December 29, 2014 ~ Week 75

Hey everyone! 
Christmas was like 5 days ago, but Merry Christmas nonetheless! 

This week has gone by like a blur. We haven't had a whole lot of teaching opportunities between Christmas and everything. But Christmas was super fun. We had an appointment for every hour of the day on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. It was crazy! On Christmas Eve we went to a members house and had homemade pizza, and we made graham cracker houses. It was fun... Mine sucked though... Maybe there is a reason I'm not an architect. Whatever though. Then Christmas was just craziness. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast at home, then we went form appointment to appointment. It was such a great experience being able to see how so many different people celebrate Christmas. By the last appointment I nearly fell asleep at the dinner table. Such a long day. 

The rest of the week was pretty slow. But I love it.  I've gotta go, short on time. 

Love you! Bye!
~Elder Jorgensen

Merry Christmas from Elder J and Elder Engelman
{The best part of our morning was having family prayer right before we hung up.}

December 22, 2014 ~ Week 74

Hey everyone! 
Missionary work is going strong in Newark! My new companion is Elder Engelman. He's from Huntington Beach, California. He goes home in 6 weeks, and he's awesome. He's something like 6'5" so he's pretty tall. It's funny because he just came from New Castle Ward which borders our ward. He already knows a lot of people in the ward and sometimes I feel like he knows the area better than I do.... It's all great and dandy though. 

Elder Jorgensen and Elder Engelman

Missionary work is exploding lately and it seems like we are finding solid new people all over the place. One person that I'm particularly excited about is Kim. We talked to her 13 year old son on the street and asked him for referrals. He told us to go see his mom so we did. She's super awesome and I'm excited to go teach her. 

UMMM so I'll tell you more about my area. It's pretty much just all suburbs, but we have some apartment complexes that we find a ton of people in as well. I'm just about out of time for today, but I wish you all a very merry Christmas! I'll talk to you next week! 

Love you!
~Elder Jorgensen

December 15, 2014 ~ Week 73

Hey everyone!
So first off, transfers have come, and my companion is leaving tomorrow. The past week has been pretty good, thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday! 

We had one lesson this week that was really, really good. It was with a PM family, and he, the dad, who is not a member, has been working towards baptism for a long time.  We went and read Mosiah 27 with him and taught him about repentance, and the process we must go through to actually exhibit a change in ourselves. It was a fantastic lesson, and it was special to see his face light up when it finally clicked. I'm excited for him. I confirmed Sadik in sacrament meeting yesterday and it was pretty cool. That kid has a bright future ahead of him. 

I'll share with you one of my favorite scriptures to end this email.
14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.  Mormon 9:14

If you aren't happy, you better fix it, fast!
Love you!
~Elder Jorgensen



P.S.
AWWW man. Elder Pitt just called me and told me that I am also the district leader again. Emotions are mixed. But I am excited to see if I can do a better job this time than I did last time. Plus I have a great district. So it'll be great. So we'll see how that goes! Love you! Figured I'd share the update.

December 8, 2014 ~ Week 72

Hey everyone, so first things first, Sadik was baptized yesterday!! Hooray! It was so powerful and awesome I loved it. The spirit was so special, and there were so many people from the ward there to support him. It was awesome. All his family was there, and the experience as a whole was just perfect. 

Besides that, not a whole lot has happened this week. We spent a lot of time making sure that Sadik would be ready for his baptism, and I went on exchange with Elder Pollman over in Bayview Ward as well. Thursday we had zone training and it was absolutely incredible. It was on family history work, and the zone leaders did such a great job at it. It's funny, when I was with Elder Goates we used family history so much, but once we parted our ways I kind of stopped using it. I hope to use it a whole lot more effectively now. 

So for those who may not know, today is my last day as a teenager ever. I turn 20 tomorrow... That means I'll not even be a big kid anymore... I'll be a grown up... Gross. It's all good though. Growing up isn't so bad really. Sure you have opposition, and you can't do all the things you used to do, and you have to take more responsibility for things, but it is in essence the growing process we all go through. I'm growing physically, emotionally, and socially, but I'm also growing spiritually, and for that I'm grateful. One thing I would ask of you guys is this: please pray for me. I'm having a great deal of difficulty with a relationship, and I could really use some extra help. The learning and growing process is great, but sometimes the Refiner's fire gets hotter than we can handle alone. But I'm pretty grateful that my Heavenly Father can trust me with trials. It shows me that I really can do it, and throughout our trials we learn that we can't depend on our own talents, skills and nature, but must rely on our Father in Heaven. I'm grateful for growth. Most of all though, I'm grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, who is with me, and has been there. I love you all! Have a great week and #ShareTheGift!

~Elder Jorgensen

Happy 500th Day!

What's that you ask??? THAT'S how many days Elder Jorgensen had been serving the great people of Philly.  The first-100 days were a year in itself, but I cannot believe how fast the past 400 days have flown. (Tender Mercy for sure!)  So excited to have my sweet boy home in just 230 (give or take a few) DAYS!  

December 1, 2014 ~ Week 71

Guess what everyone?

I can listen to Christmas music, and put up the Christmas tree, and drink eggnog, and have sugar plums dance through my dreams! :)

That one holiday that we had last week where people just fed me a lot is over and now nothing can restrict me from being cheey, and excited because Santa's on his way! So pull out your fruit cake and open up to Luke 2, because now is the time that is set apart from the year where we remember Jesus Christ's birth. 

But I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself, although I really am excited for Christmas, my mom wants to hear about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was super awesome. Although I'll be completely honest, it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. In the morning we went and played football with a few members of the ward. Including us, there were 5 people in total. It was fun, but the grown ups got tired really fast. :P Then we went to the church. There was a big thanksgiving lunch type deal there. We stayed for a little bit and participated in a hand turkey decorating contest (Lots of fun, picture of my turkey should make it next week) Afterwards we went to a member family for our second Thanksgiving meal. I sat at the kids table. It was weird, and I realized I don't know how to talk to teenagers anymore. I can talk to adults and little kids, but not teenagers. Oh well. I'll learn that skill again when I ever need to. Afterwards we went to our third meal at another member's house. By this point I was getting a little full, but I was fine. Then we went to Janet and Rey's house for our 4th Thanksgiving... I was nearly asleep halfway through my plate. It was so hard, but so good at the same time. Sadik is getting baptized next week so we are getting him all ready for that. Exciting stuff! But right now I'm drinking ginger ale, eating brownies, and listening to Christmas music in the light of our glistening tree. It's gorgeous really. I'm so excited for Christmas, and if you aren't yet...check out  Christmas.mormon.org #HeIsTheGift.  It's sure to get you excited! Awesome stuff is happening here, and I hope you all have an awesome week! 

Love you!
~Elder Jorgensen

Thanks Bro and Sis W for this GREAT picture!