is going to be way interesting because it's going to be all in Chinese, but I think it will go well especially because Sister Campbell is going to be there and they will be able to click real well. Wohoo! I will let you know how that goes next week! Sister Kreiberg and I were blessed so much for tracting for hours I think, we accomplished all of our goals for teaching and then some. It is crazy how you really can't do anything on your own as a missionary. You have to depend completely on the Lord or nothing happens. I have been feeling that lately so much, especially now that we don't have many people to work with, but we do have some solid ones and I am excited about that. 

I was also able to go and get an eye exam this week which I am SO grateful for. My eyes have been bothering me so much lately, especially because my only pair of glasses I took with me on the mission are broken so I never can give my eyes a break during the day by taking my glasses off. So I was able to order some new glasses and I can't wait for them to get here! Ha funny thing though, so the Doc had to pour these weird drops in my eyes to dilate them super huge and she told me that the drops basically paralyze your eyes, and this was so she could get a more accurate reading she said. But it was the craziest feeling in the world first of all my pupils were so huge that you couldn't see the color of my eyes at all, I just had black eyes it was so freaky! And I could only see things that were 10 to 15 feet in front of me, anything closer than that or further than that was a complete blur, soooooo weird, and my eyes couldn't focus on anything so my whole depth perception was gone.  Seriously the weirdest feeling of my life haha, that lasted about 2 days and Sister K had to drive us around because I was just hazardous haha but I am proud of myself that we were still able to go out and work hard, I just had to wear sunglasses everywhere because my eyes were so big the light hurt so bad haha but all is well now, eyes are good haha I will take pics of my glasses when I get them. I think you will like them! Well that's all for now! Love you all!

Getting ready to teach their Book of Mormon class

Sister Jamison XOXOCTR

March 2014

Teaching the Ragozzine girls about the Restoration as Chloe will soon be baptized.

March 16, 2014 - Waiting

Waiting for Ward Correlation to start

March 17, 2014 - Nathan's baptism on Saturday (3-12-14)

Hello Everyone!

How are all of you this week? I hope really good!

Well I am sure that you are all wondering about Nathan's baptism and all I can say is that it went so great! So funny thing, Sister Kreiberg and I made a facebook event for his baptism like 5 days before and then we got a call two days before his baptism from the ZL's saying that we aren't supposed to make facebook events I guess. So we got on to delete it and not thinking that it would then tell everyone that the event was canceled. So then after that Brother Snavely in our ward called us all frantic because he had seen Nathan that morning and things seemed to be going good and now he didn't know what was wrong and so we rushed back to the library to email everyone and tell them that it was still on.  Haha and poor Nathan facebooked us and was like what did I do wrong! Why is the baptism off, haha and then we told him of our mistake and he said he about had a heart attack....oops... But we got it all taken care of! The baptism on the other hand went so well. There was a good group of people there and a former mission president that is in our ward President Estes preformed the baptism.  The whole thing really came together nicely and you could tell that Nathan was very happy! When Nathan bore his testimony it was so amazing! He truly has been converted. He got up and talked about how we found him and what his life was like at that point in time and how his life is different now and how he is so much happier now, and then he went on to talk about how blessed he feels and how all he wants to do now is serve in the church and help others feel the way that he does.  His testimony was so strong and you could tell that his life really has changed. Then after the baptism Nathan, the Snavelys and us two went and got Chick-Fil-A and ate at the Snavelys. That was pretty fun. When we were there Sister Snavely said that she was going to try and get my watch fixed this week and so she gave me one of hers to borrow until then and we were talking about how OCD I am without a watch and how whenever I am at home I carry my big clock around with me when I study or get ready, etc. and so now Nathan calls me Flavor Flav... Like that black guy that wears the clocks around his neck... I have more nicknames from him than I think from anyone else!  Then it was so cute on Sunday when Nathan got to church he came up to us and said "Sister last night when I was laying in bed watching T.V. I felt so good and happy. I turned off my T.V. just to sit there and enjoy what I was feeling inside. You know how I always used to say Nathans happy, well last night Nathan was truly Joyous, I felt so light and clean, and just pure joyous." It was so great to hear him say that and that he was so excited about it! You can see a total change in his countenance!

But now that Nathan is a member Sister Kreiberg and I will have a lot of finding time this week coming up.  It's going to be a bit of a drag but that's ok! This last week we have had miracles finding solid potential investigators and so we are going to try and see all of them this week. One that we are really excited about is a man named Tommy.  Last week we were at the park teaching a less active in the park and it was very windy and not a really good time for a lesson, but we had a hard time meeting with him so it was better than nothing.  And we showed him a Mormon Message on our iPads, and Tommy was sitting 3 tables away from us and once the message was over Tommy comes over and says, hey can you email me that video? I really liked it, here I will give you my email.... Pause.... WHATT!!!!?????... Crazy right? We don't even know how he heard the video over the wind and the fact that he was about 30 feet from us but he did.  We were able to talk to him a little bit about the church and we asked if we could come and share a message with him and he said yes that'd be great! So he gave us his address and telephone number and we are going to stop by this week! Cool right!  As we were leaving too his daughter came over to sit on his lap and he pointed at us and said, see those girls, they are going to come over this week and teach us about Jesus. So cool! We are way excited!  Sister Kreiberg and I are also teaching Chole Ragozzine the lessons because she is going to be baptized soon.  This is the same little girl that told her little sister that we could fly haha It was fun to teach her the restoration this week, we used cups to teach about the priesthood and other blessings in the church that were lost and then restored and she thought it was way cool! K one last miracle then I gotta go haha So last night we got home and it was about 9 and I looked for the keys to open the door and the keys were not in my backpack.... ugh so we went back out to see if we could find them, and about 2 hours earlier I have fallen off my bike (AGAIN...) But I am totally fine,  at a golf course and we thought to go check over there. And so we went searching for them and could not find them anywhere and it was 9:30 by that time and we had to go home.  So we said a prayer together and we off again along this golf course path and the thought came to my mind to look at my camera pictures, (we took pics of me on the ground after I fell) so I stopped and looked at them and sure enough in the pick you could see the keys in the grass, but you could also see that by my feet there was a patch of brown grass, and so I thought K I just need to look for a patch of brown grass, and as I looked sure enough about 3 minutes later I found a brown patch of grass and about 10 feet away were the keys... Such a miracle, Sister K and I were freaking out, but the Lord blessed us! Well that is all for this week! I love you all so much!

Sis/Bro. Snavely, Nathan, Sister Kreiberg & Sister Jamison at Nathan's baptism
on Saturday, March 12, 2014

Sister Kreiberg, Nathan, Sister Jamison just before
Nathan's baptism  - they are demonstrating how
happy they are.

Sister Jamison!

March 10, 2014 - Nathan's upcoming baptism

Hey there!!!

What's up family! Sounds like you all had a pretty good week and that is great to hear! Well Sister Kreiberg and I are very excited because our investigator Nathan is going to be baptized this Saturday! Wohoo!!! :) We have seen so many miracles this week with Nathan it is amazing!

This week we were at the end of our lessons that we teach and we taught Nathan about the Word of Wisdom, Tithing and Fast Offerings and it went soo much better than Sister Kreiberg and I had thought haha so let me fill you in! So on Tuesday we had a lesson with Nathan on the word of wisdom and Sister Kreiberg and I were a little worried about this one because Nathan is a super avid coffee and tea drinker, he not only drinks everyday but multiple times a day.  So we were thinking of how we could best approach this lesson with him and all we could think was (you dumb missionaries just teach the doctrine and don't worry about it) so we did just that! haha We read in Doctrine and Covenants Section 89 with him about the Lords law of health and during the whole lesson Nathan seemed to be in deep thought almost to the point of looking concerned. As we read through we discussed and explained what exactly the Word of Wisdom means and why it is so important and he still seemed to be quiet. During the lesson I could feel myself getting so anxious inside and finally I asked Nathan what he was feeling about what we were teaching and why does he think Heavenly Father would want us to live this law of Health?  Nathan replied  " I did not realize that God himself has asked us to live a law of health, and it makes sense, it all makes sense. You can't have the spirit if you are not healthy, and if He commands you to do something you just have to do it, you can't cut corners with God." The spirit was so strong as we were then able to bear witness off of Nathan's testimony. He could feel the spirit and so could we, and it was because we were all under the influence of that same spirit that Nathan was able to know that this came from a loving Heavenly Father. At the end of the lesson Nathan asked if we could take all of his coffee and tea with us when we left, he said " I'm done, you need to take it with you because I will not drink this stuff anymore." Nathan gave us over 60 dollars worth of expensive coffees and teas in a big garbage sack. Two days later we had another lesson with him and he said, "Sisters ever since I gave you my coffee and tea and have stopped drinking it I have felt so much better, physically and spiritually." It was such a miracle! That same day he told us that we also had a lesson at the bishops house with Nathan about the Law of Tithing. The lesson went very well and Nathan readily excepted that he needed to pay tithing as well. At the end of the lesson he asked bishop when he could pay his tithing and bishop smiled and said "Once you are baptized." and then Nathan said "Well I'm ready to go anybody got a pool near by?" Haha it was so cute and funny. Nathan is so ready to be baptized, we are getting everything organized and he will be baptized this Saturday at 2 p.m. at our chapel. I wish you all could come so bad, if you ever met Nathan you would be amazed at how far he has come! Soo cool!:) I remember the first night that we knocked on his door he wasn't even sure if God existed, and now he reads the Book of Mormon and prays everyday and whenever we see him and teach he always bears his testimony about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how we have to follow them to be happy, and how he is much happier now too! He also always gives us referrals of people to see whenever we go over, haha he is basically already a Mormon! He always is telling us about people he knows that he is going to bring to church and people that we need to go visit with him and teach them the gospel. So so cool! Wow!

Sister Kreiberg and I also were able to do some service this week for some older people that we met, Teri and Mark, they aren't super solid, but it was really nice being able to help them with their yard and talk to them about the gospel! Hopefully we will be able to see them again soon!

We also got dropped by six of our investigators this week, that was way hard, but I guess that means that we are just going to have to find new people to teach!:) This week we are on bikes again too, so that helps with our street contacting so that's a plus right!? Well I love you all so much! I hope that you have a good week and I will let you know next week how Nathan's baptism goes! Please, please, please keep him in your prayers this week, the week of baptism is the hardest because the adversary works so hard to stop it! So pray extra prayers!

Thank you so much for all that you do for me! I miss you all so much but I am sooo glad to be out here, missions are the best thing in the world!

Sister Jamison!

March 3, 2014 - Viera 1st Ward

Hey Family!

How are all of you this week!? I hope good!

Well this week has been a really good one!  The members were so nice first of all and did so many things for me for my birthday.  Sister Duff made me a strawberry pie (my favorite!!) and got me a few of my favorite snacks as well. Sister Clark (The YW Pres.) Left cute little hearts and notes all over our door with some flowers and Sister Grover (bishops wife) made me a strawberry short cake and the elders got Sis. K and I balloons and chocolate covered strawberries! Wow Right!? Everyone has been way to nice, I really appreciate them all so much! And thank you all SO much for the fun birthday package you sent me! It was all so cute and really brightened my day up!:) It was the perfect way to start the week!

We also got to help out the young women this week and that was way fun! They were filming a video for their New Beginnings program and they themed it around the Olympics.  The skit was that they were the US Womens' Hockey Team and that they were all lazy and out of shape and not ready for the game, so we (SIster Kreiberg and I) were their trainers and we came in and whipped them all into shape! We had them doing exercises while they would read the scriptures and Ensign, we also had them do things like jumping jack and marching while they recited the young womens theme, you know to help them get into spiritual shape too! It was all a lot of fun! At the end of the skit they all gathered together and wore these cute shirts that they made with the Olympic rings on theme, except it was all the young value colors and it said Viera 1st Ward on it (way cute) and then it showed us talking about their training and the team captain talked about the training they got from us, it was way fun, and the motto of it all was come unto Christ in everyway and go for the gold! (Meaning the young women medallion).  They were all so cute and we all had a good time! While we were there a Sister in our ward (Sister Ragozzine) was telling us of a cute thing that happened the other day with her girls. Apparently Sister Kreiberg and I were on our bikes going somewhere and they happened to drive by and see us and her little girls got all excited and said where do you think they are going! And Sister Ragozzine said I am not sure! And then the cutest thing, the two little girls like 4 and 7 were talking to each other and the little one said to the bigger one do they always ride bikes? And the bigger one Chole said well you see... Sometime they ride their bikes.. And sometimes they walk too, and sometimes they even drive a car... And I'm pretty sure they can fly.... Hahaha isn't that so cute!!!! Sister Ragozzine said she just started laughing because of the way she said it all. Ah man those little girls are cute, Chole is the same little girl that always hugs me at church and tells me I smell like strawberries. They are so awesome!

Nathan our investigator is doing very well too. He came to church for the first time yesterday and loved it!!! It was so funny, we always show him Mormon Messages and clips of the Prophet and apostles and so Nathan in his mind thinks that the conference center is what church is going to be like, in a huge place with a big pulpit and the prophet and apostles speaking to you or as Nathan calls them the "really hard core Mormons" haha But when he got to church he saw that everyone was normal and he goes, where are all the hard core people from the iPad? And I explained to him that they are in Salt Lake and that the people here are people that live right here in the community and etc. He then was very surprised that so many people came up to him and introduced themselves, Nathan really liked that the people were very friendly.  Brother Pierce in the ward even invited him for dinner that same evening and Nathan thought that was very nice too. He enjoyed testimony meeting and for the testimonies he liked he would give the people a thumbs up from his seat haha it was so funny, he also sang all the songs with a big smile on his face. It went a lot better and more "normal" than I think he had thought. Sister Kreiberg and I were relieved at this because Nathan is a tad anti social and he seemed to really like meeting so many new people, he especially thought it was cool that the bishop would talk to him. We explained that the bishop is a very friendly man and that he loves to talk to everyone!  Nathan also read quotes and commented in all of his classes.  President Estes told us that he stood up in High Priests and talked about how he was meeting with the sisters and preparing to be baptized and how we have really worked on him and in a good way. President Estes also said that Nathan had mentioned that I had come over to teach him on my birthday, but didn't tell him it was my birthday because I was just happy to see him and that it was the best birthday present I could have asked for because I was excited he was back in town.  That was very nice of him. When he had found out it was my birthday days after he kept asking me why I would spend it teaching him lessons, and I told him it was because this gospel is so important and that he is very important to me and that being able to teach him was the best gift I could have gotten! Which is true, Nathan is one of my favorite people and it was a joy to be with him.

He is doing very well and it is so great to see how excited the members are about him too. Every week we talk about the people we teach in Ward Council, but it doesn't really seem real until our investigators come to church. When everyone got to meet Nathan they got to see how amazing he is and how much he has grown closer to the Savior. Being able to teach Nathan has taught me many things. When we first started teaching him at the beginning of every lesson without fail he would say "I don't want to do this anymore, church is not for me and I am not even sure if God exists" But every time we taught him the spirit was so strong that he would ask when are you coming back and what should I read from the Book of Mormon to prepare for our next lesson.  He did that for about 3 weeks straight and Sister Kreiberg and I weren't sure if he was going to go anywhere.  But slowly the spirit has been working on him, he now reads from the Book of Mormon and prays every day. And when we come over he is always excited to tell us that he completed his "homework" he also likes to bear his testimony to us but in a "secret way" he likes to tell us that the spirit is working on him and that he now is learning more that ever that he has a Father in Heaven.  It is so incredible to see the changes that he has made. He still likes to mess with Sister Kreiberg and I all the time, and I am still the hammer... But it is such a joy to be able to teach him. I am so grateful that Heaven Father trusts us to teach his children, it is teaching me so much, words cannot explain!  Seeing others come unto Jesus Christ is the best feeling in the world, knowing that others can partake of the same blessings that you receive and have more happiness in their lives is the best! I love it!

Well I love all of you!!!

Sister Jamison