WEEK 85: It Was the Best of Times.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER WELSH

ASSISTANTS

You know, I heard once that there is no wrong way to do missionary work. There is only doing it, and not doing it, there's no doing it wrong. Because it is the Lord's work, and He is perfect, there are no imperfections or mistakes. It is all simply a matter of His purposes, His will, and His timing. I sure hope all of that is true, because if there is a wrong way to do missionary work, it's probably the way I do it!

I don't even know! I don't know how to describe what is going on over here! It'll help you to know that Elder Welsh was gone the entire week and I stayed here with four different companions before I finally got him back Saturday afternoonish. So that was a little wild. And I just ran around. Knock a few doors, talk to some people, realize they all only speak spanish, sprint across the road to a house, find a whole family willing to receive and listen and read the Book of Mormon. A few doors down a 90 year old lady comes to the door all sweet and lovely, opens the door to talk with us, then panics when she sees our nametags and scurries away, without a comment or even closing the door. She just shuffles down the hall and doesnt come back! HAH! The next door there's a russian man in his twenties who is atheist, but believes in Jesus. And he believes science has proven that africans are the only real humans, all other humans are just forms of monkeys. His name is Gleb. Great name.

What else? I used to call this investigator family a few times a week. They never met with us and the dad would usually swear a lot on the phone. After months of this (they came to church i think once in 6 months) I was gone for a week and didnt make any calls with my phone. Well I get back into town, and show up to the church for our scripture class on wednesday and there they are! The whole family sits down, soaks up the book of mormon, sets up a time to meet more with the ward mission leader, and ask the bishop if their son can join the scout troop. Then he takes me outside and yells at me for half an hour because I stopped calling and he doesn't feel loved!!!!

You just never know how tender people are. Goodness I love people. They sure yell a lot! I had never thought of myself as quiet, but everyone is so loud! Is it a southern thing? We're sitting on this couch in an investigator's home (They are hindu. Born and raised in India. They are husband and wife named Ragoo and Rini) and they are both shouting at the tops of their voices about who knows what telling us how not interested they are (my thought was, well then why on earth do you keep letting us in and feeding us all this curry?!?!?!?!?)! He's shouting about how all medical maladies can be cured by homeopathy and yoga (thought of you mom) and so only the unreligious would ever get sick, and she's yelling about how all the good in the world should be respected and valued equally and no one should fight about things. And of course I just can't keep it together and start laughing uncontrollably which doesn't phase them at all. Finally we all calm down a little bit, and Elder Welsh (who has been sitting quietly on the couch looking a little bit like a bomb just went off in front of him) pulls out his ipad and, without making a single comment on anything either of them said or the fact that I just about fell off the couch laughing at it all, shows the Because He Lives easter video that the church has put out and invites them to Church and they say yes and come! Well, they get lost and don't actually get to the building, but they sure tried!

There were some less hilarious moments too. I learned this week why we are so gentle and patient and kind instead of getting mega phones and book-of-mormon-air-cannons. It is because that is what the Lord wants. And when the Lord wants something else, He will have it. When the Lord needs not a servant publishing glad tidings, but a watchman on the tower warning of the dire consequences of a course of action, He will have it. And no black spirit will abide the terrible word of God in that day when He speaks in absolute glory. I have a powerful hope in the might of the goodness and love and long-suffering of the Lord, for I have seen hate debased and darkness shackled and grown men cower in the corners of their own home unable to look into the eyes of a servant of the Lord and face what is to them the unbearable light of love. One word of warning by the Spirit was enough to humble all the fury any pit could unleash. It was terrifying and electrifying and wonderful and depressing to witness. To witness the fearlessness of truth subdue so absolutely the wretched cravings of him who was a liar from the beginning. To watch those who subscribe to his lies literally, physically, visibly break down before the testimony of Jesus. To sink into their chairs and rest their faces in their hands and put their heads on the table and uncontrollably weep and shake. Unwilling to change, but unable to deny. I have seen it before, but never like that. I will not soon forget the power of God to protect, to subdue, and to testify.

It is a happy thing, to be a missionary. I got to help a father give his very first priesthood blessing to his youngest daughter after receiving the melchezidek priesthood a week or so ago. He was so sweet. I trained him, walked him through it, and watched this little girl LIGHT. UP. Oh it was marvelous. He had no idea there was a second part after putting the drop of oil on someone's head. So I finished the anointing and he just walked away! I still had my eyes closed and didnt realize he was gone until he was in the parking lot! Had to go and fetch him back and walk him through. It was perfect. Just perfect. Two recent converts got endowed last weekend. And oh, the fireside.

Vicki & Me

THE FIRESIDE!!!!!

The three stakes in Jacksonville had a fireside for recent converts, member,s missionaries, and investigators. The first speaker was Vicki, who Elder Bore and I found, taught, and baptized last august. She stood up and bore an earth-shaking testimony of the wonderous work the gospel has done in her life in the last 7 months. She spoke of the dark thoughts of abandoning life at the beginning, of the light and challenge of the gospel, of the new family and strength and work and purpose and vitalization of life that has come. Sobbing, she praised the name of God and His willing servants. Our misison president had her stand up at the end and asked for the names of those who participated in her conversion. She didn't know I was there, but she said my name, and I went running up the aisle like in some crazy dr. phil episode and grabbed her by the hand and we just stood there beaming and weeping together in front of everyone. And then she listed all the others. The dozens and dozens of others who welcomed her in. The other missionaries who have worked with her since then, the ward members and visiting teaching families and companions and bishop and home teachers and we all stood up there together and GLORIED. Gloried in the unspeakable joy the gospel has brought and wrought.

When it says "how great shall be your joy if you shall bring but one soul", I think it means your joy will literally be full. You cannot be happier than that. You cannot be happier than when you bring another. Whether your bring them into this world through parenthood, into the gospel through missionary work, into the fold through fellowship and love, I cannot imagine a greater joy. One, two, or a million and three, the joy bucket is full. I feel what alma called "swelling motions". Oh alma. Lawyer scientist alma. You always get me. I feel like I could explode. I feel like my soul is going to tear wide open and the joy will cascade out and DROWN the entire habitation of this world because there is not room enough in creation for the fullness of my joy. Oh I am so full. I will send along a picture of me and Vicki. I love the gospel so desperately and dearly. It is not something I have chosen to do for two years. It is not an extended internship. I have been asked for more than that. It is something we are. It takes more than two years of behaviors. It takes an eternity of identity. Thought, feeling, will, personality, hope... All are expected on the altar of sacrifice, all are demanded by the Creator of All not just now but for forever. And He can have mine, and He can have whatever else He wants. He has given my joy. I stand all amazed, and it is wonderful to me.

I hope that captures a bit of the week. I hope you feel close. I hope you understand what I mean when I say that I love being a missionary. I love it.

~Elder Jorgensen

Letters Home

WEEK 84: Home At Last!

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER WELSH

ASSISTANTS

I was in Fernandina Beach for a week! A WEEK! It was crazy! I finally got back on Friday. From Friday to Sunday night we had 12 hours to proselyte and we found 6 new investigators and taught 18 lessons! Lessons are apparently only supposed to be 40 minutes, apparently. So that was a busy weekend.

Miracles! Elder Kopischke told us to ask members not to find someone for us to teach, but to pray that WE would find someone to teach in their home. So while I was gone Elder Welsh tried it with a recent convert family in their 70's. People in their 70's are great, but not a ton of them are super excited to make major life changes and join a new church, so having this family pray that we would find a family perfect for them to fellowship was something of a faith stretcher. But we DID!!!!!!!! Hah! We knocked on the wrong door looking for a part-member family in the ward and an 85 year old lady who had previously been taught by the sisters and already had a Book of Mormon came to the door and asked us to teach her! Miracle!

Fernandina Beach is on an Island called Amelia Island. The Elders there also cover a city on the mainland called Yulee. One day we biked from the Island to Yulee. We biked. Over the ocean. To a whole other city. Where there were no bike lanes. So we biked through the grass. And my companion was type 1 diabetic and his blood sugar crashed to 45 and wouldn't go back up so we bought him a pie and I lost my phone and some crazy person found it and called a bunch of other crazy people and then I got the phone back and got a bunch of calls at 1 in the morning and yeah. It was an adventure.

What else happened? One of our investigators in Fernandina Beach is going to be baptized! Woooooooo!!! I was only there a week but I feel like we walked the whole path together! Her name is Tyanna and she is great. We taught the family they are renting from while we were there. Tyanna's husband was in a car accident and lost his arm. But then they found it and sewed it back on! But it doesn't work very well. But one day it might! So we helped him rake leaves. But the gnats live in the leaves. And the gnats bite here. So I was bitten. Many times. Many much bites. Yikes.

Right now we are re-furnishing our house. We took all the old lame furniture and put it into storage. Goodbye plastic desks and wood chairs, hello wood desks and leather chairs! Hehehee. We live the high life. I'm not sure how we fit two desks, two lamps, and a dresser into our mini van, but that's what's back there right now. Adventure time.

The week mostly consisted of an absolutely ridiculous series of attempts to apply everything we were taught by Elder Kopischke the previous week. I would just walk up to people and say, "Hello! We want to talk with you about baptism!" or something equally interesting/awkward. Elder Welsh had a couple of complaints about my record keeping. He'd only been in the area for a week when I left, so he didn't exactly know everyone. And on my record keeping.... Well, it leaves something to be desired. Elder Welsh was not pleased. Record keeping is definitely not a strong suit of mine. I'll send a picture of one of the teaching reports he pulled up at random... Anyway.

We found a patch of woods with a street sign in it! I'll send that picture. We also found a giant spider that looked poisonous.... You'll get that picture too. Yes, it's a real spider.

I'm not sure there are many other stories. Except for the regular craziness. We're teaching a lady with a dog named bacon. We found a new investigator from Syria who wants an Arabic Book of Mormon. You really should not leave chia seeds in water for two weeks and then drink it, apparently. Trying to train up missionaries. Trying to inspire. Trying to become converted myself. Trying to aim higher.

I've been pondering a lot of things this week. One of my assignments was to make a list one one second question approaches. I'll send the list along and you can evaluate how you would feel if two smiling young men walked up to you, said hello, and then said something from the list. It's prompted me to ask myself a lot of questions. I'm not sure of the answers. But I'm excited for conference. I'm excited for life. I'm excited for my mission. I love it.

More Quotes! I had some thoughts this week I'd like to share. All of these come from past general conference talks I studied this week. Isn't conference exciting???? We need to be more excited as a people, I think. More reverent, and more excited. Anyway, on the importance of a Prophet:

Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Council of the Twelve said: “The Latter-day Saints do not do things because they happen to be printed in a book. They do not do things because God told the Jews to do them; nor do they do or leave undone anything because of instructions that Christ gave to the Nephites. Whatever is done by this Church is because God speaking from heaven in our day has commanded this Church to do it. No book presides over this Church and no books lie at its foundation. You cannot pile up books enough to take the place of God’s priesthood inspired by the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Conference Reports, Oct. 1916.)

A Living Prophet

On the importance of humility:

“There is no end to the good that can be accomplished when we are not concerned as to the one who will receive the credit.”

The Right to Choose

On the wonders of the world:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Value of the Holy Scriptures

On the value of the spirit over logic:

Dim as the borrow’d beams of moon and stars

To lonely, weary, wand’ring travelers,

Is Reason to the soul; and, as on high

Those rolling fires discover but the sky,

Not light us here, so reason’s glimmering ray

Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,

 But guide us upward to a better day.

 And as those nightly tapers disappear,

When day’s bright lord ascends our hemisphere;

So pale grows Reason at Religion’s sight;

So dies, and so dissolves in supernatural light.

~John Dryden

The Matter of Personal Testimony

This next one is an official declaration of President Abraham Lincoln. Imagine having a president who would say:

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the Offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” ~Abraham Lincoln (“A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America,” March 30, 1863, as cited in Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Washington, D.C.: United States Congress, 1897, pp. 164–65.)

The Constitution—A Glorious  Standard

That is what our nation needs. Men of righteousness. Men of God. George Washington was such a man. When serving in the army, he had a member of his staff write this letter to the officers of the army:

“The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in our American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of heaven on our arms if we insult it by our impropriety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.”

Seeking Eternal Riches

And Joseph Smith was such a man.

The great question which all men in our day must answer--and that at the peril of their own salvation--is: Was Joseph Smith called of God?

Joseph Smith—The Mighty Prophet of the Restoration

I testify that he was. I declare that I know it, for it has been made known unto me by a heavenly power. I testify of his divine call and his magnificent calling as the prophet of the Restoration in the name of Jesus Christ, and I lie not, God bearing witness of it.

~Elder Jorgensen

P.S. The approach list. First say, "Hello!" Then say...

1) Jesus Christ is the most important name in my life. He is my Savior and Redeemer. What do you think about Jesus Christ?

2) We are here to talk with you about peace. What brings you peace?

3) I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He has done everything for us. What are some things that you have done for Him?

4) We are here to talk with you because of an answer to a prayer. How does God answer your prayers?

5) We were led here by the spirit to talk with you. What does the spirit feel like to you?

6) We are guides sent to help those who are searching for answers to life's questions. Have you ever asked the question: (insert question of the soul, use corresponding Book of Mormon chapter to testify)

7) We are here to talk with you because we have come to know a loving God. What are some ways your Heavenly Father has shown His love for you?

8) Our families have been blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. How has the gospel blessed your family?

9) We are here on a mission from God. What do you believe God is like?

10) We are here to talk with you about eternal life. What do you believe life is like after death?

11) We have a message for you from Jesus Christ that will enable you to improve the quality of your life. Without getting too personal, what are some problems or challenges that you are going through that you need Jesus Christ's help with?

12) We want to talk with you about how Jesus Christ can help you change. What does the word "repentance" mean to you?

13) Our message is simple. God is our Father. Do you believe that you are a son (or daughter) of God? What does this mean to you?

14) We are here to help you learn to protect yourself from sin. How do you avoid sin?

15) We teach simple truths to help fathers and mothers, and husbands and wives, to protect their families. How do you avoid the evils of the world that threaten your family?

16) The family is central to the message that we share. How do you strengthen your relationship with your spouse?

17) We are here to help you find balance in your life. How do you balance your career and family?

18) We are here because of a message that has brought immense joy into our hearts. What brings you joy?

19) We share simple, inspired tools with those who are willing to listen that will strengthen individuals and families. What do you do to help your family be happy and united?

20) We want to talk with you about your relationship with God. How would God describe you?

21) We teach and prepare individuals and families for baptism. What significance does baptism have to you?

22) We are here to help you find questions and receive answers to them. Have you ever asked the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" What are your thoughts?

23) We are here to discuss with you the purpose of your life. What is the purpose of your life?

24) We are here to bring you a hope and confidence in where you stand with God and what comes next for you. What do you believe happens after death?

25) We want to talk to you about the blessings of your belief. I have been helped so much by a belief in Jesus Christ. How does (or would) a belief in Jesus Christ help you?

26) We have a message for you of the Savior's love and mercy, and also of His expectations. What do you feel that Jesus Christ expects of you?

27) We are here to teach you how to have a greater hope. What gives you hope? What do you hope for?

28) We are here to propose an experiment to you to build your faith. What do you do to strengthen your faith?

29) We want to discuss with you the process of personal revelation. Have you had an experience where you felt God answer your prayers? If so, will you share it with us?

30) We have evidence that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have come to earth and shown themselves to men not only anciently, but in these modern times! What would it mean to you to know for sure that the Lord has appeared and spoken to mankind again?

31) Our message will enable you to change not only your behaviors, but also your desires. What  are some things that you know you SHOULD do, but that you have no DESIRE to do?

32) Our purpose is to help you expand your faith. What do you have faith in?

33) We believe that the purpose of life is to prepare to meet God. If you were to stand before God and meet Him again today, how would you feel?

34) We have come to teach you our Father's great Plan of Happiness. At what time in your life were you the most happy?

35) We want to teach you how to come to know for sure and to be certain of things that you may now only hope are true. What are some hopes you have that you wish you were more certain of?

36) We have one message for you today. Through a modern prophet, God has restored knowledge about the Plan of Salvation. What does the word "salvation" mean to you?

37) In only a few moments, we help people to better recognize what the spirit feels like to them. What was your last experience feeling the Holy Spirit?

38) We have a message for you about modern miracles. What miracles have you seen on your life?

39) We are here to share our knowledge and our testimony with you that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to a man named Joseph Smith and called him to be a prophet for the whole earth. What does the word "prophet" mean to you?

Letters Home

WEEK 83: The Island

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER WELSH

ASSISTANTS

Today I am on an Island in the Atlantic! It is called Amelia Island. It's pretty nice. They just had one of he biggest car shows in the world here this weekend and private jets were flying back and forth overhead so much that we could hardly carry on a conversation. This area is the far north-east corner of Florida. Let's see if I can describe it.

The area is called Fernadina Beach. Today's letter will make a lot more sense if you have a map of my mission. Sorry! Anyway, Fernadina covers the Island (which is where we live. In a house. A couple miles from the beach. Yeah.) and the countryside on the "mainland", which is about as country as it gets. I don't know whether I saw more pitbulls or confederate flags yesterday, but it was a lot. The ward has about 80 people in it. I've been here since Friday and will leave on Wednesday. Yesterday we knocked the houses along the beach. We were probably 100 yards from the waves, but the beach is behind a little hill so we can't see it. It has a perfect smell though. Anyway, we found a beautiful young mother from Puerto Rico with a new baby. We taught her, and she loved it. She got her 7 week old baby out of the stroller and asked us to pray for her. So we did! It was a wonderful prayer. She must have thought so too, because as we were finishing she threw her arms around me, bowed head and closed eyes and all, and kissed my cheek! My companion just about had a heart attack. It was quite the finish to the lesson.

I also saw an alligator! We were biking along, calm as anything, and we glance over and there is a big old gator just sunning by the road. We were six feet from it maybe? 8 feet? Anyway, we scared it pretty good when we tried to walk over. They're a little skittish I guess.

The whole week has been crazy. Tuesday we drove to Waycross, which is in the north east corner of the part of Georgia that we cover. We spent a day with those elders, slept on their floor, and then drove all the way to the southern most part of the mission, Ocala, and spent a day with the Elders there. Then we drove during the night to be back home in Jacksonville in time to spend a day with the Elders along the Jacksonville beach. It was a lot of driving, and we try not to drive during proselyting time so it wasn't very much sleeping or eating. Elder Welsh let me play my classical music the whole time though, so blessings for him.

Friday was the highlight of the week for sure. Elder Kopischke, who is a member of the 70 and a counselor in the area presidency over the southeast United States, came to our mission and did a six hour training. It was a wild ride. I sang a song! Do you know the version of Savior, Redeemer of my Soul that they use in 17 Miracles? I sang that, and the mission nurse Sister Winter who is also a phenomenal pianist accompanied me. It was a ridiculous amount of fun. Then Elder Kopischke stood up (he's German) and had me and Elder Welsh stand up and role-play talking to people and teaching them about the gospel. He probably had us do it 30 or 40 times (this represented a significant amount of the entire 6 hours) and he never let us go longer than 30 seconds without stopping us and pointing out to the whole mission everything we did wrong! It was probably the hardest morning of my entire life.

And also the BEST! I got to work one on one with a member of the 70 for over an hour and he trained me the entire time on how to be better at what I love most! It was incredible! I learned more in that meeting than I could have in lifetimes on my own. He answered every question, he intrigued every complacency, he humbled every arrogance, it was phenomenal. I don't think I could have handled one second more of it, but I would not have asked for one second less.

One thing that he said in particular was significant. He said that peace is a fruit of the atonement, and the requirement is forgiveness. I have put that to the test this week, and found it to be true. He said a lot of things. The night after the conference I just sort of wandered around in a terrified daze, and I still feel super unsure of how to do things. But that's what growth feels like! That's what progress looks like. And I love progress. I love a lot of things. I love beauty, peace, warmth, love, intimacy, knowledge, music, light, language, harmony, synergy, work... I alphabet an inkling that everything I love is a fruit of the Atonement. I want to know what all of the pre-requisites for these fruits are. Forgiveness for peace. Repentance for purity. Loyalty in the pre-earth life for immortality. What about these others? What about hope or virtue or faith or patience or family or strength? One of the greatest evidences of the divine origin and authenticity of this Church is not only that it answers every question, but gives millions more to ask.

Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! Hope you had a great Pi Day whenever that was. The days are a blur. Sometimes I lose track of when things are or where I'm at or who I'm with or what I'm even doing! But I always know why I am doing it. Always.

Love,

~Elder Jorgensen

Letters Home

WEEK 82: Daylight Savings!

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER WELSH

ASSISTANTS

I have a new companion! His name is Elder Welsh. He is my 10th companion. That's a lot. Elder Welsh is from Morgan Utah. He went to the same High School as our ward mission leader. Small world in mormonville! Ummmmm he's awesome. This was my 75th week of being a full-time missionary! That's a lot. How did that happen?

Last week was transfer week. So on tuesday we picked up the new missionaries from the airport and gave them some orientation and then took us out working with us. There's a special spirit that accompanies a brand-new missionary. A special level of faith takes place for them and through them and with them. I love it. It was such a blessing to work with mine for the night.

Crazy miracle that happened that night: We knocked on a door, a large black lady shout to come in, so we opened the door and explained that we were the missionaries (she was very surprised) and explained that we could not, in fact, come in because there was no man home (everyone always gets offended when we say that) but that we had a special message for her from Jesus! Then we taught her the gospel and she committed to be baptized. WOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then the next day they were whisked away, and I got to work with an out-going missionary. He'd served his whole 2 years honorably, powerfully, looking for no rewards, demanding no applause. He was a simple servant. I loved seeing him go.

Crazy miracle that happened THAT night: I was getting gas, and the outgoing missionary (my companion for the day, Elder McCombs) walked over to a man standing on the sidewalk waving one of those pointy advertising signs and starts teaching him the gospel. So we taught him the whole first lesson. YES! Gas stations success for days.

Sister Craig (the mission president's wife) says I need more stories in these letters. So here's some:

We found an unlisted part-member family just milling around outside at 9 PM.

We stopped on our way driving home and went back to help a lady Elder Welsh saw standing on the side of the road. She had a concussion and we were able to arrange for her to get home. Elder Welsh is the best!

We were walking down the street and ran into an investigator that we hadn't seen for WEEKS. He invited us in and we tried to start teaching but his family came running out and demanded that we play something called "The Jelly-Belly Challenge" or something. I will explain how it works.

There is a box of jelly beans. There are 10ish different colors of jelly bean. Each color can be one of two flavors. For example, the green one can be juicy pear, or boogers. The black one could be licorice or skunk spray, the orange one could be tut fruity or barf. Etc. The game is that one person spins a little wheel, calls out the color, and everyone else has to pick a jellybean of that color and eat it. Could be delicious, could be foul. We did 11 rounds. I got two good ones. So my jelly beans were:

Peach

Carmel Popcorn

Baby wipes

Booger

Barf

Grass

Toothpaste

Dog food

Mouldy Cheese

Rotten eggs

Skunk spray

Now, I have been taught since my nativity to eat whatever I was given on my mission. I was not about to break that pledge now! So I ate them! They were pretty bad. The skunk spray one made me go super pale, apparently, and I dry-heaved a couple times, but I won! WOO!!!!!!!!!! Then we watched the John Tanner story, everybody cried, and the father committed to be baptized on April 6th, Jesus' birthday.

Pretty great.

We sang in Church! That went well! The song was "Army of Helaman". I got really into it. I so love to sing. Probably my favorite song still is "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul". There's a different melody from 17 Miracles or Ephraims Rescue or something, but it's the lyrics that get me.

"Chasten my soul, 'till I shall be

In perfect harmony with Thee

Make me more worthy of Thy love

And fit me for Thy courts above."

I love that. I love it. That is the purpose of my life. That is the prayer of my heart. When things come, before I determine whether they are good or bad, I evaluate whether they chasten my soul. I thank God for all the things that do.

My life is one crazy stream of miracles. On friday a man opened the door, and could only speak spanish. This happens pretty frequently. Unfortunately, I have forgotten every ounce of spanish I knew 18 months ago. Nada. So usually we just give them a card and write the spanish missionaries' number on it. But for some reason I could just talk! I talked with him in spanish for a good three minutes and taught him some basic truths and set up a return appointment! WHAT????? Happens all the time in english, where I just open my mouth and words come out, but that was a first in spanish. Fun. Fun fun friday.

I believe in miracles. I have seen countless miracles. I have been the subject of unspeakable miracles. I have wrought mighty, wondrous miracles. What a privilege to see. What a joy to be a part of.

I am amazed by the missionaries. I love my family. I am enthralled by my Savior and astounded by our incredible members of the Church. I have to share this last story with you. This is the story of Sarah. Sarah is a genius lawyer. She has been all over the world, is fast-paced, and can't figure out why she agreed to sit down with us. She is a true Southern girl, born and raised in Alabama and Mississippi. She is as South as it gets. We taught her the story of the Restoration. She was captivated. She was on the edge of her seat. The idea that Father and the Son had appeared to a man and called him to be a prophet was absolutely glorious to her. Then we lowered our voices a bit and said, "Sarah, what if we told you there was a prophet of the Lord on the earth, walking this planet, inhabiting this moment, with us, right now?" She sort of leaned back whimsically and said, "I'd do anything. I'd drop everything and go to him and learn from him and just hear him talk. Nothing would stop me. "Sarah." "... What?" "There is a prophet on the earth."

It blows my mind to wonder what anyone else is doing with their life. There is a prophet on the earth. There are temples being built. There is truth restored. There is a holy endowment, and fruits of the spirit pouring out from heaven upon millions. Millions. There is a holy and a mighty and a marvelous work to do. There is a solace for the sin-sick strain of soul. There is a plenteous peace for the poor and the pricked. There is a joy for me.

There is a Prophet on the earth. His name is Thomas S. Monson. Jesus Christ has called him. Jesus Christ has founded a kingdom upon the earth. He has named that kingdom the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I must tell everyone. Everybody has to know. I love you. Tell them.

~Elder Jorgensen

Letters Home

Morning mama. Cookies sound delicious. I bet daddy is the most popular high councillor of them all. Hehehehee sounds like a good roast adventure. Slow-cooked meat. You'd get along great with the people of the south. I'm sorry to hear about the sickness, but so proud of the little prodigys. I love them! I love you too!

Hehehee it did work out to coincide with Lent. Which is perfect, because there are a ton of catholic people here. Not as many as baptist, but still a lot. Missoula!!!! Missoula sounds delightful. I miss theater. Rainstorms and Harry Potter???? Wow. That is a special sort of day! I'll pass on the green drink. But the garments would be great.

“Don't be discouraged! Be awesome instead!” I give that advice to missionaries sometimes. I think it is phenomenal advice. Family Book of Mormon binder! That sounds awesome! Wish I was able to contribute! I am working on my doctrine notebook, but we get studies maybe one time a week, so it's a slow process...

Utah is great. I think I will move there one day and convince the rest of the family to come with me. It's cheap, there are seasons, as lo as you stay inside you can pretend the weather is beautiful, and you're in Zion with ten million friends! And the prophet lives there! And there are temples everywhere. And yeah, it seems nice. Elder Welsh is from Utah.

I loved your statement "I need to give the children another place to connect with me besides illness". That is extremely insightful. Let me know how your editing project goes! Good for you, contributing to our culture. Projects are important. They keep us fresh.

I love you mama. Pray for me! I will pray for you!

WEEK 81: Three Free

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

COMPANION:  ELDER CORDON

ASSISTANTS

It is 7:30, and we are on the road to Gainesville with $20,000 worth of iPads and accompanying equipment in our mini-van. And that's not even the most interesting thing we've done in the last 24 hours!

We had an awesome week. On Tuesday we went up to fetch Elder Welsh for a trade off. Elder Cordon stayed in Georgia (lucky) and I came back to Jacksonville. Elder Welsh is smart, passionate, extraordinarily humble, and strong-willed. I like him. Which is lucky, because he gets here today to replace Elder Cordon. Yep! Transfers have come again!!! In 12 transfers (each transfer is 6 weeks) I have only been in the area longer than Sent from my iPad

Other big news this week was Mission Leadership Council. Usually this is only zone leadership. But this month district leaders came too! Elder Cordon and I trained on exact obedience. We also made and presented 10 additional rules to what is found in the missionary handbook. Wondering what they are?

The FJM Specifics  

1) Elders and Sisters may only be together if there are an uneven number of companionships present or if they are accompanied by members. They may not eat together except with the Bishop or the Ward Mission Leader. They may not ride in the same car.

2) The mission ends where the sand begins. No boardwalks, piers, beach, etc.

3) Prayerfully consider the standards on music found in the Missionary Handbook. Christian Rock and movie soundtracks are not permitted. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, hymns, and classical music are recommended. 

4) You must call for permission from President Craig or Sister Craig if you wish to miss proselyting time, studies, or exercise because of sickness, or for any other reason.

5) Do not call or text between 10 PM and 7 AM except for emergencies or if called by mission leaders.

6) Members may not give rides to missionary meetings except transfer meeting.

7) Dinner with an active member must be finished by 7:00. Dinner with a less-active member or an investigator may be at any time, and may last up to 90 minutes if you are teaching them a lesson.

8) No gyms. No candles in the apartment. 

9) Do not make up studies after 5:00 PM, or after a zone meeting, zone conference, or mission conference.

10) The Power of Everyday Missionaries is the only book added to the Missionary Library. 

Some of my influence can be seen in these... I do love my classical music! It is incredibly foggy today. Anyway. Two of my favorite quotes from PMG that we used in our training were: "Obedience shows our love for God." and "As you obey, you increase in faith, knowledge, wisdom, testimony, protection, and freedom." My very favorite reference, though, was from a general conference. "Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: “Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. It is always given when righteousness is present, and the greater the measure of obedience to God’s laws the greater will be the endowment of faith” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 264). If we desire more faith, we must be more obedient. When we teach our children by example or precept to be casual or situational in obeying God’s commandments, we prevent them from receiving this vital spiritual gift. Faith requires an attitude of exact obedience, even in the small, simple things."

MLC was Wednesday... What was Thursday? Oh! Temple trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, we go every six weeks. It's pretty fantastic. I will send along some pictures. The rule is that no one is allowed to put them on Facebook though! That's important.

The temple was amazing. I slept almost the whole way down there, which was nice. Late-night meetings and early-morning road trips have been gorging themselves on my sleepy time lately, so a nap was appreciated. Then the temple was perfect in every way. Wish we could talk about it! On the way back, we had a carload of my favorite missionaries (I pick who comes in our van) and it was just a wonderful time. We had another late night road trip on Thursday ferrying a missionary who got stranded back down to st. Augustine where his companion was waiting. There was some terrible accident that closed the 95 (which is the Jacksonville equivalent of the 5 or the 15) for HOURS! Anyway. Road trips for life!

Friday was a special day. You, in one million years, would never guess what happened. We went to a zone meeting in lake city, and then had a trade-off with the zone leaders there. Guess who is the senior zone leader in lake city?? ELDER COLLETT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was pretty firm in staying in his area with him. THEN guess what?????? Zone Leaders do baptismal interviews for baptismal candidates taught by district leaders, and the district leader in Starke needed three interviews done. So Elder Collett and I were in STARKE together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But wait, there is more. We knocked on the wrong door while we were there. Instead of a missionary, a middle-aged lady answered the door. And we TAUGHT HER THE GOSPEL. So Elder Collett and I taught the Restoration, together, in Starke, and invited that lady to be baptized. It was perfect. She accepted a return appointment and a Book of Mormon and everything.

Now Saturday. Saturday was the most specialist day of them all. On Saturday, February 28th, three gorgeous, precious souls entered the waters of baptism. Marquez was baptized by Brother Henderson, a recent convert in the ward. Marquez's grandmother, who, until Monday, was absolutely not going to allow him to join the church, not only signed the necessary paperwork but bought him new clothes, brought him to the service, and came to church to see him confirmed!! Elder Cordon confirmed Marquez. Aniya and Cheyanne were baptized by their father Brother Crump. Brother Crump was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood in sacrament meeting the next day, and then turned around and confirmed his two daughters only seconds later. That is five saving ordinances in one family, plus two for Marquez, all in 24 hours. Also, testimony meeting was pretty special. Can you imagine getting a testimony service started with three confirmations and an ordination? It was phenomenal. Saturday night after the baptism we had dinner with the Bishops family. Bishop is the one who convinced Marquez's grandmother to allow him to join. He also invited one of our investigators to the meal with us. The investigators name is David, and he accepted a baptism date as well.

Sunday was pretty straightforward. We worked, we had church, we had a five and a half hour meeting after church, I got a new iPad which is mine forever, apparently. Thank you mom and dad!! The Church is giving all the online mission new iPads but the missionary's family or home stake pays for them. But we get to take them home with us. WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's like Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!! The Church is also having us all go offline while this process happens, and has rolled out a very thorough new training on how to use Facebook and other digital tools.

Let me tell you something about the digital age, for a moment. The Internet does not belong to the adversary. The digital age is not his reign of power. The Internet was inspired to further the work of God. It was brought forth to further His purposes, and has been an incredible tool in the accomplishment of family history, missionary work, education, and many other noble and worthwhile endeavors. Missionaries are being given digital tools and are being kept current in the digital age, and not harbored in isolation, because Jesus Christ is the master of this age, He is the Master of this world and the digital world and of every world. He does not concede battles, realms, or territory to the filth and smut of the adversary. This Church is His Kingdom, we are His servants, and we will win. There will be missionaries on the Internet. It will yet become a holy place. A terrible evil has been allowed to infect the digital world. We will purge it. This is our call, and we will not shirk, we will not fear, we do not doubt.

I am driving through Starke. Seems like I'm back here once a week!

I love being a missionary. I love 216 missionaries I serve with. I love to hear their thoughts, I love to see their faces and receive revelation pertaining to them. I love the people of Jacksonville. I love to tell them what I know to be true. We find new investigators all the time, just walking down the street, telling every single person we see the source of our happiness and joy. I believe one day each of us will have to answer for every ounce of misery suffered by our brothers and sisters that could have been prevented had we shared the light of our hope. To hoard the gift of testimony and faith is to endanger the lifeblood of the soul. So give, and be glad.

While everyone who was baptized changed out of their wet clothes, Elder Cordon and I stood and taught the restoration lesson. We were clothed in our all-white clothes. There were about a dozen investigators there and maybe 30 or 40 members. We filled that room with our testimony. It was a beautiful thing.

I want to finish with a sacred experience I had this week. I told a family this week that I was an Elder, holding the restored high priesthood, endowed with power in a holy temple, and called from the place of my nativity by a prophet of God. I was sent by Jesus Christ to their home to deliver a message, and could receive revelation for their family, because Jesus Christ would tell me their potential, their needs, and their possible rewards. Wide-eyed, they asked what was specific to them. By the power of the Holy Ghost, I saw their personal concerns. I sat on the edge of my seat, told them the subject and the source of their concerns and fears, blessed their home, made sacred promises in the name of Jesus Christ conditional to their obedience to certain commandments, and testified of the answers to questions they had asked only in their own hearts. A white light filled my vision. My frame shook. I thought of nothing, but I felt more than words could express.

What a glorious time to be alive. What a beautiful mural to be added to! What a privilege to labor with such holiness and strength. For I am a sin-stained beggar, fallen at the feet of the Physician. But I will cry for Him and of Him and love Him with every breath. I adore my Lord. His works are mighty and just. His dominion is unbounded and Everlasting. His promised are sure. It is my joy to serve Him. It is my passion daily to delve deeper into His debt, and to lean harder upon His grace. I love Him, and He loves me. And I love you. Happy letter day.

~Elder Jorgensen

Letters Home

Hey Mom! You're the best. Please pray for me. I am starting a 40 day

fast this week! It's where you give something or something's up that

are holding you back from focusing on the work and the Lord. I love

you! I am working super, super hard. As hard as I can. But no! I can

work harder! I can do more! I will do more!

You'd like my new companion, well you'd like Elder cordon too. Oh! I

need to send pictures! Love you!

~Elder Jorgensen

P.S.  Just kidding. I'll have to send all the pictures next week. I love

you! Sorry about the delay. We had a series of unexpected

developments. Sigh. I love you!