Week #56

Hi Everyone!! 

I can't believe that Bennett is starting mission Prep! That's so great! I'm sure that he'll love it. I feel like it was just yesterday that I started going to mission prep. Good memories there. 

That will be fun to have Hannah and Ryan and Noah around for a good amount of time! 

Had a really great week this week especially with Anthony! He is doing so amazing! He is so willing to give up everything he needs to in order to be baptized. He told us this last week how he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that he knows he needs to be baptized, but he just isn't ready yet. He's doing really great though.

The rest of our investigators aren't really progressing right now. Dejah is having a really hard time believing in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. She believes that she just needs the Bible so we're working with her to help her realize that the Book of Mormon helps to strengthen our faith in Christ. She's moving on Wednesday to go to college so we'll try to get the missionaries over there to meet with her.

This week we've had some intense rain storms! One of the nights after we got home, we looked outside and it was raining harder than I had ever seen before! So out of instinct, being from Arizona, I sprinted outside and ran through the rain and within 15 seconds I was soaked all the way through! Rain is the best!! 

I talked to Elder Brewer a couple of weeks ago and he said that Parker isn't progressing really well, so I don't think that he has a baptismal date. Bob, however, does have a baptismal date and has been to church at least 3 times now which is awesome! Ashland is such a great place and they're doing awesome there. 

Love you so much Mom! Glad you're excited about having your only grandbaby near you! Should be fun! I can't believe you're a grandma! That's super weird! Love you!!!! Have a great week!

Love,

Jack

Week #55

Hi Everyone!

So Moses didn't make it to church on Sunday but hopefully we'll be able to get in contact with him this coming week and teach him. Dejah hasn't gone to school yet but I think she does at the end of this week. We're going to see her today and I'm sure that'll go well. Still sad that we aren't going to be able to teach her after she leaves. 

Elder Davis and I get along really well! We work really well together and have a ton of fun! We also get along really well with the Elders in our apartment. It's just a party all the time in our apartment! It's super awesome! Just a ton of Bro time! 

I love it here in Shaker! We're having some great success with current investigators and we're finding a lot of great, commitable people as well. We found this huge guy named Brian on Saturday when we were tracting. He's 6'5" and weighs at least 300 pounds! It was such a cool experience. As we knocked on his door, Elder Davis turned to me and said, "this guy is going to let us in and we're going to teach him!" The house looked pretty empty, and no one on that street had answered up to that point. Anyway, we heard the door unlock and the door frame was immediately filled by his figure. As we stood there and talked to him, I asked him if we could teach for a few minutes and he was super open to having us come in and share a message with him! We taught the restoration right then and there and then committed him to read the Book of Mormon. We'll see him later this week so hopefully he's read by then! 

Anthony is doing AMAZING!!! We went to Kirtland yesterday with him and had an awesome experience! I took a few pictures so I'll send those to you. Anthony is fasting for the next 3 days to find out if he really does need to be baptized! I love Anthony so much! He's super in tune with the spirit and is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy! He's in Mosiah some where and is loving it all!  He's still shooting for baptism on the 17th of September. He is progressing so much! Love that guy!

Like I said, Dejah is still doing great! She's reading the Book of Mormon a lot too. A lot of good is going on here in the Shaker Heights ward! Love this place so much! I always think I'm not going to like my next area as much as I did my last but I end up loving it no matter where I go! 

Love you guys so much! So glad everything is going well for you guys! I'll see you guys in less than a year!

Have an awesome week!!! 

Love, Jack

                  Elder Scoresby, Elder Davis, and Anthony at Kirtland.

Week #54

Hi Mom!

Had a pretty good week this week! It went by really fast but I would assume that was because we had meetings on Tuesday

 and Wednesday. Then on Thursday we were on Exchanges in the Euclid area which was a ton of fun. Anthony was out of town this week but we got a text from him and he said that he's still reading the Book of Mormon. He's seriously so amazing, I can't believe how prepared he is! 

Dejah is doing really great as well! She didn't end up coming to church yesterday which was pretty frustrating. She had told us that she was going to come and her mom was going to stay with her. Her mom is pretty protective, which isn't a bad thing at all, but it would be nice if she would let Dejah come to church. We also found out this week that she's getting ready to go to college in about 2 weeks and the college isn't in our area... total bummer. She told us that she's going to come back and visit. She was sad when we told her that she'll be meeting with other missionaries when she moves. It's crazy to me the strong friendship we've been able to build with her so quickly! We'll hopefully see her at church this coming Sunday.

There was one particular contact that was quite miraculous this week! So Friday afternoon we got a text from a member of the ward, telling us that there was a member of the ward moving and they needed help. We weren't able to come until later in the evening and we were only going to be able to help for about 30 minutes. We were debating on whether or not we should go, but I had a strong impression that we should. So we went and the move went great. Now for the miraculous part. Brother Abess, the member moving, had a non member friend, Moses, that was really interested in our missionary service and in our faith. He asked so many great questions and when we told him about the Book of Mormon, he wanted one! We took him over to our truck to get one and when he saw our supply box (box full of literature and dvds) he wanted everything we would give him! Brother Abess then began to bear his testimony to Moses about the truthfulness of the gospel and it was AWESOME!!!! Moses was super interested and said he will be coming to church with Brother Abess this coming Sunday!! Can't wait!! 

We have been talking to everyone in our path this week and it has brought a ton of new people to teach. We haven't turned them all into investigators yet, but hopefully we will this week! Things are going great here in the Shaker Ward! Love the area, love the people, and love the missionaries I'm around. And yes Mom, now that I'm in a less rural area we get to do a ton more with other missionaries in the zone! We didn't get to today, because we had a ton going on. We got a random call this morning from a member in the ward asking us to be on the West side of Cleveland by 11 am. We helped her move some furniture and it took forever so we're super out of time with everything.

Love you so much Family! I miss you guys! Glad things area going well with Karen and that she is able to push through. Hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love,

 Jack

Week #53

Hey!!!

We had a good week this week! I guess I'll just jump right into how our investigators are doing.

So we noticed something terrible this week. We were looking at our map of our area and we realized that Dejah is out of our area and in the sister's area! Still in the ward but just out of where we are supposed to be. We were pretty upset about it but when we talked to the sisters they just told us to keep her! Super glad we get to keep teaching Dejah. She's still doing great! She understands the gospel really well and has a sincere desire to find out if it's true. She wasn't able to make it to church this week. Her Mom for whatever reason didn't want her going but hopefully she'll be able to next week. 

Anthony is doing so great! We were having a hard time contacting him this week which was frustrating but while we were out talking to people around his house, we saw Anthony walking his dog. We ran over to him to talk with him and he was so happy to see us. He has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and feels like it is true so we set a baptismal date with him! He was really excited by the invitation. He has a long way to go and he knows that but I know that he'll reach the date we set with him. He is going for the 17th of September. I'm pretty stoked about Anthony! He's amazing.

We really don't have any other investigators. We've been doing a ton of finding this week which is always fun. I love going and talking to people. There are a lot of people that aren't interested at all so my goal is to make them laugh. It makes finding so much more fun and enjoyable. 

The ward here is great! I don't know if I mentioned last week but they are all really excited to do missionary work. We had a member call us today and tell us he has a lady that he wants us to go and teach with him this week so I'll let you know if anything comes from it. 

Anyway, everything is just fine and dandy here. I love this area and all the missionaries in this zone. 

I can't believe Bennett is a senior and Cooper is a freshman! That freaks me out! I love you guys a lot though! Super weird to me that school is about to start! Time goes by way to fast! Love you guys.

Love, 

Jack

Week #52

Hi Everyone! 

Okay so an update on the area where I am serving... I'm in the Kirtland zone but my area is Shaker Heights. We have a really great area because we have such a variety of people to teach. We have some super ghetto places and then we have some wealthy areas. Everyone is awesome here! I love this area already. Elder Davis and I are getting along really well and having fun together. Turns out that I came out into the mission field with Elder Davis! Super cool so we get to celebrate our year mark together! Elder Davis is from Seattle, Washington and yes he is the zone leader with me. Really all we do as zone leaders is relay info from president brown to the missionaries and info from the missionaries to the assistants. All it is is more responsibility but it's still fun.

We have a few really solid investigators right now that I'm super excited about! I can really see most of them joining the church in the near future which really excites me! One of our investigators that we just picked up this week is a 17 year old girl named Dejah. Its pronounced like you would say dejavoo but without the voo obviously. But funny story of how we found her... So Elder Davis and his previous companion would go get hot fudge sundays from McDonalds all the time and would give pass along cards to the people in the drive through and Dejah was one of those lucky people! She called the number on the back of the card to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and she's loving it so far! She should be at church this coming Sunday which is AWESOME. She is super spiritual and super funny too! She's understanding everything that we teach super well which is awesome! Everything we tell her just clicks in her head. Love watching her learn and grow!

Our other solid investigator is named Anthony and his sister is a member of the church in California. He talks a lot about his nephew who served a mission and he loves missionaries! He came to church yesterday which was awesome because one of the sisters investigators got the gift of the holy ghost in sacrament meeting! Anthony said he loved that afterwards! He told us he is going to fast and pray about being baptized this week or next week so we'll see what happens. 

The members here in this ward are amazing! They all have a strong desire to do missionary work which makes our job so much easier and way more fun as well. I'm excited to meet more of the members this week and help them with their missionary work. I have a feeling that this area is going to be my favorite! 

Super stoked to meet my 1/2 way mark this week but I hope that time slows down a little bit. I feel like I say that a lot but I don't want my mission to just fly by! I'm loving life out here! Anyway I love you guys! Hope you have an awesome week because I know I will. Love you! 

Love, Jack

Ps. I almost forgot to tell you that I am in a 4 man apartment which is a ton of fun but the elders that we live with are in the Cleveland 3rd area which is supposedly the most ghetto area in the mission but they have a bullet box haha! It's a box that they collect all the bullets and shells they find on the streets. And they aren't allowed in their area this week because of the RNC. Anyway Love you!

This is a picture of Jackson that a member texted me this morning. The joy of having a stateside missionary. :)

Jackson's sleeping arrangements!  That's just good missionary living.

Week #51

Hi Everyone! 

We had a crazy week this week! So it started off with exchanges but instead of having one set of missionaries in Ashland and the other set in Wooster, we both stayed in Wooster for the day and did a lot of great work there. Then on Wednesday, Elder Brewer had to go to a meeting up in Kirtland so we were gone for most of Wednesday too! Once we finally got back into our area, we felt super behind. It worked out though because Thursday we worked our tails off and were packed every minute of the day so we were able to get caught up here. Friday we did a lot of service for a member of the ward. We were helping her and her non member mom with getting a garage sale set up, so that was a ton of fun. Saturday was a pretty normal day. We did get a great referral from a member over in Cleveland. They are an older couple named Terry and Shelley who are super open to learning about the gospel. They had neighbors that were members of the church which planted the seed. I'll be excited to see where they go. I'm sure they'll be great investigators. Then Sunday came. I said goodbye to most of the members in the Ashland ward there which was sad. I'm really going to miss these people. The craziest part of Sunday though was when I got a phone call from President Brown asking me to serve as a Zone Leader in Kirtland!!!! I'm super stoked to get to serve there! Elder Bowcut served part of his mission there and said that it was super fun! I'm shaking in my shoes at the thought of taking leadership in this mission but I'm willing to accept the calling. I'll be leaving tomorrow to go to Kirtland and will be meeting my companion there. His name is Elder Davis, but that's all I know about him. So that's my week in a nut shell.

Now for our investigators.

Bob is doing super good! We had an awesome lesson with him last night with the Crawfords. They bore powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and of the Book of Mormon. At the conclusion of the lesson, we told Bob that his next step is to come to church and so he said to us "I promise you that I will be at church this Sunday!" I don't think I have ever had anyone promise me with that kind of determination in their voice. Sorta bummed that I'm not going to be here. I'll be zone leading in Kirtland by then. 

Parker is doing pretty good. He has been out of town for the last while which isn't great but he is really serious about getting baptized. His grandma is being very supportive and really pushing him to keep commandments which is super helpful. He is planning to get baptized in August at some point and he told me that he would email me pictures of his baptism. 

Those are our two most progressing investigators but next week I will be emailing you about all the new people that I get to meet in Kirtland! I took a lot of pictures this week too so I'll send those. I'm just having a blast out here in Ohio and am really glad that I got called to serve where and when I did. It is such a blessing to be in full service mode all the time for the Lord. I'm sure that I will never experience anything like this ever again. Time is definitely going by way too fast! I'm almost half way done. Anyway, I'll let you know how Kirtland is next week! Love you! Hope you guys have an awesome week!

Love, Jack

Ps. There's an elder in my district right now from Mesa, Arizona and he goes home on Thursday so I told him to go and visit you. I gave him your address. Don't expect him right away but he will probably come visit you guys soon. His name is James Hutzler. This is a picture of me and him.

Jackson and Elder Hutzler from Mesa, AZ!

Jackson and Terry

Jackson and Dave

Jack and Eldon

Jackson and the Cullers

Jackson in a cornfield

Sunset

Week #50

Hi Everyone!

This was a great week! Had a lot of fun doing missionary work. My ankle is definitely getting better which is good. I am trying to just take it easy on it for now but it really has gotten a lot better in the past couple of days! I was worried that I would have to go to the doctor and wear a cast or something but its looking like I won't have to do that... Unless I roll it again. 

I was really sad to hear about Karen but things sound like they're going okay for her. I hope that Kade will be able to stay focused on the work. I can't imagine how hard that would be. 

Our investigators are doing great! Parker is continuing to do great! I'm going to try and get pictures with everyone this week because I'm for sure leaving. Elder Brewer got called as a trainer last night so I'll be outta here. 

Bob is doing really great as well! He's still reading and praying. He's really seeking for the truth so it's really fun to teach him and see his understanding click. He had plans to come to church yesterday but I guess something came up with his wife and he had to travel out of town for her. 

Cool story really quick about a new investigator that we picked up. Her name is Nancy and we found her when Bowcut was still here. We met her on the street and she said that she would love for us to meet her at her house some time and teach her. But when it came time to contact her, we couldn't find the street that she lived on anywhere! But a couple of months later, Elder Brewer and I were driving I saw the street that she lived on! Wasn't looking for it or anything but remembered that it was the street she told us! We are now teaching her and she's doing really great! She's excited about us teaching her each week. 

Those are really our most progressing investigators. Elder Brewer and I have been having a lot of fun when finding, talking to everyone, and getting along really well. It'll for sure be sad to leave Ashland next week. 

I love you a lot, and hope that you have a great week! 

Love,

Jackson

                             Elder Scoresby and Elder Brewer at a hot air balloon festival.

 Elder Scoresby and Elder Brewer with Debbie and Michael Potts their neighbors.  She sent me these pictures and a text saying how much she would miss Jackson when he leaves Ashland this week and what a nice young man he is.