ST AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA
COMPANION: ELDER BURTON
zone leaders
This week was Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my mom. One of the things about my mom that I am so incredibly grateful for is her love for the commandments. It seemed like we were always the strictest family! My curfew was earlier, my chores were longer, my consequences harsher, our family home evenings longer, consequences prescribed were more exacting, Sunday activities more limited, family prayer unyielding... Such a BLESSING! My mom tried to teach me for 22 years to LOVE the commandments like she does.
And now I DO! I ADORE the commandments! There is no merciful bounty from our Father for which I am more grateful than the commandments. They have rescued my whole existence. What a filthy, hopeless addict I would have become without the word of wisdom to protect me! What a frantic, scattered, self-indulgent fool would have found residence in my flesh if not for the voice of God thundering from Siani, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy". What an unvirtuous wretch would have evolved if not for the Law of Chastity! What an avaricious miser could have been, but for the redemption from such triviality provided by the law of tithing. Oh what filth I have been saved from, oh what marvelous, wondrous heights have been scaled, because of the commandments.
My mother loves the commandments. She WANTS to follow them not because she must, not because anyone is forcing her to. She did not create a mentality of adhering as little as possible, fulfilling some kind of mandatory minimum to the church before getting back to our normal lives. My childhood was built upon, around, and beneath the influence of the un-negotiable edicts of the Almighty, with the intent that we live them to the fullest conceivable extent. And we fell absurdly, laughably short. Of course we do. We always will. And so we laugh, and we fall a little more in love with the voice of the Lord, and we work a little harder tomorrow.
Someone else I'm grateful for is my companion, Elder Burton. I have complied some "Elder Burton Quotes" to give you sort of a feel for him:
In response to anything he likes: "That's what's up."
At lunch time, after listing all the things we needed to get done that day: "Ah forget it. I'm gonna eat this cake and lay on the ground."
To the person cutting his hair: "Just... Be aggressive with it."
After glancing at a picture of President Eyring speaking the Vatican: "He's a man among boys."
After a long day: Me: "What're you having for dinner tonight?"
Elder Burton: "Eggs, bacon, and cake."
During daily planning: "Let's go kick down the doors of a heroin addict. We could fight him.
After Ward correlation meeting: "The Sisters are just so... sistery."
Discussing our excitement to go to the temple after our missions: "If I saw Harry Reid in the temple, I don't know what I'd do. Probably spit on him."
In visible disbelief after being handed homemade lavender soap by a member: "You wash your body with this??"
Walking down the street knocking on doors: "I feel like wearing cowboy boots. And a snakeskin tie. And sayin' 'Howdy'"
(Note: He said howdy at every door the rest of the night.)
Member feeding us: "What do you want for Thanksgiving dinner? Do you have a favorite food?"
Elder Burton: "Bread. Just bread."
He's like a TV character. He is, in every respect, the stereotypical MAN. It is such a fantastic time being companions with him. Goodness gracious. Makes me want to fix things. Or cook outdoors.
One thing I love about my mom is her capacity to rejoice in the success of those around her. If life is a race, then the finish line is death. Why would you want to win THAT race????? Mom taught me to think like that. We are not here to race! We are here to get as many people into the celestial kingdom as possible. First ourselves, then our families, then EVERYONE! EVERYONE needs to go to heaven!!!!!!!!! Mom taught me that. Simultaneously, she taught me to WIN. It wasn't about being some kind of namby-pamby man! It was about correctly identifying the teams, and the terms of engagement. The teams are the human family and the godhead vs. the Adversary and his filth, and the terms are unconditional. VICTORY is the cause and I love to WIN! Mom was always the first to remind me what to love and what to abhor, the first to teach me who my teammates were, and against what I was competing. In every way she prioritized, she emphasized true value, and this gave her the gift of sharing in the success of all around her. Anything fun that happened to ANYONE, anything good that took place in ANYONE'S life, it was as if it happened to her! Now, surrounded by successful missionaries, I do not have to battle envy or the spirit of competition. What a gift that was to me.
Tuesday was a good day in the mission. We have a lot of meetings. So many. And there is a LOT going on in our area (we have Elizabeth being baptized on Sunday. It's be awesome if you kept her in your prayers) so we often miss out on my favorite part of missionary work: finding new people to teach.
There is just something special about standing in front of someone and declaring to the, the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ! That is the most important moment of their entire lives!!!!!!!!! And most everyone misses it, but I try SO hard, and a light almost every time comes on in their eyes, and at least they know, at least they have an inkling that I know, something fantastic.
So on Tuesday we got to go tracting in a nice, upper-middle class neighborhood for hours. It was in the 40s with a lot of humidity. It did not stop raining for a single minute that entire day. We could not have been wetter. And in the several hours we worked, almost every single door we knocked on, someone answered. We talked to HUNDREDS of people. It was phenomenal. We got home and had to lovingly correct some missionaries that had decided the combination of wet, cold, and dark was sufficient reason to stay in their apartment. All I could say was, "You are missing out! There are souls to save! There are events of eternal consequence to be involved in! This is your only shot! This is all you've got! You are missing it! The plagues of Egypt could not keep you from throwing yourself out into the night if only you took a moment to grasp what we are DOING! So get up and grasp it!!!!!"
We just need more. We need a hundred million more members and two million more missionaries and jet packs to dart from door to door and megaphones and MORE. Sigh. Mom taught me about more. She taught me that "good enough" was beneath one who held the holy priesthood of the Lord. She taught that "fine" was NOT fine enough for a child of Heavenly Father. We practiced and we worked and there was a very well understood expectation of excellence. And sometimes, excellence for me would have been a source of outright embarrassment for my peers. And sometimes my "fine" would have been excellence for my peers. And that was never considered or discussed. I don't think I heard the words "good enough" from her mouth even once. You did your best. You paid your price in sweat blood and tears if that's what it folks but you did it! I don't think I ever got any "Most Valuable Player" awards, but I cannot count all the "Most-Improved" ribbons I have amassed. There was always a new concept to read, always another skill to acquire, there was an eternal potential for progression opened to me. And though I am RIDDLED with weakness, inadequacy, and defect, I still maintain an absolute freedom of vision. I am here to do the best I am capable of. I am here to wear myself out in the service of the Lord. My goal on my mission and after is to give every ounce of energy and capacity to the service of the Lord throughout a long, happy, healthy life. I call it the life of martyrdom. It is a concept taught to me by my angel mother.
We had an awesome thanksgiving. Ate with the ward mission leader and our recent converts. Also went out and knocked some doors! And contacted some less-active, part-member families. They were great. We had an interesting night a little bit ago! We walked up to a house that is LIT UP with Christmas lights and found a half-naked, 140 pound aging black man wandering around the front yard. He invites us into his home in a thick botswannan accent, sits us down, and then he leaves. We sit in his immaculately clean and tastefully decorated home (in the middle of the ghetto) for 20 minutes, alone. He finally shows back up. He had walked to the gas station, bought us drinks, and himself the single most giant can of beer I had ever seen. We could smell it from outside. It was huge. We said, "Brother, drinking that beer will kill you. We are here to talk about God. We can help you change."
Now he has a baptism date! Wooooooooo!
Did I tell you one of our investigators restores classic sports cars? THAT is a fun house. Did I tell you St. Augustine has a school for the deaf and blind so there are deaf people EVERYWHERE? Adds an interesting element. Wish I could sign.
One thing mom taught me was wishing. How many years did we wish for "mom's neck and back to get better"? How many years did we wish for a family, for siblings, for a mission? How many tens of thousands of prayers were offered for those? How much yearning, hoping, working, pleading, and wishing was done? Mom taught me to wish patiently, to be righteously ambitious, to ask of God.
I love my mom. I will include at the end of this letter some poems I cherish on the subject. They capture the spirit of her to me.
The work is going wonderfully well. This week I learned about priesthood power. Priesthood power is based upon personal righteousness. Early in the week, I acted as voice in two blessings. It was a hallowed experience. It was a breathtaking thing. People were sobbing, my hands were shaking, the spirit was palpable, the whole atmosphere electrifying. Later in the week, I acted as voice again. In the interim, I had become unfocused, rebellious, and lazy. The words came, smiles were seen. It was fine. I mean, it was done by priesthood authority, so of course it was fine. The difference, though, was shocking. And a little heartbreaking.
I missed that chance. I missed an opportunity for something marvelous to be done. I am embarrassed and ashamed. But I will repent.
That is probably the most valuable lesson I learned from my mama. We all need to just repent and forgive and move on! Alright, well, didn't nail it today. And that person hit me with their car, and life did not work out how I planned. I didn't stick the landing. I didn't get an answer. Or maybe my pants were just inside-out all day. Well that was then! Today things are going to be different! Today will be awesome! So there! If yesterday was incredible just think what today could be! If yesterday was a bummer than why would you dwell on it? Why would you force yourself to live there by talking about it, holding it as a grudge, reliving it over and over again?? Forgive! Repent. Move on.
Mostly repent. Repenting is important.
Sunday night we met a man who makes custom knives right there in his house! We were talking about materials. Apparently there is a company in Germany that own their own mahogany forest and ages their wood for 200 years before they sell it. There is another kind of wood called red spruce originally used to make Gibson guitars. He said certain guitars sell for tens of millions of dollars. I said, "Whoa! I wonder what kind of music you could make with that!" And then he said something significant. He said, "Any kind you want."
We have such unbelievable tools. We live in the last days, in a day of miracles, wonder, honor, priesthood, temples, scripture, truth, and glory. Science and technology and medicine and learning of every kind has exploded almost beyond our comprehension. I imagine sitting in heaven, looking down, and saying, "Whoa! I wonder what kind of life you could make with that!" Any kind you want. It can be a waste. It can be spent in trinkets and baubles and cyberspace. It could be spent in rebellion, laziness, pride, sin, and gluttony. Or not. Or the instrument you've been given could be worth far more than measly millions. We can make any kind of music we want! Let's make it AWESOME.
We're not allowed to say "cool" or "sweet" or any other words like it in our mission. We can only say "awesome". So everything is awesome. Not entirely sure why we have that rule. Anyway, it's my mama's birthday. It's a pretty awesome day. Next week is transfers so PDay will be on Tuesday. I will talk to y'all then.
Happy Birthday Mum.
~Elder Jorgensen
“The Name of Mother”
“The noblest thoughts my soul can claim.
The holiest words my tongue can frame,
Unworthy are to frame the name
More sacred than all other.
An infant when her love first came,
A man, I find it just the same:
Reverently I breathe her name--
The blessed name of mother.”
--George Griffith Fetters
“They pushed him straight against the wall,
The firing squad dropped in a row
And why he stood on tiptoe,
Those men shall never know.
He wore a smile across his face
As he stood primly there,
The guns straight aiming at his heart,
The sun upon his hair.
For he remembered in a flash
Those days beyond recall,
When his proud mother took his height
Against the bedroom wall.”
(From "Behold thy Mother)
I have a secret
known only by me.
It helps me, it holds me,
It keeps me happy.
You will not believe this,
but surely it’s true
‘It’ is my mother.
Yes, Mother, it’s you.
You, you are my secret strength
And to you I’ll always be true
And here is a message
Which comes from my heart:
Mother, I love you.
A mother’s inherent qualities of trust, courage, and faith lend strength to every member of the family.
The Family—A Divine Blessing
You may have riches and wealth untold
With baskets of jewels and caskets of gold
But richer than I you will never be
For I had a mother who read to me.
(From "Birth")
