Letter 52 Goodbye to President Villanueva
Well,
I can't say a whole ton happened this week because we had meetings all
week. It was President Villanueva's last zone Conference, so that was
kinda sad, but we also got to say goodbye 5 times in a row since we went
to all of the zone conferences. It was really fun to be around them all
week and to see all the missionaries in the mission though!
Unfortunately, those meetings took up all the time so we didn't get to
do much proselyting in our own area but no worries. We hope to make up
for it this week! I am excited for President Wells to come! He will join
us this weekend. I hope you all have a great week!
Letter 51 Plan of Salvation
It was a pretty good week this week but short because I just had p day Monday. We are having it Saturday due to the upcoming zone conferences so I will write about those next week. Things are going well here, we have gotten a few referrals that seem pretty solid so we are excited to work with them! I haven't gotten in contact with everybody yet but we hope to this week!
I went on my first real exchange this week where I actually left my area completely so that was pretty fun. It was a Spanish area so I wasn't quite sure what was going on but I did have to bike in that area for the first time on my mission. That was fun for the first little bit but I hope I never have to do that again. It is a real blessing to have a car. I know some missionaries who would just be wishing they had a bike so I have definitely lucked out in where I have served so far!
That is pretty much all for this week, but I just want to testify of the truthfulness of the plan of salvation. I have always struggled in teaching this because I felt it was complicated and confusing, but now I see that it is the only possible plan that God could use to save his children and he knows that and now I know that. I am so grateful for the potential to become something better in this life and for the plan that God has laid out. Because of the gospel pattern of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end that was restored to the earth; we can become so much better and have a role in Gods plan.
I am so grateful that I chose to go on a mission. I think I knew these things before, but now because I know them, I am going to do something about it. I hope you all choose to do the same and have a great week!
Letter 50
This week was pretty great! We went on a hike as a zone for our P-Day today and it was a lot of fun!
We had a couple of meetings this week as well and I really enjoyed the MLC although it was a struggle. If you know me, you know I am not good at all with technology and we had a lot of problems during the meeting but we got through it so it was ok. I wish I was talented with technology but I guess that is what I need to learn.
We also have a couple of good prospects who could become some solid investigators! Things are definitely going well! Our ward is awesome! It is a little bit small for a ward, but the members are really solid and are doing a lot of great work. The recent converts are now receiving callings and so things are really looking up! We also got a referral from our mission president a few days ago and have been in contact with the referrals cousin and her brother to teach her. They originally referred her and it sounds like she has a lot of potential. They say she is really interested in learning more and we set up a lesson with her on Wednesday! We are really excited!
Also quick update from my last area, I don't know if you remember, but me and my companions were teaching an Armenian man named Henrik and unfortunately while I was with Elder Sanders we had to drop him because he wasn't progressing. Well, after attending his own church and then ours multiple times, he decided to be baptized while Elder Sanders and Elder Meppen were there!
He is very strong in the church now and his mother wasn't too happy with his decision at all actually,
but he chose to do what he knew was right, even when it meant displeasing his mother. I truly have come to find out that no effort is wasted and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with Henrik!
We had a couple of meetings this week as well and I really enjoyed the MLC although it was a struggle. If you know me, you know I am not good at all with technology and we had a lot of problems during the meeting but we got through it so it was ok. I wish I was talented with technology but I guess that is what I need to learn.
We also have a couple of good prospects who could become some solid investigators! Things are definitely going well! Our ward is awesome! It is a little bit small for a ward, but the members are really solid and are doing a lot of great work. The recent converts are now receiving callings and so things are really looking up! We also got a referral from our mission president a few days ago and have been in contact with the referrals cousin and her brother to teach her. They originally referred her and it sounds like she has a lot of potential. They say she is really interested in learning more and we set up a lesson with her on Wednesday! We are really excited!
Also quick update from my last area, I don't know if you remember, but me and my companions were teaching an Armenian man named Henrik and unfortunately while I was with Elder Sanders we had to drop him because he wasn't progressing. Well, after attending his own church and then ours multiple times, he decided to be baptized while Elder Sanders and Elder Meppen were there!
He is very strong in the church now and his mother wasn't too happy with his decision at all actually,
but he chose to do what he knew was right, even when it meant displeasing his mother. I truly have come to find out that no effort is wasted and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with Henrik!
Letter 49
Hey Everyone!
This week was pretty great! I have a new companion now and it is Elder Peterson who was my zone leader when I was leaving Glendale! I am super pumped to have him as a companion because I already know we will get along great. He is also very ready to work in this new area and light it up and I am too, so it will be a fun transfer for sure.
Other than that things have been pretty busy. Since it was transfer week, we were at the office all day Monday and Tuesday taking old missionaries home and bringing new missionaries in. We did have some problems with the missionaries we took home but it all worked out. Elder Peterson and I took the international missionaries to the airport.
The Elder going home to South Korea and the Elder going home to the Philippines had some problems with their flights being delayed and messing up the connectors and so we were on the phone a lot with church travel. That was definitely really stressful but we were able to get it figured out, they just had to stay in the mission one more day. So far working in the office has been pretty fun though and I enjoy working in the fast pace environment, especially on transfer week.
We did have one cool miracle occur as well this week. We went to visit a less active part member family but when we arrived complex we realized we didn't have their apt number. Then our phone started ringing and we didn't recognize the number. When we answered we found out that it was non member wife of the family we were trying to reach right then.
She said her family was going through a lot and she really needed to come back to church and get them involved as well. She even expressed to us that she wants to be baptized again. She was a member of the church originally but her records were removed when she was younger but now she wants to be a part of it again. We had a great lesson yesterday about repentance with her and her husband and we are excited to help them progress in the gospel. They are awesome and would be a wonderful blessing to have in the ward.
That's about all for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week as well!
(Pictured -- office elders with the departing missionaries)
This week was pretty great! I have a new companion now and it is Elder Peterson who was my zone leader when I was leaving Glendale! I am super pumped to have him as a companion because I already know we will get along great. He is also very ready to work in this new area and light it up and I am too, so it will be a fun transfer for sure.
Other than that things have been pretty busy. Since it was transfer week, we were at the office all day Monday and Tuesday taking old missionaries home and bringing new missionaries in. We did have some problems with the missionaries we took home but it all worked out. Elder Peterson and I took the international missionaries to the airport.
The Elder going home to South Korea and the Elder going home to the Philippines had some problems with their flights being delayed and messing up the connectors and so we were on the phone a lot with church travel. That was definitely really stressful but we were able to get it figured out, they just had to stay in the mission one more day. So far working in the office has been pretty fun though and I enjoy working in the fast pace environment, especially on transfer week.
We did have one cool miracle occur as well this week. We went to visit a less active part member family but when we arrived complex we realized we didn't have their apt number. Then our phone started ringing and we didn't recognize the number. When we answered we found out that it was non member wife of the family we were trying to reach right then.
She said her family was going through a lot and she really needed to come back to church and get them involved as well. She even expressed to us that she wants to be baptized again. She was a member of the church originally but her records were removed when she was younger but now she wants to be a part of it again. We had a great lesson yesterday about repentance with her and her husband and we are excited to help them progress in the gospel. They are awesome and would be a wonderful blessing to have in the ward.
That's about all for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week as well!
(Pictured -- office elders with the departing missionaries)
Letter 48
Hey Everyone!
Transfer calls are tonight but since we are going to be
pretty busy all transfer week our p day is today. However, Elder Baguley
received a call from the Assistants a little bit early to tell him that he will
be training next transfer. He is really excited because this is the first time
he will train. So, this means I will be getting a new companion! I don't know
who it will be yet but I am excited to find out tonight!
Other than that it was
a pretty short week so there isn't much to report. We have been teaching a lot
more lessons which is good and we hope to keep it up. We also had a really fun
zone activity where we played a bunch of games for p day last week. There are a
couple pictures below and it was a lot of fun. Hope you all have a great week!
(Later: My new companion is Elder (Cameron) Peterson and he is from
Nampa Idaho! He was my Zone Leader back in Glendale and is really awesome, so I am excited to work with him!)
Letter 47: Meeting Mayra
May 22, 2017
Hey everybody!
This week has been pretty good! We found a couple people
who really seem like they could have some potential and so we hope we can keep
teaching them! We also had Kaoussar and the twins Bshara and Zein at church
yesterday so that was really good!
While the twins went to primary we were able
to teach Kaoussar and really set good expectations. We pretty much wrote down
everything that needed to happen before baptism and what will happen after
baptism and what it means to be a part of the church. We went over each person
in the family individually and it went really well.
It's too bad Emile wasn't
there but I think Kaoussar got a lot out of it and she is really excited to
help her family make this step! Normally she leaves before sacrament meeting
because she can't control the twins, but this time Elder Baguley and I each sat
next to one of the twins and helped keep them quiet during sacrament meeting.
It reminded me of when I was little at church and played all those games like
hangman. It went really well! The twins also got to go to fathers and sons
yesterday with their dad so I bet that helped them get a lot of fellowship.
They are super awesome and I'm so grateful to be working with them! Please pray
for them! That's about all this week. Sorry I keep forgetting to take pictures
and I also can't find anything cool to take pictures of. Have a great week!
Partial Journal entries:
May 16: Man, today was crazy but awesome! We taught this family the restoration. They would be such a blessing to have in the ward, but they are kinda hung up on some of the deeper doctrines, which is too bad because they are so nice and act like Mormons. They would be such good Mormons too, but that's ok, it was still a good lesson. We then had dinner with James Finlay's family, which was awesome.
May 17: Today was quite the day because it was mostly tracting and calling people. We pretty much called everyone in our area book and tracted for most of the day. Unfortunately still nobody was found but we did have a small doctrinal discussion with a guy from Christ Church of the Valley so that was cool. I definitely need to go visit some other churches after my mission because I have a lot of questions about how they all work.
May 18: Today was great! We had district meeting with a good lesson... We also studied about hope as a companionship and decided that we both need to make a greater effort to have hope and that made the finding day a lot more optimistic. Not only that, but the very last person we talked to before we went to go teach Eric said we could come back Saturday. Her name is Mayra and I think she was a miracle, even if nothing else goes through.
We then taught Eric a lesson. He is a recent convert and we were pretty bold with him but he is really humble and patient and so he committed to stay at church for the whole three hours. Overall pretty good day!
May 19th: It was our district's turn to clean the mission office and so we did that after personal study and then came back and did comp study and weekly planning. We then did some finding and then had a wonderful dinner at the Sandovals. Then it was just more visiting people and then language study and so yeah, it was pretty much just another regular day in Duarte, not too shabby!
May 22: Today was a good P-day because we got to play ball for a bit and we also had a zone activity where we played a bunch of games so that was lots of fun! I wish we had more people to teach, but I am grateful for the Ibraihims. If we could teach them often if would feel like the area was on fire. No worries though. Things will turn up I'm sure.
Partial Journal entries:
May 16: Man, today was crazy but awesome! We taught this family the restoration. They would be such a blessing to have in the ward, but they are kinda hung up on some of the deeper doctrines, which is too bad because they are so nice and act like Mormons. They would be such good Mormons too, but that's ok, it was still a good lesson. We then had dinner with James Finlay's family, which was awesome.
May 17: Today was quite the day because it was mostly tracting and calling people. We pretty much called everyone in our area book and tracted for most of the day. Unfortunately still nobody was found but we did have a small doctrinal discussion with a guy from Christ Church of the Valley so that was cool. I definitely need to go visit some other churches after my mission because I have a lot of questions about how they all work.
May 18: Today was great! We had district meeting with a good lesson... We also studied about hope as a companionship and decided that we both need to make a greater effort to have hope and that made the finding day a lot more optimistic. Not only that, but the very last person we talked to before we went to go teach Eric said we could come back Saturday. Her name is Mayra and I think she was a miracle, even if nothing else goes through.
We then taught Eric a lesson. He is a recent convert and we were pretty bold with him but he is really humble and patient and so he committed to stay at church for the whole three hours. Overall pretty good day!
May 19th: It was our district's turn to clean the mission office and so we did that after personal study and then came back and did comp study and weekly planning. We then did some finding and then had a wonderful dinner at the Sandovals. Then it was just more visiting people and then language study and so yeah, it was pretty much just another regular day in Duarte, not too shabby!
May 22: Today was a good P-day because we got to play ball for a bit and we also had a zone activity where we played a bunch of games so that was lots of fun! I wish we had more people to teach, but I am grateful for the Ibraihims. If we could teach them often if would feel like the area was on fire. No worries though. Things will turn up I'm sure.
Letter 46
Hey Everyone!
His week was just pretty much the same old. We didn't
have any meetings and so it was just a lot of finding and working but it was
also a lot of fun! Well, I literally don't have anything to write this week but
we got to skype yesterday so that was cool! Sorry I don't have any pictures
again but I hope you all have a great week!
(Note from Mom -- Sometimes Jase's letters don't say much, as you can see above! However, he does photocopy his journals and send them home periodically. So I asked him if I could type them up and include them as well. Here they are for this week!)
Sunday May 7: Well, today we didn't have ward council because the Finlays were out of town and they are half of it, so that was awkward. However the Ibraihim family came to church today, which was good. They are refugees from Syria and really like the church, but the language barrier is rough. So they are kind of a long term baptism, but it is really good. I feel like I have worked with a lot of people who struggle with English on my mission and I can't help but wonder if it is part of my gift of communication from my patriarchal blessing. I hope to develop that gift because I don't seem to be very strong with it yet. Anyway, nothing else really happened except dinner with the Wycocks! They are awesome!
Monday 8: Oh man, today was rough. It was just so much finding and knocking on doors, which I just hate. I really wish we had more people to work with, but our area is small and all of the formers aren't really interested. We want to find new people but we just don't know how to find them. Tracting is terrible, but in the area it is really the only way to find a new face. It's just hard to have these completely blank days and no way of planning them. I kind of wish we had more office work. I know I need to learn a lesson from this, I just want to learn it faster so that we don't just keep searching in vain.
Tuesday May 9: Today was all visiting formers and knocking on doors with no results once again. Quite a full day. I'm pretty sure I have like zero faith in tracting, especially in today's day and age where every single place you go, that person has already talked to missionaries. It is frustrating.
Wednesday May 10: Today was a little better even though the appointments we had fell through. I think its cause we had interviews with president which helped lift things up a bit again. These are the last interviews we will have with President Villanueva. We talked a lot about my assignment as an office Elder and I think it will help me become more "quick to observe" like Brother Douglas taught. We also talked about the needs of the area. I think we need to just keep working and it will turn up.
Thursday May 11: Today was great! We had District meeting first and then today was still a lot of finding, but we got to set up an appointment with Sister Garcia and teach the plan of salvation. I think she has a lot of potential to come back and her daughter as well. It is nice to be able to teach something for once and we hope to keep working with her. Other than that it was just our usual finding day! I really can’t wait to see this area pick up and I think we can get it to that point if we just keep pushing for it!
Friday May 12: Today was pretty good but really long. We had weekly planning so that took forever, but it was all good. We were able to reach a referral we got named Sal today and he is pretty cool, but is a really strong Catholic. We taught the restoration but he kind resisted it and so we just really encouraged him to really study the Book of Mormon to find out if our message is true. There wasn’t much more we could have done, so hopefully he takes the challenge.
Saturday May 13: Today was decent but it felt really long. However, we were able to find two potentials so that was good. It was just a really long finding day for us even though it was a little more successful than some of the other days but whatever. I am excited to Skype tomorrow and see how everything is going back home though! It will be nice to have a short little break from it all.
Sunday May 14: Well, today was Mother’s Day so we weren’t able to get much work done. The white handbook says that Sundays and Holidays are the vest days to find but that is a huge lie. Church was really good today though and Kaoussar and the twins came to church, but not Emile and so we didn’t teach them. They also didn’t stay for sacrament which was too bad.
However, we did get to Skype family today so that was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. I feel like it went by a lot faster than it did last time though, so that was unfortunate, but it was all good. My mom and dad reminded me to wear my retainer again. Of course I’m not actually going to do it though. We then just went by less actives for pretty much the rest of the day and then just had language study. So it was pretty good day!
*Note from mom -- he isn't wearing his retainer any more because he didn't wear it every night like he was supposed to, therefore his teeth shifted and it no longer fits! :( I am setting him up an Orthodontist appointment as soon as he gets home (which isn't for another year) to get a new retainer (or short term braces). We invested a lot of money into that smile and I don't want to lose it!
(Note from Mom -- Sometimes Jase's letters don't say much, as you can see above! However, he does photocopy his journals and send them home periodically. So I asked him if I could type them up and include them as well. Here they are for this week!)
Sunday May 7: Well, today we didn't have ward council because the Finlays were out of town and they are half of it, so that was awkward. However the Ibraihim family came to church today, which was good. They are refugees from Syria and really like the church, but the language barrier is rough. So they are kind of a long term baptism, but it is really good. I feel like I have worked with a lot of people who struggle with English on my mission and I can't help but wonder if it is part of my gift of communication from my patriarchal blessing. I hope to develop that gift because I don't seem to be very strong with it yet. Anyway, nothing else really happened except dinner with the Wycocks! They are awesome!
Monday 8: Oh man, today was rough. It was just so much finding and knocking on doors, which I just hate. I really wish we had more people to work with, but our area is small and all of the formers aren't really interested. We want to find new people but we just don't know how to find them. Tracting is terrible, but in the area it is really the only way to find a new face. It's just hard to have these completely blank days and no way of planning them. I kind of wish we had more office work. I know I need to learn a lesson from this, I just want to learn it faster so that we don't just keep searching in vain.
Tuesday May 9: Today was all visiting formers and knocking on doors with no results once again. Quite a full day. I'm pretty sure I have like zero faith in tracting, especially in today's day and age where every single place you go, that person has already talked to missionaries. It is frustrating.
Wednesday May 10: Today was a little better even though the appointments we had fell through. I think its cause we had interviews with president which helped lift things up a bit again. These are the last interviews we will have with President Villanueva. We talked a lot about my assignment as an office Elder and I think it will help me become more "quick to observe" like Brother Douglas taught. We also talked about the needs of the area. I think we need to just keep working and it will turn up.
Thursday May 11: Today was great! We had District meeting first and then today was still a lot of finding, but we got to set up an appointment with Sister Garcia and teach the plan of salvation. I think she has a lot of potential to come back and her daughter as well. It is nice to be able to teach something for once and we hope to keep working with her. Other than that it was just our usual finding day! I really can’t wait to see this area pick up and I think we can get it to that point if we just keep pushing for it!
Friday May 12: Today was pretty good but really long. We had weekly planning so that took forever, but it was all good. We were able to reach a referral we got named Sal today and he is pretty cool, but is a really strong Catholic. We taught the restoration but he kind resisted it and so we just really encouraged him to really study the Book of Mormon to find out if our message is true. There wasn’t much more we could have done, so hopefully he takes the challenge.
Saturday May 13: Today was decent but it felt really long. However, we were able to find two potentials so that was good. It was just a really long finding day for us even though it was a little more successful than some of the other days but whatever. I am excited to Skype tomorrow and see how everything is going back home though! It will be nice to have a short little break from it all.
Sunday May 14: Well, today was Mother’s Day so we weren’t able to get much work done. The white handbook says that Sundays and Holidays are the vest days to find but that is a huge lie. Church was really good today though and Kaoussar and the twins came to church, but not Emile and so we didn’t teach them. They also didn’t stay for sacrament which was too bad.
However, we did get to Skype family today so that was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. I feel like it went by a lot faster than it did last time though, so that was unfortunate, but it was all good. My mom and dad reminded me to wear my retainer again. Of course I’m not actually going to do it though. We then just went by less actives for pretty much the rest of the day and then just had language study. So it was pretty good day!
*Note from mom -- he isn't wearing his retainer any more because he didn't wear it every night like he was supposed to, therefore his teeth shifted and it no longer fits! :( I am setting him up an Orthodontist appointment as soon as he gets home (which isn't for another year) to get a new retainer (or short term braces). We invested a lot of money into that smile and I don't want to lose it!
Letter 45
Hey Everyone!
I can't say much happened this week because
it was a little shorter and we had a lot of meetings. On the bright
side, I have been getting better at setting up and using all of the
technology for the meetings so that has been nice. Since I was at mostly
meetings this week I will just write about those.
We received a lot of
instruction from President and Sister Villanueva and from the Assistants
that was really good.
We talked a lot about the importance of studies and working with the ward. I love having time set aside in the morning as part of the missionary schedule to study. It is such a blessing and really gets my day started off right and I am more prepared for the day. I encourage all of you to take some time to study the scriptures everyday. It doesn't have to be a long time but if you do it everyday it will bless you for the rest of your life.
We talked a lot about the importance of studies and working with the ward. I love having time set aside in the morning as part of the missionary schedule to study. It is such a blessing and really gets my day started off right and I am more prepared for the day. I encourage all of you to take some time to study the scriptures everyday. It doesn't have to be a long time but if you do it everyday it will bless you for the rest of your life.
We also talked about working
with the ward we are serving in and I really liked that because we are
really struggling to find people to teach right now. This area is really
difficult but elder Baguley and I both feel like we are right around
the corner from finding someone awesome. I think if we work better with
the ward and some of there friends, we will find more people who are
interested or just more open to our message.
A lot of people are closed
off to us missionaries because we dress strangely and they know what we
are all about but those same people are very open to listening when a
friend with a sincere testimony of the gospel invites them to listen and
just wants what's best for them! I challenge all of you to branch out
and make new friends around you that you can invite to hear the message
of the restored gospel. It will bless their lives forever and yours as
well. Hope you all have a great week!
Pictures: 1. Me and my father (trainer) Elder Stucki. It was good to see him again. He was an awesome trainer. 2. My new companion Elder Baguley. He is a great missionary and very diligent! I need to be more like him!
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