I'm hiding under my blanket from Elder Welsh, who has gone on a
Febreeze rampage, so I guess this is a good time to start the letter.
Happy week!! Hope you've had a good one. Today makes 17 moths since I
walked through the doors of the MTC. I think 17 months ago, I imagined
myself having a pretty good time, but nothing like THIS. This week was
especially fantastic. Lots of meetings and trainings and whatnot,
which are their own kind of fun (4 hours on Tuesday, 6 hours
Wednesday, 10 hours Thursday and Friday, and then yesterday we had
meetings from 11 AM to 11 PM with only a 20 minute break to end our
fast [yesterday was our fast Sunday for a complicated series of
reasons] and collapsed into bed). We saw some fantastic things happen.
FANTASTIC. I will present them in list form (my lists are famous
mission-wide).
1) Ina and Nina
Ina and Nina are twin sisters in their early 60's and they are
HILARIOUS. Hooooooooly Cow (elder welsh says I have to stop saying
"HOLY COW! Because I say it In an Indian accent and that makes it
racist. So now I say, "FIREWORKS! Fireworks and Hot dogs!" in a
southern accent.) they are funny. One is catholic and one is baptist
(not sure which is which) and they are as sassy as you'd like. We sat
down with them for over an hour this week and we're going back
tomorrow and it was just so FUN! Hah. They were thrilled to have a
Book of Mormon. Can't wait to see them again.
2) Colleen and Gary
We had a weird day on... Wednesday? No, Thursday. We got back from our
meeting on the west side of the city, and on our drive back all our
appointments cancelled (and we were PACKED). So we were a little
adrift for an hour or so. Everyone we talked to reacted... Oddly. It was just an odd day. So it was getting dark and we hadn't really taught anyone anything and Elder Welsh decides to knock on the door of a lady he had spoken to weeks ago when I was gone off gallivanting around the mission somewhere. Well this lady, Colleen, turns out to be the greatest human being in the world. She invites us straight in, sits us down,talks to us about the Book of Mormon for 45 minutes, tells us how much she loves her neighbor (a member who just started coming back to Church) and invites herself to Church! And then she comes!!! It was magical. Tragically, Colleen and Gary are moving to MICHIGAN tomorrow! They're going to be "snow birds" (people who live up north 6 months of the year and then come down here for the winter months). So we're helping them move (they're making us bacon for breakfast!) tomorrow and missionaries will just baptize them in Michigan!
3) Lopaka and Michelle
Lopaka is awesome. AWESOME. He is an unreasonably short hawaiian man with a yellow motorcycle, a huge truck, more tattoos than you can shake a stick at, and a deep hatred of pineapple (really though, don't call things Hawaiian just because they have pineapple. I forget why...) Lopaka is excited to be baptized at the beginning of June. His wife Michelle is a member, and stood up and bore her testimony for the first time that anyone can remember and expressed her love for her husband and the gospel and it was just breathtaking. We're seeing them again tomorrow as well. Going to be a packed day!
4) Cody and Leah
Cody and Leah are getting MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Married on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!! Wow. We planned their wedding yesterday. That was a new experience. Never planned a wedding before. It was unique. We'll let you know how it goes!!!! It's going to be beautiful. I'd never been to a wedding before my mission! It seems like we get as many people married to each other as we get to investigate the Church! Missionaries, Messengers of Love.
5) "Covenants" and Missy
So this story was actually immediately after the lesson with Colleen and Gary on Thursday. We left their house and it was 8:30 or so and we were in a trailer park in not a BAD part of town (our assigned proselyting area on the south side is called Mandarin. It is by FAR the cleanest, most beautiful, greatest part of the city) but not the most luxurious either. We were walking down the street and there was a party going on either side in the front yards of the trailers and they were not the good kind of parties. So we just walked past them. But then I felt terrible, because you have to talk with EVERYONE! So I said out loud, "Alright! I'm making a covenant! The next person I see, I will talk to no matter WHAT is in their red plastic cup! Bring me someone prepared to receive the gospel!" The next people we saw, we saw through the window of a trailer, so we called out to them, "Hello!" "Uh, hi?" "Hi! How's your night?" "... Fine?" "Great! We have a gift for you! It's a card with a picture of Jesus Christ!" "Um... No one is home!" And then they closed the window.
"Okay, okay. I'm making a new covenant! The NEXT person I see, I will talk to! And THIS one will be prepared to receive the gospel!"
Well the next people we saw was the party people from earlier. I asked Elder Welsh, "Do they count if we already saw them?" And he looked at me like I'm some kind of crazy person (which is fair) and we decided that they still count, so I ran over and talked to them! They did not notice us at first. We had to go stand in the middle of their little party circle before they'd make eye contact. They were all circled around a firepit drinking and talking and laughing and cooking BBQ and saying some words... Well we just stood there with our backs to the fire facing them and let them know who we were! One man wearing a backwards baseball cap and baggy shorts and a skull tshirt started making fun of the way we were dressed and I couldn't help but look him up and down and laugh at that which was unfortunate and did cause one tense moment. But! When one of the girls said she had mormon friends and asked if we had anything for her, we started passing out pamphlets and testifying of the happiness we had found to everyone! Saggy-shorts guy apologized and we gave out everything we had and the party kind of resumed as we walked away. It definitely went better than expected, and we had some good quick conversations with a few of the younger (early 20's) partiers, but we still didn't get to TEACH. Teaching is the funnest. So I made another covenant!
"Alright, THIS time! THIS time the person will be completely sober AND prepared!"
Immediately a man ran out of his house, we said hello, and his reaction was... not positive. Then our partier friends swore at him a lot for his behavior and chased him back inside his house! So, that was different!
Well it was after 9 at that point (9 PM is when the proselyting time for a missionary ends), and Elder Welsh and I figured that was enough covenant-making for one day. We started walking back to the car. On our way we walked by a house where a lady was sitting listening to music in her garage. We waved as we passed by. Elder Welsh said, "Who is that?" "I'm not sure. I've tried to talk to the people in that house twice. The first time they threw some beer cans at me. The second time they took their dog off the leash and told it to get me. So... I've never really caught her name." "... We should talk to her." "Ok!"
So we turned around and were inside her garage before she even noticed us. We had a wonderful 25 minute lesson on the book of mormon, using the introduction and the pictures at the front to teach the history and doctrine of the book. She had a lot of questions about the difference between mormons and the book of mormon and the bible and all the typical things. We prayed (holding hands, of course. because this is the south) and read some verses and set a return appointment and everything! In the course of our lesson the members of the family who had done the dog-setting on me came out and they gave me quite the look. Hehe They declined our invitation to hold hands and pray.
So we did get to teach one more time that day. Then we sprinted to the car and went home. It was a crazy time.
6) Blessing at the Hospital
Oh! So Monday! Monday after P-day time ends at 6 we were out doing our thing, and we get a call at 8:30 or so after a very eventful evening, from a member in our ward. He has a friend who's sister is in the hospital. He asked for us to drive downtown and give her a blessing right away, that night. So we got in the mini van and drove! Well of course we got lost. Twice. Which probably wouldn't have happened if the people we stopped and asked directions from spoke english (or we spoke albanian) but we finally get there and the hospital is HUGE. HUGE old building on the river. We park in a parking garage right next to it, that is completely empty (no one parked there, no one at the gate manning the arms, nothing) and walk up to the door of the hospital. Well, as we walk up, two men are walking towards the door from the other side, and we can see them through a little window. They get to the door, and can't open it. They are confused at first, but then they get frustrated and almost nervous... They start banging on the window and shaking the door... Odd... So we walk around to another entrance.
This is a full-blown hospital. The biggest one I've seen. And as we walk through the front doors, there is literally no one there. Not a soul. We walk past the empty front desk and ride the elevator to the fifth floor, and walk 150 yards or so down the hallway and we have seen not one person. There are desks and vending machines and a cafeteria and empty rooms and dimly lit hallways (at one point the lights flickers and we almost had a heart attack. Which would have been poetic) and trays of medical-looking equipment but not a soul in sight.
So we were terrified. Have you ever been to an inexplicably empty hospital at night? No? Well then you would not understand. We thought the zombie apocalypse had happened for sure. After whispering and walking and searching for several minutes though, we finally got to an inhabited part of the hospital, found this woman's room, and were able to sit and talk with her. This lovely woman has down-syndrome and has started having grand-maul seizures. She looked at us blankly at first, but as we talked she began to smile a big, open-mouthed smile. We sat with her for 20 minutes or so, open-mouth smiling back, and then we gave her a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL priesthood blessing, the kind of which I have no heard before and won't repeat here. Just the memory brings tears. Walking away, we were filled with light, and couldn't sleep that night we were just bursting. It was a beautiful thing. Amazing how much less scary those hallways were on the walk out.
7) Meal Calendar Miracle
Our ward has not had a meal-calendar in a month. But one of the sister missionaries made one this week and passed it around and we have dinner appointments every day but friday this week!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! It had been a long month of cold cereal and fruit snacks that we stuff our pockets with every time we go to the mission office (alright alright, don't judge us. These are STAR WARS fruit snacks! And on the inside they are liquidy so they're really Star Wars Fruit Snack Gushers!!!! They are great!) so that was a tender mercy.
8) Leckwarts Move (Wrestling Joseph)
Hah! One the families investigating the church that we are working with moved this week within the same apartment complex, so we helped out a lot with our muscles and mini-van. Elder Welsh brought the muscles, and I drove the mini-van. We have this CD that talks about the Prophet Joseph Smith that we listen to all the time, and we happened to be on the part where it talks about how much he loved to wrestle. And then for some reason there is a long violin solo on the CD and Elder Welsh and I imagine the prophet wrestling just, hundreds of people at once. Throwing them left and right and laughing and standing in the middle swinging some big burly scotsman around his head having the greatest time. Well, I was driving the mini-van with one of the other elders in the seat next to me, hauling a load full of boxes across the complex, and just as the violin starts I look out the window and Elder Welsh is pushing the family's 10 year old son in a go-cart next to us! Elder Welsh is SPRINTING at top speed and the boy is wide-eyed and loving it. So we roll down the windows and turn the music up and drive beside them and it was just fantastic. Just one of the million random things that happen throughout the weeks that I usually don't remember to share, but highlight just how much FUN we have. Just how great our life is.
9) Car Gas
Hah! This is another "Our life is awesome story". So we get to drive as much as we want, which is great except I spend half my life in the car now. But we never have to worry about mileage limitations like the other missionaries do. But! This week we get into the car sunday morning and the gas light is on! We're out of gas! Well this just won't do! We have places to go! People to see! Gospel to preach! So we just... drove to the mission office, and got a new car! Hah! But, we decided we should at least accept SOME kind of consequence for our thoughtlessness, so we took the least desirable car available so that we would learn from our mistake at least a little. So we took the 15 passenger van we use for the airport trips when missionaries arrive from the MTC or go home at the end of their 2 years. We showed up to Church in that thing and people were just stupefied! "What is that?? Why are you driving an aircraft carrier? You could fit two star destroyers and a dead blue whale in the back of that van! Where did you get it??"
I guess we just do what we want!
10) Perfect Day
Alright, alright. So lets talk about the perfect day. This is Saturday, May 16th, 2015. Mark it on your calendars.
We woke up in the morning and immediately went to move the Leckwarts, then picked up lunch from a BBQ place for President and Sister Craig and all the senior couples (the husband and wife missionaries who are retirement age and serve in special assignments all over the mission) who were having their quarterly meeting. President lives in a HUGE and VERY nice gated community (gated is an understatement. There are guards and private security and all kinds of things) where we are NOT allowed to proselyte EVER. Ever. Well as we're leaving, I was on a phone call (which is about as constant as breathing) and all of a sudden we're doing a u-turn and elder welsh has gotten out of the car. I hang up and I see him standing in someone's backyard talking to a lady in a bee-keeper suit who has a chainsaw in one hand and a tree-branch in the other. We are still in normal clothes (t-shirts and shorts) from the move and he is offering to help her with her yardwork and she says YES!!!! No one has EVER said yes in that neighborhood EVER. We were thrilled. But the yard is COVERED in poison ivy and she was taking a break for lunch, so we have to go get jeans and long-sleeves and gloves. So we're off! And after a quick stop to have lunch with a member of the ward (sushi. I had an alaskan salmon roll, a california roll [of course] and a one other one that I forget. Yeah... My mission is pretty great. We listen to violin solos and eat suishi and when we run out of gas we just get a new car.) we got into our sweats (which is quite a feat of bravery in a floridian summer) and we went to town! We had a mountain of brush and branches piled up on the side the the road after a couple hours and this magnificent woman was ecstatic. As we worked we obviously talked about religion. She mentioned she was catholic (we were standing next to her five-foot tall yard statue of St. Francis of Assisi at the time, so it was a pretty easy transition to make) but that her children attending catholic school were not going to be allowed to continue to attend unless they got vaccinations. She said that the vaccinations use stem-cells harvested from abortions, and she, a marvelously strong and faithful catholic woman, could not possibly support abortion in that way. She said she was going to need a new place to go to church after the school semester ended this month, and asked where ours is, what time, and what it's like.
We almost fainted. Then of course I brought up how YOU, marvelous mother, can't stand vaccinations either, and how our family, so similar to hers in so many ways, has found strength and peace in a world of conflicting and warring ideologies through the Book of Mormon. The clarity, confidence, and safety of that book is matchless. We asked if her neighbor, who is member of the local congregation (and also our Mission President!) could come bring her the gift of a copy of this holy book and she was ecstatic to say yes.
Well then we drove straight to an appointment with a young couple who we hadn't seen in months. They sat down at a picnic table with us, announced that they'd read 200 pages from the Book of Mormon, committed to come to church the next day (he had just miraculously gotten his first sunday off in 7 months) and asked about baptism. Then we had to race to the home of a part-member family and cut their lawn and split some wood for them. As we worked their friends came over to see what we were doing and we all sat down for a lesson when the work was done and they all came to church the next day. Then we REALLY had to fly to another investigator's house for a late dinner (lucky we had so much sushi to tide us over until then!) which was loaded potatoes, and shrimp sandwiches. We played gospel, taught them the articles of faith, and got home just before 9:30 (curfew) to fall to our knees and thank God for such a perfect, PERFECT life.
It is so great to be a missionary. It is so much FUN to serve the Lord. We got a call form a missionary this morning worried about changing. Worried he'll be a totally different person and have to give up his whole personality to be a missionary! We pointed out the difference between habits and personality, and told him that he SHOULD be a different person! He should change! He should change so that he can have this much fun. He should change and enjoy this perfect life.
We change because we want a perfect life. We give up what we are and substitute what He is. We think His thoughts and feel His feelings and do His works and desire His will. We forsake all that we are. We approach meekly the altar of sacrifice, we leave there our fears, our ambitions, our predilections, our vanity, our talents, our weakness, and our souls. We kneel for a moment in abject submission, and then we humbly walk away. We reject the mantra, "Be yourself!" and embrace the Lord's teaching, "What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily verily I say unto you, even as I am."
And we're not perfect. And we have a long way to go and that's okay. But He lived a perfect life. He is perfectly happy. He experiences a perfect love, a perfect joy, a perfect service, a perfect work, a perfect rest. We love Him. We are trying very hard to be like Him. We talk of Him and rejoice in Him and prophesy of Him and command in His name. We are His mouthpiece, and sometimes we bring people down onto their knees with us and grab their arms and in the name of God pronounce glory, light, truth, promise, and warning. We speak with such boldness that were we liars or fools, mistaken, our utterances would be such bald-faced blasphemy that any eavesdropping deity would strike us down upon the spot. But we are not mistaken. We are emissaries of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the tongue of angels and the authority of an Everlasting Order, we declare the will of the Master of the Cosmos, the Lamb of God.
This is His Church, His Kingdom, His vessel to accomplish His work and His glory. He commands all, male or female, old or young, bond or free, rich or poor, unlearned or wise, to come unto Him. He commands us to repent of our wickedness, and to forgive. He commands us to be baptized, to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, to enter His temple, and to become as He is. He does not negotiate at the table of sin, or settle in the marketplace of Babylon. He commands, then enables, and then sanctifies. Even me.
I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I love the Prophet Joseph Smith for teaching me more of Him. I love Thomas S. Monson for bringing His voice to my ears to silence all other voices, shadows, and impressions that have raged upon this world and in my mind. I love the Book of Mormon. I love being a missionary. This week I heard a little indian lady bear her testimony of the restored gospel in Hindi. Her daughter translated. At the end, the little indian lady burst out in very thickly accented english, "My family... Many blessings... Very happy." and then the tears overcame her. And me. Especially me.
I love you. Thank you. I know this message to be true. In the energy of my soul and with divine daring I declare that I know Jesus to be the Christ, Joseph Smith to be His prophet, Thomas S. Monson to be His living mouthpiece, and the Book of Mormon to be His holy word. It fills me with unutterable joy to contemplate such things. With unbridled ecstasy do I say that I know, in the name of Jesus Christ.
~Elder Jorgensen
