Familia!
It was so good to see you all on Christmas. Google+ was definitely a good idea. It was awesome to see all of the nieces and nephews and then all of our family. It just made me realize how truly blessed we are to have the family that we have. I am so glad that we have the gospel in our lives to know that we will be together for eternity, and nothing can separate us.
This week was extremely slow. We didn't proselyte Monday or Tuesday because of Christmas, and then the rest of the week was full of lessons that fell through. It is just frustrating sometimes. The last four days we had almost 15 lessons fall through. It is tough because I have come to love the Gospel so much and know how much it will help these people's lives. They tell us how hard their life is and we have the key to make it better, but then they don't take advantage of it. It's difficult, but we just keep pushing through finding the elect. I know that everyone I talk to, I talk to for a reason, and who knows if what I say will affect them today or 10 years from now. All I can do is my part and then hopefully they will listen.
Even though this week was tough with lessons that fell through, we had a pretty awesome experience. About two weeks ago we talked to this lady, Rosa, out in the street. She told us that she was a member of the church but hadn't gone to church for over two years. She asked us if we would stop by some day to bring her a Book of Mormon because she lost hers. So, about a week ago was the first time that we met with her. The first lesson we had with her was very powerful. We talked about our Savior and the things that he has done for us. Elder Hernandez and I both bore our testimonies about how he lived his entire life for us. Everything that Christ ever did was out of service for everyone who will ever come to the earth. After we talked about all of these things she started crying. She told us that she knew she needed to go back to church, she was just embarrassed and scared. She was embarrassed because she hadn't been in over two years and she thought that if she went back people would judge her, and then she was scared because she only worked on Saturdays and Sundays and knew if she lost the job she would lose her house. We talked about how really, it doesn't matter what others thing of us, it is what God thinks of us. After we did that, we committed her to talk to her boss about getting work off.
So, last Sunday Rosa talked to her boss. Her boss told her she either worked Sunday or she lost her job, so Rosa told him bye. The faith of people...It is just incredible sometimes. She is trying to support her family and help her daughter through college. She knew without this income she would lose everything, but yet she put her life in the hands of God and said do with me as you will. Yesterday was the first time that she came to Church. The whole time she was there she was so excited. She said she knew that she was supposed to come back yesterday and that everything that had been talked about was exactly what she needed. She was no longer scared for the future because she knew what was important. She knew that she was doing what was right, and by doing so, God would take care of her. Rosa has some of the most faith that I have ever seen and has truly opened my eyes to a lot of different things. Life is short, and it really doesn't matter what we have. All that matters is that every day we are coming closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As this becomes a priority in our lives, and eventually, becomes our life, we will be taken care of. God knows our needs. He knows what I, his son, need to make it through this life. I know that as I do my part in this life and change my attitude from "I want this" to "Thy will be done" not only will I become happier, but things will become easier.
It is weeks like these that I think mean the most in your mission. Sometimes baptisms come easy and we have a lot of success, but I know we learn the most through our trials. This whole week I have been thinking to myself, "Why did that lesson fall through," and "Why is nothing working out." However, I know that although those were good desires of mine to have lessons, they were personal desires. As I submit my will to God I know that it will still be tough when weeks with little success come, but I know that I will be doing what God wants me to be doing, and that is all that really matters. Trials will arise in life, but as long as we have the attitude that God's will be done instead of ours, things truly become easier.
I love this work. The Gospel truly does bring joy that can be experienced no other way. I love you all and hope everything is going well.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, December 31, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Week 18: Merry Christmas
Familia!
Christmas in Tempe is WEIRD. I keep seeing all these houses covered in Christmas lights and its 70 degrees outside. Just doesn't feel right, but hey I can't complain.
This week was a pretty good week. We had Evelia's baptism and it was a super awesome experience. We have a lot of support from the spanish ward, and they instantly accepted her into the ward. There was a lot of support at the baptism and it was just an all around awesome experience. It was kind of just a miracle baptism that just fell into our laps. She is already so converted to the gosple and is planning on leaving on a mission within a year. It is truly humbling to see how this is the Lord's work, and he is going before us finding people and preparing them.
We have also had a few lessons with an in-active member of the church. Her name is Rosa and we just ran into her while we were walking on the street. She said she has really wanting to go back to church, but she is embarrassed because she hasn't been for two years. We were able to have some really powerful lessons with her. She is really nervous because she only works on Saturday and Sunday and knows that if she loses this job she will lose her house. We testified that the Lord will not give us a commandment that he will not prepare a way to accomplish it, and yesterday she talked to her boss. I'm not sure how it went, but I should know fairly soon. I have truly been able to see how the Lord really does make a way for us to accomplish all of the commandments, especially on this mission. I have never seen his helping hand so much in my life as I have these last few months. I know that he truly will bless us as we strive to do our part to come closer unto him.
Anyway, I better get going. We are going to go play basketball with some youth from our ward. I'm stoked to talk to you all tomorrow! take care and love you all.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Christmas in Tempe is WEIRD. I keep seeing all these houses covered in Christmas lights and its 70 degrees outside. Just doesn't feel right, but hey I can't complain.
This week was a pretty good week. We had Evelia's baptism and it was a super awesome experience. We have a lot of support from the spanish ward, and they instantly accepted her into the ward. There was a lot of support at the baptism and it was just an all around awesome experience. It was kind of just a miracle baptism that just fell into our laps. She is already so converted to the gosple and is planning on leaving on a mission within a year. It is truly humbling to see how this is the Lord's work, and he is going before us finding people and preparing them.
We have also had a few lessons with an in-active member of the church. Her name is Rosa and we just ran into her while we were walking on the street. She said she has really wanting to go back to church, but she is embarrassed because she hasn't been for two years. We were able to have some really powerful lessons with her. She is really nervous because she only works on Saturday and Sunday and knows that if she loses this job she will lose her house. We testified that the Lord will not give us a commandment that he will not prepare a way to accomplish it, and yesterday she talked to her boss. I'm not sure how it went, but I should know fairly soon. I have truly been able to see how the Lord really does make a way for us to accomplish all of the commandments, especially on this mission. I have never seen his helping hand so much in my life as I have these last few months. I know that he truly will bless us as we strive to do our part to come closer unto him.
Anyway, I better get going. We are going to go play basketball with some youth from our ward. I'm stoked to talk to you all tomorrow! take care and love you all.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, December 17, 2012
Week 17: Blessings from Trials
Familia!
So, I'm not sure how I forgot to put this in my email last week.... but Elder Cook came to our mission along with the presiding Bishop and a member of the presidency of the 70..... Ya, I'm not sure how I forgot to write about that. A lot has been on my mind, so don't judge me... haha. It was an incredible experience though. I was able to get a lot of my questions answered. For example, before I came to Tempe another general authority came. Each mission has a standard of excellence, which is what missionaries goals should be in that certain area. He told us that our standard of excellence for the Tempe Arizona Mission was to baptize weekly. When I got here and heard of that I was a little surprised. I knew that there would probably be a lot of success in this area, but I didn't realize that should be our goal. I have struggled a lot to believe that I could reach this goal on my mission. One of the questions that I had going into this meeting was how I would develop the faith to baptize weekly. A lot of things came into mind throughout the entire meeting. I know that through faith miracles happen and as I have this faith to baptize weekly, the miracles will come. However throughout this entire meeting I realized that having the faith to baptize weekly doesn't necessarily mean that it will happen. In missionary work there are two parts, the missionary who teaches, and the person who accepts or rejects the message we bring. No matter how much faith I have, no matter how hard I work, people will always have their agency. Agency is something that our Heavenly Father will never take away from us. Throughout this meeting I learned that I just need to do my part every day as a missionary, to really strive to fulfill my purpose, and as weeks come and go that people are not baptized to not get discouraged. As long as I am doing my part on my mission, that is all that is asked. All in all it was just an amazing meeting. I am more thankful for the mission every day.
So this week has been a little rough. We have been working on getting Nichole to baptism. We have taught her nearly every lesson and she has told us that she knows it is true. She wants to be baptized, there is just one problem. She can't quit smoking. I know trails take time to overcome and this isn't just one that can happen over night (usually) but I we have been trying to help her overcome this addiction. She hasn't been to church yet, and we have kind of gotten the vibe that she is just scared to walk over there alone. We took her to a baptism for someone else on Saturday and then after told her that we would meet her at her door to walk over to church together. So Saturday night comes around and we go to bed. All throughout the night I couldn't sleep. I ended up getting a really bad cold and couldn't really breathe. As the alarm went off Sunday morning at 6:30 I didn't want to get out of bed at all. I had hardly slept and I felt terrible. However, I knew that if Nichole was to go to church I had to as well. So I got ready, we show up at her house, and she didn't answer.... it was very frustrating. I could have been resting in bed, but instead I decided to go so we could help her out. So since we were there, we went to church anyway. We stayed throughout all of our English ward and then at the beginning of our Spanish Church I told Elder Hernandez that we should probably go home after sacrament meeting if none of our Investigators showed up. Well, none did, but a little miracle happened. One of the members brought her sister, who was a non member. She had taken the lessons before and she wanted to be baptized years ago, but her mom told her she couldn't until she turned 18. Well, she is 18 now and her sister came to us and told us she wanted to be baptized. It was a little confusing at first because I had seen this girl in church a couple times before, and so I figured she was a member. We ended up having a lesson with her right then. She told us that she wanted to be baptized as soon as she could because she wanted to leave on a mission next January...WHAT? haha ya she was prepared. So, we extended a date for her to be baptized this Saturday the 22nd. She was very excited and accepted. I know that if I wouldn't have gotten out of bed yesterday morning because I didn't feel good, we would have never had this lesson with this girl and put her on date. I knew that there was a reason that we should stay to church, and because we did we had this lesson that otherwise we wouldn't have had. God is incharge of missionary work. As we listen to him he will guide us. He will place those who are prepared in our way, so that we can find them and do our part as missionaries. I know that this is the Lord's work. I know that he is the head of our church today, and I know that there is a specific plan for each and every one of us.
Take care fam, I look forward to speaking with you soon over skype. Love you all
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
So, I'm not sure how I forgot to put this in my email last week.... but Elder Cook came to our mission along with the presiding Bishop and a member of the presidency of the 70..... Ya, I'm not sure how I forgot to write about that. A lot has been on my mind, so don't judge me... haha. It was an incredible experience though. I was able to get a lot of my questions answered. For example, before I came to Tempe another general authority came. Each mission has a standard of excellence, which is what missionaries goals should be in that certain area. He told us that our standard of excellence for the Tempe Arizona Mission was to baptize weekly. When I got here and heard of that I was a little surprised. I knew that there would probably be a lot of success in this area, but I didn't realize that should be our goal. I have struggled a lot to believe that I could reach this goal on my mission. One of the questions that I had going into this meeting was how I would develop the faith to baptize weekly. A lot of things came into mind throughout the entire meeting. I know that through faith miracles happen and as I have this faith to baptize weekly, the miracles will come. However throughout this entire meeting I realized that having the faith to baptize weekly doesn't necessarily mean that it will happen. In missionary work there are two parts, the missionary who teaches, and the person who accepts or rejects the message we bring. No matter how much faith I have, no matter how hard I work, people will always have their agency. Agency is something that our Heavenly Father will never take away from us. Throughout this meeting I learned that I just need to do my part every day as a missionary, to really strive to fulfill my purpose, and as weeks come and go that people are not baptized to not get discouraged. As long as I am doing my part on my mission, that is all that is asked. All in all it was just an amazing meeting. I am more thankful for the mission every day.
So this week has been a little rough. We have been working on getting Nichole to baptism. We have taught her nearly every lesson and she has told us that she knows it is true. She wants to be baptized, there is just one problem. She can't quit smoking. I know trails take time to overcome and this isn't just one that can happen over night (usually) but I we have been trying to help her overcome this addiction. She hasn't been to church yet, and we have kind of gotten the vibe that she is just scared to walk over there alone. We took her to a baptism for someone else on Saturday and then after told her that we would meet her at her door to walk over to church together. So Saturday night comes around and we go to bed. All throughout the night I couldn't sleep. I ended up getting a really bad cold and couldn't really breathe. As the alarm went off Sunday morning at 6:30 I didn't want to get out of bed at all. I had hardly slept and I felt terrible. However, I knew that if Nichole was to go to church I had to as well. So I got ready, we show up at her house, and she didn't answer.... it was very frustrating. I could have been resting in bed, but instead I decided to go so we could help her out. So since we were there, we went to church anyway. We stayed throughout all of our English ward and then at the beginning of our Spanish Church I told Elder Hernandez that we should probably go home after sacrament meeting if none of our Investigators showed up. Well, none did, but a little miracle happened. One of the members brought her sister, who was a non member. She had taken the lessons before and she wanted to be baptized years ago, but her mom told her she couldn't until she turned 18. Well, she is 18 now and her sister came to us and told us she wanted to be baptized. It was a little confusing at first because I had seen this girl in church a couple times before, and so I figured she was a member. We ended up having a lesson with her right then. She told us that she wanted to be baptized as soon as she could because she wanted to leave on a mission next January...WHAT? haha ya she was prepared. So, we extended a date for her to be baptized this Saturday the 22nd. She was very excited and accepted. I know that if I wouldn't have gotten out of bed yesterday morning because I didn't feel good, we would have never had this lesson with this girl and put her on date. I knew that there was a reason that we should stay to church, and because we did we had this lesson that otherwise we wouldn't have had. God is incharge of missionary work. As we listen to him he will guide us. He will place those who are prepared in our way, so that we can find them and do our part as missionaries. I know that this is the Lord's work. I know that he is the head of our church today, and I know that there is a specific plan for each and every one of us.
Take care fam, I look forward to speaking with you soon over skype. Love you all
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, December 10, 2012
Week 16: Miracles Happen
Familia!
This week has been pretty good. Tuesday we did my first splits. Elder Hernandez is district leader and so we are going to be doing a lot of them this transfer. Usually new missionaries can't drive until they are two transfers in, but since we live with the Assistants I got hook ups. You have to get a TIWI card....they are super lame. We have a box in our car and every time you drive you have to swipe your TIWI card so it can report if you are being a bad driver or not to Salt Lake. I thought the purpose of this life was to make our own choices.... man....haha. No, but either way I'm super happy to be driving again. We have a 2012 Malibu, its pretty sweet. I'm guessing that Cory, Darin, and Brad probably all had the same car on their mission.
Anyway back to the splits. So I was with an English missionary, and all we had set up that day were Spanish lessons. I was a little nervous, but they ended up going pretty well. We found a solid new investigator and so hopefully all goes well with her. It was actually pretty cool to see how much Spanish I have learned. It was nice to have the pressure all on me so I was forced to teach all of the principles. Usually when I don't know how to say certain words or things like that I can turn to Elder Hernandez for help, but this time I had to figure out different ways to explain it if I wasn't sure how to say something. It helped me out a ton and so I am excited to go on more splits.
We have still been working with the members hoping to get more help from them. We have presented the Family Mission Plan that we came up with the several families and we are going to continue to do so. This morning we saw a little bit of success from our efforts. One of the ladies in our Spanish ward set up a lesson for us with one of her friends. It went really well and she seems really open to the gospel. We are hoping that we have tons of experiences like these. The lord has prepared so many people that the members know and as they become more missionary minded the work will progress so much faster.
We have been teaching a family, Shannon and Marshall, the entire time that I have been on my mission. They have had a really rough life. They want to be baptized, but Shannon is still married. They were in a little bit of a rough situation because her "husband" was dying, and so they didn't want to file a divorce to put more on his plate. However, now he has been getting better, so they finally filed the divorce. Before we got to this area, other missionaries had taught them all of the lessons. They had been taught about tithing, and had committed to live it. About a month and a half ago on one of our first lessons with them Shannon lost it. She said, "We have been paying our tithing, we have been going to church, I even quit drinking my coffee. We have been promised so many blessings if we do these things and nothing has come our way. We don't even have enough money to make it by this month." She continued to say that she was done with all of it and she was tired of all the efforts she had to put forth and never getting any blessings in return. As she said these things I felt like I should tell her that the blessings would come. If they kept doing these things for just a little bit longer, so many blessings would come that they wouldn't have enough room to receive it. I was a little sceptical of promising her this, because I didn't know if it was just a promise from me, or if God really wanted me to say this and promise this to them. I continued to feel as if I should say this and so I did. We were able to get her calmed down again and they said that they would continue living the commandments for a little longer. Well, the blessings came. Last night we had a lesson with them. This week Shannon got a new job that pays her better and has better hours. Also, they were looking through their mail and there was an anonymous card with a $600 gift card to target. Plus to add to it, one of the members got all the sizes of their kids and is buying them all clothes. God truly does recognize when we put forth our effort to live the commandments and he will bless us. Marshall is one of the most humble respectable people I know. He has never doubted the things that we have taught him and he has always had faith in God. He works a rough schedule (sometimes up to 97 hours in a week) but yet he is the first one to volunteer for service. He is always the first one to introduce himself to an investigator that we bring to church and he is just an all around good man. God recognizes these things and he blesses people that are trying their hardest. He knows our desires and he knows our needs. As long as we are doing our part we will never have burdens that are more than we can handle. That is what is so great about this life. We have trails to push us, we have trials to help us grow. However, it is a promise from God that as long as we are living as he would like us, these trials will never be more than we can handle. If we live as we should it is a promise that God will always be helping us. This knowledge brings me so much comfort. I know that I will have trials in the life, and I know some of them may be super difficult. However, if I continue to live the commandments like Marshall and Shannon did, the necessary help will come. I love this gospel and the opportunity that I have to share it. It truly does bless the lives of all who live it.
I love you all, Take care.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
This week has been pretty good. Tuesday we did my first splits. Elder Hernandez is district leader and so we are going to be doing a lot of them this transfer. Usually new missionaries can't drive until they are two transfers in, but since we live with the Assistants I got hook ups. You have to get a TIWI card....they are super lame. We have a box in our car and every time you drive you have to swipe your TIWI card so it can report if you are being a bad driver or not to Salt Lake. I thought the purpose of this life was to make our own choices.... man....haha. No, but either way I'm super happy to be driving again. We have a 2012 Malibu, its pretty sweet. I'm guessing that Cory, Darin, and Brad probably all had the same car on their mission.
Anyway back to the splits. So I was with an English missionary, and all we had set up that day were Spanish lessons. I was a little nervous, but they ended up going pretty well. We found a solid new investigator and so hopefully all goes well with her. It was actually pretty cool to see how much Spanish I have learned. It was nice to have the pressure all on me so I was forced to teach all of the principles. Usually when I don't know how to say certain words or things like that I can turn to Elder Hernandez for help, but this time I had to figure out different ways to explain it if I wasn't sure how to say something. It helped me out a ton and so I am excited to go on more splits.
We have still been working with the members hoping to get more help from them. We have presented the Family Mission Plan that we came up with the several families and we are going to continue to do so. This morning we saw a little bit of success from our efforts. One of the ladies in our Spanish ward set up a lesson for us with one of her friends. It went really well and she seems really open to the gospel. We are hoping that we have tons of experiences like these. The lord has prepared so many people that the members know and as they become more missionary minded the work will progress so much faster.
We have been teaching a family, Shannon and Marshall, the entire time that I have been on my mission. They have had a really rough life. They want to be baptized, but Shannon is still married. They were in a little bit of a rough situation because her "husband" was dying, and so they didn't want to file a divorce to put more on his plate. However, now he has been getting better, so they finally filed the divorce. Before we got to this area, other missionaries had taught them all of the lessons. They had been taught about tithing, and had committed to live it. About a month and a half ago on one of our first lessons with them Shannon lost it. She said, "We have been paying our tithing, we have been going to church, I even quit drinking my coffee. We have been promised so many blessings if we do these things and nothing has come our way. We don't even have enough money to make it by this month." She continued to say that she was done with all of it and she was tired of all the efforts she had to put forth and never getting any blessings in return. As she said these things I felt like I should tell her that the blessings would come. If they kept doing these things for just a little bit longer, so many blessings would come that they wouldn't have enough room to receive it. I was a little sceptical of promising her this, because I didn't know if it was just a promise from me, or if God really wanted me to say this and promise this to them. I continued to feel as if I should say this and so I did. We were able to get her calmed down again and they said that they would continue living the commandments for a little longer. Well, the blessings came. Last night we had a lesson with them. This week Shannon got a new job that pays her better and has better hours. Also, they were looking through their mail and there was an anonymous card with a $600 gift card to target. Plus to add to it, one of the members got all the sizes of their kids and is buying them all clothes. God truly does recognize when we put forth our effort to live the commandments and he will bless us. Marshall is one of the most humble respectable people I know. He has never doubted the things that we have taught him and he has always had faith in God. He works a rough schedule (sometimes up to 97 hours in a week) but yet he is the first one to volunteer for service. He is always the first one to introduce himself to an investigator that we bring to church and he is just an all around good man. God recognizes these things and he blesses people that are trying their hardest. He knows our desires and he knows our needs. As long as we are doing our part we will never have burdens that are more than we can handle. That is what is so great about this life. We have trails to push us, we have trials to help us grow. However, it is a promise from God that as long as we are living as he would like us, these trials will never be more than we can handle. If we live as we should it is a promise that God will always be helping us. This knowledge brings me so much comfort. I know that I will have trials in the life, and I know some of them may be super difficult. However, if I continue to live the commandments like Marshall and Shannon did, the necessary help will come. I love this gospel and the opportunity that I have to share it. It truly does bless the lives of all who live it.
I love you all, Take care.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, December 3, 2012
Week 15: Tempe Life
Familia!
That's so awesome that Brad got in, I like the idea of Florida....I wouldn't mind another Florida Christmas when I get back. Where ever they go though will be awesome for sure. That's way exciting news.
So this week has been a little lame, probably one of the harder weeks so far on the mission. Its tough to see people reject the blessings that the gospel has to offer. We are teaching this Spanish family who was really interested in what we were teaching, and then all of a sudden they just decided that they didn't want to change a few things. They said that "They were comfortable with what they had and didn't want anymore." Its tough because I know how much God really can help us. He promises us with the things we need as we decide to live the commandments. Every time we go over to visit them they say how tough life is and they wish that there was an easier way. The Gospel is the easier way of life, and it is hard when no matter what you do, no matter how you explain it, they deny it. Trinny (The Mother) had a daughter that was killed. It pains her to even think about, as I'm sure it would for me as well. We taught her that she could live with her daughter again, she could see her daughter again. She just kept saying no over and over again. The Gospel brings hope of more, and with this hope it turns to knowledge of more. I know that she will see her daughter again, just right now she has no desire to learn about it. Right now they are "comfortable" and don't know the joys that the gospel brings. It is sad, and I know that my mission will be full of many more experiences like this. Its crazy how attached you get to these people. You want to help them so much, and you know how you can help them. It is just all up to them and how they use their agency. You know they can be blessed so much more, but when they chose to stay in their "comfortable" ways and deny the blessings of God, it is hard. Along with that, this week we had several more appointments fall through. Its all good though because I know everything happens for a reason. When appointments fall through we try to look for people in the area to teach, because God has prepared people, we just need to find them.
In the State wide Stake Conference Arizona had a couple of weeks ago Elder Holland really stressed the importance of missionary work with the members. He said that the time of knocking doors and finding success is over. There is a better way, and the way to do missionary work is with the members. I know this to be true. All of the solid investigators that we have are from the members. They already have a friendship, a bond with members from the church, and when someone that they care about bears testimony of things they know to be true it has so much more power. Since our area hasn't really done much the past couple weeks since we have been here, Elder Hernandez and I decided to change things up. We came up with a Family Mission Plan and are going to introduce it to all of the members in our ward. Hopefully by doing this, the work picks up. I know that there are people here that are ready to accept the gospel, to accept the blessings it brings, and if members are helping us find them, it will go so much better.
On a plus side to this week, I finished the Book of Mormon again. It never ceases to surprise me how no matter how many times you read it, if you take Moroni's challenge at the end (To read it, ponder it, and pray about it) no matter what you will be able to feel the spirit testifying of the truthfulness. I think when I was in high school I didn't really realize the full power that the Book of Mormon had. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon is the most true book on the earth, and by and through it a man can come closer to God than through any other book. When we have questions, when we desire to feel the spirit, if we read the Book of Mormon we are guaranteed to find our answers and to feel of the spirit. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I know that a man truly can come closer to God through it because I have seen the power that it has had in my life. The Book of Mormon has literally made me the person I am today. I have seen miracles as people have read it and the changes that they have made in their life because of it. I know that the messages inside are true, and that it truly is the Word of God.
I hope all is well at home, I love hearing from you all. Take Care and hopefully the cold isn't treating you too bad.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
That's so awesome that Brad got in, I like the idea of Florida....I wouldn't mind another Florida Christmas when I get back. Where ever they go though will be awesome for sure. That's way exciting news.
So this week has been a little lame, probably one of the harder weeks so far on the mission. Its tough to see people reject the blessings that the gospel has to offer. We are teaching this Spanish family who was really interested in what we were teaching, and then all of a sudden they just decided that they didn't want to change a few things. They said that "They were comfortable with what they had and didn't want anymore." Its tough because I know how much God really can help us. He promises us with the things we need as we decide to live the commandments. Every time we go over to visit them they say how tough life is and they wish that there was an easier way. The Gospel is the easier way of life, and it is hard when no matter what you do, no matter how you explain it, they deny it. Trinny (The Mother) had a daughter that was killed. It pains her to even think about, as I'm sure it would for me as well. We taught her that she could live with her daughter again, she could see her daughter again. She just kept saying no over and over again. The Gospel brings hope of more, and with this hope it turns to knowledge of more. I know that she will see her daughter again, just right now she has no desire to learn about it. Right now they are "comfortable" and don't know the joys that the gospel brings. It is sad, and I know that my mission will be full of many more experiences like this. Its crazy how attached you get to these people. You want to help them so much, and you know how you can help them. It is just all up to them and how they use their agency. You know they can be blessed so much more, but when they chose to stay in their "comfortable" ways and deny the blessings of God, it is hard. Along with that, this week we had several more appointments fall through. Its all good though because I know everything happens for a reason. When appointments fall through we try to look for people in the area to teach, because God has prepared people, we just need to find them.
In the State wide Stake Conference Arizona had a couple of weeks ago Elder Holland really stressed the importance of missionary work with the members. He said that the time of knocking doors and finding success is over. There is a better way, and the way to do missionary work is with the members. I know this to be true. All of the solid investigators that we have are from the members. They already have a friendship, a bond with members from the church, and when someone that they care about bears testimony of things they know to be true it has so much more power. Since our area hasn't really done much the past couple weeks since we have been here, Elder Hernandez and I decided to change things up. We came up with a Family Mission Plan and are going to introduce it to all of the members in our ward. Hopefully by doing this, the work picks up. I know that there are people here that are ready to accept the gospel, to accept the blessings it brings, and if members are helping us find them, it will go so much better.
On a plus side to this week, I finished the Book of Mormon again. It never ceases to surprise me how no matter how many times you read it, if you take Moroni's challenge at the end (To read it, ponder it, and pray about it) no matter what you will be able to feel the spirit testifying of the truthfulness. I think when I was in high school I didn't really realize the full power that the Book of Mormon had. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon is the most true book on the earth, and by and through it a man can come closer to God than through any other book. When we have questions, when we desire to feel the spirit, if we read the Book of Mormon we are guaranteed to find our answers and to feel of the spirit. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I know that a man truly can come closer to God through it because I have seen the power that it has had in my life. The Book of Mormon has literally made me the person I am today. I have seen miracles as people have read it and the changes that they have made in their life because of it. I know that the messages inside are true, and that it truly is the Word of God.
I hope all is well at home, I love hearing from you all. Take Care and hopefully the cold isn't treating you too bad.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, November 26, 2012
Week 14: I got hit by a truck
Familia!
So we got the calls last night for transfers, Elder Hernandez and I are staying in Tempe for another Transfer, except this transfer he is District Leader.
It was a pretty crazy week, Thanksgiving really wasn't all too bad on the food side. Our first dinner cancelled, so we pretty much just had one main one and then one at night. The whole zone went to eat at the Matheson home, it was awesome. I did pretty well on limiting myself on the food to save up room for the next meal, but when the desert came out I lost it... There was just so much, and it all looked so good. haha. I'm pretty sure I gained like 5 lbs....but its all good I have a long time to work it off.
Friday morning I got hit by a truck.... hahah it was AWESOME! So every morning Elder Hernandez and I go for a run to the gym, workout, and then run back. Friday on the way to the gym out of nowhere I just trip and eat it, I think it was the Turkey from the day before. So after I tripped I felt pretty retarded because I know I'm not that uncoordinated, but nonetheless we just went on with our workout. On the way home we were running south (back to our home) and the light for the road running east and west turned red, meaning that we could cross. So, being pretty close to home I was pushing it pretty hard (I had to run off those pounds from the day before) and I stepped out into the road. Out of the corner of my eye I see a silver truck coming right for me. He was turning right and was going to do one of those slow down/run a red light to turn right moves. As I saw him coming for me I planted my hand on the hood of his truck, jumped, slid/rolled across the hood (meanwhile yelling "Get off me truck!") landed on my feet, and just kept running home like nothing happened. I'm sure there is a scene somewhere in the Mission Impossible movies that if fairly similar. Elder Hernandez was behind me and the guy slammed on his brakes and he said the guy was freaking out. He said the guy just looked like he was in shock. I'm sure he thought he thought he almost killed me, but we just kept running like nothing happened. As we turned into our apartment complex quite a ways away, the guy was still sitting there in his truck. He was pretty scared I guess...haha. Either way though it was awesome. I had just jumped over a truck pretty much.... I had so much adrenaline haha. I told elder Hernandez we might as well put it to good use and keep running, but he wouldn't let us because he was tired. I said, "Man, I just got hit by a truck and you're the one tired? come on..." I took pity on him and we just went in the house haha. So ya, I think jumping and sliding across the hood of a moving truck, landing on your feet, and keeping running made up for my trip on the way to the school. I didn't feel like so much of a retard after doing all of that. When we got back to the apartment Elder Hernandez said, "Man, you're mom is going to hate me. She is going to think that I am causing all of this trouble with you." Don't worry mom, he is probably the one keeping me alive. Plus the Lord is protecting me as well. He just knows I want some good stories for my kids, so He is letting me have them. The next day my hip was pretty sore, but all in all it was worth it. I would have a sore hip for that story any day.
Church was also pretty interesting yesterday. Last week we met this man named John. He ran up to us one night and asked if we could give him a blessing. He said that there were spirits from his Island that had followed him and he wanted them gone. So we decided what the heck, we can bless his home for him. We go in the home and the place is covered in bugs. I probably saw at least 100 in the two minutes we were there. I don't think that he felt spirits in his home, I just think bugs were crawling all over him... Anyway, he came to church yesterday. We figured he was a little different, but yesterday confirmed it. In Priesthood class we were talking about becoming converted to Christ and the things that we can do to become more converted. Throughout the class he said these things "It's like a cowboy! Pshue! Pshue!" "Its like a store. If you have a good store and it looks nice you can sell a lot of fruit. Life is short." "I can fly. Not by a plane, but myself. I fly myself. It's like a marble." "My sister has a fan, its like one of the Japanese ones. If you fan yourself with it there is food, food you can eat. If you are in the desert and use the fan you can eat the food that comes. Next
week when the angels come down I will get one for you." and then to end it all the teacher asked what we learned about how we could become more converted for ourselves and he raised his hand and said, "We are on our own, I am going to Mechanic School." It was an interesting day..... haha this week was full of interesting experiences.
As for the missionary work though I really feel as if it is picking up, especially on the Spanish side. This week we had 6 investigators come to church for Spanish and 1 for English. The 6 in Spanish are pretty solid. They all have a desire to learn and change and I really hope that Elder Hernandez and I can do our part to help them do this. One of the family's specifically has a lot of potential. We had two lessons with them prior to this week and they still weren't real sure if they wanted to go to church, read the scriptures, or pray. Our last lesson with them they just kept complaining about how their life was so hard and they didn't understand why. Elder Hernandez and I were able to teach a pretty bold lesson with them that pretty much changed their whole outlook. We said look, life is hard, and we are promised divine help if we do our part. You can't expect God to take time to help you if you don't take time to do your part. God knows what we need before we ask, but he expects us to do our part and ask. We promised them blessings if they would start living the life that they knew they should. We promised them that if they read the scriptures, came to church, and prayed things really would get easier. It has been awesome to see them change over the last couple days. As they have done these things there has been a visible change in the entire family. You can tell they are happier, you can tell that things are going easier for them. That is something that I have really grown a testimony about while being on the mission. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talks about how If we seek the Kingdom of God first, all things that we need will be given unto us. As I have been able to teach people who are struggling in life, and as they have changed their life around to first seek the Kingdom of God, it is incredible how visible the change is. God really will help us when we do our part. The mission is probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but I have also received more help than I have ever had in my life. As I have tried to make the Gospel my life, God has blessed me with so much more than I ever thought possible. I love this work, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to do it. It is awesome to see all of my friends getting calls to serve. It will honestly be one of the biggest blessings in their lives. I can't even begin to explain how it has blessed me so far.
I hope all is well at home, I love you all. Take care.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, November 19, 2012
Week 13: Baptism!
Familia!
This week was a pretty awesome week. We were able to get a lot of things accomplished. We haven't really had too many Spanish lessons since I have been here, but this week we definitely stepped it up. I can't remember the exact number of lessons we had in Spanish, but I'm pretty sure that it was around 10. It is still hard to teach in Spanish because I can't express myself like I want to, but I know its coming along. Each day I get better at it, so I guess that is a plus. Its still pretty frustrating, but I guess I just need to be more patient.
Frank's baptism was AWESOME. Definitely an experience that I will always remember. Throughout the whole thing I just kept thinking about the scripture that talks about how great your joy will be if you bring only one person into the Kingdom of God, and my joy was definitely full. It is awesome to see how the Gospel really can change lives. Frank went from someone who wasn't happy and always questioning why he was here and what he was doing, to a person who has a plan. A person who knows why he is here and the things he needs to do in this life. It was awesome to see his life change and the joy that he experienced as he was able to come closer to Christ. I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of that. Every day I am so thankful to be on this mission to help Gods children, my brothers and sisters.
Yesterday Frank asked me if I would confirm him a member of the church and give him the blessing to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was definitely a very spiritual experience. The Holy Ghost has been such a huge blessing in my life. I think that when I was younger I didn't realize what a blessing that it really was. As I have been out here on this mission I have seen how hard this life can be. I have seen people who struggle and who have no hope. The Holy Ghost is there to solve that, and there aren't too many gifts that we receive that are better that this. Now Frank has the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, a constant guide in this life. Through those tough times that come up in life, Frank will have a helping hand to guide him through and a comforter when life gets hard. It was a privilege to use the power of the priesthood that I have been given and help him receive such an awesome gift.
Also this week I don't think I have ever ran into so many crazies before. Man, the ghetto is full of them. A couple days ago Elder Hernandez and I were street contacting a bunch of people. A few of them said they didn't even want to hear us talk and so we just left them with some invitations to the Mesa Temple lights. One of the guys that was there said, "Hey guys, I would like to learn a little more about your religion. I have always been interested in what the Mormons believe." So he had us follow him to another area to teach him. We started to talk about the restoration and a few of the things that we believed. Not sure how, but somehow he changed the subject to the constitution and a bunch of other things. He told us for the past 13 years of his life he has been reading the constitution and studying about our government. He read us off a list of 8 people that needed to die to get rid of the "beast" that now lives in our country. I don't remember the names, but I'm worried for them haha. This guy was a creep, and the ghetto that is in our area is full of people just like him. It provides for some pretty good entertainment.
Usually our preparation day is on Mondays, but today we just get time to email and shop, then it is back to proselyting. However, Thursday we get all day off for Thanksgiving. We already have three dinners planned............ I have three main goals on this mission. #1 Help others to come unto Christ #2 Strengthen my testimony and become more converted to Christ #3 Don't get fat. So far I have been doing pretty good on all of them I think, but Thanksgiving is going to be tough to keep #3. We are pretty much eating all day, so wish me luck..... Hopefully it all goes to pure muscle.... haha
Anyway all is well here, I'm loving it. I miss you all and take care,
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
This week was a pretty awesome week. We were able to get a lot of things accomplished. We haven't really had too many Spanish lessons since I have been here, but this week we definitely stepped it up. I can't remember the exact number of lessons we had in Spanish, but I'm pretty sure that it was around 10. It is still hard to teach in Spanish because I can't express myself like I want to, but I know its coming along. Each day I get better at it, so I guess that is a plus. Its still pretty frustrating, but I guess I just need to be more patient.
Frank's baptism was AWESOME. Definitely an experience that I will always remember. Throughout the whole thing I just kept thinking about the scripture that talks about how great your joy will be if you bring only one person into the Kingdom of God, and my joy was definitely full. It is awesome to see how the Gospel really can change lives. Frank went from someone who wasn't happy and always questioning why he was here and what he was doing, to a person who has a plan. A person who knows why he is here and the things he needs to do in this life. It was awesome to see his life change and the joy that he experienced as he was able to come closer to Christ. I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of that. Every day I am so thankful to be on this mission to help Gods children, my brothers and sisters.
Yesterday Frank asked me if I would confirm him a member of the church and give him the blessing to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was definitely a very spiritual experience. The Holy Ghost has been such a huge blessing in my life. I think that when I was younger I didn't realize what a blessing that it really was. As I have been out here on this mission I have seen how hard this life can be. I have seen people who struggle and who have no hope. The Holy Ghost is there to solve that, and there aren't too many gifts that we receive that are better that this. Now Frank has the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, a constant guide in this life. Through those tough times that come up in life, Frank will have a helping hand to guide him through and a comforter when life gets hard. It was a privilege to use the power of the priesthood that I have been given and help him receive such an awesome gift.
Also this week I don't think I have ever ran into so many crazies before. Man, the ghetto is full of them. A couple days ago Elder Hernandez and I were street contacting a bunch of people. A few of them said they didn't even want to hear us talk and so we just left them with some invitations to the Mesa Temple lights. One of the guys that was there said, "Hey guys, I would like to learn a little more about your religion. I have always been interested in what the Mormons believe." So he had us follow him to another area to teach him. We started to talk about the restoration and a few of the things that we believed. Not sure how, but somehow he changed the subject to the constitution and a bunch of other things. He told us for the past 13 years of his life he has been reading the constitution and studying about our government. He read us off a list of 8 people that needed to die to get rid of the "beast" that now lives in our country. I don't remember the names, but I'm worried for them haha. This guy was a creep, and the ghetto that is in our area is full of people just like him. It provides for some pretty good entertainment.
Usually our preparation day is on Mondays, but today we just get time to email and shop, then it is back to proselyting. However, Thursday we get all day off for Thanksgiving. We already have three dinners planned............ I have three main goals on this mission. #1 Help others to come unto Christ #2 Strengthen my testimony and become more converted to Christ #3 Don't get fat. So far I have been doing pretty good on all of them I think, but Thanksgiving is going to be tough to keep #3. We are pretty much eating all day, so wish me luck..... Hopefully it all goes to pure muscle.... haha
Anyway all is well here, I'm loving it. I miss you all and take care,
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Week 12: Arizona gets cold too
Familia!
Sorry, I'm not going to have a ton of time to write this week. Since it was Veterans day yesterday the library is closed, so a member let us into the church to use the family history center computers. He has to stay the whole time we are here and he has to go in a few so we have to be quick.
So....Arizona gets pretty chilly too. Kinda lame. I was looking forward to 70 degree winters, but I'm not sure that will be happening. I also think the mission has turned me a little weird. I used to hate the heat and love the cold, but now I am starting to switch. It was 60 the other day and I was freezing....hopefully I get back to normal soon because 60 would have been perfect at home.
So this week I learned a pretty important lesson. Never let a guy who is high, smoking, and drinking oil up your companions bike chain. So earlier in the week Elder Hernandez and I were biking around one of our areas. All of a sudden I hear this man screaming for us to stop, so I starting thinking, "Awesome, I'm going to have one of those sweet experiences where this guy yells at us to stop because he wants to change his life around and he will be baptized in two weeks." but it was a little different.... We walked over there and he looked at Elder Hernandez and said, "Man, your bike is in awful condition, let me lube up your chain for you." So we thought why not, we had a few extra minutes and he was going to do it for free. We started talking to the man and then a few of his friends came that were pretty interested in the church. We started talking to his friends a little about the church and some of our beliefs. It had been about 20 minutes since the guy started to oil the bike chain, so we turned around to go see how it went and the bike was in pieces haha. He had taken nearly the whole front of the bike apart and said that he was going to fix it up all the way for him.... so instead of a quick 2 minute chain oil, we had an hour and a half stop trying to help this drunk, high man figure out how to put the bike back together.... it was quite the experience, but hey, now I know.
Last Tuesday we went on splits with our English ward. We have been visiting a girl named Nichole, and she has been very interested in the church. Tuesday we had a lesson set up with Nichole, so I went with Brother Wong, one of the members. We had a pretty good lesson about the plan of salvation and how there are certain things that we need to do while on the earth so that we can live with God again. I challenged her to be baptized on the 24th of this month and she excepted. I was pretty stoked. Bad deal is she got sick this weekend and couldn't come to church so we are going to have to push her date back another week so she can come to church twice. Either way it was pretty sweet. It was my first time pretty much doing a lesson solo and having it go so well.
We have tried to work a lot with Michelle this week, but nothing has been working out. She wants to be baptized so bad, but there are a few things in the way. She told us she was an alcoholic, but in the previous weeks she hadn't had any problems with it. This week we went over for one of our lessons and she was completely drunk. She started bawling and told us she wasn't a bad person she just fell short sometimes. We assured her that she was a good person and that we all have trials to overcome. We told her we would come back the next day. So the next we go back and she is drunk again....turns out she is a bigger alcoholic than we thought. It is sad because her family knows that she wants to quit, yet they provide her with the beer. We talked to her boyfriend that showed up to do some work around the house and he said he didn't drink. We asked if we could throw away all of the alcohol in the house and he said yes, so we did. Hopefully next time we go by she is sober so we can figure out a plan to help her out. I know that if she wants God will provide a way for her to overcome this challenge, but the key is first she must have the desire to help herself.
Frank's baptism is this week, I am pretty stoked for it. I will have to let you know how it went next week when I have more time.
As for the work, it gets pretty frustrating sometimes. We have had so many appointments fall through. Yesterday was stake conference and it was a broadcast from Salt Lake for all of Arizona. Elder Holland talked about all of the temples and how the missionary work is going to increase so much. The Tempe mission limit for missionaries was at 190, but now they bumped it up to 250. The work is going to explode here and I am stoked for it, I just can't wait until it does. Elder Holland talked about how the best way for missionary work to progress is through the members. It is so true. I hope that members listen so that this work will take off like it can.
Anyway, everyone is leaving, so I better go.
Love you all,
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Sorry, I'm not going to have a ton of time to write this week. Since it was Veterans day yesterday the library is closed, so a member let us into the church to use the family history center computers. He has to stay the whole time we are here and he has to go in a few so we have to be quick.
So....Arizona gets pretty chilly too. Kinda lame. I was looking forward to 70 degree winters, but I'm not sure that will be happening. I also think the mission has turned me a little weird. I used to hate the heat and love the cold, but now I am starting to switch. It was 60 the other day and I was freezing....hopefully I get back to normal soon because 60 would have been perfect at home.
So this week I learned a pretty important lesson. Never let a guy who is high, smoking, and drinking oil up your companions bike chain. So earlier in the week Elder Hernandez and I were biking around one of our areas. All of a sudden I hear this man screaming for us to stop, so I starting thinking, "Awesome, I'm going to have one of those sweet experiences where this guy yells at us to stop because he wants to change his life around and he will be baptized in two weeks." but it was a little different.... We walked over there and he looked at Elder Hernandez and said, "Man, your bike is in awful condition, let me lube up your chain for you." So we thought why not, we had a few extra minutes and he was going to do it for free. We started talking to the man and then a few of his friends came that were pretty interested in the church. We started talking to his friends a little about the church and some of our beliefs. It had been about 20 minutes since the guy started to oil the bike chain, so we turned around to go see how it went and the bike was in pieces haha. He had taken nearly the whole front of the bike apart and said that he was going to fix it up all the way for him.... so instead of a quick 2 minute chain oil, we had an hour and a half stop trying to help this drunk, high man figure out how to put the bike back together.... it was quite the experience, but hey, now I know.
Last Tuesday we went on splits with our English ward. We have been visiting a girl named Nichole, and she has been very interested in the church. Tuesday we had a lesson set up with Nichole, so I went with Brother Wong, one of the members. We had a pretty good lesson about the plan of salvation and how there are certain things that we need to do while on the earth so that we can live with God again. I challenged her to be baptized on the 24th of this month and she excepted. I was pretty stoked. Bad deal is she got sick this weekend and couldn't come to church so we are going to have to push her date back another week so she can come to church twice. Either way it was pretty sweet. It was my first time pretty much doing a lesson solo and having it go so well.
We have tried to work a lot with Michelle this week, but nothing has been working out. She wants to be baptized so bad, but there are a few things in the way. She told us she was an alcoholic, but in the previous weeks she hadn't had any problems with it. This week we went over for one of our lessons and she was completely drunk. She started bawling and told us she wasn't a bad person she just fell short sometimes. We assured her that she was a good person and that we all have trials to overcome. We told her we would come back the next day. So the next we go back and she is drunk again....turns out she is a bigger alcoholic than we thought. It is sad because her family knows that she wants to quit, yet they provide her with the beer. We talked to her boyfriend that showed up to do some work around the house and he said he didn't drink. We asked if we could throw away all of the alcohol in the house and he said yes, so we did. Hopefully next time we go by she is sober so we can figure out a plan to help her out. I know that if she wants God will provide a way for her to overcome this challenge, but the key is first she must have the desire to help herself.
Frank's baptism is this week, I am pretty stoked for it. I will have to let you know how it went next week when I have more time.
As for the work, it gets pretty frustrating sometimes. We have had so many appointments fall through. Yesterday was stake conference and it was a broadcast from Salt Lake for all of Arizona. Elder Holland talked about all of the temples and how the missionary work is going to increase so much. The Tempe mission limit for missionaries was at 190, but now they bumped it up to 250. The work is going to explode here and I am stoked for it, I just can't wait until it does. Elder Holland talked about how the best way for missionary work to progress is through the members. It is so true. I hope that members listen so that this work will take off like it can.
Anyway, everyone is leaving, so I better go.
Love you all,
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, November 5, 2012
Week 11: Tempe Life
Familia!
I can't believe that I have already been here for three weeks, time is flying by... for the most part haha. Last night I decided to give my self my first haircut....ya, it is as bad as it sounds haha but its all good. It has two years to grow out.
Things have been good this week, we have had a little bit more success. Things were pretty tough the first couple weeks. Elder Hernandez and I were white washed into this area (neither of us had been here before) and not much was going on. The first week it was pretty hard because we had to find everyone that we were going to teach. It seemed like no matter who we taught, they always had doubts or problems preventing them from baptism or coming closer to Christ. About a week and a half ago I knelt down and had a pretty good talk with God. I told him that the way I looked at it I was going to be on my mission for two years no matter what. I said that I could just go through with it and get it done, or I could actually help people and share the gospel with those I come in contact with. I promised Him that I was going to do all that I could, every single day of my mission. I was going to be 100% obedient so that He could trust me with His children and place them in my path. I promised him that when I met someone, I would do everything that I could to help them and I promised that He could trust me. The next day we went to church and met Michelle, the lady that just randomly felt like she needed to come to church. This week we had three lessons with her and challenged her to be baptized on the 17th. She accepted, but unfortunately we found out that there are some things that need to be taken care of before then. I know that God has a plan for everyone and things will happen at the perfect time. Although there are problems now, I know that God will help her overcome them. Even if she is not baptized on the 17th like she would like, I know that she will be soon, and that God can provide a way. And who knows, maybe he will provide that way for the 17th to work out.
To add to that little bit of success, Frank is being baptized on the 17th. He is on probation, so we thought we were going to have to wait, but turns out it is only a misdemeanor probation. Luckily, that means that we don't have to wait. Frank is the first person that I met on the mission and I can't wait for him to be baptized. He has had a tough life and it is amazing to see how he has changed it around. He is trying to follow the example of Christ in all that he does and I know that baptism is going to help him out so much. This week we were able to take him to the Mesa temple and go through the visitors center with him. It was an awesome experience. We watched the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, and after he told us that he was so excited to be baptized. I love this work and the opportunity I have to see lives change.
The Spanish work is picking up a little bit, but still not quite to the point that I would like. We have been teaching a few people who are pretty interested. It is still tough for me because I can't say everything that I would like to, but I am getting better at the language every day. I think I am to the point where I don't understand every word that they say, but I get the overall message. I can't wait until I get to the point where I don't have to think about every word that I say. I know that it may be a long ways off, but the Lord will help me get there. I just have to be patient....which can be very difficult.
The other day we were walking in the streets and stopped to talk to this guy who just got home from work. His name is Kid and he kept telling Elder Hernandez how much he liked his tie. Elder Hernandez said, "I'll tell you what, if we can come by Monday night and teach a lesson I will give you this tie." The man agreed, and so we are heading there tonight. He is very family oriented and says that He has a "weird" view on the bible. Hopefully we have a good lesson with them tonight and can find out a little more about them. Hopefully he isn't just letting us come over for the tie either haha. I'm pretty sure he is legitimately interested though because he was going to let us come over before Elder Hernandez told him he would give him the tie, that just sealed the deal haha.
Anyway, all is well. I am so thankful for this mission and the opportunity I have to serve. The lord's work is the most important work and it is awesome to be able to dedicate two years of my life to it. I hope all is well at home, good to hear Cory and Darin are fine.
I love you all!
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
I can't believe that I have already been here for three weeks, time is flying by... for the most part haha. Last night I decided to give my self my first haircut....ya, it is as bad as it sounds haha but its all good. It has two years to grow out.
Things have been good this week, we have had a little bit more success. Things were pretty tough the first couple weeks. Elder Hernandez and I were white washed into this area (neither of us had been here before) and not much was going on. The first week it was pretty hard because we had to find everyone that we were going to teach. It seemed like no matter who we taught, they always had doubts or problems preventing them from baptism or coming closer to Christ. About a week and a half ago I knelt down and had a pretty good talk with God. I told him that the way I looked at it I was going to be on my mission for two years no matter what. I said that I could just go through with it and get it done, or I could actually help people and share the gospel with those I come in contact with. I promised Him that I was going to do all that I could, every single day of my mission. I was going to be 100% obedient so that He could trust me with His children and place them in my path. I promised him that when I met someone, I would do everything that I could to help them and I promised that He could trust me. The next day we went to church and met Michelle, the lady that just randomly felt like she needed to come to church. This week we had three lessons with her and challenged her to be baptized on the 17th. She accepted, but unfortunately we found out that there are some things that need to be taken care of before then. I know that God has a plan for everyone and things will happen at the perfect time. Although there are problems now, I know that God will help her overcome them. Even if she is not baptized on the 17th like she would like, I know that she will be soon, and that God can provide a way. And who knows, maybe he will provide that way for the 17th to work out.
To add to that little bit of success, Frank is being baptized on the 17th. He is on probation, so we thought we were going to have to wait, but turns out it is only a misdemeanor probation. Luckily, that means that we don't have to wait. Frank is the first person that I met on the mission and I can't wait for him to be baptized. He has had a tough life and it is amazing to see how he has changed it around. He is trying to follow the example of Christ in all that he does and I know that baptism is going to help him out so much. This week we were able to take him to the Mesa temple and go through the visitors center with him. It was an awesome experience. We watched the movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, and after he told us that he was so excited to be baptized. I love this work and the opportunity I have to see lives change.
The Spanish work is picking up a little bit, but still not quite to the point that I would like. We have been teaching a few people who are pretty interested. It is still tough for me because I can't say everything that I would like to, but I am getting better at the language every day. I think I am to the point where I don't understand every word that they say, but I get the overall message. I can't wait until I get to the point where I don't have to think about every word that I say. I know that it may be a long ways off, but the Lord will help me get there. I just have to be patient....which can be very difficult.
The other day we were walking in the streets and stopped to talk to this guy who just got home from work. His name is Kid and he kept telling Elder Hernandez how much he liked his tie. Elder Hernandez said, "I'll tell you what, if we can come by Monday night and teach a lesson I will give you this tie." The man agreed, and so we are heading there tonight. He is very family oriented and says that He has a "weird" view on the bible. Hopefully we have a good lesson with them tonight and can find out a little more about them. Hopefully he isn't just letting us come over for the tie either haha. I'm pretty sure he is legitimately interested though because he was going to let us come over before Elder Hernandez told him he would give him the tie, that just sealed the deal haha.
Anyway, all is well. I am so thankful for this mission and the opportunity I have to serve. The lord's work is the most important work and it is awesome to be able to dedicate two years of my life to it. I hope all is well at home, good to hear Cory and Darin are fine.
I love you all!
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, October 29, 2012
Week 10: October 29th
Familia!
Tempe continues to be awesome, I love it here. Each day is full of awesome experiences. Its tough, that's for sure, but I love it.
This week has been a little rough with lessons. We had 13 fall through....it gets annoying, but we just try to move through it. Everything happens for a reason and we just try to find other people in that area to teach.
It has been a pretty humbling week. So many of our investigators that we are teaching have been having some pretty trying times. Marshall and Shannon are taking care of 6 kids with hardly any money to their name, and it is tough to see them struggle. I have had so many people ask me, "Why are some people born into such hard lives and such hard circumstances when others seem to have it all." It has really made me think. Although I have never "had it all" in my life I have been extremely blessed. I have two loving parents that have always been there for me. I have awesome brothers and sisters who have always been amazing examples, and I have been given plenty of opportunities in this life. It is tough to see people going through such difficult circumstances. As I have been thinking a lot about this, Elder Nederhauser, an elder in my district, said something that really stuck to me. He said, "I have never seen so many people losing jobs, houses, or loved ones as I have on my mission. It is just proof that the Lord is preparing people to accept the restored gospel in their lives and receive so much more." It is so true. There are so many people that we come in contact with that are going through difficult times. It seems like everyone I meet is going through a trial that I have never had to face before. But it is true, the Lord is preparing them for so much more. The Gospel brings so many blessings to our lives, and the Lord is just putting them through these tough times so that when this light comes to their lives, they will so much more readily accept it. It is such a strong testimony builder that I am not here to prepare people for baptism, I am here to help the prepared reach baptism. It is awesome how the Lord places these people in our paths.
The last two days we have met some amazing people. The first one was David. David is a pretty big guy, he can't walk, and he has a breathing tube in his throat. He has definitely been through his fare share of trials. David came to the Trunk or Treat at the church because he got a flier and just wanted to bring some candy to help the little kids. He really had no idea what he was doing there, he just wanted to help out. We came up and introduced ourselves to him and he told us how he didn't know how much time he had left on the earth. He had heard a little bit about what the mormon church believes and he really wanted to be baptized. He said he wanted to take care of some things while on the earth while he still could. We told him that we would help him reach his goal of baptism and exchanged information. He told us to text him as soon as we could so we could set up a time to visit. When we got back to our apartment, I text him, and......wrong number..... so frustrating. He told us he lived in the Tempe apartments, which could be anywhere so Elder Hernandez and I were a little frustrated because he was definitely someone that the Lord had prepared for us. Yesterday as we were driving we drove right past the Tempe Apartments. We thought when he said Tempe apartments he just meant some apartments in Tempe, but turns out it is an actual name. So, we stopped by and knocked on his door. No one was there so we left a note with our number and told him he had given us the wrong number. Hopefully he got it and he will contact us shortly.
Another awesome person we met yesterday was Michelle. Michelle was just randomly sitting in church and told us she just felt that she should come by. She had been once before a while ago, but hadn't met with the missionaries for a long while. Neither Elder Hernandez or I had seen her before, so we introduced ourselves and started getting to know each other. After sacrament meeting we went to Gospel Principles class. There we talked about Temple work and how families can be together forever. She asked if she could do temple work for her family that had passed away, and we told her that she needed to be baptized. She thought about it for a while and then she said, "Alright then, how do I get baptized?" We set up appointments with her and we are going to visit her on Tuesday. I am excited to teach her and help her progress towards baptism.
Our other investigator Frank has been having some hold ups for baptism as well. He found out that he was on probation for sure, he just isn't sure what type it is. If it is a misdemeanor then we can go through with the baptism, but if it is a felony then he needs an interview with our mission president and needs first presidency approval. Hopefully that all gets figured out because he definitely wants to be baptized soon.
Every day we try to find new Spanish people to teach. Most of our work is in English right now, and whenever we find Spanish people to teach, our appointments fall through. We want to get the Spanish work right up there with the English, but it has been pretty difficult. Hopefully we will find some people that are really interested to teach soon. We have a pretty big family that we have been trying to teach, but every appointment we set up falls through. Hopefully one will actually work out sometime soon. Hopefully the Spanish work will catch fire.
The language is coming pretty good for me. Still nowhere near fluent, but progressing every day. It is nice to have Elder Hernandez as my companion. He helps me out a lot. He reminds me a ton of Edgar, so it has been pretty fun.
Anyway, all is well and I love it here. I hope everything is great at home. Hopefully the Hurricane isn't too bad and Cory and Darin are ok. Anyway I will talk to you soon.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Tempe continues to be awesome, I love it here. Each day is full of awesome experiences. Its tough, that's for sure, but I love it.
This week has been a little rough with lessons. We had 13 fall through....it gets annoying, but we just try to move through it. Everything happens for a reason and we just try to find other people in that area to teach.
It has been a pretty humbling week. So many of our investigators that we are teaching have been having some pretty trying times. Marshall and Shannon are taking care of 6 kids with hardly any money to their name, and it is tough to see them struggle. I have had so many people ask me, "Why are some people born into such hard lives and such hard circumstances when others seem to have it all." It has really made me think. Although I have never "had it all" in my life I have been extremely blessed. I have two loving parents that have always been there for me. I have awesome brothers and sisters who have always been amazing examples, and I have been given plenty of opportunities in this life. It is tough to see people going through such difficult circumstances. As I have been thinking a lot about this, Elder Nederhauser, an elder in my district, said something that really stuck to me. He said, "I have never seen so many people losing jobs, houses, or loved ones as I have on my mission. It is just proof that the Lord is preparing people to accept the restored gospel in their lives and receive so much more." It is so true. There are so many people that we come in contact with that are going through difficult times. It seems like everyone I meet is going through a trial that I have never had to face before. But it is true, the Lord is preparing them for so much more. The Gospel brings so many blessings to our lives, and the Lord is just putting them through these tough times so that when this light comes to their lives, they will so much more readily accept it. It is such a strong testimony builder that I am not here to prepare people for baptism, I am here to help the prepared reach baptism. It is awesome how the Lord places these people in our paths.
The last two days we have met some amazing people. The first one was David. David is a pretty big guy, he can't walk, and he has a breathing tube in his throat. He has definitely been through his fare share of trials. David came to the Trunk or Treat at the church because he got a flier and just wanted to bring some candy to help the little kids. He really had no idea what he was doing there, he just wanted to help out. We came up and introduced ourselves to him and he told us how he didn't know how much time he had left on the earth. He had heard a little bit about what the mormon church believes and he really wanted to be baptized. He said he wanted to take care of some things while on the earth while he still could. We told him that we would help him reach his goal of baptism and exchanged information. He told us to text him as soon as we could so we could set up a time to visit. When we got back to our apartment, I text him, and......wrong number..... so frustrating. He told us he lived in the Tempe apartments, which could be anywhere so Elder Hernandez and I were a little frustrated because he was definitely someone that the Lord had prepared for us. Yesterday as we were driving we drove right past the Tempe Apartments. We thought when he said Tempe apartments he just meant some apartments in Tempe, but turns out it is an actual name. So, we stopped by and knocked on his door. No one was there so we left a note with our number and told him he had given us the wrong number. Hopefully he got it and he will contact us shortly.
Another awesome person we met yesterday was Michelle. Michelle was just randomly sitting in church and told us she just felt that she should come by. She had been once before a while ago, but hadn't met with the missionaries for a long while. Neither Elder Hernandez or I had seen her before, so we introduced ourselves and started getting to know each other. After sacrament meeting we went to Gospel Principles class. There we talked about Temple work and how families can be together forever. She asked if she could do temple work for her family that had passed away, and we told her that she needed to be baptized. She thought about it for a while and then she said, "Alright then, how do I get baptized?" We set up appointments with her and we are going to visit her on Tuesday. I am excited to teach her and help her progress towards baptism.
Our other investigator Frank has been having some hold ups for baptism as well. He found out that he was on probation for sure, he just isn't sure what type it is. If it is a misdemeanor then we can go through with the baptism, but if it is a felony then he needs an interview with our mission president and needs first presidency approval. Hopefully that all gets figured out because he definitely wants to be baptized soon.
Every day we try to find new Spanish people to teach. Most of our work is in English right now, and whenever we find Spanish people to teach, our appointments fall through. We want to get the Spanish work right up there with the English, but it has been pretty difficult. Hopefully we will find some people that are really interested to teach soon. We have a pretty big family that we have been trying to teach, but every appointment we set up falls through. Hopefully one will actually work out sometime soon. Hopefully the Spanish work will catch fire.
The language is coming pretty good for me. Still nowhere near fluent, but progressing every day. It is nice to have Elder Hernandez as my companion. He helps me out a lot. He reminds me a ton of Edgar, so it has been pretty fun.
Anyway, all is well and I love it here. I hope everything is great at home. Hopefully the Hurricane isn't too bad and Cory and Darin are ok. Anyway I will talk to you soon.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Monday, October 22, 2012
Week 9: TEMPE!
Familia!
Man do I love Arizona. The weather is perfect here. It is about 80 every day and beautiful.
We got to Arizona on Tuesday in the morning and had our interviews with our mission president. After that they took us to ASU to OYM (Open Your Mouth). It was awesome haha I loved it. I was put with Elder Pina, they dropped us off, and then they said be back here in two hours. At first I was a little overwhelmed, but after we escaped from the Jehovah's Witness that trapped us and wouldn't let us go for over a half hour, it was pretty fun. We placed 5 Books of Mormons and then gave out a few referral cards. I'm not sure if anything will come of it, but it was a good experience to get dropped right into the missionary work.
Wednesday afternoon I got my companion, Elder Hernandez. He is a STUD, I love this guy. We were assigned to the Tempe 24 area so we cover the Evergreen English ward and then a Spanish ward. At first I was a little upset because I wanted to be submerged into spanish, but over these last few days I have really been thankful for the opportunity to speak in both.
My first day with Elder Hernandez was INSANE. So many different stories. The Spanish AP's were discontinued after these last two went home a few days ago and so Elder Hernandez and I were put in their old area. We live with the APs so hopefully they hook us up with some special privileges haha. They have already brought a bunch of food home from the mission home so we have definitely been fed well. Anyway, back to the first day. Elder Hernandez and I got to the apartment and started to look in the Area book, it was a disaster. They really didn't leave us with much information, so we wrote down all of the investigator's names and set out to visit them. Pretty much all of them were gone, so we just tried to get some new investigators. We talked to several different people and set up a few appointments. Then the day started to get a little crazy. We went to the ward mission leaders house for the spanish ward and had a really good meeting with him. He is really excited about the work and we have 3 complete companionships (so 6 missionaries) in this ward so the lord is putting a lot of trust in us to further the work in this ward. We got a few things settled with him and then after the meeting we decided to go to walmart to get our groceries. I typed in walmart into Elder Hernandez's GPS and we headed on our way. As we were driving Elder Hernandez kept saying this doesn't look very familiar, and then the two elders in the back of our car looked at the GPS and it showed that we were right next to the Phoenix dot on the map, which is out of our mission...... We pulled over and told the sisters who were following us that we were out of the mission so we hurried and turned around to get back into our mission as soon as we could so we wouldn't get in that much trouble. We started heading back and then Elder Hernandez started to run a red light, so we all yelled for him to stop so he slams on his brakes. We stop in the middle of the intersection (we are safe mom, don't worry) and he hurries and puts it into reverse to get out of the road. Meanwhile, the sisters were right behind us and we slam into them hahahaha. It was a rush. So we pull over one more time to check the cars out to see how bad the damage was and...... there was nothing. Just a tiny scratch on the back of our car. The lord truly does protect his missionaries in all situations... even when they are being dumb. So to sum up my first day we left the mission, got in a wreck, and were perfectly fine. I think Elder Hernandez was just trying to get me adjusted to the work fast.
After that day, things got a little more normal. We set up a lesson with Frank one of our investigators. Frank has taken the lessons for several months and a lot of his family is LDS. He had a rough childhood and started out on the wrong path of life. He has had several trials, and this is what led him to want to learn more from the church. It was my first lesson ever in the field, and we talked about what Franks desires were in this life. He said that he wanted to come closer to Christ and be baptized, he just needed to be sure that he was ready. He was scared that he wasn't perfect and he didn't want to be baptized until he took care of everything. We testified that he didn't need to be perfect to be baptized. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how after baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost as a constant companion in our lives. We told him that the Holy Ghost guides us and helps us know the paths that we should take in this life. We challenged him to baptism the 3rd, and he accepted. The only problem is he doesn't know if he is on probation or not right now, so he said that he would call and figure it out. Hopefully all is well with that situation because Frank is an awesome guy. He needs the blessings of the gospel so much in his life right now and so I hope that it all works out soon.
After that we met a family. It is Marshall and Shannon and then their children. They are both ready for baptism as well, and they want to be baptized, there is just one problem. Shannon is married to another man who is on his death bed. They don't want to file a divorce right now because they don't want to add more burdens upon the man as he is dying. Shannon's heart is in a good place and I agree with what they are doing. We are just waiting to see what is going to happen before we can set up a baptismal date. Marshall has a daughter Nicole that is about 25 I'm guessing. Nicole has had a rough life and her husband left her as well. She has come to a few of the lessons that the missionaries beforehand had taught and she wanted to learn more. This last visit as we talked about the restoration and blessings of the gospel she started to cry. She said she wasn't proud of her past and that she felt so guilty for everything she had done. We testified to her that all of this guilt could be taken away through the atonement. We told her that as she came closer to Christ, this pain would be taken away. We challenged her to baptism as well, and she was still a little unsure so we told her to pray about it. I hope that all goes well with this family as well because they are solid people and will just become stronger as they come closer to Christ.
Pretty much all of our progressing investigators are in English right now so Elder Hernandez and I are trying to get the spanish work moving along. Yesterday I had to be a part of the Sunday school lesson, in spanish, and teach how missionary work is a huge part of the gathering of Israel and how we should prepare as members. It was a little difficult, but I think I did pretty well and everyone said they understood what I was saying, so I just hope they weren't lying haha. I have learned a lot of spanish from Elder Hernandez. He is a native speaker from Canada, so I know that he is going to help my a lot.
As for my address, we live right next to the mission home so you can just send letters and packages there.
Anyway, all is well and I have loved being here so far. The Gospel is spreading fast and I am so excited to be helping it.
Hope all is well at home.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Man do I love Arizona. The weather is perfect here. It is about 80 every day and beautiful.
We got to Arizona on Tuesday in the morning and had our interviews with our mission president. After that they took us to ASU to OYM (Open Your Mouth). It was awesome haha I loved it. I was put with Elder Pina, they dropped us off, and then they said be back here in two hours. At first I was a little overwhelmed, but after we escaped from the Jehovah's Witness that trapped us and wouldn't let us go for over a half hour, it was pretty fun. We placed 5 Books of Mormons and then gave out a few referral cards. I'm not sure if anything will come of it, but it was a good experience to get dropped right into the missionary work.
Wednesday afternoon I got my companion, Elder Hernandez. He is a STUD, I love this guy. We were assigned to the Tempe 24 area so we cover the Evergreen English ward and then a Spanish ward. At first I was a little upset because I wanted to be submerged into spanish, but over these last few days I have really been thankful for the opportunity to speak in both.
My first day with Elder Hernandez was INSANE. So many different stories. The Spanish AP's were discontinued after these last two went home a few days ago and so Elder Hernandez and I were put in their old area. We live with the APs so hopefully they hook us up with some special privileges haha. They have already brought a bunch of food home from the mission home so we have definitely been fed well. Anyway, back to the first day. Elder Hernandez and I got to the apartment and started to look in the Area book, it was a disaster. They really didn't leave us with much information, so we wrote down all of the investigator's names and set out to visit them. Pretty much all of them were gone, so we just tried to get some new investigators. We talked to several different people and set up a few appointments. Then the day started to get a little crazy. We went to the ward mission leaders house for the spanish ward and had a really good meeting with him. He is really excited about the work and we have 3 complete companionships (so 6 missionaries) in this ward so the lord is putting a lot of trust in us to further the work in this ward. We got a few things settled with him and then after the meeting we decided to go to walmart to get our groceries. I typed in walmart into Elder Hernandez's GPS and we headed on our way. As we were driving Elder Hernandez kept saying this doesn't look very familiar, and then the two elders in the back of our car looked at the GPS and it showed that we were right next to the Phoenix dot on the map, which is out of our mission...... We pulled over and told the sisters who were following us that we were out of the mission so we hurried and turned around to get back into our mission as soon as we could so we wouldn't get in that much trouble. We started heading back and then Elder Hernandez started to run a red light, so we all yelled for him to stop so he slams on his brakes. We stop in the middle of the intersection (we are safe mom, don't worry) and he hurries and puts it into reverse to get out of the road. Meanwhile, the sisters were right behind us and we slam into them hahahaha. It was a rush. So we pull over one more time to check the cars out to see how bad the damage was and...... there was nothing. Just a tiny scratch on the back of our car. The lord truly does protect his missionaries in all situations... even when they are being dumb. So to sum up my first day we left the mission, got in a wreck, and were perfectly fine. I think Elder Hernandez was just trying to get me adjusted to the work fast.
After that day, things got a little more normal. We set up a lesson with Frank one of our investigators. Frank has taken the lessons for several months and a lot of his family is LDS. He had a rough childhood and started out on the wrong path of life. He has had several trials, and this is what led him to want to learn more from the church. It was my first lesson ever in the field, and we talked about what Franks desires were in this life. He said that he wanted to come closer to Christ and be baptized, he just needed to be sure that he was ready. He was scared that he wasn't perfect and he didn't want to be baptized until he took care of everything. We testified that he didn't need to be perfect to be baptized. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how after baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost as a constant companion in our lives. We told him that the Holy Ghost guides us and helps us know the paths that we should take in this life. We challenged him to baptism the 3rd, and he accepted. The only problem is he doesn't know if he is on probation or not right now, so he said that he would call and figure it out. Hopefully all is well with that situation because Frank is an awesome guy. He needs the blessings of the gospel so much in his life right now and so I hope that it all works out soon.
After that we met a family. It is Marshall and Shannon and then their children. They are both ready for baptism as well, and they want to be baptized, there is just one problem. Shannon is married to another man who is on his death bed. They don't want to file a divorce right now because they don't want to add more burdens upon the man as he is dying. Shannon's heart is in a good place and I agree with what they are doing. We are just waiting to see what is going to happen before we can set up a baptismal date. Marshall has a daughter Nicole that is about 25 I'm guessing. Nicole has had a rough life and her husband left her as well. She has come to a few of the lessons that the missionaries beforehand had taught and she wanted to learn more. This last visit as we talked about the restoration and blessings of the gospel she started to cry. She said she wasn't proud of her past and that she felt so guilty for everything she had done. We testified to her that all of this guilt could be taken away through the atonement. We told her that as she came closer to Christ, this pain would be taken away. We challenged her to baptism as well, and she was still a little unsure so we told her to pray about it. I hope that all goes well with this family as well because they are solid people and will just become stronger as they come closer to Christ.
Pretty much all of our progressing investigators are in English right now so Elder Hernandez and I are trying to get the spanish work moving along. Yesterday I had to be a part of the Sunday school lesson, in spanish, and teach how missionary work is a huge part of the gathering of Israel and how we should prepare as members. It was a little difficult, but I think I did pretty well and everyone said they understood what I was saying, so I just hope they weren't lying haha. I have learned a lot of spanish from Elder Hernandez. He is a native speaker from Canada, so I know that he is going to help my a lot.
As for my address, we live right next to the mission home so you can just send letters and packages there.
Anyway, all is well and I have loved being here so far. The Gospel is spreading fast and I am so excited to be helping it.
Hope all is well at home.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Week 8: Final Week in the MTC
Familia!
5 More days, it is crazy....but I can't wait. I have been looking forward to this day for so long its crazy that it is almost here. Also, I never thought I would say this, but I am looking forward to the Arizona heat. I think I'm turning weird already because I HATE the heat, but I guess I can't complain that I am looking forward to it now because if I wasn't it would be a rough two years.
It has been way nice having all my friends here. Braden lives in the same complex as me so I see him nearly every day for a while. I have seen Casey a few times, and he is doing well, and then I see Garrett Homer everywhere. I also saw Colten Suitter last week which was awesome. It's so sweet to see the dedication that a lot of my friends have to the Gospel. I love it.
Conference was so amazing. I have never listened so intently to a session and I am so thankful that I did because I learned so much. Guys can be 18 and serve missions and Girls can be 19??? what??? It is so awesome how urgent missionary work is becoming. The Lord has helped me out so much in my mission already and I know how much He helps all of His missionaries. I know that no matter what the age, He will be there to guide their actions when they act in faith. Karee said BYU campus is blowing up with all the girls saying they were going on missions, I figured it would. And no worries Bryce I really don't think your dating pool will disappear haha. I know that the sister missionaries will greatly increase, but I'm not sure how much. I know that a lot of my friends that were girls said that if they could go on missions at age 19 they would for sure....now its time, I wonder who will respond. It will be interesting to see in the next couple of months.
Hope all is well,
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Week 7: All is Well
Familia!
Life is good and time is flying. Less than two weeks and I will be on my way to Tempe. I am so stoked. I feel like the MTC helped me progress much farther than I would have the first couple weeks if I was actually in the field because I was able to have help from a teacher, but now I am to the point where I feel like I will progress much faster in the language out in the field. I love the MTC and I have been learning a lot, I just feel like I would be learning a lot more every day if I was speaking to native speakers. We have covered all of the grammar principles and now I just need to master them. I am so ready to get to Tempe and can't wait to teach real investigators.
I had a pleasant surprise today, Bryce came to the temple. It was way good to see him and it made my day. I am so glad for the family that I have been placed in. Each one of you has been huge examples to me and I know without your guidance and examples I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I am so thankful for all you have done and I can't express enough how much I love you all.
Other than that, things have been fairly normal in the MTC. We have been teaching and learning every single day. Gym times are greatly looked forward to. My district is all pretty close and we all try to stay together as much as possible. Every other day we switch between soccer and basketball for gym. Surprisingly, I am getting pretty good at soccer. I have actually had a few hattricks. Ya, I know nobody in the MTC can play soccer anyway, but hey, a hattrick is a hattrick, so I am proud of it. There are quite a few basketball players that are pretty good too. We usually get a pretty good game going on. I've decided that I am going to talk to President Brown and have him schedule a scrimmage between the BYU team and the MTC All-Stars. Pretty sure we could win haha.
I have been learning a lot here and it really is such an amazing opportunity to be here. Each day we have so much time to study and strengthen our testimonies and I am so thankful for it. The past few days I have been thinking about our family a lot. We have been so blessed to be members of this church. As members of the church, we have the knowledge that we can live together for eternity, and literally nothing brings me greater joy. I can't imagine a life where I thought I would never see those that I love most after we pass on. As missionaries, Obedience is stressed so much, and at first I have to admit I was a little tired of hearing it. However, as I have learned more about obedience I am so thankful that they stress it so much. In life we are faced with difficult times. In life there are times where we may feel overwhelmed and that there is no way we can do all that we need to. However, we are promised that nothing will be placed in our life that we can't handle. Obedience is key to this promise. When we are obedient, we are promised to have the Lord as a constant companion in our lives. This is how we get through all of our trials. This is how we accomplish all that we need to. I have been told that the mission is one of the most difficult things that you will do in your life, and every day I learn more and more how true this is. A mission is hard, and sometimes it seems overwhelming. However, I know that as I am obedient the Lord will provide the way through these difficult times. I know that there are people in Tempe Arizona that the Lord is preparing for me to teach. I also know that unless I am 100% obedient, I won't be able to teach all of these people that have been prepared for me. As I have been thinking about our family the last couple days and how important you all are to me, It has hit me harder than ever that I have the opportunity to share this joy with all those that are being prepared for me to teach. I have to opportunity to show people the way that they can live with those that they love for eternity. If I am not 100% obedient, I am taking this blessing away from their lives. I never realized how important this work truly is. President Monson once said something along the lines of if you don't magnify your calling, you will be held accountable for those that you could have saved, had you done your part. I have heard that as you move on from this life you will be greeted by those that you helped in this life. You will be greeted by those who's work you did in the temple and I am sure you will be greeted by those that you helped share the restored gospel with. As I have thought about this quote, I am pretty sure that we will also be greeted by those that we could have helped had we been 100% obedient, and I am sure that they will ask why we just didn't try a little bit harder so that they could have experienced this joy earlier. I want to look back on my mission/life and know that I did all that I could. As I have been thinking about all of these things, I have definitely felt a little overwhelmed. However, I know that the Lord will never expect more than our best. As long as we are trying our hardest to do our best, the lord will make up the rest. 100% obedience really isn't that difficult, it is just a matter of deciding to do so. I am so thankful for this opportunity to help others. I am so thankful for this opportunity to show others the steps to live with those that they love forever because these things have been such a blessing in my life.
I love you all and hope that you are all doing well. It is always great to hear from you and I hope life is treating you well.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Life is good and time is flying. Less than two weeks and I will be on my way to Tempe. I am so stoked. I feel like the MTC helped me progress much farther than I would have the first couple weeks if I was actually in the field because I was able to have help from a teacher, but now I am to the point where I feel like I will progress much faster in the language out in the field. I love the MTC and I have been learning a lot, I just feel like I would be learning a lot more every day if I was speaking to native speakers. We have covered all of the grammar principles and now I just need to master them. I am so ready to get to Tempe and can't wait to teach real investigators.
I had a pleasant surprise today, Bryce came to the temple. It was way good to see him and it made my day. I am so glad for the family that I have been placed in. Each one of you has been huge examples to me and I know without your guidance and examples I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I am so thankful for all you have done and I can't express enough how much I love you all.
Other than that, things have been fairly normal in the MTC. We have been teaching and learning every single day. Gym times are greatly looked forward to. My district is all pretty close and we all try to stay together as much as possible. Every other day we switch between soccer and basketball for gym. Surprisingly, I am getting pretty good at soccer. I have actually had a few hattricks. Ya, I know nobody in the MTC can play soccer anyway, but hey, a hattrick is a hattrick, so I am proud of it. There are quite a few basketball players that are pretty good too. We usually get a pretty good game going on. I've decided that I am going to talk to President Brown and have him schedule a scrimmage between the BYU team and the MTC All-Stars. Pretty sure we could win haha.
I have been learning a lot here and it really is such an amazing opportunity to be here. Each day we have so much time to study and strengthen our testimonies and I am so thankful for it. The past few days I have been thinking about our family a lot. We have been so blessed to be members of this church. As members of the church, we have the knowledge that we can live together for eternity, and literally nothing brings me greater joy. I can't imagine a life where I thought I would never see those that I love most after we pass on. As missionaries, Obedience is stressed so much, and at first I have to admit I was a little tired of hearing it. However, as I have learned more about obedience I am so thankful that they stress it so much. In life we are faced with difficult times. In life there are times where we may feel overwhelmed and that there is no way we can do all that we need to. However, we are promised that nothing will be placed in our life that we can't handle. Obedience is key to this promise. When we are obedient, we are promised to have the Lord as a constant companion in our lives. This is how we get through all of our trials. This is how we accomplish all that we need to. I have been told that the mission is one of the most difficult things that you will do in your life, and every day I learn more and more how true this is. A mission is hard, and sometimes it seems overwhelming. However, I know that as I am obedient the Lord will provide the way through these difficult times. I know that there are people in Tempe Arizona that the Lord is preparing for me to teach. I also know that unless I am 100% obedient, I won't be able to teach all of these people that have been prepared for me. As I have been thinking about our family the last couple days and how important you all are to me, It has hit me harder than ever that I have the opportunity to share this joy with all those that are being prepared for me to teach. I have to opportunity to show people the way that they can live with those that they love for eternity. If I am not 100% obedient, I am taking this blessing away from their lives. I never realized how important this work truly is. President Monson once said something along the lines of if you don't magnify your calling, you will be held accountable for those that you could have saved, had you done your part. I have heard that as you move on from this life you will be greeted by those that you helped in this life. You will be greeted by those who's work you did in the temple and I am sure you will be greeted by those that you helped share the restored gospel with. As I have thought about this quote, I am pretty sure that we will also be greeted by those that we could have helped had we been 100% obedient, and I am sure that they will ask why we just didn't try a little bit harder so that they could have experienced this joy earlier. I want to look back on my mission/life and know that I did all that I could. As I have been thinking about all of these things, I have definitely felt a little overwhelmed. However, I know that the Lord will never expect more than our best. As long as we are trying our hardest to do our best, the lord will make up the rest. 100% obedience really isn't that difficult, it is just a matter of deciding to do so. I am so thankful for this opportunity to help others. I am so thankful for this opportunity to show others the steps to live with those that they love forever because these things have been such a blessing in my life.
I love you all and hope that you are all doing well. It is always great to hear from you and I hope life is treating you well.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Friday, September 28, 2012
Week 6: Life is Good
Familia!
Each week I get more and more excited to go to Arizona. Only a few short weeks away and I will be there. The Spanish is coming along surely but slowly. Each week we have an opportunity to teach a TRC, not sure what it stands for but we teach a member a lesson. This week was our first 40 minute lesson with a member. At first I wasn't sure how we were going to do because it was such a long lesson, but Elder Nelson and I came up with a fairly good lesson plan, prayed about it, and felt good. Going into the lesson we felt pretty good about it and just hoped that we did a good job. It turned out to be one of the best lessons that we taught. We actually ran out of time. It's awesome to see the hand of the lord in my life. As missionaries he truly does strengthen us. He wants what is best for us and he will always be there with his hand out stretched. There is no other place in the world that a 19 year old boy could come to, spend six weeks, and then have a full conversation in a different language for 40 minutes. I love it here and I am more and more thankful every day to be here.... although I absolutely can't wait to get to Arizona.
I keep finding more and more pleasant surprises here at the MTC. Last week it was a black widow, this week mice..... Its great. We have killed two and then the other day Elder Nelson saw one run across our floor while he was sitting at his desk. It's awesome how they truly prepare you for the worst so when you get out to the field nothing surprises you... haha. No, I truly do love it here and there are plenty of awesome facilities, just a few pest problems, but all is well.
I get to go to the temple every p-day, it is an awesome experience. The past few weeks we have felt rushed in the morning to get there on time for the 7 a.m. session, so this morning we woke up at 5:45 so that we would have plenty of time. We left the MTC at 6:25 and got to the temple at 6:35, so we had 25 minutes to spare. I pulled out my recommend to get checked in and the Elder Nelson realized that he forgot his....Got to love him haha. So, we set off back to the MTC and ended up not making it to the 7 a.m. session. Maybe we will have to wake up at 4 a.m. next week just to be sure that we make it on time. We teach at least one lesson a day to our "investigators" and all are doing well. It is cool how even before we enter the actual mission field we are able to teach so many different types of people. I have said it before, but they have been stressing a lot on teaching people, not lessons. I have always known that it was important to develop the lesson around the specific person, but I didn't realize how truly important it was. Being able to teach so many different types of people has shown me that everybody needs different things in their life. A message for one person may be life changing, but to another the same message may just be a message. At some points, it gets a little stressful because you want to be teaching to the best of your abilities, however I know that the spirit will always be there, guiding us what to teach and what to do. I have learned a lot about promptings from the spirit while being here. Elder Bednar says that as long as you are doing what you know to be right, the decisions in your life will be guided by the spirit. No matter how small a decision, as long as you are doing all you can to be the best person that you can be, the spirit will guide us in our lives. I have found this to be so true and am so thankful for the Holy Ghost as a constant companion.
One of my favorite quotes has always been that of Thomas S. Monson's "Whom the Lord calls, He qualifies." I have had many opportunities to experience this in my life. One of the most recent was at college when I was called to be Elders Quorum President. Before I accepted the call, I was pretty overwhelmed. There were tons of young men in my ward that were so much better qualified for this calling than me. I felt inadequate and felt as if I was going to do as good of a job as one of them would do. Before I accepted the call, I prayed harder than I had prayed in a long time. I wanted to know if I was ready for this calling and if it was truly for me. As I finished my prayer, a warm feeling of comfort came over me and I knew that I truly was called by the Lord for this calling. I knew that the Lord would always be there for me qualifying me for what was ahead. Yesterday in a devotional the speaker said this quote by President Monson. As I thought more about this quote I realized something that I never had before. Even though the Lord promises to qualify those he calls, we need to qualify ourselves for his help. The decision I made to serve a mission was definitely a start. The Lord recognized that I was making a big sacrifice to serve him for two years. However, even though I have chosen to serve a mission, that alone does not qualify me for the Lords help. I must make a conscious effort daily to be more like him. I must give it my all, and even though there will be tough times ahead, as long as I am doing my best the Lord promises to do the rest. This life can be tough, but it is one of our callings. We came to this earth to progress and prove ourselves worthy to live with God again. There are bumps along the way, but as long as we are striving to do our best daily, the Lord will be there to help us. I am so thankful for this Gospel and the joy that it brings to my life. I can't express enough how much I love this work and I can't wait to be able to share this light with those in Tempe.
Take care, I love you all. Try to do your best every day and the Lord will always be there to help you through.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Each week I get more and more excited to go to Arizona. Only a few short weeks away and I will be there. The Spanish is coming along surely but slowly. Each week we have an opportunity to teach a TRC, not sure what it stands for but we teach a member a lesson. This week was our first 40 minute lesson with a member. At first I wasn't sure how we were going to do because it was such a long lesson, but Elder Nelson and I came up with a fairly good lesson plan, prayed about it, and felt good. Going into the lesson we felt pretty good about it and just hoped that we did a good job. It turned out to be one of the best lessons that we taught. We actually ran out of time. It's awesome to see the hand of the lord in my life. As missionaries he truly does strengthen us. He wants what is best for us and he will always be there with his hand out stretched. There is no other place in the world that a 19 year old boy could come to, spend six weeks, and then have a full conversation in a different language for 40 minutes. I love it here and I am more and more thankful every day to be here.... although I absolutely can't wait to get to Arizona.
I keep finding more and more pleasant surprises here at the MTC. Last week it was a black widow, this week mice..... Its great. We have killed two and then the other day Elder Nelson saw one run across our floor while he was sitting at his desk. It's awesome how they truly prepare you for the worst so when you get out to the field nothing surprises you... haha. No, I truly do love it here and there are plenty of awesome facilities, just a few pest problems, but all is well.
I get to go to the temple every p-day, it is an awesome experience. The past few weeks we have felt rushed in the morning to get there on time for the 7 a.m. session, so this morning we woke up at 5:45 so that we would have plenty of time. We left the MTC at 6:25 and got to the temple at 6:35, so we had 25 minutes to spare. I pulled out my recommend to get checked in and the Elder Nelson realized that he forgot his....Got to love him haha. So, we set off back to the MTC and ended up not making it to the 7 a.m. session. Maybe we will have to wake up at 4 a.m. next week just to be sure that we make it on time. We teach at least one lesson a day to our "investigators" and all are doing well. It is cool how even before we enter the actual mission field we are able to teach so many different types of people. I have said it before, but they have been stressing a lot on teaching people, not lessons. I have always known that it was important to develop the lesson around the specific person, but I didn't realize how truly important it was. Being able to teach so many different types of people has shown me that everybody needs different things in their life. A message for one person may be life changing, but to another the same message may just be a message. At some points, it gets a little stressful because you want to be teaching to the best of your abilities, however I know that the spirit will always be there, guiding us what to teach and what to do. I have learned a lot about promptings from the spirit while being here. Elder Bednar says that as long as you are doing what you know to be right, the decisions in your life will be guided by the spirit. No matter how small a decision, as long as you are doing all you can to be the best person that you can be, the spirit will guide us in our lives. I have found this to be so true and am so thankful for the Holy Ghost as a constant companion.
One of my favorite quotes has always been that of Thomas S. Monson's "Whom the Lord calls, He qualifies." I have had many opportunities to experience this in my life. One of the most recent was at college when I was called to be Elders Quorum President. Before I accepted the call, I was pretty overwhelmed. There were tons of young men in my ward that were so much better qualified for this calling than me. I felt inadequate and felt as if I was going to do as good of a job as one of them would do. Before I accepted the call, I prayed harder than I had prayed in a long time. I wanted to know if I was ready for this calling and if it was truly for me. As I finished my prayer, a warm feeling of comfort came over me and I knew that I truly was called by the Lord for this calling. I knew that the Lord would always be there for me qualifying me for what was ahead. Yesterday in a devotional the speaker said this quote by President Monson. As I thought more about this quote I realized something that I never had before. Even though the Lord promises to qualify those he calls, we need to qualify ourselves for his help. The decision I made to serve a mission was definitely a start. The Lord recognized that I was making a big sacrifice to serve him for two years. However, even though I have chosen to serve a mission, that alone does not qualify me for the Lords help. I must make a conscious effort daily to be more like him. I must give it my all, and even though there will be tough times ahead, as long as I am doing my best the Lord promises to do the rest. This life can be tough, but it is one of our callings. We came to this earth to progress and prove ourselves worthy to live with God again. There are bumps along the way, but as long as we are striving to do our best daily, the Lord will be there to help us. I am so thankful for this Gospel and the joy that it brings to my life. I can't express enough how much I love this work and I can't wait to be able to share this light with those in Tempe.
Take care, I love you all. Try to do your best every day and the Lord will always be there to help you through.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Week 5: September 19th
Familia!
Week Five.... So crazy. Time is FLYING. Not a whole lot has gone on this week. The MTC is usually a pretty mild place, not too many crazy things happen, but I love it here.
The Spanish is coming along slowly but great as usual. This week Elder Nelson and I taught five different "investigators" which was a little bit of a challenge. Teaching so many people has really shown me how much Spanish I actually know. There really isn't too much time to plan lessons, so we just go in with a general idea of what we are going to teach and hope all goes well. During a couple of the lessons we felt like we should completely switch up what the original plan was and surprisingly it went pretty well. We were able to express all of our ideas completely and make sure that each person we were teaching had a solid understanding of what we were saying. I am so thankful for the help that I have been getting to learn this language. Without the constant help of the Lord and the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, there would be no way I would be progressing in this language this fast. The Lord truly does help his missionaries.
One of our "investigators" that we have taught for a while has been Miguel. Miguel is one of the most stubborn people that I have ever met. He has taken the missionary lessons for three years and has no desire to be baptized, but he keeps inviting the missionaries back weekly. It makes no sense. Elder Nelson and I were getting pretty frustrated because it didn't seem like anything we said was important to him. Nearly every lesson that we taught we were kicked out of his house in some way. It has been stressed a lot that we need to teach people, not lessons, and so we took this pretty seriously this week. We prayed a lot to know what to teach Miguel and we both felt like we should talk about challenges in this life and why they are important. We talked about how to gain knowledge in this life there are three steps that we need to go through. First, we must have faith. Second, we will have a trial. Third, we endure the trial, and then finally we are blessed with knowledge or blessings in our lives. We based this off of Ether 12:6 (I think) which talks about how you won't receive a witness until after the trial of your faith. We both prayed a lot about this specific lesson plan and both felt really good going into it. Surprisingly, Miguel listened the entire time. We talked about how when trials really are a blessing in our life, because we are promised that when we endure them, we will grow. It was such a testimony builder to me. I know that Miguel is just a person played by one of my teachers, but none the less, the Lord knew it was important to Elder Nelson and I to know what to teach him. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be on a mission. It is so comforting to know that answers are just a prayer away. My testimony of this has been strengthened so much. I know that God wants us to know what to do in this life. He wants us to feel of his love and guidance. God is waiting to give us blessings and answers. All we have to do is pray and have faith and they will come.
Yesterday I was talking with some elders and found out that they were going to the Marshall Islands. I said that my best friend Elder Mickelsen was there and one of the elders that was there was from the Marshall Islands said that Dalt was the Zone leader over his home area and he knew him pretty well. He said that Dalt was an awesome person and he had made a big impact on his life. It's awesome how missionary work has spread across the entire world. Its awesome that because of missionary work, a young man from Rupert Idaho can play an impact in someone's life that is all the way across the world. I know that I am only going a couple states south of Idaho, but I know that there are people there that I can help. I know that there are people that need to hear the message specifically from me, and I am so thankful for this opportunity that the mission has given me.
Sunday we watched a devotional from a couple years ago by David A. Bednar. He talked about the Character of Christ. He talked about how when we sin, or when we are selfish, we are turning away from Christ and looking towards ourselves. He talked about he importance of caring for others and how the way that we can become like Christ is through service. I have been spending a lot of time studying about Christ and the more I learn, the clearer it is to me that Christ's entire life was really just for us. He was a perfect being and the way to return to live with His Father in Heaven was set. However, He didn't want to be the only one to experience this miraculous joy. He lived his life, so that we could all experience these same blessings. He truly satisfied the demands of justice for us so that even though we make mistakes, we can be perfect through him. The reason why I am on a mission is getting clearer and clearer every day. We make decisions for four reasons: out of fear, for a reward, because it is a duty, and because we truly have a desire. I always knew this mission was a duty. Every young man has been asked to serve a mission. However, each day I am out here it turns more into a desire than a duty. I love this Gospel and it has changed my life. This message truly is a message of joy and I cannot wait to share it with the people in Tempe
I love you all, Take care.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Week Five.... So crazy. Time is FLYING. Not a whole lot has gone on this week. The MTC is usually a pretty mild place, not too many crazy things happen, but I love it here.
The Spanish is coming along slowly but great as usual. This week Elder Nelson and I taught five different "investigators" which was a little bit of a challenge. Teaching so many people has really shown me how much Spanish I actually know. There really isn't too much time to plan lessons, so we just go in with a general idea of what we are going to teach and hope all goes well. During a couple of the lessons we felt like we should completely switch up what the original plan was and surprisingly it went pretty well. We were able to express all of our ideas completely and make sure that each person we were teaching had a solid understanding of what we were saying. I am so thankful for the help that I have been getting to learn this language. Without the constant help of the Lord and the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, there would be no way I would be progressing in this language this fast. The Lord truly does help his missionaries.
One of our "investigators" that we have taught for a while has been Miguel. Miguel is one of the most stubborn people that I have ever met. He has taken the missionary lessons for three years and has no desire to be baptized, but he keeps inviting the missionaries back weekly. It makes no sense. Elder Nelson and I were getting pretty frustrated because it didn't seem like anything we said was important to him. Nearly every lesson that we taught we were kicked out of his house in some way. It has been stressed a lot that we need to teach people, not lessons, and so we took this pretty seriously this week. We prayed a lot to know what to teach Miguel and we both felt like we should talk about challenges in this life and why they are important. We talked about how to gain knowledge in this life there are three steps that we need to go through. First, we must have faith. Second, we will have a trial. Third, we endure the trial, and then finally we are blessed with knowledge or blessings in our lives. We based this off of Ether 12:6 (I think) which talks about how you won't receive a witness until after the trial of your faith. We both prayed a lot about this specific lesson plan and both felt really good going into it. Surprisingly, Miguel listened the entire time. We talked about how when trials really are a blessing in our life, because we are promised that when we endure them, we will grow. It was such a testimony builder to me. I know that Miguel is just a person played by one of my teachers, but none the less, the Lord knew it was important to Elder Nelson and I to know what to teach him. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be on a mission. It is so comforting to know that answers are just a prayer away. My testimony of this has been strengthened so much. I know that God wants us to know what to do in this life. He wants us to feel of his love and guidance. God is waiting to give us blessings and answers. All we have to do is pray and have faith and they will come.
Yesterday I was talking with some elders and found out that they were going to the Marshall Islands. I said that my best friend Elder Mickelsen was there and one of the elders that was there was from the Marshall Islands said that Dalt was the Zone leader over his home area and he knew him pretty well. He said that Dalt was an awesome person and he had made a big impact on his life. It's awesome how missionary work has spread across the entire world. Its awesome that because of missionary work, a young man from Rupert Idaho can play an impact in someone's life that is all the way across the world. I know that I am only going a couple states south of Idaho, but I know that there are people there that I can help. I know that there are people that need to hear the message specifically from me, and I am so thankful for this opportunity that the mission has given me.
Sunday we watched a devotional from a couple years ago by David A. Bednar. He talked about the Character of Christ. He talked about how when we sin, or when we are selfish, we are turning away from Christ and looking towards ourselves. He talked about he importance of caring for others and how the way that we can become like Christ is through service. I have been spending a lot of time studying about Christ and the more I learn, the clearer it is to me that Christ's entire life was really just for us. He was a perfect being and the way to return to live with His Father in Heaven was set. However, He didn't want to be the only one to experience this miraculous joy. He lived his life, so that we could all experience these same blessings. He truly satisfied the demands of justice for us so that even though we make mistakes, we can be perfect through him. The reason why I am on a mission is getting clearer and clearer every day. We make decisions for four reasons: out of fear, for a reward, because it is a duty, and because we truly have a desire. I always knew this mission was a duty. Every young man has been asked to serve a mission. However, each day I am out here it turns more into a desire than a duty. I love this Gospel and it has changed my life. This message truly is a message of joy and I cannot wait to share it with the people in Tempe
I love you all, Take care.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Week 4: September 12
Hola Familia!
Man, Time is flying by. Already a month in...it's so surreal. I got a letter from Keane about his new companion, it's so crazy how things work out. Small world. I'm sure that Keane will be prepared enough and have his call changed to Spanish speaking in a month so he can be my Senior Companion. Haha not really, but it would be sweet.
Everything is going great here. The language is coming along and I am learning more and more every day. It is still really frustrating how I can't say all that I want, but every day it gets easier. We have two "investigators." One is Paco who is really receiving of our message. We asked him to be baptized and he said that he would if God told him to. We challenged him to pray to find out if he should and the next time Elder Nelson and I taught him he told us that he had received his answer and knew that baptism was the path that he needed in his life. It was funny because right as he said that Elder Nelson and I got the biggest smiles on our face. I know that these investigators aren't real, but it brings me so much joy when they progress in the Gospel. Our other "investigator" Miguel is completely the opposite. Most of the times we have taught him we have been kicked out of his house in some form or another. He loves the message that we bring, but any time we mention The Book of Mormon he gets really mad. Elder Nelson and I have prayed about what to teach him next and we feel like families and the plan of salvation is the way that we need to go for our next lesson. Hopefully it turns out better than our others.
Yesterday morning as I was walking out of my room to class, a giant pitch black spider ran across the hallway. I hadn't really seen a spider like this before, and I thought that it might be a black widow. We got a water bottle and put it in there and sure enough, it was. I took it to the building manager and he was very surprised and said that he would take care of it. I think that they are trying to get us used to all of the crazy things that we will see on our missions. That way when black widows pop up in our apartments out of the safety of the MTC we will know what to do. I am so glad that the MTC teaches you how to handle all parts of your mission......haha.
I love how spiritual the MTC is. Each week we have the opportunity to have two devotionals and then watch a previous talk from a general authority. In one of the talks that we listened to, the speaker gave a poem that I really liked.
I'm not sure exactly how it goes, but it went something along the lines of this.
"Come to the edge," He said.
I said "No."
"Come to the edge," He said.
I said "No."
"Come to the edge!" He said.
I walked to the edge, and He pushed me, and I flew.
Sometimes in our lives we are asked to do difficult things. This mission that I am on is no exception. Not a day goes by that is not difficult in some way or another. However, I know that as I make an effort to go to the edge, with a little shove from our Savior Jesus Christ, I can fly. Obedience is stressed so much in the mission field, and at first I have to admit, I was somewhat tired of hearing about it. However, as I have come to find the miracles that result from exact obedience, I am so grateful for how much it is stressed. The quote that Garth Crane gave me before my mission "Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles," has never been as prominent as it is now. There is no way that I would be progressing in the gospel/language as fast as I am without miracles happening. I know that I am never perfectly obedient, but I know that as I strive to be so, the savior will help me to fly. I love this Gospel. I love this work, and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to be out here as one of Christ's soldiers. We were told that there are three type of people in this world. The Lambs, the Wolves, and the Shepherd. I have never thought of myself as a Shepherd, but I know that because I have the fullness of this gospel, I truly am a Shepherd. There are lost lambs out there and I am going to do all that I can to save them from the wolves and bring them back into the strength of the fold.
Take care, I love hearing from you all.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Week 3: Life in the MTC
Familia!
It still doesn't make any sense to me how days can be so long, yet so short. Time is seriously flying by, in a slow way, its weird, but I love it. This week was fairly normal, but definitely amazing. Once I got my immunization records I had to take them to the Immunization center. When I got there, they saw that I hadn't had a flu shot, and so no matter how many times I said that I didn't want one, they still tried to convince me to get one....so I finally fell for it and got one. Two weeks before I was in Walgreens picking up my prescription for my wisdom teeth problems and they offered me a free one. Thinking that I wouldn't have to get one I said that I didn't want one and then went on my way. So back to the MTC. I sit down, get my shot and grab my stuff getting ready to leave and the tell me that it is a $14 shot with a $7 injection fee.... $21. That is 42 tacos at Jack in the Box (Josh knows my pain.) You would think if walgreens offers missionaries a free shot, the church would be all on that as well. Shows what I know. Plus, I could've saved myself $7 and just given it to myself...The joys of the MTC.
I really do love it here though and I have learned so much. We have had a little bit of a messed up schedule. Like I said earlier because of school starting at BYU our teachers changed, and then both of our new teachers went out of town. We have had six teachers in the past two weeks, so it has been a little difficult to get settled down and get to work with all of the changes, but none the less, I have learned so much. Each lesson we teach I am surprised at how much I can actually say. Last Friday, I set a goal for my district to Habla Su Idioma (Speak your Language) all day. I think it really helped us and was sweet to see how we could all communicate fairly well. Another thing that I love about the MTC is we have the opportunity to go to the Temple every Preparation day. Today was a little bit of a different experience. I went through for "The Night Killer" that was his name ha. When I first saw it I was a little scared/nervous/surprised, not a name that you usually see. I am so thankful for the temples though and the work that can be done inside them. I am so thankful that I can do the work for people such as The Night Killer so that he can have a chance to be with his family forever.
Every Sunday and Tuesday we have MTC devotionals, and they are always amazing speakers who somehow know exactly what I need to hear. Yesterday it was a member of the 70, I forgot his name, from Germany. He spoke about how for a missionary to testify with conviction, he had to know, without a doubt, what he was saying was true. The missionary needed to experience emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually what he was testifying about. He then went on to speak about the power of Repentance, and when a missionary feels of that power he will lose the fear of teaching others about the amazing gift that repentance really is. I am so thankful for Repentance in my life. I am thankful for the sorrows that I feel when I make mistakes so I can feel the miraculous joy when I have repented for those mistakes. The Atonement has been one of the most powerful tools in my life. I can't fathom the love the Christ had for us. He didn't need to take upon the sins of the world, but he loved us so much that he did. He wants us to take advantage of this wonderful gift, and during those tough times when we are repenting, who better to help us out than Christ himself. He is always there for us, and he is always willing. Nobody has been a bigger influence on my life than Christ. In times that I can handle, Christ is always by my side. When times become unbearable, he is there to pick me up and carry me through. I am so thankful for him and his perfect love for me. I am so thankful that for the next two years, I get to help people realize that they too have this miraculous gift. Missionary work is amazing, and I honestly can't express how glad I am to be on this mission. I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I know that there are people in Tempe that need my help and I am going to do all I can to be there for them.
I love you all. You are all such amazing examples to me, and I am so thankful to have you in my life.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
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