Heartbreak in the field -

This week was a bit of a heartbreak week. All of those wonderful amazing miracles I shared these past couple of weeks, all of those people dropped us. :(  For one reason or another, none of them were ready to make a real commitment. Then, on top of that,I got sick (hahaha), but never fear, there is a lesson in every trial.

I have learned to embrace trial and opposition. They are essential to our progression and it is how we become better. Especially because I have been trying to focus on developing humility. Going through opposition helps us to recognize our dependence on the Lord and gives us a chance to recognize the little things God has given us.

So here are a couple little blessings from this week:  (1) being able to real time chat with Trae, especially because we are both missionaries now... (2) making funfetti cake with a 5 year old named Aria... and (3) President Gardner brought us mint oreo milkshakes because I was sick. There were so many more little tender mercies for which I am so very grateful for. And as it says in Mosiah 24:15 "Submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord". That is the test of this life, and I know we are never in it alone!!

~ With Bunches of Love,

Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1429 Grandview Ave #24

Papillion, NE 68046

CALLING AUDIBLES - due to unforeseen circumstances

So, this week was a week full of calling audibles. For those of you who aren't too familiar with football, calling an audible is when the QB changes the play right in the moment, due to unforeseen circumstances. So, this week we were challenged to call an audible if the person who we were teaching wasn't prepared for what we had planned. I sort of dreaded this commitment, because I LOVE planning and I don't like it one bit when I have to change those plans, and just go with the flow of things. But I agreed, so Heavenly Father provided me with many opportunities!

Opportunity #1: This week we had the chance to have a lesson with Eric (guy with the cool car from the miracles last week). We were planning on teaching him the Plan of Salvation. Everything was going well, our member showed up, he had kept his previous commitment, he was loving understanding "why we are here" and "where we came from". Then, here it came, he asked us a question about commandments and the Word of Wisdom. Knowing that he did smoke and drink, I called an audible right there! We didn't end up finishing teaching the lesson we had had planned, instead, we were guided and gave the lesson he needed.

Opportunity #2: Another lesson with our miracle find last week, the young couple with a baby. Again, everything was going as planned, our member came, the spirit was there...and then...they said they had not read 3 Nephi 11 (their past commitment). So..audible called! We, then, proceeded to introduce the Book of Mormon, read 3 Nephi 11 with them, and emphasized the importance of scripture study and keeping commitments.

 

Both of those lessons, though different than what we had planned for, or expected were so very powerful! They were 100% guided by the spirit, and in both lessons, we were able to point out the presence of the Spirit and teach them about the importance of recognizing the Spirit, so they could gain their own answers. I like this calling audible thing, it's like a trust fall. Trusting but not knowing, for sure, someone will be there to catch you, and then realizing that as I put my trust completely in God's hands, He will always provide, and make situations even better than anything I could ever imagine!

~ With Bunches of Love,

Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1429 Grandview Ave #24

Papillion, NE 68046

Miracles and Families

Miracles and families... miracles and families... temples and the priesthood... yay temples and the priesthood... yay yayy yayyy!!! That is a little song I made up all about the wonderfulness of this week!! It begins last Monday. We had the opportunity to go over to our mission president's house and have a conference call with Elder Donaldson who is head of the missionary department in Salt Lake. We discussed planning and the importance of families in the gospel. He also helped answer some questions we had about how to effectively find those who are prepared. It was awesome being able to learn from him. Sister Youngberg and I went home and made goals on how we were going to apply these new things we had learned, and the results were absolutely miraculous!!

Miracle #1: We had decided to go and talk with people at the park. It was crazy hot and so there weren't too many people there. The first guy we talked too wasn't very interested. Guy #2 however, decided to listen. He was fishing with chicken liver(yuck) but was open to hearing our message. He had opened up and and told us that it was the 1 year anniversary of his son passing away. We then taught him the message of the restoration with an emphasis on priesthood and families. We asked him what would it mean to him if he could know his family could be together forever. He said "I would be the richest man on earth, I wouldn't need any money at all!" We invited him to be baptized, which he accepted and to say the closing prayer. With a bit of hesitation, he said the most sincere, heartfelt prayer I have heard! Afterwards, we asked him how he felt, he said, "I'm usually a pretty happy guy, but I feel FANTASTIC!!!!'' We have an appointment to see him tonight!:)

Miracle #2: Sister Youngberg and I were tracting and this really nice, shiny black car drives by and pulls into the driveway across from us. We decide to go and talk with him. We taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized as well, he accepted and we set up an appointment to see him this week. We didn't think too much more about it. Then on Saturday we realized we hadn't invited him to church, so we shot him a text. He responded,"This may sound crazy, but I think we met for a reason the other day. I am open minded and interested in learning more. I haven't been to church in a really long time and so I am nervous to come this week."  We set up a church tour, which he came to and loved!!! We will be seeing him Tuesday!

Miracle #3: We were walking back to our car after trying to visit someone who wasn't home and we saw a lady playing in the grass with her baby on her front lawn. We gave each other "the look" and headed over to talk to her. She enthusiastically accepted our invitation to hear our message and about two minutes later her husband came and listened too!! Though they don't have too much of a religious background, they want to have that guarantee that they can be with their families forever. They both accepted the invitation to be baptized and said they were going to begin reading the Book of Mormon as as family that night!!! We will be seeing them Wednesday!!!!

 

Sooooo many wonderful opportunities this week to bring the hope of the gospel to soooo many families. Heavenly Father is preparing people to receive this message, not just here, but everywhere!!!:D

~ With Bunches of Love,

Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1429 Grandview Ave #24

Papillion, NE 68046

MIRACLES in the storm

I would like to share a most wonderful miracle from this week. Here is a little bit of background...so Sister Youngberg and I have been trying for the past couple of week to find people who are prepared, ready, and searching for the gospel, and we have not found one yet. But we keep on going, talking to everyone, sharing our testimonies, searching. This week was the mission leadership council where we council together with the mission president on how we can work better and more effectively. So what we came up with was a mission wide finding activity. All of the missionaries in our mission(90 companionships) would all go out on Thursday night from 6-9 and focus solely on finding. Now, to be honest, I was a bit nervous about this finding activity, three hours only finding??? I was scared that we would not be able to find anyone, given our past experiences. As I tried to prepare myself for this activity, I was reminded of a story in the Bible, in Mark chapter 9. In summary, there was a man with a very sick child, he brought his child to the disciples to be healed. Sadly nothing they did worked, the man's son was still sick. Christ comes and asks the man, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." The man responds, "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief." Me like this man, believed that through God, all things are possible, however, I still had unbelief. I was hesitant to put my trust in the Lord especially because in the past, things did not turn out the way I expected. But I prayed for strength and for this experience to be faith building and wonderful, whether or not I saw any miracles.

Thursday came, and we had a conference call to set some goals: Teach the message of the Restoration 3 times, hand out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and invite 1 person to be baptized. These were some good goals, they would stretch us, but were also achievable. We are getting ready to leave our apartment, and the tornado siren goes off!! We call our mission president and he tells us the tornado is not close to us, and to just be on the look out. So, out we went, so pumped and ready, surprisingly, not even scared. The rain was pouring down, but Sister Youngberg and I were laughing! Laughing because out of all of the days that this could happen, it happens exactly when we as a mission decide to do this huge finding activity. Stupid Satan was trying to stop us, and that was not going to happen! With renewed courage and determination we went to find those prepared people!! By the end of the night, we were soaked, like literally it was as if we had taken a 15 minute shower with our clothes on, haha! But, oh, so many miracles.  Not only were we able to find people to teach, we exceeded our goals! We taught the message of the Restoration 6 times, handed out 6 copies of the Book of Mormon, and invited 7 people to be baptized, 4 of which accepted a firm date. And that is not all! The next morning we had a follow up conference call to share some of the amazing miracles we had experienced as a mission, and there were many!! All together, we taught the message of the Restoration 308 times, Shared 281 copies of the Book of Mormon, and set 109 people for baptism!!!!!!

This gospel is rolling forth to fill the nations and I can testify that "no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, the truth of God will go forth boldly and nobly!"

~ With Bunches of Love,

Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1429 Grandview Ave #24

Papillion, NE 68046

August 1 - FAITH overcomes fear

Everyone who we have been talking to recently, has so much fear about the condition our world is in socially right now, and fear of what more is to come. So, I have been studying and trying to figure out what it was that I needed to learn to further provide guidance and peace, then yesterday at church, it hit me!

It was fifth Sunday and so everyone was combined and Bishop Bentley led the discussion. He began by asking us, what things does the world throw at us that is breaking up our families. People said things like skewed priorities, worldliness, unbridled passions, pride, giving into the natural man and many more. As we discussed these various problems, I began to think of how I personally had seen these things and began to feel a little overwhelmed. I realized that all of these things, these temptations are surrounding us constantly and they are loud and extremely pushy. I began to feel a bit scared, as I realized all that was surrounding not just me, but everyone I loved. Then, the moment of peace and clarity came as Bishop said, "So many things pull us away from God and try to yank us from His presence, it is our covenants that we make that bind us to God and provides us with the power to combat the ills of the world." I sat for a moment and pondered on this. Yes, I knew that covenants were important and good, but up until that moment the importance of covenants was just head knowledge, and as I recognized more fully the blessings and purpose of covenants, what I knew moved from my head to my heart.

I began to think of all the things we promise through covenants of baptism, as well as the temple, to always remember Christ, obedience, consecration, purity and then the promised blessings of power, peace, and the Spirit to be with us always.

Through sacred covenants such as baptism and temple ordinances, we qualify for full protection of the evils of the world. And partnered with daily scripture study and prayer, is exactly how we can meet any opposition, temptation, or fear with courage, not compromise.

~ With Bunches of Love,

Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1429 Grandview Ave #24

Papillion, NE 68046