AMAZINGNESS

Another wonderful week here in Kearney Nebraska!!! Sometimes I feel as if I cannot fit all the amazingness of my mission into one email, but I will try and convey the lessons I learned and miracles I saw this week. First off, we had zone conference where we were trained by our mission president. Let me just say...sooooo gooood!! He trained us about the different levels of conversion. Level 1:our head, meaning the facts memorized information, and reason. Level 2: which is expressed through our heart, feelings, our desires, and an attitude of humility. Then Level 3:  which is our soul, through our experiences, practice and it is an act of becoming. The only way we can know of the truthfulness of any aspect of the gospel is allowing it to move from our heads to our hearts, which cause us to act and then moves this action of faith into our souls. How we can know if the gospel is indeed embedded into our souls, can be found in Mosiah 5:2.  As we allow the gospel of Jesus Christ to enter into our souls, our hearts will change and we will be able to exclaim as did the people of King Benjamin,  "Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

     May we also remember that conversion is a life long process that involves work, our whole" heart, might, mind, and strength" to be exact. Though it will not be easy let us all remember the words of Elder Holland from this past conference address, "Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.'' Never give up for we know we are on the winning team and as we rely on our Savior and emulate his teachings, we will have the ability to accomplish anything!

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

Golden

This week was just pure gold! So Sister Murphy and I are not only having tons of fun, we are seeing tons of miracles too! We take a picture everyday, and I, honestly, keep forgetting that that we have only been together for a week, because we are best buds already. Our bishop is the most amazing person ever, and he sets up meal appointments for  us with members who need an extra dose of the Spirit in their homes. We help them set spiritual goals that will stretch them, and then we encourage and follow up with their progress. These meal appointments have been just wonderful, to see from just one appointment the light and happiness just flood into their lives, is the best thing EVER! They thank us tons, but honestly, it is not us, it is the Spirit. Also, another fun thing - we mowed an enormous lawn... took about 3 hours to complete, however we weren't even the least bit sore... blessings of service work!!

Also, super cool missionary moment, involving the influence of the Spirit. So, Sister Murphy got her hair dyed today (looks amazing!) at a beauty school. We got to talk with two girls our own age for about two hours! They asked us all sorts of questions and were just amazed at the fact we were missionaries. It gave me a glimpse of how it will be when I get back home, and have the opportunity to share the gospel. Just talking with these girls and explaining why we are here and what we do filled the entire salon with the Spirit, and literally everyone was listening! By the time we were done, we exchanged phone numbers so we could get back together again while we were still here in Kearney. It was crazy to see that yes, we are quite different than the 20 year olds around us, but not in a bad way. Those girls totally respected us, and were interested in knowing why we are the way we are. I am so very grateful for this gospel that puts everything into perspective, that gives direction, and purpose and so so much JOY!

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

We Begin to Shine

   Oh my, this week was full of change, excitement and awesome spiritual experiences!! I have a new companion, her name is Sister Murphy. She came from the Trail center, is amazing, and we realized that we both act super weird whenever we get really excited, hahaha. We have only had four days together, and so many wonderful things have happened already!

    This past week, I have been pondering on the definition of joy, and how is it that we can have joy more fully. The first place I turned to was the scriptures, and what I found surprised me. In each scripture, things like tears, sorrow and tribulation always came before the feeling and expression of joy (Psalms 126:5, Isaiah 50:11 &2 Corinthians 7:4), and I realized that joy is something we earn after having accomplished something hard. It is deeper and sweeter than happiness, because we have gone through hard things, and through Christ we were triumphant. This joy that we feel, fills us so completely that we begin to shine, and as Christ has said "Let your light so shine before men." To me, this means that if I stay faithful, and keep pressing forward, through our Savior, my "tears, sorrow and tribulation" can be turned into light. In the scriptures it says "Come unto me...that thy burdens may be light." I always thought that meant less heavy or less hard, but now I realize that this "light" is one that can be seen. It is the light of testimony, and conversion that comes after our trials and is expressed through feelings of joy".  May we have the courage to seek the Savior amidst our trials and always remember the words of Lehi: "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy!"

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

Growing in Cycles

    Major, eye-opening realization this week: the fact that this gospel is not linear, it is circular. What I mean by this is: we do not reach some far off destination and stop, but we learn and grow in a cycle, continuously growing, and progressing. I wish I could draw it out for you, but I will try and do my best, haha.

    So the first step of our "life cycle" is to LEARN. To help us in this step, we start with a desire which leads us to pray, and reading the scriptures.  We watch the examples of our family, friends, and church members.  Then, as we begin to recognize the prompting of the Holy Ghost and begin to act on them, we are lead to begin building our TESTIMONY, and we feel JOY.

      However, as we all know, we live in a fallen world and "there must be opposition in all things." Now, add to this cycle OBSTACLES, thus temptations, human frailties, pride, etc.

The next step is to then PRACTICE the Godly things that we have learned. In the face of adversity, the test is how well we put into PRACTICE the simple principles of the gospel.

    Though we all know, we will never be able to accomplish anything on our own, Heavenly Father adds THE ATONING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST to this cycle! The atonement not only cleanses us of sin, it enables us to overcome any and all OBSTACLES. As we go through this necessary and redeeming step, we are able to LEARN, which stengthens our TESTIMONY and we feel JOY. Then we do it all over again!!

    As a missionary, I have had many opportunities to help others in the "LEARN" step of the cycle.  I see first hand when they hit the OBSTACLES,  and I watch with faith, as they PRACTICE living all they have learned.  I witness and testify to THE ATONING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST in their lives, and I experience with them the immense JOY as they are delievered and they LEARN MORE of God's LOVE, and their TESTIMONY grows!!!  This is the cycle of conversion. Conversion is not a one time thing. It takes patience, work and persistence. However, we never have to do this or anything alone, our Savior, as always, is not only our perfect example, He is who we can turn to anytime, all the time! I invite you to read "Converted Unto The Lord" by Elder Bednar from which this blog was inspired:)

P.S. I tried to make it in a circular format.

LEARN/TESTIMONY =>

JOY =>  

OBSTACLES/ADVERSITY =>

PRACTICE + THE ATONING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST  =>

LEARN/TESTIMONY =>

JOY =>  

OBSTACLES/ADVERSITY =>

PRACTICE + THE ATONING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST

repeat again, and again

     

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847