The First Few Weeks

Jared has had a hard time finding a good location to email us from. He doesn't have a library card yet, so we have been communicating with Jared through a website connected to his camera. He takes pictures of his letters and then when he is by a wifi hotspot his camera sends the pictures to the Canon website where we can see them. Consequently we don't get much of an explanation with the pictures unless he explains them in his letters. Here are a few of the pictures. There are pieces of his letters after all the pictures. 

 Evidently he found a friend. 

 This is E. Olson, Luis a man they teach, 
and E. Petersen

This one makes me laugh. Anyone who knows Jared knows that it was hard for him to leave his hats home. I think he may have found one he can actually wear. 

 This must have been when they assigned him to his first area. They are pointing to Morristown.

E Petersen and E Olson

 

 These are during their stay at the mission home. 

I hope you can read this statement/prophesy about the south. 

Pretty amazing! 

It had been fun to read Jared's letters home. In just the few weeks that he had been out, you can feel the spiritual lift he has experienced. He loves his mission! He is gaining so much from his trainer, E Olson. 

Jared's favorite talk from conference is from Elder Bednar. 

His favorite quote is from that talk,  "It's the load." He likes how Elder Bednar likened our burdens to a load that gives us spiritual traction. 

I ask him about spiritual experiences he has and to share them if he wants. This was one of them. 

"We studied and read about what it means to baptize someone. It made me realize that what I share with people has eternal consequences. I'm not just trying to show people a really good church that they should join, I'm showing people the one and only way to live with God in the Celestial Kingdom. My perspective on missionary work changed a little after I realized that, and it makes me want to go teach as many people as I can. "

"Reading the Scriptures is good, but reading the scriptures because that's just what you are suppose to do isn't nearly as beneficial as reading the Scriptures because you want a better understanding. So desire is really the only way that we'll actually grow and be the best we can be. So read the Scriptures out of desire and not because that is what you are suppose to do."

( I just love this kid! )