Week #49

June 27, 2016

Hi Family!

Great week this week! We've been working really hard on finding new investigators and helping the investigators we have to progress and take their next step. It has been great to see them move forward with each faith filled step they take. 

To start out with who I feel it progressing most right now in our area, Bob. Bob is really understanding and loving the doctrine that we teach and he recognizes that there is something missing in other religions, specifically with the bible. He has been reading and doing quite a bit of research on the church. He still doesn't feel that he has had an answer of if the church is true or not but he is really doing great! I can't remember if I told you already or not but when we found Bob, he didn't seem too promising. We tracted his house and when he answered, we were immediately intimidated. He's probably 6'3" and isn't a skinny bean poll to say the least. On top of that, he is beyond passionate about religion. He basically told us that we knew nothing when we met him. In fact he was yelling at us when we tracted him. But because of tenacious efforts, we set a return appointment with him and he's now one of our best investigators! Seriously love that guy!

Nuvola has been reading the Book of Mormon and has been liking it. She really doesn't see a huge difference from her religion, Catholic, and ours. She has told us that she isn't really interested in joining the church but is always willing to listen to us and loves learning more. We're hoping and praying that she will gain a desire to act on what we are teaching her.

Parker has been out of town a lot in the last few weeks but is doing well. His Grandma, whose a member, came to church on Sunday! We are hoping that she gets reactivated and then Parker will stay active once he gets baptized! We will probably start teaching his little brother Leeland as well. He just barely turned 8. Really love that family. So many people here that I want to see get baptized but it doesn't look like any of them will make it before July 13th. That's the next transfer and I would bet about a zillion bucks that I'm going to a new area.

We didn't get to see Victor this week due to a conflict in his schedule but we have an appointment set up with him on Tuesday.

Those are our most progressing people right now and I love all of them!

I just have a quick experience that I want to share. 

As we were tracting this week out in the country, we were walking to the next house when a van pulled up next to us. The man inside was a little rough looking and he started talking to us about the history of Christianity. Anyway, it eventually got to the point where he was yelling at us, telling us that our religion was of the devil and that we were going to burn in Hell. I got pretty frustrated with me and stuck my head inside of the passenger side window that was down and was sure to tell him that he didn't know what he was talking about and then walked away. I felt the spirit leave me immediately as I did so and felt that I couldn't let my feelings of anger go towards this complete stranger who found it necessary to ruin my day. I was prompted to say a prayer and ask for help to love this man. As soon as I did so, I felt the love of the Lord come flooding back to me and had a great rest of the day! Such a blessing to have that experience!

Love you guys so much! Glad everyone is having a good summer! Good luck Coop with Cross Country! Its a blast!

Love,

Jack 

Week #48

June 20, 2016

Hi! 

I really have limited time this week to email so I will get right down to business.

We had some great experiences this week! One of which was a new investigator that we picked up! His name is Victor and he is 73 years old. He looks like he is maybe 50! He has heard a lot of things about Mormons but said that he was told by his parents to never develop an opinion based off of someone else's. He is also VERY spiritually in tune! As we were sitting there teaching him about the Restoration of the gospel, I felt the spirit so strongly and just pictured him in all white. Not in baptismal clothes but in temple clothes because that is where he is headed! I am really amazed at how prepared Victor is. We are meeting with him this Sunday to see if he had an answer to his prayers. I would be quite surprised if he hasn't gotten an answer. So stoked to see how quickly he will progress!

Nuvola, an Italian lady that we are teaching is doing pretty great! She doesn't really want to join the church right now but she is willing to read the Book of Mormon and we have a great relationship with her. We helped her paint her garage this last week and then she offered to feed us, so we had dinner with them last night! We got to meet her husband for the first time and he is great! She made the best tasting italian food I have ever tasted! 

Bob is doing great as well! He is still reading the Book of Mormon and we invited him this week to really pray about it! We will be following up with him tomorrow to see if he has done that. Our next step with him is working on getting him to come to church.

Terry is still really progressing in the gospel! He is going to pass the sacrament this coming week for the first time and is now working on family history for the temple! It has been great to see him come closer and closer to Chirst! 

That's mostly everything that has happened in the last week but we have been having a lot of fun doing missionary work! Love you all so much. Hope you have a great week. 

Love,

Jack

 

Elder Scoresby and Elder Brewer helping Nuvola paint her garage.

Week #47

Hi!

Had a pretty good week this week! We had a ton of time finding which was great! I always enjoy tracting and getting to meet new people. Unfortunately we didn't have as much success as I would've liked. We did find a couple of investigators but none of them are actually investigators yet.

We haven't been able to teach Marleen's friend yet. We went over to Marleen's house to talk to her about going to see her friend but she told us that they got in a fight and she needed some time before we tried to teach her. Satan always has a way of preventing us from teaching prepared people.

There hasn't been a whole lot of progress with any of our investigators this last week. Parker, however, did go on a scout camp out which he seemed to of enjoyed. He already has a large amount of fellowship which will help him stay active in the church once he gets baptized. 

I wish that I had more great news to report but I do have another cool experience! 

So Elder Brewer and I were out tracting in the middle of no where and it was like 2 million degrees and super humid. We had been knocking doors for probably 2 hours or so and had no success. As we knocked on the next door, I said, "Man if we were in Utah we could knock on any random door and a member would answer and offer us some water!" We both kinda laughed and dreamed about how refreshing some water would be. Then, as we were about to knock on the next house, Elder Brewer says to me, "wait a minute, isn't this the Bogner's house?" I looked up and realized that it was! We both stood there, laughed at ourselves, and then knocked on the door. Luckily brother Bogner was home and treated us to a delicious bottle of water! 

Each day I become more and more grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving in Ohio. I love it here and love the people that I get to meet every single day. I love you guys and hope you have a great week.

Love, 

Jack 

P.s. Mom that was a great story! Reminds me of earlier this week when we were tracting out in the country and I just about stepped on a turtle! I obviously picked it up because I am me, but I didn't want to carry it to the next door and have someone answer with me holding a turtle... not a great image. Elder Brewer threw out the idea, why don't you just put it in you bag. I definitely considered it but the idea of cleaning turtle poop out of my bag didn't sound too pleasing. I decided to let it go back to his home. He reminded me a lot of sparky! I have now caught a frog, a rabbit, and a turtle on my mission. The next step is either a squirrel or a raccoon! I'll let you know when I catch on of those.

Week #46

Hi!

Good week this week! I don't have any super amazing news to share but I do want to start out with an amazing miracle that happened yesterday. 

So Saturday night, I knelt down by my bed pondering on what I was going to fast for. I pondered for a few minutes and then felt a strong urge to fast for a member referral, which means a member of the church gives us someone they know to teach. So I went to bed that night and expecting my prayer to be answered some time in the coming week or so. Then at church on Sunday, after our early morning meetings, Marleen, a recent convert in the ward of just over a year came up to us and told us that her friend wanted to meet with us and be baptized!!!! Heavenly Father didn't even wait until after church to bless us with that one! We are going to contact her this week and hopefully start teaching her! She's only 14 or 15 so we'll have to get her parents permission before we teach her. That experience really strengthened my testimony of fasting!

Terry's doing great too! He got the priesthood yesterday and is preparing to go to the temple! The ward is really reaching out to him and making him feel welcomed at the ward. Terry comes to every single church function. Whether it's a stake priesthood meeting or ward kick ball, he's there! He'll get to pass the sacrament this coming week which will be so special to see! I'm really proud of him and all the work he has put forward to get to where he is now.

Parker doesn't have a baptismal date as of now. We set one with him and he accepted but then his Grandma called us and told us that he was going to be out of town for that date. He is still deciding if he wants to get baptized though. I would be very surprised if he chose not to. He's got a lot of great support in the ward and is coming to church most Sundays. He was out of town this week so he wasn't able to come. 

Elden is doing good! He came to church this week and is having a lot of success with overcoming his depression. He has been struggling with getting to church because of it but yesterday he came and had such a great experience! He was so happy and said he would be back next week! 

We're still working on getting all of our new investigators to stick but I'm sure that some of them will. Hopefully I'll have a lot to tell next week on our new investigators.

I want to share one last experience this week. 

So we walked over to visit Danny, one of our investigators, Saturday evening and had a great lesson with him. But when we left his apartment and looked out the front windows of the building, we saw that it was just a complete down pour... No umbrellas... No rain jackets.... Nothing. Elder Brewer and I just looked at each other and laughed! We had one more visit to make to a member of the ward and the walk was probably just under a mile. We saw that the rain was slowing down just a little bit so we started walking. There was no point in running because either way, by the time we got there we were going to be soaked completely through. So we walked about 3/4 of the way there and a member drove past but turned around and gave us a ride the rest of the way. I just think it's amazing how great it is to be a missionary. No matter where we go as missionaries, we always have friends that look out for us and keep us safe. So don't worry mom, I'm being watched out for! 

I love you guys a lot! I'm going to try and send a package today with some things in it for the family. I'm still working on getting Hannie a present! Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Jack 

Week #45

Hi!

I'M STAYING IN ASHLAND!! I was so surprised last night when we got a call and the Zone Leaders told us that I was staying here with Elder Brewer! I really thought that I was going to be transfered! Glad to be here for another 6 weeks.

This week the weather has really warmed up and so people have started swimming and it makes me miss swimming so much! I didn't realize how much I swam until now!

This week has been really great for Elder Brewer and I! We picked up 5 new investigators this week! We did a ton of finding and teaching people right when we met them which went great! Also, like I said, it has really warmed up this week. I wouldn't say it's hot, because it's typically been in the mid to low 80s but the humidity kicks my butt! I have never experienced anything like this before! Last year I think I just barely missed the humid time of the summer so this is my first taste of it. Not going to lie though, I would rather be dripping sweat than freezing solid!

Our investigators are doing pretty well. 

Parker is still planning on getting baptized. We haven't met with him in over a week but we're going to see him tonight which will be awesome! We called his grandma earlier today and she said that he prayed for me to stay in Ashland! Prayer answered, Thank you Parker! I should be able to be here for his baptism if all goes well! 

Bob is doing pretty good too. We weren't able to see him this week due to family problems but we will later this week.

Elden is doing amazing! Can't remember if I told you or not but he struggles with depression and can't take anti depressants for some reason. Any way that has been a huge barrier for him. He started taking some supplement that helps even out the chemicals in your body which has taken the depression away!! He told us that he would be coming to church this coming Sunday now that he's doing better. He is also reading the Book of Mormon and liking that. 

We haven't seen Misty and her family for a while now but we are trying to work around their busy schedules. Her kids are super involved in sports which makes it hard to have a time to teach them.

I'm seriously over joyed to be staying in Ashland! I really do love this area and all the people that are here! Even the people that aren't interested in our message seem to reject us with kindness! It's almost refreshing to be rejected with kindness. You walk away feeling like you just made another friend which rocks! 

I hope you all have a great week and I love you all so much! 

Love,

Elder Jack

Week #44

May 23, 2016

Hi!

Such a great week this week! The highlight was obviously Terry being baptized and confirmed! It is still crazy to me that he is now a Mormon! It was great to see him at church on Sunday. Yesterday was the first time that he wore a white shirt to church! He looked just like a member of the church! He said after his confirmation that he felt so much happier! We plan to go to the temple with him on the 4th of June, so hopefully I will still be here. I've got a feeling that I am going to be moving areas this transfer, so I'm praying that I'm wrong!

Parker is doing amazing! I told him that there's a chance I could leave on June 1st and he got super sad! He said that he was going to miss me so much. He already seems like a member of the church to me which is awesome. He came to church again yesterday and we didn't even see him after sacrament meeting because he was hanging out with the deacons! He is so ready to join the church. We just have to finish teaching him all of the lessons and he has to stop drinking tea. I love Parker and am glad he's enjoying church.

Dave is doing good. He said that he will read about the Restoration. He seems to be understanding and accepting all of what we are teaching him. He struggles a little bit with retaining information which is frustrating but he's doing good.

Bob is doing great! We really focused on the restoration with him this week and he said that as of now, the story of Joseph Smith is a fictional story. Then he said, "but I know my next step is finding out if this is true". So that's exactly what we committed him to do, read the Book of Mormon, and pray to know that it is true. That's all anyone can do. If people refuse to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, then they aren't going to come to a knowledge of the truthfulness. I hope Bob will recognize the answer to his prayers. 

We are going to see Rachel and Jeremiah this coming weekend, the couple that are moving into the new house. I'm so excited to talk with them some more! They seem so great! 

We had a really cool miracle that took about 3 or 4 months to come about! So when I first came into the area, I was on exchanges with my district leader, Elder Hutzler, (side note, he's from Mesa too!) and we were contacting and ran into Nancy, a lady that really wanted us to meet her at her house another time and talk to her. Well she gave us her phone number and address and we went our separate ways. We then tried calling her and were unable to reach her through a phone call so we typed her address in the GPS and... it didn't exist. We were pretty bummed out about that one. However, 3 weeks ago, Elder Brewer and I were driving through the town that she lived and I saw a street sign and remembered that was the name of the street that Nancy lived on! We parked the car, found her house number, and knocked on the door. No answer. And so this was for the next 2 times we knocked on her door. Then, this last weekend, we decided to go by her house and see if she was there one last time. So we traveled over to her house and actually caught her there this time!! She was very happy to see us and let us come right inside! She had company over so we set up a time to come back this coming weekend! I can't wait to teach her! She seems so great!

It's really quite amazing how the Lord works. I'm glad that Heavenly Father is mindful of all his sheep! 

I love and miss you guys a ton! I think about you guys often. Hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Jackson

This is a picture of Jackson and Elder Brewer sent by a member in the ward in Ashland.

Week #43

May 16, 2016

Hi Everyone!

Terry is doing great! He had his baptismal interview yesterday and all is good so we're going for this Saturday! I can't believe that he is finally getting baptized! I feel like it has been such a long road for him. He is doing so awesome, I'm stoked for this weekend!

We didn't meet with Misty and Steve this week due to them having busy schedules but we have an appointment set up for tomorrow! I love that family and hope that I stay for another transfer to be able to see them progress a little bit more and hopefully be baptized. 

Dave, I think I told you about dave, is doing great too! We have only taught him a couple of times but he is understanding everything well and is liking us coming over and talking to him. He said that he wants to come to church this week. We are teaching him the Plan of Salvation tonight. I can't wait to see his reaction because last week he talked about how his mom passed away a year ago and how that has been really hard for him.

We've been doing a lot of finding this week with little success so far. Mostly everyone has told us they're not interested, but they've been really nice to us though, which is great! I've been really impressed with how kind people are to us whether they are interested or not. 

One of my highlights this week was when I destroyed a squirrel in our car haha. It was really sad but they always run across the road right in front of us and I always try to avoid them. This little guy ran right infront of us and got turned into bird feed... Poor little fellow. 

I didn't get to go out to eat with Ralph, he never called me after I gave him our number so hopefully he does this week. I'll let you know if he calls.  (Ralph is a member from Jackson's first area that lost his wife a few months ago.  He emailed Jack, and wanted to drive over to Ashland and take Jack and his companion to dinner.)

Congrats Liza and Coop on the recitals! You'll be happy that you stuck with it! (piano)  I sorta wish that I did.  And I can't wait to see how good you are at tumbling when I get home Liza! You'll be a professional by then!

Love, Jack