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

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

Arriving in Tempe!

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.

This week has been amazing, I really can't describe how grateful I am for everything that has happened. First off, the conference messages were incredible. I learned so much and am so thankful that every six months we have the opportunity to listen to a Prophet of God and his Apostles. Then to add to it, yesterday our devotional was given by Elder Bednar.... ya, I have been spiritually fed more this week that I ever had before. I was really curious as to what Elder Bednar was going to say to us. At the MTC we have the opportunity to listen to quite a few past devotionals and many of them are from Elder Bednar. The talks that I have listened to have been amazing and I have learned so much from them so I was really curious as to what he was going to talk to us about this devotional. When he started out, he said that he was going to do something different than he had ever done before. I got pretty excited because I thought we were going to have some crazy miraculous experience, but then he said that he was going to talk about conference and its importance. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit disappointed when he said this because I wanted to learn something more that I had never heard before. Elder Bednar has the ability to talk about deep doctrine in such a simple way, and so when he said that he was going to talk about something we heard just a few days before I became a little disappointed. However, this devotional was one of the most life changing things that I have been to. As he talked about conference he said a phrase that will always stay with me. "If we don't recall what the prophet and apostles have said, and if we don't apply what they have said to our lives, it is the same as not believing that they are the mouthpiece of the Lord and that Thomas S. Monson isn't a prophet in these latter days." As I thought about this, I realized that I really haven't taken full advantage of the opportunity to listen to conference twice a year. When the prophets and apostles speak, they are telling us what God wants us to hear. Each talk contains doctrine, challenges, and promised blessings, and if we act on these things we can be so much happier in our lives, we can receive so many blessings. In the devotional before conference, we were told that as missionaries we need to pay really close attention to conference, because we carry this message to the world. In Elder Eyring's talk he talked about pavilions in our lives. He talked about how sometimes we feel as if God is far from us, but in reality, we have just placed a pavilion between us and God. He talked about how the only way that we can remove this pavilion is by becoming fully converted, and submitting our will to the Fathers. I know that in my life there have been times where I have had a pavilion between God and I. The Light of God was blocked, not because God was far from me, but because I built a pavilion. I know that during these times I felt alone, and I felt despair that I never want to feel again. However, as I submitted my will to the Fathers, the pavilion was broken down and I knew that God was in my life guiding me because I felt his presence. I know that there are people in Tempe that have pavilions in their lives. They feel as if God is far, but they don't know that He is just on the other side. As a missionary, I have the ability to help them realize what they need to do in their lives to break down the pavilions. I have the ability to help them feel God and the love of the Savior in their life once again. I am so thankful for this opportunity and I grow more excited every day. President Uchtdorf said something along the lines of God knows our potential, and so he knows what we can become. Why then, would we not place our lives in his hands? For these next two years, and for the rest of my life, my life is in the hands of God. I will do what he asks me and I will go where he tells me, because I want to become the best Kevin Jurgensmeier that I can be. I want to serve others and help them become their best selves as well. I love this Gospel, I love this work and I can't wait to get to Tempe. Only 5 more days...

Hope all is well,

Con Amor,

Elder Jurgensmeier

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

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

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