March 28, 2015 ~ Week 88 (A few days early)

Hey everyone!
I got to go to the temple today, so that makes today my P-Day. I will not be emailing on Monday. But man oh man, was the temple fantastic. I haven't been able to go for an endowment session in over 20 months so I was very excited. 

My expectation going in was that I would come out and be completely satisfied. We drove down with our elders quorum president, and the reason we went was to support a member family we've been working with as they received their endowments. We went to a Spanish session, which was interesting, but we got headphones. When we got to the temple we went to the distribution center for a minute so a member could grab some stuff, and who was there but the R Family from Reading! It was great to see them. Then after we came out of the temple, I was just slightly frustrated because rather than coming out satisfied and thinking that that should last me a while, I longed to go back. Rather than having all of my questions answered I had just a few questions answered, and 50 trillion more came up. There is so much peace, and wisdom that is found at the temple, and I'm so grateful to have been able to go, but I've got to get back there ASAP! 

For all you who are able to go to the temple regularly, just know how precious and sacred that is, for those who can't get there regularly.  Get baptized, reactivate yourself, correct your priorities, get yourself worthy, do whatever it takes to get to the house of the Lord. It has been the highlight of my week, month, even year to go today. That is the most  important thing I could share. The work is progressing, and going onward. 

Have a great week. Love you!
~Elder Jorgensen

Washington DC  Temple {Click HERE to Learn More}

March 23, 2105 ~ Week 87

So... This week has been crazy. Monday night we had dinner with a member, and we were able to teach her nonmember adult daughter which was an awesome experience because we talked about something I really
love to study about. We taught her about fear and how it controls our lives. She was really scared about us teaching her because her dad was giving her all sorts of stuffs about the Mormons getting her. So our topic was perfect for her and helped alleviate some of her apprehension. Right after that lesson, we went and contacted a couple referrals from the Bayview Elders. We knocked on the door and they let us right in. The wife started telling us about how hard her life was right now and how she had made a lot of mistakes in her life and how she just wants to find forgiveness and how she's really concerned about giving her son a good family environment to grow up in.   Also how she hasn't been to church in a while and she really wants to go to church again.... Now for you non-missionary folks out there, in chapter 10 of PMG there is a section on "How to Begin Teaching." The purpose of this section is to help missionaries essentially set expectations and explain our purpose. In that section there are different points that we are to use, as guided by the spirit, in our teaching. She brought up essentially every single one of those points on her own. It was incredible to be able to promise her such direct specific blessings that were directly attributing to the concerns she had in her life. Plus there was a moment where I just flipped open the scriptures and started reading, and it was exactly what she needed. It was a profound testimony builder for me of how prominent the spirit has become in my life and how much it affects those who truly desire to follow it. 

So there was one miracle. I've got a bunch this week, but I will only share a few. Oh! Importance! So, Tuesday morning I was sitting there studying my scriptures. I was reading in 1st Corinthians Chapter 4. It was about 
8:45 ish and I was learning a lot about being a disciple of Christ. When suddenly, a wild Elder Watt appeared. Elder Watt the assistant... Called us... He asked me to be the District Leader again... Man oh man, that is the last thing I wanted to do. I repented quickly however, and accepted the call. So I'm that thing again. It is a wonderful experience and I really am willing to do whatsoever my Father asks of me, but I really liked doing the other thing he asked of me. Push me out of my comfort zone why don't ya!  Plus my district is leading the mission as far as numbers go, so that's a huge bonus.  I've got a district full of absolutely fantastic missionaries. No problems whatsoever. 

Ummm one more story. So in our mission right now we are making a huge focus on achieving our "Standards of Excellence." Sunday morning we were sitting outside the bishop's door waiting for ward council and the Newark 3rd sisters were there. We started talking about how each other's weeks went and they asked us about our "Standards of Excellence."  I told them how we did this week, which was super awesome, and they questioned as to how we managed such great success. My response: "No clue. I guess we just got lucky." Later in the day, I was sitting there pondering on this experience, when I remembered the words of one of our magnificent zone leaders, which he gave the previous Monday while we were shopping. He said something along the lines of, "I'm grateful for the gospel because it helps me to know that luck isn't a real thing." It's true. We didn't have a great week because we were lucky, we had a great week because our Father in Heaven blessed us. I myself am exceedingly grateful that He knows me. He hears my prayers, and He gives me strength to go out and work. So, moral of the story.... Proverbs 3:3-5

I love you all!
~Elder Jorgensen

Elder Jorgensen and Elder Payne

I asked Elder J to send me a picture of his ties.
Holy Cannoli!!!  That's a lot of ties...97 to be exact.
He is definitely staying "Tied up in the Work."

March 16, 2015 ~ Week 86

Well! It's been an interesting week. We had 50% of our appointments hold this week. It's been an adventure, and it's felt like we've been flying by the seat of out pants all week with members canceling, appointments falling through and all. 

We've seen a ton of miracles this week too. With the extra time we've had we have found a few new
investigators, and a few new potentials.  It's great. We're seeing lots of good things happen all the time. At the moment we don't really have any new investigators that are progressing, because we baptized all of em, so we are going to be focusing on finding a lot. 

I totally got a new suit for free. The stake had a big garage give away at the church, and we just so happened to be there when it was getting set up so we got first grabs. It was great. Good things will happen this week for sure!

Love ya!
~Elder Jorgensen

WE GOT PICTURES TODAY!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  
{This is the first package picture I have ever received in the same week as the holiday!
A shamrock tie, a gift card, and 6 boxes of his favorite Girl Scout Cookies....thin mints.  Not sure what's up with that  that goofy smile though.}

Elder Eves, Elder Jorgensen, Elder Morris, and Elder Payne
{Not positive that's the right order.}

Elder Pule and Elder Jorgensen

March 10, 2015 ~ Week 85

Are you ready to hear a great story? Ready set go! 

So once upon a time I really, really didn't want to email, because that takes a lot of effort, and thought. Plus I kept putting it off, and putting it off until the end. So I sent the one you got last time. Then, later in the week Elder Payne asked me a question about writing letters not on Monday, so I opened up the white handbook, and read him the answer... It is as follows... "Write to your family each week on preparation day." So, one of the purposes of the spirit is to remind you of your guilt....That way you can repent. The spirit began to work on me. Then Sunday, the topic of everything was following Christ, and obedience. The spirit continues to work... Then I got like 3 emails today from people telling me how they were disappointed in me not writing a good letter last week... Thanks guys. I hope you're happy now.  

So... I've had a great week. It's been pretty stressful and crazy, but lots of adventures! Tuesday we had zone training where we got new iPads. That was a fun adventure. Then Thursday we got snowed in. It snowed ALL day long. It only snowed like 7 or 8 inches though. For snowing all day long, I feel like it should have snowed more. So we weekly planned, and spent the rest of the day calling people and setting up appointments.  Due to this, we have a crazy busy week planned for next week.  We have 20+ appointments set up, and plans to teach a bazillion lessons. Plus we have members to come with us to just about all of them. It's crazy. So that's all good. 

Saturday we had Golden retraining, which was a meeting for all the Goldens and their trainers to make sure I wasn't being an evil disobedient dictator. I passed. BUT we totally had to go early. Ernesta's baptism was at 4 and the meeting was supposed to go til 2, but as we all know... We're Mormons... Meetings never run according to time..... Ever. So we left 2 hours early. Ernesta's baptism went awesome! Pictures will come once I get them from the member who took them. After the baptism we played life size Hungry Hungry Hippos with the Elders Quorum. That was fun. 

Elder Payne is doing great. I love being able to train him. I can't even imagine being a real life dad because being a missionary dad is soooo hard. There is so much I have to teach him, and it's so hard to teach him a year and a half worth of stuff... Because that's what I try to do... I'm getting there though, and he is super patient, and awesome with me so it's great. 

A scripture I read this week that really stood out to me was found in 1st Nephi 21:10

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

It was very apparent to me as I read this that there was something significant I was supposed to learn. I sat there and stared at it for like 10 minutes until it clicked. We won't hunger or thirst because God leads us by the springs of water. Now what is significant about him leading us to springs of all bodies of water? Springs are usually fresh water, and safe to drink. They are usually small, and possibly hidden from view. Lakes, rivers, oceans, usually aren't ok to drink from. So God leads us not to huge bodies of water, but to the safe water to drink, that doesn't come constantly, but he leads us to it as often as we need it. I see that with me, I don't constantly have these huge experiences that just carry me, but I look for the small springs God leads me to, and that is enough to sustain me. I know God loves us! 

I love you! Bye!!!