JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
COMPANION: ELDER WELSH
ASSISTANTS
Lake City, FL on Tuesday
Gainesville, FL on Wednesday
Jacksonville, FL on Thursday
Ocala, Lake City & Jacksonville, FL on Friday
Okay stories. Ready?
Tuesday was Lake City, which is halfway to Tallahassee from here. While there, we went off-reading in our little Corolla to this tiny trailer on a hill by a river surrounded by willow-looking (alright so I'm not a botanist) trees. It was probably the most gorgeous thing ever. We just sat there on the porch and talked about the gospel as the sun set into the lake. Then we went on a walk with a gorgeous little family of 5, and they invited us in and listened in rapt attention as we declared the restoration of the gospel. Then we gave a blessing to a man who was a bishop, a ward mission leader, and now has not been to church in years and years. We gave his little grandson a tender blessing that he could not give himself. A reminder to "watch and pray always".
Wednesday was back to Gainesville. First time I've gone proselyting in Gainesville since I got transferred from there 14 months ago! Can you believe how time flies??? We did an impormptu service project for a man whose beautiful deck had been rotted out by the moisture from the inside. I thought of that deck often throughout conference as the Brethren warned us against facades and hypocrisy. Then we went to a pizza place and I had leftover stromboli for breakfast the next day. It was delicious, but stromboli is essentially a pizza burrito, and I don't know about making it a regular part of your breakfast diet...
Thursday was back home to Jacksonville. We drove like crazy people from appointment to appointment (i have a terribly tendency to never plan travel time...) and finished the night with a family of recent converts. The wife was raised in the church but had fallen away for years, and the husband just joined a year ago. We sat in their kitchen with them, their arms and legs covered in tattoos, his large, wild red beard (they're in their 20's) hanging down onto his chest and their big dogs running around everywhere, and I teared up to hear them testify and express their joy for later this month when they will receive their endowment, and a special day in June when they will be sealed for time and all eternity. If there is a more perfect family in this world, I'd have to see it to believe it.
Friday I was up at 4:30 AM to drive to Ocala to fetch Elder Welsh, five to Lake City for a meeting at 9 AM, drive back to Jacksonville in time to leave Elder Welsh on the North Side for the night with some Elders there and barely make it back to our side of town (we are on the South Side of the River) in time for our evening of appointments. It was a lot of driving. We did stop for lunch at Olive Garden in Lake City though. We probably eat at Olive Garden three times a week. They have unlimited salad and breadsticks for five dollars, and we usually only have time to eat one real meal a day. So we go in and DEMOLISH those salads. Holy cow. We ask for two giant bowls at a time and by the time the server has refilled our water we need more salad. Elder Welsh has insisted we leave large tips because by the end of our lunch hour the servers are always a little stressed out and I'm pretty sure one of them had started sweating. We're hungry! So if Olive Garden goes out of business this month, you'll know why.
Friday night was a wonderful night. We have an investigator named Cody who live RIGHT next to us. We can see in his window from our parking space. He has a beautiful little family, he's studying to be a lawyer, he's in his early 30's, and he has been going to church for a year but doesn't feel he knows it is true! Well he called us on Friday and asked that we come give his daughter a priesthood blessing. She is 2 and had a 105 fever. We came, and we asked if we could give a lesson on the priesthood before the blessing. It was one of probably the top 10 most intense lessons of my mission (and we have some pretty intense lessons). We taught him the biblical pattern of dispensations, the use of the priesthood and role of priesthood holders. We testified of the apostasy, mourned together over the darkness and confusion in the world, and then bore witness of the restoration. We told him we were more than well-intentioned boys with name tags and a mini-van. We are just and holy men, members of a sacred Order and mantled with a divine endowment, sent to bless the people of the world, and that if he would have faith, his daughter would be more than comforted, she would be healed. He expressed hesitancy to accept, and then the Spirit made him a significant promise, through us it said,
"Cody, if you will come to General Conference with the question of whether Joseph Smith was a prophet in mind, you will receive an answer this weekend."
He was pretty skeptical. He's been praying over it for a year. But we promised, we blessed his daughter, her fever disappeared and the next day she was dancing around the room. He came to conference, he received an answer during Henry B. Eyring's talk in Priesthood session. He knows the message of the Restoration is true.
I say the message is true. I love the Prophet. I sustain him with all my heart. I love my Savior. I do not understand Him fully, but I love Him better today than I did yesterday, and I'm working on the rest. My favorite talks were by Elder Bednar, Elder Holland, and Elder Ringwood. There was also a delightful one on music and dance, but I cannot remember the name of the man who gave it! Elder Clayton? Anyway, I hope you hear the music this week. I did. 185 years ago today the Church was organized. And today is Jesus' birthday. Happy Birthday to Him. Happy April to you.
Love,
~Elder Jorgensen
Letters Home
Hi Mama!!!
A three hour time difference is a lot. Priesthood doesn't end until 10 here! Crazy. I wish I was there to help with yard work! Your scavenger hunts can be MORE challenging? I feel like without additional clue I would have starved to death searching for my chocolate bunnies! Cookies sound fantastic! Hehehe, gluten free. I miss gluten free. Lets make a deal, when I get home, everything will be gluten free and dairy free and sugar free and in fact, you know what? Maybe just no food. What is it with people and FOOD? It's like being around a bunch of addicts! With alcoholics, nothing is fun without drinking and everything revolves around the next taste. Same here but with fried chicken and potatoes and cheese. And bacon. Goodness. No. More. Eating.
OOoo I did like those bright blue ties. Hehehehee yeah, a missionary is a pretty easy conversation topic. Happy Easter!
WHAT?!?!?
First of all, that easter-egg hunt looks fantastic. What fun!!!!!
Second, when did they get so BIG???????
Sigh. I love them so much. I have the most beautiful Sisters in the world. They are the greatest, happiest, most wonderful thing that ever happened to me. How did they get to be so amazing?
Third, when I left Kiev was the capital of the Ukraine, which was a NATO country. How could Kiev possibly be in RUSSIA? Did you know I have been gone for 20 months? Apparently that is a very long time. Anyway, Don is going there! That is so COOL (usually we are not supposed to say cool because it is undignified, but I figured the setting made it appropriate). I think it gets hot there in the summers and absurdly cold in winter. WOW! Kiev... Yeah that's definitely supposed to be in the Ukraine. What an awesome mission!!!! I hope he is half as excited as I am.
I will pray for Grandma. And for Kinley. Kinley is amazing. She's like Elizabeth... Just too good to be real. You just stand there and wait for someone to yell, "Cut" and for a real-live person to come onto stage instead. Or for them to just be translated. Hope her heads okay. Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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To Cassidy:
HAPPY EASTER!
I miss you twice as much. You were in Missoula?? FUN!!!!!! Hahahahaha I forgot about President Uchtdorf talking in German! I almost fell off my bench laughing! Sounds like you are a rich little chocolatier! I'm so glad you got to see Don open his call! You are the best Cass. I think about you every day. Thank you for writing to me. I love you.
~Elder Jorgensen