WEEK 76: Sacrifice

WEEK 76:  Sacrifice

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER CORDON

ASSISTANTS

Sometimes we sacrifice who we are for what we are. Sometimes I think we have to. We'll circle back though. Can't forget the stories or there'll be complaints!

THIS week! Alright alright, I know I say this every week, but THIS week was something. So it was transfer week. Which means I was away from my companion (I'm just going to stop reporting that. We're apart a minimum of two days a week. This week we'll be apart for 96 hours straight.) but got to work with the departing missionaries. I picked my favorite, Elder Cutler, who was my zone leader and who I replaced in St. Augustine. We had a BLAST! We had FIVE lessons scheduled with investigators and members set up to come with us, and they all fell through so we knocked the socks off Jacksonville and finished his night teaching and testifying in doorways until after 9:00 PM. Champions.

We also brought in the new missionaries. All they talked about on the way home from the airport was what to do on PDay and what it was going to be like when they go home. Hehehee. Did I ever talk like that? They were so quiet. I got a little over-enthusiastic with them and their eyes got all wide. I was just happy to see them. We need more missionaries. We need ten times as many. Come. Come and be as happy as we are. Come and see where the Master dwelleth.

 

But of course, this week's highlight was JORGE'S BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jorge is phenomenal. He is from Peru and is the father of a recent convert. He has known the Church was true for a long time, he just needed a little push. A little push! Some people say I'm pushy. Maybe I am! I definitely am. Oh well. Today for lunch I had goat cheese and spinach on a biscuit with sweet potato fries and honey on the side.

Always a good time.

Jorge's service was phenomenal. He probably had 10 family members there. Peruvian families are the best. What a beautiful people and language and culture. And now he's a MORMON Peruvian! Woooooooo! His baptism was perfect. The water was freezing because apparently the hot water heater is tiny, and then yesterday he and Donna both got confirmed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, it was a pretty good weekend.

What else happened? We have a fantastic investigator named Ashley. We had a pretty great lesson with her on Saturday. Quick backstory on Ashley. She's in her late 20's, has a beautiful 2 year old girl, lives with a less-active member who is as awesome as she is, and has already read through second Nephi. On Saturday she invited us and FIVE other members there for a dinner/lesson. Best lesson ever. Plan of Salvation. Highlight for me was sharing the three parts of the Atonement. 1) Resurrection (last verse in Moroni 10) 2) Redemption from sin (Alma 36:18-21) 3) Redemption from weakness. (2 Nephi 4:17-19) I had never thought of those verses in that sequence before. Honestly, I didn't even know what the last verse in Moroni even said! But e spirit said to use them! So I did! And it was AWESOME! The spirit was stronger than... Something really strong!

I'm in a car wash listening to the mormon tabernacle choir really, really loud. It's epic. Give it a try.

Being a missionary is tough. It is. People go home. More than you'd think. People forget what we taught Ashley on Saturday; the purpose of life is not to be entertained or to feel pleasure or avoid pain. The purpose of life is to have JOY! Joy requires growth. Joy requires a furnace. Joy needs work. Real work. People look at things that bring them pleasure or entertainment as good, and things that make them work or cause pain as bad. That is wrong. Everything that happens that gives us an opportunity to really grow is good. And everything is an opportunity to grow. Everything is good.

That's a little bold... Let me tell you what I mean. When I think of tough things, I think of the Martin and Willie Handcart companies. When I think of my heritage and my religion, I think of those pioneers and their rescuers. When I consider the Kingdom, that is the image that leaps to mind.

Do you know the story? Mostly you do I bet. 1200 saints trapped on the Wyoming plains in the coldest, stormiest winter you can think of with handcarts. You ever see a handcart? These people were dying. Not one of two. Hundreds were dying in the most horrific ways. Men, women, and children (CHILDREN.) freezing and starving and collapsing from exhaustion. 17 Miracles and Ephraim's rescue are awesome movies on it.

But they died. Little girls and grown men and mothers and boys and the aged and the newlywed and the firm and infirm alike. Brigham Young received word of the tragedy, and the absolute extinction that threatened the group. President Young, the Lion of the Lord, stood in general conference and said this:

“I will tell you all,” said he, “that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the celestial kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the plains, and attend strictly to those things which we call temporal, or temporal duties, otherwise your faith will be in vain; the preaching you have heard will be in vain to you, and you will sink to hell, unless you attend to the things we tell you” (Deseret News, Oct. 15, 1856, 252).

Those present at the conference that day, only recently having passed through the terrible hardship of crossing the plains themselves, heeded the call from a prophet. They knew what religion is. They knew what it meant to sacrifice. They dug the companies out of the snow, gave them the nourishment they needed to survive, and began to bring them off the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. But there was more to come.

“The handcarts moved on November 3 and reached the river, filled with floating ice. To cross would require more courage and fortitude, it seemed, than human nature could muster. Women shrank back and men wept. Some pushed through, but others were unequal to the ordeal.

      “‘Three eighteen-year-old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue; and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of that ill-fated handcart company across the snow-bound stream. The strain was so terrible, the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, “That act alone will ensure C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, and David P. Kimball an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.”’” (LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Handcarts to Zion, Glendale, Calif.: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1960, pp. 132–33.)

Do you think anyone called those boys pushy?

There are 18 year old boys now, who are going to bring in their brothers and sisters off the plains. Spiritual starvation, and spiritual death, have claimed enough. There are men and women of the relief party, making the sacrifice to rescue. And there are those who are unwilling. There are those who define themselves as something incompatible with the work of salvation. For whatever reason, who they are just doesn't line up with the call of a prophet to work, to repent, to sacrifice, to love. Their lifestyle, their personality, their interests, their circumstances, their past, their plans. simply are not compatible with the message of the restoration. But WHAT they are is. What we are is children of God. We are debtors and saints. We are a human family. What we are is fulfilled and magnified in every way by the call of prophets ancient and modern. Who the rescuers were will not matter to those they saved. But to be a rescuer will follow you into eternity.

And so we act. And so we leave our identities and even our names behind and are known only as missionaries. And so we never once lose sight in our lives of our purpose, and of our brethren perishing in the cold. And no matter the outcome, we try our best, and we remain loyal to the prophet and the Church.

Decades after over a thousand saints were rescued from the plain that terrible winter, a congregation in Utah began criticizing the western exodus and the burden placed upon the handcart companies in particular.

“One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

“He said in substance, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. A mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.’”

I do not offer any commentary on the lives or experiences of others. I do not know what anyone else has been through. But I do know that the only thing "bad" to ever happen in my life was sin. I can say with absolute, certain clarity that every experience of my existence has furthered my growth and my joy and led me to glory in my God. And I say that the price of comfort, company, habit, lifestyle, personality, pleasure, or life itself would be cheap to purchase what that old man had over a century ago.

I love you. I love this gospel so much more. I have seen with my own eyes my precious brothers and sisters become acquainted with Him. And I have an absolute knowledge that God lives. It has cost a pittance. It has given me everything. Have a happy week. Have some joy.

~Elder Jorgensen

Letters Home

WEEK 75: Pride Loves Yesterday, Humility Loves Tomorrow

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
COMPANION:  ELDER CORDON
ASSISTANTS

Hope y'all had an awesome week! Highlights for me:

Temple trip! Everyone goes twice in our mission; once at halfway and once right before going home. Except for us. We go every six weeks. Hehe. But this was my first time to the temple in 13 months so,
I was excited...

The Orlando Temple

1) Went to the temple. It was breathtaking. I told the mission president's wife and she looked at me a little inquisitively. I may have a tendency to exaggerate a bit. But it was! Shouldn't it be? Shouldn't every trip to the temple be the most spiritual experience of your life? Shouldn't every day be deeper and richer than the last? It was excellent. After our session, we sat in the sealing room and unloaded questions onto the temple president for an hour. It was amazing.

2) We saw Elder Anderson on Wednesday! 3 hours of real talk from him in the chapel to missionaries only. It was quite the experience. He talked about faith, then the Prophet Joseph, then the Savior. Faith was the primary focus for sure. And guess what question I had brought to the meeting? Faith. Awesome.

Me, our Ward Mission Leader, Donna, my companion, Elder Cordon

3) Donna was baptized. Donna was found by the missionaries a week or so before I arrived in the area. They just knocked on her door and she already had a Book of Mormon and questions and everything! Five weeks later and now she's baptized! She's in her 60s, she loves birds and her house is full of them. She is quick to laugh and very talkative. She has connected wonderfully with the Ward and has not missed a sacrament meeting since she met the missionaries. Donna served in the army and was stationed in Germany for a few years and then spent most of her career in the IRS. I spoke on Baptism at the service and Elder Cordon and I were both witnesses.

4) We just have a lot going on. Of the nine investigators in Church this week, six of them have committed to baptism by the end of February. And there's one more already scheduled for March. I wish we had hours to talk about every single one of them. Italee the angel. Aniya and Cheyanne the Sisters. Lopaka the Hawaiian. Marquez the 6 foot tall 14 year old. Jorge the Father.  They are awesome. More details to come. Plus Ashley is already talking about how she wants to be baptized in the ocean and David is just waiting to be asked.

5) A 70 year old man who only speaks Albanian walked into Church accompanied by a Vietnamese member of the YSA branch. A part-member family moved in literally 20 seconds (by foot) from our front door and came to church. They were being taught by missionaries in Texas. Guess what the name of "their missionary" is? His name is Elder Jorgensen!!!! Crazy coincidence!!!!!!! People just call us and ask that we come teach their friends and family. It's pretty awesome.

I am sitting in the mission home eating a yogurt, staring at the "transfer board". It is a giant whiteboard with every one of the 225ish missionaries in the mission, their picture, their arrival and departure times, their leadership assignment, and their companions. There are a couple of faces I don't recognize or names I don't know, but mostly, I know them all.

And I love them. I love every single one of them. I love them so much my frame shakes! There are so many things I wish I could tell them. I would speak of urgency, boldness, love, happiness, consecration, the spirit, the doctrine, loyalty, atonement, repentance, Joseph, the Apostles, obedience... I would give them real talk! I would use what Elder Cordon calls "many words".

But we can't always talk to everyone. We can't always grab everyone. We can't always spend our lives learning from and loving and teaching and praying and growing and playing and training and lifting and watching and laughing with every single person that we see. But we can show them. We can live our lives beside them as gloriously as possible. We can reach for the third heaven and stretch and shine and testify and laugh until we weep and forget everything else in the attempt. We can share a little piece of eternity when we do the Lord's work with someone, and that bond is deeper than a lifetime spent in anything else.

I'm still here. I'm still working. I'm still trying. I'm still lying awake at night wishing to be better, hoping to be better, desperate to be better. I'm not sure I was that much better today. But there's tomorrow! Oh there's still tomorrow!! I am so grateful, because I'm still a lot like I was yesterday. I'm still a goof. I still tip over and drop things and get confused and smile too largely. I still sin and get way too fired up about things. I still love you. I still see miracles every single day. I still know that what I am doing is the work of God because I am still sure, absolutely and eternally sure, that this is the Lord's Kingdom established upon the earth. And because of all of that, I'm still. What a peaceful thing it is to be.

~Elder Jorgensen

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LETTERS HOME

Hey Mama!

Hehehee it would be an interesting place to visit. I have been blessed with some real diversity but on the nicer end of the spectrum. The humidity is coming. We'll have two more months of cool loveliness and then 8 months of rain and heat. It rains in the summer on the east coasts of continents and in the winter on the west coasts. It's also more arid and cool on the west coasts but with colder water at the beaches. Apparently the currents control all that. Fun facts.

Jacksonville doesn't get hurricanes. Not sure exactly why. Someone explained it to me. They bounce over the whole area. Awesome.

I love the Midway! What an awesome experience. I remember loving The Hiding Place. Fun to visit the old Ward! Donna got baptized yesterday. I'll talk about her story in the other letter. I love you! How was Courtney's birthday? Is Cassidy excited for hers? How is everyone doing on school? Who are some of your friends? Where is the family at in their scripture study?

We do a lot of things! Lots of responsibilities. But this week I got to go to the temple. It was phenomenal... I made a goal to attend the temple 100 times in my first year back from my mission. Long way off. Something to actually look forward to.

Yesterday I accidentally made a comment that restructured the mission! Gotta watch what you say! It's better the way it is now though, so I guess I stand by what I said! It's hard to know about the problems and the struggles that missionaries have. It's a joy to hear their triumphs and successes. It's a burden making decisions that direct the lives of hundreds of people. It's a thrill to receive revelation on how to help them.

Tomorrow we get a whole new batch of missionaries! More people to love! I love you. I miss my family. We never have pDays on Tuesdays. So, until I get transferred, it'll be Monday letter day every time.

~Elder Jorgensen

WEEK 74: Sweet

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER CORDON
ASSISTANTS

What a week!

Monday:Pday

Tuesday:Ocala (southern border of mission, Spanish area)

Wednesday: Kingsland Georgia (Northern border of the mission)

Thursday: West Side of Jacksonville (across the St. John's River which is HUGE, by the way)

Friday&Saturday: Teaching up a storm!

Sunday: Church, best lessons EVER, many meetings.

  This week! Tomorrow we go back to the west side. Wednesday we are in  Lake City (western edge of the mission, deep-south country-style place) for a mission conference with THE Elder Anderson. The Apostle one. Then on Thursday we're going to the Orlando temple! Then on Sunday Donna is getting Baptized!!!!!!!

Yep. Donna. January 18th. It's the must-see event of the season. Get pumped.

So let's see. Ocala had some good stories.

1) The Elders we work with in Ocala are actually Spanish missionaries. So I got there and definitely remember NOTHING from 17 months ago in Valley Center. Which was mostly fine, until the end of the night when we go to see one of their investigators. They invited us in and took opus into their backyard. There were at least 30 people there. Everyone was speaking in Spanish and I just smiled really big and nodded. Also, it was in the 30's with a lot, a LOT of humidity. And we had our short-sleeved white shirts and slacks. They handed my companion food, and he was shaking so bad from the cold that it went flying everywhere. Then all of a sudden everyone circled up and started chanting, taking flowers and laying them down in a circle one by one. It was quite the experience. It last half an hour. We turned blue. Apparently it's called a rosary? It was a beautiful display of family unity and faith, which I should have been thinking about more than imagining the Hoth scene from The Empire Strikes Back. Then they asked my companion to speak. He stood up and spoke in Spanish for a little while and everyone cheered! I wasn't sure what he said but I would have clapped except that I was worried that my hands would shatter like when you dip a rose in liquid nitrogen and drop it on the floor.

It was pretty cold.

2) We tracted into two young black ladies who yelled that they were lesbian and hated my face! A little personal. We taught them the restoration and when we left they gathered up all their friends and family and introduced them all to us and prayed with us and they committed to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. My companion looked a little nervous at that part. 10 black lesbians in a Spanish branch in Ocala. That'll be a good service.

3) Georgia is a whole other place. Imagine your life. Now imagine your life without buildings. Now Take away the roads, the lights, and add about a billion trees. Now imagine fried chicken and pick-up trucks. Now take that life and put everything into super-slow motion. That's Georgia. Nicest people in the world. Holy cow they are nice. They even tell you to get lost nicely. It's like a cliche comedy that makes fun of small towns. They're so nice! We had a meeting and some random man walked into the church, sat down in our meeting, and just looked around with a big smile on his face. His name is JR. He saw the church as he was walking by and just wanted to come in for a service. It was Wednesday and apparently every church in the world except ours has some kind of service on Wednesdays. So we stopped the meeting and taught him for an hour instead. Pray for JR I guess! 

4) It snowed on the west side! Bet you didn't think it snowed in Florida. Usually it does not. Holy Cow it's been cold. And of course today it's too hot to even wear long sleeves. Life.

5) I'm not entirely sure what else we did. Got seven investigators to play in the stake basketball tournament on Saturday. That was awesome. Six came to church! Taught many, many people the gospel. Not all who wander are lost, but I usually am. I bought a GPS and try not to zone out as much when I'm not driving though, so hopefully that will improve. Car naps are a hard sacrifice but you gotta do what you gotta do!

Hope that's enough stories. There are a lot of stories. A LOT. Hehehee. Yeah.

One of my favorite events from the week was a lesson we had on the Book of Mormon. In Alma 32:40 it says, "looking forward with an eye of faith". Sometimes the answer isn't right under our noses. Sometimes we have to look ahead for the rewards. But then it says what those rewards are:

Sweet above all that is sweet, white above all that is white, pure above all that is pure.

For so long, I had to look a long way forward. A long way. All do. All of us have the blessing of learning experientially and not simply intellectually the process of adapting our desires to appreciate our lives, and not demanding our lives adapt themselves to our desires. Everything from God is good, and all comes from God. A lack of happiness comes from a twisted or poorly defined sense of pleasure, and not a lack of blessings. All experience is blessing. All things are for our good. All supports our joy. When we are not joyous, it is because we have an infantile capacity to appreciate and to love, not because God has an inadequate capacity or temperament to bless. So sometimes, we are given opportunities to grow or love or learn in a way that we have not yet learned to appreciate. What a blessing that is.

As we learn though, it is no sin to look forward. It is no shame to anticipate with fascination what is coming. It will be sweet above all that is sweet. It will be white above all that is white. It will be pure above all that is pure.

Do you want it? Do you crave it? Does it make your skin tingle and your heart pound and your eyes unfocused and your fingers tense and your mouth dry and your knees tremble and your head spin? Can you feel it just barely beyond your reach? Do you groan as you stretch a little farther? Good. GOOD! I want it! I have it. I need more of it!

Verse 35 says, "O then, is not this real?"

It is real. Every word of it is real. Every whisper, every revelation, every prophecy, every direction, every promise, every miraculous modicum of majesty. It is the most real thing I have ever known. It is the most substantial effect in the realm of my experience. I know it. I live it. I love it.

This week has been pure and white. It has been sweet. In the next six days we will go to the temple; the Holy House of God. We will meet with an Apostle, a special witness of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will baptize Donna, a daughter of our Father in Heaven. Sometimes I have to ask "O then, is not this real?" I fall to my knees in intemperate adoration every time I realize that yes, YES! It is.

I love being a missionary. I love it.

~Elder Jorgensen

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I forgot to address this in the last letter: We actually have a TON of music, so no needs there. Thank you though!

Being an assistant is different. I think the perception is that we have all these responsibilities that we fulfill while other missionaries are proselyting. This is a false concept. We have a ton of responsibilities that we fulfill while other missionaries are planning, studying, sleeping, or eating. I'd say that just regular missionary work wise, we spend as much time proselyting as anyone else and our key indicators average about triple the mission average. It's incredible how much there is to do! And it's only limited by your creativity! President Craig has given the assistants pretty much free-reign. We go wherever we want and do whatever we want. We come up with our own projects and focuses and just sort of run things. It is a lot. A. Lot. But it's a lot of fun too! I'm settling in. We sleep less and eat a lot of fast food because that's just what there's time for and if I get the chance to really study it's usually in the car. I haven't gotten to work with any new missionaries yet, but transfers is next week so I'll get to meet a new batch.

Now, most important:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You

turned 9 on the 9th! Golden Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! Was it

fantastic??????? I love you so much! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!! I miss

you lots and lots.

I hope your week was amazing.

Love,

~Elder Jorgensen

WEEK 73: Be Still

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER CORDON

ASSISTANTS

So Many Things!!!!!!

It's just been a whirlwind of adventure. Happy New Year!!!!! We talked about goals already. I love goals. I love my mission. I've got a long way to go.

Fun story from last week I forgot to include: We were asked to bless the sacrament. So we go up, sit down on the stage, feel very spiritual, stand up, uncover the table as everyone begins singing, and... there's no bread there! HAH! So there's one moment of completely uncomprehending stupor... And then we get to work!

Missionaries work. That's what we do. We are the fixers! We are the closers. I love missionary work. Sometimes we just have to get things done whatever it takes! Sometimes it takes a lot. We always get it done.

So we talked to some people and ran around a bit and procured some bread and broke it and blessed it and all is well. Hehehee, fun times.

What else happened this week? We go on a lot of exchanges. Most weeks we have... many. Last week it was mostly in the north side of Jacksonville. This coming week though I will be in Ocala (which the missionaries have nicknamed "Slow-cala". It's a very rustic area on the Southern edge of the mission) and then all the way north to Georgia the next day, and then back down to the city and across the river to the west side the day after that! And then I'll be back downtown and Elder Cordon will stay there for another day. So I'll leave him on Tuesday morning and won't reunite until what, Saturday? It'll be a good time.

I love asking questions. All day every day on these exchanges, I ask questions. It's going to drive all of the missionaries CRAZY! But that's just too bad for them. I love questions. I want to ask everyone everything. I am even reading through the standard works highlighting all the questions and asking them to people. I lie awake at night with questions running through my head. It's so fun.

One thing that we have a lot of access to is the numbers for the whole mission. We create all the paperwork and reports so I get to see the history of areas over the last year. It has taught me a beautiful life lesson. It is the missionary, not the area, that makes the difference. Areas are incredibly productive in some companionships, and absolutely dead in others. And it's not just the area. Whole stakes change with the transfer in or out of a single companionship. Life isn't the story of circumstance. It's the story of people. The Lord's way is to send people, to have people change things. The adversary's way is to have things change people.

We had MLC this week. MLC is Mission Leadership Council and happens at the beginning of every month. It was fun! President focuses a lot on how to set goals and make plans to achieve that goals. It is a VERY foreign concept to me. I'm not really sure what to make of it. I read Chapter 8 in Preach My Gospel a lot. I'll work on it. Lots of things to work on.

I think a lot about my friends in the Book of Mormon. I try to put them into groups, I try to get an idea of who they are so I know who to go to depending on what I'm feeling. Jacob is great for anxiety. Captain Moroni has other strengths... Everyone is unique. Everyone is special. We talk.

This week we talked about happiness mostly. Alma and Ammon Benjamin had some particularly helpful insights. See if you can find the verses in the Book of Mormon where people are so happy they are incapable of expressing how joyful they are. See what causes that. Try to imagine it. Let it fill you up. It fills me up.

Alma is a funny fellow. He writes 45 chapters of the Book of Mormon (isn). Alma lived one of the greatest lives any human being has ever lived... Ever. EVER! And what does he spend a QUARTER of his entry in the Book of Mormon on? Ammon. Nephi spends almost half his room talking about Jacob and Isaiah! These men knew how to rejoice in the success of others. These men knew how to identify what really matters.

Quick aside on Ammon: I think he married Abish. Only five women are mentioned by name in the Book of Mormon. Mary and Ever are obvious choices and Sariah is mentioned by name by Nephi, but the only other person who ever says a name is Alma and he brings up two. Isabel (of whom he is NOT a fan) and Abish. So Alma is writing this story, getting all his information from Ammon. Why does Ammon talk about her by name? Why does Alma decide to include her by name? We have all this backstory on Abish, we know what her conversion story is and what she was feeling and thinking about Ammon... Someone knew Abish on a very intimate level. Not even Lamoni's wife gets a name! So, yes. Ammon and Abish. That was quite the tangent.

We have a lot of sign language missionaries. They think Sam was deaf. Thoughts?

I love the Book of Mormon. It is one of the fundamentals of life. Study the Book of Mormon every day, sincerely pray often, (more than once a day) and keep the sabbath day holy (particularly by attending church and partaking of the sacrament) are the fundamentals of life. If life was baseball, read, pray, and church would be the equivalent to "keep your eye on the ball". Or "dribble, pass, shoot" for basketball. Master the fundamentals first, and then second, master them again.

MLC, meetings, numbers, trade-offs, paperwork, driving everywhere in our mini van, zone meetings, district meetings, teaching, getting people to church (7 investigators in church this week. Wooo!) more meetings... It's a lot! It's a lot of fun. Being a missionary is incredible. I recommend it.

I love my mission. I love reading the Book of Mormon. I love reading it by topic, by author, backwards, forwards, by story, with a question, as a novel, as a history book, as a journal, as a conference talk, looking for an answer, looking for something new... I love that book. My best friends are in that book. It takes a lot of faith and humility to realize that no problem is too complicated or dark or old or new or multi-faceted or obvious or hidden to be resolved by the Book of Mormon. I can't manage to humble myself quickly enough or repent quickly enough or rely humbly enough to keep up with all the progress and excitement and learning and love that sweeps past me. But when I cant keep up on my own it just sweeps me up with it and that's fine with me.

Happy New Year. I hope you made some goals. I hope one was to get to know my friends in the Book of Mormon. They are fascinating. They are brilliant, they have anxiety and depression sometimes, some are a little hot-headed! Some are great with families and others are still working out how to prioritize their lives. They are geniuses. They are prophets of God. They are worth getting to know better.

The best person to try and get to know through the Book of Mormon is Jesus Christ, but that is quite the process. He loves you. I do too.

~Elder Jorgensen

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER CORDON

assistants to the president