Week 80: What a week!

Familia!

Man, do I love transfer week. It always teaches me a valuable lesson. Sleep is not necessary, or so it seems haha. I'm not sure how we make it through, but its amazing the things you can get done with God's help.

Monday wasn't too crazy of a day. We spent most of the day with the departing missionaries. There were only three in this group, so it wasn't too hectic. One of the Sisters that went home came out with me!!!! What??? Time is going way too fast. After the departing dinner and program we took the Elders to our place to make it easier for the early morning airport run.

My favorite day of the week was probably Tuesday. It started at 5:30am and ended the next morning around 3 am. Lots of time for miracles. Its a bitter sweet feeling dropping the missionaries off at the airport to head home. They will be missed, but its an exciting time for them. The best part of the day is usually picking up the arriving missionaries. They are are a mixture of emotions; lost, scared, nervous, happy, tired, but mostly excited. This transfer we switched things up a little bit from the last transfers. Usually they are running around all day with tons of orientation, but this transfer we made it a little more calm and took a lot of time to get to know them. As we have in the past few transfers we went to the Visitors Center at the Mesa Temple to watch the Joseph Smith movie and then allow them to have some time to set goals for their mission on the temple grounds. Elder Oscarson and I have been working a lot with one of our investigators Jasmine. She loves the idea of serving a mission. She is still working through a couple different things, but she has been receiving a lot of answers. One of her hold ups is knowing if Joseph Smith was a prophet, so we thought "Hey, a double wammy. She needs to know Joseph Smith was a prophet (we are watching a movie about him and the restoration) and she loves missionaries (there are 20 brand new ones)." So we invited Jasmine to come along. A few days before hand we asked her if she would prepare some thoughts about how a missionary could impact someone's life and help them come closer to Christ. When we got to the visitors center, President Toone took a few moments to talk to the missionaries and then he had us come up and introduce Jasmine. After she bore one of the most heartfelt testimonies. That day Jasmine went from completely against the idea of Joseph Smith being a prophet to thinking more than ever it is a possibility. She has been making some amazing progress. She is telling everyone about the Book of Mormon and how true she knows it is. She compared herself to Samuel the Lamanite. He knew truth and he found a way to spread it, even if it was on a wall with arrows and stones coming his way. She has been facing a lot of trials, but she won't give up the ground that she has won. I am so grateful for her and the example she is. She is the definition of a follower of Christ. She would give up anything to do what He asks. She is nervous for what the future holds, but she knows that as she continues forward with Christ, there is nothing to doubt.

Then, after all day Tuesday with the new missionaries came Transfer meeting. With all of the miracles that we have been seeing on Campus we all felt really inspired to increase the number of missionaries serving there. About 6 months ago there were only two sets of missionaries on campus, now there are five. There are so many prepared people, and it is up to us to reach them. President wanted to make sure that we put some of our best missionaries on campus, and so he put there none other than Elder Kloepfer! And since Elder Oscarson and I are over housing assignments, of course we live together! There are going to be some good things done on campus. Here shortly is might even be known as BYU-A.....we'll see, that's a ways off.

How grateful I am to be serving in such an amazing place. As the Gilbert Temple Open House, Celebration, and Dedication have all wrapped up this last weekend I know that there are great things in store. And to think, not too far in the future the Phoenix temple will be completed and the miracles will just multiply. His work truly is hastening. I know that this is His Gospel, and its our privilege to reach out to others and share it.

Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier