Sept 3rd 2014

Ambur, Jared's cousin, sent him a package which included a tie. 

Jared will send a picture, selfie, to anyone who sends him a tie. This one was for Ambur.

Ambur you are AWESOME!! It means as much to me as it does to him!

♥

I find that I am not good at updating this blog if I don't have a picture to post. I love pictures! Pictures are worth a 1000+ words. Anyway, Jared had some great stories in his last couple of emails. It is awesome to read the impact that he has on those he teaches.

Email from Sept 2nd 2014:

This week has been pretty great. It started out with one of our investigators almost being evicted from his apartment, and he turned to us for help which was cool to see that he trusted us that much. The situation all got figured out though and he wont be evicted which is really good.

 One of our recent converts had us over for lunch and he had come across some anti Mormon stuff, so he was asking us about some of it. We were able to explain it to him and he said that most of the things he'd already assumed were made up or twisted, so it was cool that his testimony has gotten strong enough that he trusts what he knows more than what he hears. At church he was also answering a lot of questions in gospel principals and getting all the answers right, so me and Elder Bills were pretty proud that he knows his stuff.

 Elder Bright got emergency transferred because there's been a few missionaries who've had to go home sick so president has had to switch things up. Elder Bright was in our district and he was awesome so I wasn't happy to hear that he was gone, but he was replaced by Elder Froelick who is pretty cool too.

 Our investigator took us to Litton's and it was so good! They give you a ton of food though that's all really good so I stuffed my face and ate until I couldn't swallow another bite, it was great! While we were at dinner with him his son called and he told his son "I'm chilling here at Litton's with my new brothers. They're Mormons. They're from Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! They're my homies." (he's black by the way) So after talking with this guy 4 or 5 times we're homies. He also asked us quite a few questions about our beliefs and he was really receptive of our answers. His questions covered a lot of the stuff in the first 3 lessons, so that'll make teaching him go well.

 We helped install a new wood floor for our ward mission leader and we got almost all of it done. He's still recovering from donating his kidney, so we did most all the work since we didn't want him to push himself to much (which he ended up doing anyways) but it looked really good and it was fun to get it done for him.

 All the wards that meet in our building hosted a blood drive and a lot of people donated, Elder Bills was one of them. A few ward members were trying to convince us to donate and Elder Bills caved, but I stood my ground and didn't give into peer pressure. One of the members was really trying to convince me to do it though, but there was no way I was about to get poked. I'm saving souls, so I figure someone else can do the saving lives. A lot of missionaries donated though, so that was cool.

That's most of the highlights for this week, another great week as a missionary.

Email from August 11th:

I decided to do what a lot of missionaries do and just send out a mass email about my week because apparently it's easier that way. So this week Me and Elder Bills lead the district by teaching the most lessons which is awesome because we have 4 sets of really good missionaries in our district, so we're pretty proud of that. I also learned this week why I've been told by so many missionaries not to drink soda before you bike, it really is a bad idea, the heat and exercise have some kind of reaction to the soda that just hurts for a while. It goes away after a while though, and now I've decided I'm never going to do that again. We also had zone conference this week and President Griffin is awesome! He told us some of what he expects and how he's going to make sure we reach our full potential. He also talked about rules and when he was going over the music section of the white handbook he had someone start playing journey in the background. Then after a minute he turned it off and asked us how well we could focus and feel the spirit while the music was going and told us that's how we can determine if a song is ok to listen to or not. It was a really cool way to show us how to follow the spirit of the law, which he explained is actually harder than following the letter of the law. I also gained a bit more faith about prayer this week. A couple weeks ago we were struggling for investigators and so I prayed for about 2 days in a row for people to teach and then we found 2 or 3 people in 1 day who we could teach. Then this week we needed more investigators again and so for about 2 days in a row I prayed for investigators and in 1 day we found 2 people who we set times that we could come back to teach them at, and 3 more people said we could just stop by whenever and they'd talk to us. It wasn't until the second time that I realized how quickly God had answered my prayers both times, but it was amazing to see how it had worked.

♥ my missionary

July 28th Petersen/Bills

First off, E Petersen was not affected by the tornadoes going through Tennessee this week. He told us that he was at a missionary fireside at the church, so therefore he was safe :)

It's kind of funny that some weeks I feel like there isn't much too share, but this week there is a lot....

It is so amazing to watch the growth of a missionary. I often wonder if it is as visible to them as it is to us as their family, friends, and neighbors. I feel like my son has gained so much from serving the Lord already that I can only imagine what another 20 months will do. I miss him soo much that some days I just want to fly off to Tennessee and be a fly on the wall, just to watch him. Okay, honestly there is no way I could just watch him and not give him a huge hug =)  I am so proud of all that he is doing and who he is becoming. His spirit has always been huge. When he was little he would prepare his own talks for primary (age 5-9) and would amaze everyone with his simple testimony and words. He typically chose to talk about David and Goliath, that was his favorite. He still does an amazing job at speaking and has no fear of doing it, that definitely didn't come from me. Here is what I assume is a talk he gave recently. (I will correct if I am wrong). I love that is in his own handwriting, sorry if it is hard to read.

(If any of this was too hard for you to read... Please feel free to ask and I would be glad to interpret.)

Here is an excerpt from his letter this week:

"I'd say the way I've grown spiritually the most is just through helping people learn about the gospel and sharing my testimony that it's true. It's helped me to look at why I believe in the church and how it's blessed me in my life. 

I had a guy just the other day say to me "At 18 what can you really say that God has done for you in your life to people that will make them want to hear what you have to say?" And I told him that He's helped me by sending me to a family who already knew and believed in the gospel and that I haven't had to look far to find the truth, like a lot of people have. I also told him that He's given me a lot of opportunities to help people who need it, and He's given me the ability to help them. When I answered him I didn't even have to think through what I was going to say, it was kinda just coming out of my mouth as it came into my head."

I just LOVE my missionary!!

Have a GREAT day!

Picture Info and update

I finally remembered to ask E Petersen about his pictures. Who they are and what is special about them.

This special sister really likes Jared. Something about him got her to go back to church. I asked him about her.

" I just made friends with her and made sure that she knew I wanted her to go to church because it was good for her and not because I just wanted to add numbers. I also helped her realize that there's a lot of people there who really wanted to see her there and be able to help her."
"When I left and I was telling her goodbye she said "you're probably worried I'll stop going to church after you leave, aren't you?" so I was like "Well I'm hoping you'll keep coming." so she told me she was going to keep going and the Elders there have told me she still goes every week."

Jared just loves this brother and his dedication to the Lord. This brother had an amazing conversion story.

"Helm's conversion story is one of my favorites. He was really sick when he was like 19 , basically on his death bed, so his neighbor who was a member of the church told him that he needed to come to church with them. So he went that next sunday and he says as soon as he got there he could feel that it was true and he needed to join, so he got baptized after church that day and it wasn't until a few weeks later he actually found out what the name of the church was. And he's been to church every week he could since then."


"He's a really funny guy, and he's just about as southern as they get. He's also super dedicated to helping less active members and he was more than willing to do anything for us. E Houghton mentioned one time that a 7/11 slushie would be really good, but the closest one was in Atlanta Georgia and Helm over heard him and was like "Y'all need to go to Atlanta? Let's go!" and so we were like "no Helm, it's alright we just wanted a 7/11 slushie from there." and he was like "Well let's go get a 7/11 slushie!" so we had to tell him that Atlanta Georgia was outside of mission boundaries so we'd get in a lot of trouble if we went, but he really wanted to take us. He also went to visit less actives for his date nights and spent about $600 a month on gas just to drive to all of the less actives."

This couple was Jared's Mission President and wife. 

He got a new one July 1st.

Jared is doing amazing! He is happy and loving the work. He loves the people and is tolerating the weather quite well. Here is his response to my question about what is his least favorite, 

" Once apon a time there was a road called Alice Bell road. Two elders on bikes were trying to get to an appointment and had to bike up this big hill on Alice Bell Road. It was super hard. That's probably about the worst. "    (such a funny kid) =)

First Transfer from Morristown to Knoxville

Jared was transferred on June 18th. He is officially trained. I can't believe it has been over 3 months since he left.

Here is an excerpt from his letter:


"I'm in grove park south! it's in Knoxville and my new companion is E Bills, he's pretty cool. I also got to go to my first baptism this last saturday!! Her name is Emily and she was already scheduled to be baptized when I got transferred in. President Irion and an area 70, Elder Hymus both came to the baptism so it was really cool."

 E Bills, Emily, and E Petersen

 E Houghton and E Petersen

BEAUTIFUL TENNESSEE MOUNTAINS!

June 6th 2014

Here is our latest picture from E Petersen (far left)

I believe this is Zone Conference

His trainer E Houghton is in the middle with the dark hair. 

He is enjoying his mission. He is so happy it makes me happy. He is working with some members and is teaching an investigator. He encourages us to be involved with the missionaries in our area and to feed them often :)  Jared encourages everyone to read the scriptures and gain a testimony for themselves of the truthfulness of the gospel.

E Houghton thought it would be great for Jared to have the full southern experience and attend a Baptist church. They were not well received. The Pastor came up to them and told them that their church worships Jesus and not Joseph Smith, he then walked away before they could say anything. Jared was not impressed.

Letter Home ~ One month

Having a missionary in the field is one of the most rewarding experience I've ever had. I LOVE to watch his growth! Is fun to have him see it in himself.

Pictures

 He loved your Easter package Ambur!

 I love to see his quilt and know that he is wrapped in love every night! (His is the one on the left)

 He is still Jared. Loves his hats. 

Excerpt from his letter that he wanted me to share:

They had a missionary homecoming on Sunday. The Missionary told this cool analogy.

"Imagine if there were an apocalyptic type disease spreading throughout the world. Most everyone is getting infected, but some people are immune. Doctors and scientists are looking for a cure, and they are checking the blood of the immune, but the blood they need is rare and they can't find a match. You and your family are immune, and you go in to see if your blood can save the world. They test your family and the results come back. The doctors are pretty excited, they say,  "We finally found a match!" They go on to tell you that your son's blood is probably the only blood in the world that will work. You are excited and ask how much blood they need from your son. The smiles on the doctors faces fade away and they say,  "Well..... we didn't expect it to be a child, we didn't account for a child.... In order for it to save the world, we will need all of it." Can you imagine what would be going through your mind? Would you be able to do it?

That's a similar situation to what God faced while making His plan for us. The blood in the story is Christ's atonement. The infected people are all of us. We are all infected with sin. The antidote is repentance and baptism. If someone gave up their child's life just so you could be cured of a disease, would you turn it away? Would you say, "I don't think that's for me? " or "I don't think I'll try this antidote, it might not work and is not worth it." Would you take the antidote then when you see someone else with the disease say, I don't think they want it. I just won't give it to them because I don't want to intrude.

These answers are all so simple, so why is it that when we exchange the antidote for the atonement, the answers often change? Is it not as important? Or as vital? It's really much more important, much more vital. The antidote for the disease is temporarily prolonging of life. The atonement is an eternal way to achieve happiness. We should want to share it with everyone we meet.

I know I'm not looking forward to the day when someone I knew, who I didn't share the gospel with asks me, "why didn't you help me? How could you know the path to eternal life and then just leave me without it? " I want as few people as possible to ask me that. That has become a driving factor for me on my mission, and should be a driving factor in all of our lives, to share the gospel.

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! )