I Had Some Cool Experiences This Week

June 30, 2014

This week was good, unfortunately Jim doesn't want to meet any more. He talked with his pastor and his pastor told him that there were "doctrinal differences". He wouldn't tell us what they were. It’s not a big deal, we are out here to find the elect and some just aren't there quite yet.

I had some cool experiences this week. I have been reading the New Testament as part of my studies and it has been awesome to see just how accurate our church really is. I have people tell me time and time again on my mission that the bible and the Book of Mormon contradict each other (I never believed it but I’ve never read it all the way). So as I’ve been reading it especially where I am now with all the epistles that Paul has written I have noticed how accurate our doctrine is and how true our claim is to be the restored church of Jesus Christ in it fullness. There is no way we can’t be. There is evidence upon evidence that our claim is true!

I have been praying a lot and trying to figure out what I need to do when I get home and what I should do with college and with life and all that jazz. Then in sacrament meeting someone gave a talk on gratitude and they mentioned a talk by Elder Bednar title "pray always". I’ve read the talk before but when he read part of it it became pretty clear what I needed to do. Elder Bednar relates a story of when he was president of BYU-I.

"During our service at Brigham Young University–Idaho, Sister Bednar and I frequently hosted General Authorities in our home. Our family‍ learned an important lesson about meaningful prayer as we knelt to pray one evening with a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Earlier in the day Sister Bednar and I had been informed about the unexpected death of a dear friend, and our immediate desire was to pray for the surviving spouse and children. As I invited my wife to offer the prayer, the member of the Twelve, unaware of the tragedy, graciously suggested that in the prayer Sister Bednar express only appreciation for blessings received and ask for nothing. His counsel was similar to Alma’s instruction to the members of the ancient Church “to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things” (Mosiah 26:39). Given the unexpected tragedy, requesting blessings for our friends initially seemed to us more urgent than expressing thanks.

Sister Bednar responded in faith to the direction she received. She thanked Heavenly Father for meaningful and memorable experiences with this dear friend. She communicated sincere gratitude for the Holy Ghost as the Comforter and for the gifts of the Spirit that enable us to face adversity and to serve others. Most importantly, she expressed appreciation for the plan of salvation, for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for His Resurrection, and for the ordinances and covenants of the restored gospel which make it possible for families to be together forever.

Our family learned from that experience a great lesson about the power of thankfulness in meaningful prayer. Because of and through that prayer, our family was blessed with inspiration about a number of issues that were pressing upon our minds and stirring in our hearts. We learned that our gratefulness for the plan of happiness and for the Savior’s mission of salvation provided needed reassurance and strengthened our confidence that all would be well with our dear friends. We also received insights concerning the things about which we should pray and appropriately ask in faith.

The most meaningful and spiritual prayers I have experienced contained many expressions of thanks and few, if any, requests. As I am blessed now to pray with apostles and prophets, I find among these modern-day leaders of the Savior’s Church the same characteristic that describes Captain Moroni in the Book of Mormon: these are men whose hearts swell with thanksgiving to God for the many privileges and blessings which He bestows upon His people (see Alma 48:12). Also, they do not multiply many words, for it is given unto them what they should pray, and they are filled with desire (see 3 Nephi 19:24). The prayers of prophets are childlike in their simplicity and powerful because of their sincerity."

So I have set a goal to every week on Sunday night to say a prayer only of gratitude. I tried it last night and it was an amazing experience. No amazing revelation came in the instance of what to do with my life, but it was amazing how I was able to recognize the spirit during the prayer prompting me to what to pray for. I think it is a good practice to help us recognize the spirit and pray for the things that are in line with God's will. 

That's about it for this week, love ya

Jordan

This Week We Had A Pretty Cool Miracle

June 23, 2014

There are now 4, yes. That's how it is in almost every area now so it’s not a big deal. We just picked a line in the middle of our map and the left side is ours and the right side is theirs. So far it’s been pretty good. This summer so far is a lot milder, the winter last extremely long last year. This time last year it was always super hot and gross, so far it hasn't been too bad. I’m going to shrivel into a raisin when I get home though. I’m used to humidity now. This winter my skin got super dry, so I don't know how it will be with 0% humidity. I haven't sent you a picture of downtown Yorktown because I have never been there. We live in Yorktown but it’s at the opposite end.

We did get to see Jim, we stopped by to follow up on the pamphlet. He said he knows a little about the church, his family had a run in with the church 30 yrs. ago. He said it wasn't all bad. But he wanted to talk with his pastor before he accepts a book or Mormon... so we will stop by again this week and see how it goes. He still is a super nice guy with us so I think it will be alright.

This week we had a pretty cool miracle. The sister missionaries were out tracting and they knocked into this guy that was super excited to see them. Turns out he’s a member and hasn't been to church in like 10 yrs. and we didn't have his records in the ward. His wife was out of town so the sisters told us to go visit. He is a super nice guy and really funny. He was thinking on Monday that he hadn't seen any missionaries in a while and was going to go swing by the church sometime because he wanted to start coming back. And then Thursday the sisters knock on his door. The lord has some pretty cool timing. He had a boating accident 2 years ago and passed out and was laying on his arm for like 36 hours before the coast guard found him. From laying on he completely killed all the muscle in his arm from lack of blood flow. So he’s had a billion surgeries to move some back muscles into his arm so it will work again. (he showed is some pictures from what his arm looked like after the first surgery and I almost threw up...) But he wants us to keep stopping by, he’s not up to full heath yet but he wants to slowly start coming back, his goal is to start at the 4 th of July activity our ward is having. Hopefully things go well with him.

I think that's about it for this week, love ya

Jordan

We Ride Our Bikes Up And Down His Street All The Time

June 16, 2014

Thanks for getting my plaque done! That's pretty cool that we got a new bishopric. I remember Bishop Adams from the stake presidency, and I think I might know the kids of the other two from school. 

This week was a little slow, but not too bad. We spent a lot of the first half of the week splitting the area because on Thursday we got sister missionaries in our ward now, they decided not to tell us until Tuesday so we had to split everything and make sure the area was ready for them to come in.

We have just spent a lot of time following up on referrals from the members so a lot of our teaching has been to encourage them and help them do missionary work. So when you give the missionaries a referral make sure you follow through on it!

We met a nice guy yesterday named Jim. He talked with us for a while and was surprised to hear about prophets on the earth today. We ride our bikes up and down his street all the time to get to different places, but we decided to talk with some people on that street. He mentioned that he had seen elders ride up and down that street the entire time he has lived there but never new who we were. So he was very interested and talked to us about what we wanted to do when we get home and why we were out on a mission and all that good stuff. So hopefully something good will come of that. That's about it this week

Love ya

Jordan

This Week Was Good But A Little Slow

June 9, 2014

We did go by and talk with that lady but she was feeling sick and didn't feel up to speaking with us very long so hopefully soon she gets better and we can meet with her some more. On preparation day we mostly do things with the elders in our district, like sports and things. There is a lot of history stuff out here but it all costs money. I don't know how much of that we will do, it might be something I have to come back and see. Jake looks huge! He was just a baby when I left!

This week was good but a little slow. With summer starting and school ending everyone is busy with something. We taught one of the investigators that has been taught in this area for like 2 years or something ridiculous like that. She is a super nice old lady named Mary, she is 70 something. I don't how far it will go, she retains some stuff but the member that was with us said she asked the same questions last time he was there, we will see what happens, she is really nice.

There was a youth baptism on Sunday so that was fun to get to see, the kid was super funny. In sacrament when they announced his baptism was after church he stood up from the congregation and waved to everyone, it was pretty funny. That's about it for this week

Love ya

Jordan

We Have Been Trying To Get Creative

June 2, 2014

This week was good. We were busy this week so that's always nice. We had some fun visits this week, I don't know if it’s cause I’m a missionary and talk with more people or if the east coast is just crazier but I have met some strange people on my mission, it sure does keep life interesting.

It’s a weird time right now in this ward, its "moving season" for the military so we are losing 4 or 5 solid families. They say that we are getting 5 new families so that should be nice, but it’s just weird how much things fluctuate out here.

We met a really nice older lady on Friday. We were on exchanges and out tracting (not much else to do). We have been trying to get creative and this was the first door we tried our new approach on. We tell them that we are going around reading scriptures with people and offer to read a scripture with them on their porch. Most of the time they agree and they also agree to starting with a prayer. We then read a passage from the Book of Mormon with them holding a copy and reading a long. We then ask them what they feel and expound the scripture with them. It really softens people's hearts and allows us to talk with them for an extended period of time while the book of Mormon powerfully brings the spirit. She told us that she liked what we were saying and that she was "craving more". So we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and we are going to stop by this week and share a little more.

That's about it this week, love ya

Jordan

Elder Romney on his bike!

Working hard!