JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
COMPANION: ELDER CORDON
ASSISTANTS
This week we spent quite a bit of time downtown. Let me paint you a word picture.
The St. Johns River runs lazily through the Jacksonville skyline. The river is super, super wide. There are several bridges and skyscrapers on both sides. The downtown area is ridiculously small horizontally although it towers vertically. Only two freeway exits for the whole downtown! There are traintracks that run through the city and "the Landing" which is a two story, crescent shaped outdoor mall, is one of the main attractions.
There is a beautiful walkway along the river with benches and pavilions only a couple feet above the water level. The moon was full and we were out with the strongest, most dedicated missionaries the mission could produce, and it was an breathtaking adventure for sure.
The Theatre where the musical played seats over 2000 people and there were 8 performances. So it was a lot of talk to everyone. During the show, we walked through the night, feeling the cool wind off the water and preaching the gospel to joggers, homeless people, police officers, street performers, late-night shoppers, lost tourists, etc. After the show, the people came out in waves. 2000 patrons exiting two sets of doors in 15 minutes. It was a wild ride. We stood on a corner with a book raised in one hand, testifying, inviting, and offering copies to any sincere seekers. Over the course of the week, our group gave out over 1000 copies. We were limited by supply, not demand.
It was an incredible thing. It was a thrill. I'll never forget it.
So that was a big chunk of our week. The rest of our time we did as best we could to teach all of the people the Lord has entrusted to us. It went very well. Our companionship had 13 investigators at Church, mostly brought by members or other investigators. Three nights we got calls at 9:50 (we have to turn off our phones at 10) from members of the ward announcing that they had found someone for us to teach and would like to set up a lesson and bring them to Church. We saw a transformation in one 25 year old who started out yelling at us for being Jehovah's Witnesses (I really need a second nametag that says, "Elder Jorgensen, not a Jehovah's Witness") and within 24 hours had read a sizable chunk of the Book of Mormon, prayed, received an answer from the Holy Ghost that it is true, and decided to be baptized.
We saw light come one in the eyes of an aging man when we leaned forward on over-stuffed armchairs in his home, looked right through his sharp blue eyes, and testified that it is our conviction, our knowledge, our hope, our faith, our joy, our confidence, and our absolute witness that the Book of Mormon is the holy word of God. That the Almighty had answered the pleading of our prayers through the unmistakable and matchless power of the Holy Ghost, and we were unyieldingly certain of the impugnable veracity of this sacred tome.
We taught on doorsteps, beside rivers, in homes and in the shade of trees. In the rain, in the dark, under moon and stars or noonday sun. We drove, walked, ran, climbed, whispered, shouted, invited, begged, admonished, commanded, instructed, taught, and testified. We saw doors slam and heard the unrepeatable. We saw lives change and experienced the inexplicable. Oh what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold. It was a mighty work and wa wonder this week.
One young indian family invited us right into their home. They announced, in very thick indian accents, that they are Catholic! We invited them to read the Book of Mormon. Another time we had 30 minutes at the end of the night, prayed about where to go, and were lead to a building we'd already seen everyone in! So we went to the building behind it and taught the whole message of the restoration to three different families. We were a little late getting home that night. Seems like we're late a lot. There's so much to do! I have not the advantage of my ancient namesake, whose time-management skills included stopping the sun and the moon in the sky until his work was done. I'm looking into that though.
There are three scriptural passages we memorize here in the Florida Jacksonville Mission that we recite at the beginning of every meeting. The first one is 3 Nephi 5:13. It reminds us of our purpose. The second one is D&C Section 4. It reminds us of our method. The third one is a quote from Joseph Smith that reminds us of our future:
"The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go froth boldly, nobly, and independent. 'Till it has penetrated every continent, visited ever clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear. 'Till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say, the work is done."
I've seen persecutions and we actually had the beginnings of a mob once! But this week we swept this country. We taught an 80 year old blind Cherokee lady the Plan of Salvation and she accepted every work and had her children and grandchildren and great-grand children come and speak to us and learn from the Book of Mormon.
We taught a beautiful young schizophrenic woman how to recognize the holy ghost. We taught primary at Church. We sang "scripture power" in two different lessons and punctuated doctrine with the singing of hymns in a couple others. We taught tithing to the financially destitute and faith to the fervent empiricist. We gave a priesthood blessing kneeling in the middle section of a mini-van and ate an entire box of the most delicious coconut-cherry macaroons you can imagine, homemade by a recent convert. I learned to pray from my companion. I learned to be humble from my investigators. I am always learning. There are always more stories than there are moments to share them.
It was a unique experience hearing hundreds and hundreds of times this week, "yeah, the play is really rude and mocks you. We love mormons. We're just going for the laughs." I'd just like it to be known, off the record, that I am deeply offended by the patronization of hatefulness of any kind by any member of my society. To mock and demean and assault the best efforts of a member of your community is unacceptable, and hurtful to me. Entertainment of even the greatest degree is a defense insufficient to justify any level of bigotry. There one day will be a reckoning for the use of our freedom, including our freedom of speech and the freedom we have to choose what we listen to, view, or amuse ourselves with.
On the record, all I have to say is, "The Book is Always Better!"
And it is. You could spend the whole history of time attending every university and learning from the knee of every master teacher in this world. You could have access to every dusty volume, cutting-edge discovery, and meticulous method ever created or that ever will be created. You could have a 200 IQ and an unstoppable intuition and talent. And it would all be as dross beside the 531 pages of the Book of Mormon. The sum total of all secular achievement is swallowed into the infinity of the eternal when juxtaposed with even a single revelation from the lips of the Everlasting I Am. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. Oh my soul praise Him, for He is thy help and salvation.
I love being a missionary. Very much. I have no doubt that I am more confident in the truthfulness of the message of the Restoration than a mountain is of its own foundation. I have a greater desire for every living creature of the earth to hear this message than the will of the inanimate to remain silent. I have more love for the promised land than the sea has of its own borders and depth. And so it is that, if needs be, oceans will split and the earth will cry aloud and the hills of the Everlasting will leap to obey, for the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say, "The work is done."
So I'm off to do the work. I love the book. I am very, very sure that it is true.
~Elder Jorgensen