Hey family,
How are you? I hope everything is going well for you. Well this
week was pretty good, we found 2 new investigators and that was awesome. The
woman's name is Heather Hill; she is a friend with a family in our ward, the
Shoffs. And we were able to go to her house this week and start teaching her,
she really has liked our lessons and she really loves that we believe that
families can be together forever, and that we have a place to go after this
life. She said she used to get really bad anxiety when thinking about death and
what was going to happen to her and her family to the point where she would
have a total panic attack, so you can only imagine that she absolutely loved
what we had to say. She really wants to learn from us and progress but she
really wants her husband and 2 kids to be on board too, that shouldn't be a
problem for the kids, they are friends with other kids in the ward, the
daughter actually went to girls camp with the Stake this last week so that is
awesome. I think her husband would be the only struggle, but I can't judge that
yet because I haven't met him. Heather also is the only one
working in the family right now and that really stressed her out, her
husband just lost his job, and so she works on Sunday, I pray that
things will work out and that she will be able to come to church with her
family. I know that the whole family will be able to grow together in the
gospel and come closer to Jesus Christ, I know that, that will bring them
closer to one another and the love and unity that will grow between them will
be amazing. The other woman is named Ashley, and she is quite the find too, we
were tracting about 3 weeks ago and a boy answered the door, about 15 and we
asked if a parent was home and he said no, but that his mom is religious and he
gave us her number and said we could come back. So we left and just thought,
that's going nowhere. Usually when kids answer the door they just don't know
what to say and usually say uh well talk to my mom or whatever, but non the
less we decided to come back and for weeks we tried and nothing. Well finally
one day we came back to her house and Ashley answer the door and said my son
told me about you, what are you doing? And so we explained that we were
missionaries that we were spreading a message that Jesus is the Christ and that
His gospel has been restored through a living prophet and she was like really?
and we said yes and she was like you really come out here to do this? How old
are you and so we said we are 20 and we are out here full time for a year and a
half spreading the gospel and she was very amazed, she sais that is very
impressive that us young girls choose to use our time this way, teaching people
about Jesus Christ, and she said she would love to meet with us and ask
questions and see what we were all about, and Sister Low and I were a little
shocked, but very excited. So we set an appointment with her and it fell
through, and for 3 more appointments we set they fell through, until
finally she called us one night and said I am so sorry I've been busy can I
meet you tomorrow at 11, and we were like YES! So on Saturday we met in the
park and taught a really solid restoration lesson and she thought it was
very good. We gave her a Book of Mormon and committed her to read it and she
said she would, it was SO AWESOME! We also were able to meet with 2 potential
investigators this week, one named Nancy that we have been trying to see fro
weeks and has never been home and another woman named Barbra. They both really
like Sister Low and I and we have been going by and visiting them when they have
actually been home and we have been able to share short messages with them, I
think they could become investigators real quick:) On Thursday we got to go to
the temple and do temple service again, I love doing temple service. We
trimmed hedges and pulled weeds and just made the grounds look really clean and
sharp, it is so nice to be there with all the missionaries in the zone hanging
out doing service, seriously my favorite day of the week. We also had an
awesome world wide training last night, I hope you guys went to it and if not
look it up online and watch it! It is so inspired and has a lot of great
council on how we are to be forwarding missionary efforts. One thing I
have realized very clearly on my mission is that tracting is about 2 % effective
and really the work and progress comes from working together with the members
and ward council. President Hinckley talked about in one of his conference
addresses that missionary work is going to be most effective through working
with the members and that is absolutely true. I am almost mad that I
didn't do more to help the missionaries while I was at home; there is so much I
could have done to help the work. The prophet Joseph Smith says in
D&C that the most important work we can do is to preach the gospel and that
is 100 and a million percent true. We should always be looking for ways
that we can spread the gospel and help lift others and bring them unto Jesus
Christ. In Moroni 7 verse 48 it says when he shall appear we shall be
like Him, and is it a coincidence that charity is talked about so much in that
chapter? I think not! When we have true charity, we are truly concerned
for the eternal salvation and happiness for those around us, we love others and
we do what we can to build up the Kingdom of God, our will literally becomes Moses
1:39- our work becomes to help to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man. Of course we cannot give eternal life and immortality, for
only God can do that, but what we can do is have charity and help build the
Kingdom. We literally will be like God, that is what it promises and when we
are like Him we will be doing exactly what His will is, that is why Charity is
above all, because that is the very center of what the gospel is. I
challenge all of you to think of what you can do better in our life
to help you come closer to the Savior, repent and ask for help that you
can do better, and as you try you WILL feel the hand of the Lord in your
life and pray for missionary experiences. Missions are not only for the
missionaries, they are for every single person, and we should all be doing
missionary work everyday. I am going to expect all of you to e-mail by next
week telling me what you have done to help you come closer to the Savior and
what miracles you have seen with having missionary experiences that you pray
for. I promise as you do this the Lord WILL give them to you. Don't
forget to pray and read your scriptures, in Matthew 10:28 it gives us a clear warning;
we need to avoid Satan because he is one who truly brings destruction and
unhappiness. Satan is too cleaver and he knows exactly how to carefully bit by
bit lead us away from the Savior. We cannot be lazy in our scripture study and
church attendance, we need to do things that are going to keep the spirit always,
anger, misunderstanding and discouragement are some of the most powerful
tools he has. Do not let anything create a wedge between you and the
Savior because that is exactly what he wants. It is amazing to see how
little things can sway people so easily, I hear people talking about crude,
awful things everyday, yet when we come around to talk about the Savior, it
then becomes awkward or weird or something "we don't talk
about". The Savior gives us the easiest guidelines possible to keep
ourselves clean and pure, and standards to help us become better and to draw
closer to Him, and I know they will do exactly that. I love you all and I hope
that you are doing well. I love being a missionary even though it is seriously
the hardest thing in the world, there isn't anything on this earth I would
rather being doing right now. I hope that as you pray for miracles and exercise
your faith that you will be able to see the blessings that come, I know
Heavenly Father is just waiting to bless us, but unless we ask we won't
receive. I love you so much, have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Jamison
