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
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