November 24, 2014 ~ Week 70

Well everyone, this week has been crazy. Super crazy. But all in all its been amazing. 
A couple highlights being: Going on exchange with the zone leaders and having an awesome time with them and setting Sadek, a 13 year old we are teaching, with a baptismal date. He's Janet and Rey's son and for some reason Janet and Rey have been taught all the lessons, but no one thought to ask Sadek if he wanted to be baptized. So he's been taught nothing, but we are working on it. He's excited to be baptized though, and he has been going to scouts and church and can't wait to pass the sacrament. Exciting stuff! We also found and taught a Chinese student who has absolutely no knowledge or belief in God. It was so hard to teach him and I ended up leaving frustrated, but it was the best experience. Hopefully we'll see him again sometime soon. 

The work is going really well and we are finding lots of new investigators which is awesome. All in all I am learning and growing so much right now and I'm amazed at how far I've come and also at how far I've yet to go. It seems like the further I get along the path, the further I have to go. Good thing I have the rest of eternity to get it though, right? 

Seeing as how it's Thanksgiving week, I figure I could end this email with some of the things I'm most grateful for. I'm grateful for my family. They are the most amazing, most supportive ever. They serve me and love me in ways that I could never even imagine, and they make me feel so loved. I'm grateful I get to be with them forever. I'm grateful for God's plan for me. He knows what I need and I couldn't ever imagine being where I am without his guidance and protection. I'm grateful for my weakness. I'm amazed at how merciful God was when he decided that I shouldn't be perfect right away. Being able to work diligently at improving myself is such a blessing. I'm grateful for the knowledge I've been blessed with. Heavenly Father has taught me so much about life, and the scriptures, and people.  The understanding that I have helps me to have a whole lot of peace in this life. I'm grateful for friends that I've been sent and people that pray for me and care for me. I'm grateful for the emails, and the letters. But more than anything, I'm grateful for my Savior. I really am. He means so much to me, and I know He is with me. 

Take care my friends. Be grateful!

~Elder Jorgensen

I have sent my boy a lot of packages but this was by far my favorite.  His sweet smile and genuine happiness in this picture made it ALL worth it.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Friends From Wilkes-Barre

November 17, 2014 ~ Week 69

Hello everyone! 

How's the weather you ask? Cold you ask? OH YEA, although luckily I haven't had much snow yet. It's nice because the day after I left Wilkes-Barre, it snowed up there. 

Oh yeah! I'm in Newark, Delaware now serving in the Newark 1st ward. It's weird because my whole mission
I've been in NEPA for the most part, and now all the sudden I'm not. It's really quite strange. The reason it's strange, is people are nice down here.... It almost doesn't even feel like missionary work. We still have our problems: people still avoid us, and the success rate is still about the same as it was in Wilkes-Barre, but it's nice when you aren't being ignored, yelled at, or having doors slammed into your face. Makes the work a little more pleasant. Now I'm still not 100% in the groove of our area yet, but we have 2 investigators who are really
quite awesome... Their names are Janet and Rey. They are a kind African couple... I would say 2nd generation probably, and they are just super de dupety solid. They just need to get married, and then they will be ready! So that's awesome. I'll make sure I keep you updated on them. My companion is Elder Jesse Saltzgiver. He is from Bountiful Utah, and he came out at the same time as me. In our area, as far as I know, there are 3 cities we cover. Newark, Delaware, Bear, Delaware, and Elkton, Maryland. So now I just need to serve in Jersey and I will have served in every state in the PPM. It's exciting to be here, and exciting to be serving the lord!

 Have a good week everyone!
~Elder Jorgensen

November 10, 2014 ~ Week 68

Hello everyone! 

This week has been super awesome. First things first, of course, I'm being transferred away from Wilkes-Barre. To be honest, I'm kind of sad because this ward is so awesome and I love everyone here so much. But it's alright, they are still going to exist after I leave. Plus I'm excited to go to a new place with new people. Change is very necessary. 

Oh by the way, last week when I wrote, my goal was to write the most over dramatic, Elder Holland like email I could. I felt like I did an alright job.  :)

Elder Soon just found out he's training a new missionary, so that's cool. This last week was awesome. So in this mission with our goals, we set a two week goal that we are accountable to the district leader on. This was the second week of our accountability and at the beginning of the week we only had 5/22 total lessons for the two week period. Well, one thing about Elder Soon and I, is  we never set a goal we don't intend to reach. So we set goals, made plans, went home, and made our goal, teaching more lessons than this area has ever seen. It was awesome. Numbers aren't everything though...the coolest part of the week was seeing how when we were trying our hardest to reach this goal, Heavenly Father provided a way for us and we saw miracle after miracle after miracle. Things like a LA {less active} member telling us she was committed to come back to church, and get to the temple, and having her follow through on her promises. Or having everything work out perfectly to see a family at a member's house, that we totally didn't expect to be there. Miracles are everywhere! It's so good to see. 

I don't have a lot of time because I still have to pack, and we are going to the airport to greet a returning missionary to this ward for our P-day. But know that God is real, and he answers prayers. 

Love you!

~Elder Jorgensen

We got pictures this week.......of his CLOTHES!  I would have rather had him IN the clothes but it's a picture!  I sure LOVE that boy of mine!

November 3, 2014 ~ Week 67

Brothers and Sisters,

I speak unto you by way of exhortation. Be not deceived. There is a force working against you, a force which has lulled many into a state of idle worship, a state of dishonesty, even a state of despair. This force I speak of is the adversary, Satan. He is the father of all lies. He is the tempter, the deceiving one. He is miserable and he wants you to be as well. Throughout this day, and week I have reflected upon his many lies, and methods of leading people down to destruction. Earlier in the day I read in the Book of Mormon about a man named Giddianhi. Giddianhi was an evil man, who was the leader of the Gadianton robbers, a group of people who were well accustomed to the secret abominations of the adversary. The scriptures tell us of a certain epistle he sent to Lachoneus, governor of the Nephites. In this epistle, Giddianhi shows us an example of the lies, and also the evils of Satan. He begins his epistle by using flattery. By praising
Lachoneus for his firmness, and his bravery in upholding that which he
believes to be right. He then calls Lachoneus foolish for believing that he could stand against so many of Giddianhi's men. He uses intimidation to attempt to make Lachoneus believe there is no hope. Then he goes to say that Lachoneus and his men had done wrong unto the Gadianton robbers, that they had retained from them their right of government. He demands that Lachoneus give up all land, all cities, and become their brethren, becoming acquainted with their secret works.

"And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers. Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could not be frightened by the
demands and the threatenings of a robber; therefore he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them." 3 Nephi 3:11-12

Lachoneus understood that Giddianhi was a liar, and that he would not keep his promise. He also understood that only through reliance on Heavenly Father, could his people remain free. Lachoneus had his people construct a great fortification where they would all gather and stay safe. He taught his people that they must repent, and rely on God for both their physical and temporal salvation. And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; and they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle. 3 Nephi 3:25

Satan wants us to believe that we don't need God. Satan wants us to believe that we are helpless before his power. He wants us to believe that his way is the better way. He wants us to believe we were meant to be miserable. He is wrong. There is only one thing he can do to any of us, and that is lie, and that is why I exhort you to be not deceived. Learn of his trickery and cunning. God has given us the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon so that we may know of the
pitfalls that await us while we are along this earthly travail. The prize of eternal life is too great of one to lose to the likes of a miserable, bitter, angry fool who believes the world owes him something for nothing. He doesn't even have a body. Yet his lies are slight, and his craftiness is careful. We must protect ourselves. We must take refuge in the fortifications that we have been commanded to prepare. This is the home. This is the church. These places must be
built strongly. They must be safe, and they must be a place where we can be protected from the lies of this world. Earlier today we went on an adventure to the mall, I can personally testify to each of you that Satan's subtle craftiness is all around us. Therefore be not deceived.

I love you all! Hope you have a great week!
~Elder Jorgensen