Week #66

Hi Mom!

Way fun that Cooper got to do his Eagle Project! It looks like it was a ton of fun! I've been loving the New Testament. I think my favorite story is when the Man comes with his son and asks for Christ to help them. Such a great example of how he recognizes the unbelief that he has. So many great example of faith in there. I've recognized that the only thing that prevents me from seeing miracles in my missionary work is my unbelief. I'm really trying to focus my studies on Faith to try and strengthen my own.

Elder Vance is doing great. He's back in his new area. I talked to him on the phone earlier this week and he said that he doesn't even have any scabs on his face anymore. I can't remember if I sent you a picture of him after he got jumped but he's doing way good. Elder Wall is still in our apartment.

So I guess we don't know for sure if Elder Davis is leaving but we've been together for 3 transfers already so there is about a .01% chance that we'll stay together for another one. I would love to stay with him for another transfer! We get along super good and are really on the same page with everything we do. It's been fun being his companion. He'll probably get transferred on the 16th of November. I think I could be here for 2 more transfers after that. That would give me 4 transfers after that for my last area which would be awesome! That's how I'd like my mission to go, but we'll see what happens.

Our investigators are still doing super good! So we're really working with Anthony to help him get baptized by the 12th of November but I don't know if that will happen for sure. He is still struggling with a couple of the commandments and has been so crazy busy. He hasn't had a lot of time to come to church. It would be best if he started coming for all 3 hours. We'll see though.

Frank is still crushing it! He has been having a really hard time with retaining what we teach and what he reads so he's gotten very frustrated. He still wants to be baptized and we have a date set with him for the 19th of November. When we first set that date with him he wrote it down on his calendar and underneath the word "baptism", he wrote, "Be Ready!" He came to church on Sunday and loved it! He'll for sure be baptized before I leave this area though.

I think that Lauren is our most progressing investigator right now! Her testimony grows stronger and stronger every week. She texted us before our lesson this week and asked us if we could teach something specific. I have never had an investigator ask me that before but we accepted the challenge. She wanted us to teach her more about recognizing God's will and how to more fully align her will with Heavenly Father's. We brought Brother Bang with us, a member from our ward, and he gave so many great examples of how he had followed God's will in his life and the blessings that came from doing so. We're working right now to get her to church. She's usually got things going on in the afternoon and our church starts at 12:30 so she can't make it most weeks. At the start of the new year, our ward changes times to 9:00 AM which will be perfect for her! In the mean time, we're just going to have to help her recognize the importance of church. 

Yvette is doing SOOO GOOD!!! She came to church on Sunday and LOVED it! Her favorite part was for sure Relief Society! When we saw her afterwards, she was glowing! She told us she couldn't wait to come next week! We've been trying to set a baptismal date with her but she's been pretty hesitant. She feels like her baptism was good and doesn't see the need to be baptized again. Hopefully her experience at church helped her to feel the spirit and create a desire to be baptized. She's so great! I love teaching her because she just grasps what we teach so well! 

We weren't able to see Manny this week but we're going to try and see him this weekend. We've been doing a ton of finding trying to get more people to teach. We've got some good potential investigators but no great new investigators yet. I am loving this area! The people are awesome! My only complaint is that the weather is starting to cool down. I forgot how much of a wimp I am when it comes to the cold haha #AZforlife!! 

Love you so much Mom! Can't believe that Christmas is only 2 months away! Time is going by way too fast! Love you lots!

Love,

Jack

PS Thanks for the package and thanks for the letter Liza! You look so much older! Sad story though, the first day I wore the tie you sent me I stained it It's officially a tie I can only wear with a sweater haha! 

Week #65

Hey Mama!

First off, way jealous you guys went to Rocky Point haha! I love that place! Also, sad to hear about Nana's disease! I would love to have a little bit more info on it if you could send me some. 

This week was super cool! So we got to teach all of our progressing investigators and had killer lessons with them! They're all doing super good! Love it here in Shaker so much!

So we started off the week with teaching Lauren. She's really progressing which is awesome! We talked with her more about her baptism and how she feels about it. She told us that she doesn't feel ready and thinks she needs more time to learn and grow in the gospel. Slightly true. We do need to finish teaching her but she already knows that the Book of Mormon is true. Everything else will just fall into place. Another concern that she has is that her whole entire family is Catholic. It's a pretty big change for her to take on her own. She's not married or anything so she really would be completely alone in that sense. However, the entire ward is here to back her up. She hasn't quite figured that out. We are planning to take her to the Bang's house, a member family in the ward, for dinner with in the next 2 weeks or so. She's really doing great! 

Anthony is crushing it as well! He still is having a hard time finding time to read the scriptures, come to church, and have us come to teach him on a regular basis. His work is crazy busy. We had to reschedule his baptismal date for the 12th of November. That will be the last Saturday that Elder Davis is in the area so we're really working with him to make that date! He should be able to. He just needs to work a little harder on keeping commitments. 

Frank is a baller without a doubt! A week ago we asked Frank to read a specific chapter in the Book of Mormon and when we asked him how it went at our last lesson, he told us that he read it 3 times so that he could have a really good understanding of it! Such an awesome guy! Then we talked about baptism and when we set a baptismal date with him he was so excited! He's AWESOME! So excited for Frank to get baptized! I also found out the missionaries that contacted him initially! Their names are Elder Kay and Elder Buxton. That's all I got so good luck with that. 

Yvette is loving the gospel right now! She is excited for our lessons every time we come and is doing her very best to understand everything that we teach her! She's working on coming to church but is having a hard time with work. Seriously love her though! She's awesome!!!

Had a great experience this last week with tracting though! As we were out knocking some doors, a guy, Manny, answered and was super open to us! As we talked to him more, he told us that he grew up in Las Vegas and had some really good friends that were members of the church! It was pretty evident that he respected them which is for sure why he talked to us. Just another example of how big a role members play in missionary work whether they recognize it or not! We're going to see him this coming weekend and I'll let you know how that goes.

In my personal study I've been reading through the gospels. I've been focusing on that so much so that I can come to know Christ better. I just feel like I've become less acquainted with him in the last few months. It's been great to read through that and feel my relationship with the savior grow.

I don't think there's any area that I am really dying to serve in. I have loved every area that I've been. It really comes down to the attitude you have of the area! I think every area is the best area so I would love to go anywhere!

My favorite thing about shaker Heights is the people for sure! We have part of Cleveland ghetto so we get to talk with lots of people that keep life interesting. We also have wealthier areas where we get to talk to people that are more stable. It's a really good balance. Love the area, love the people, love the work.

Glad you guys had a good week! I miss you so much and am for sure excited to see you at Christmas! Have a good week!

Love, 

Jack

Week #64

Hi Mom!

Elder Vance is doing a lot better! I think that he might still be having minor headaches when he wakes up but his memory is fine. He should be going to his new area, Massillon, either today or tomorrow. This whole experience has definitely made us all a lot more aware of where we are and when we're there. Elder Wall is still in the same area and he seems to be doing fine. I don't think that he's too shaken up from it and spiritually they're both doing great! Such a blessing that neither of them are too seriously hurt!

So, Anthony is still doing really well, as always! He's been crazy busy with work which has been a big challenge for him. Still knows the church is true and loved conference! We're working to get him baptized this month, but we might have to push it into November. 

Lauren is really reading and praying about the Book of Mormon right now. She wants to know if it's true more than ever! She has some great fellowship in the church! She still hasn't been to a normal church service, so that's our goal with her this week, to get her to church. She's crushing it with reading the Book of Mormon though! She has done great with applying the scriptures to her self! So excited for her! I don't know if I told you how we started teaching her. It all started with a member of the church. Lauren's neighbors were members of the church, but they've since moved. While the members were living there, they gave Lauren a Book of Mormon. We had record of that in our Area book so we stopped by. She told us that she hadn't touched the book but that she'd be more than willing to learn more about it! Super cool to see the influence of members on the lives of others!

Now for the miracle of the week!!!

So this week we decided to call Frank. I don't remember if I told you that Frank told us he wasn't ready to meet yet after he came to church a few weeks ago, but he did. He told us we could meet with him again the beginning of the new year... Well we decided to call Frank to check on him and try to set up a time to meet with him this week. He answered and told us he wasn't ready! We didn't understand, but just went with it. Then later that day, Frank called back and said we could come by on Saturday!!! We were both overjoyed! However, the following day, Frank called us AGAIN and said he wasn't ready! We were so frustrated, so we told Frank he was ready and that we would still love to see him! So he agreed to have us come. We went over and talked to him about the Book of Mormon. He said he new it was true, so I asked him, "Frank, will you be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood Authority of God?" He looked at me right in the eyes and said, "I've been thinking about getting baptized. When can it be done?" Elder Davis and I were so stoked! Frank is awesome! He came to church yesterday and loved it! Frank is such a miracle! We're going to zone in on a date for his baptism this Saturday when we meet with him again.

That's pretty much it for this week. Having tons of fun here in the Shaker Ward! Love missionary work and love the Lord!

Have a good week! 

Love,

Jack

Week #63

Hey Mom!

So before I get into spiritual things and happy things, I have a crazy story! Just so you're not worried as I tell you just know that everyone is okay now.

This story begins Sunday evening right after the final session of General Conference. 

At this time it's 7:45. Elder Davis and I were out stopping by some potential investigators but weren't having any luck. We had knocked on a lot of empty houses and had a few people tell us they weren't interested. We had dinner planned for the end of the night at about 8 o'clock. We got in the car and were just about to start heading home to go eat some grub when we got a call from a random phone number. We answered with our typical intro of "Hi, it's the missionaries, Elder Scoresby and Elder Davis." On the other end of the line was a shaken up voice. It was Elder Vance, one of the missionaries we live with. He told us that him and his companion, Elder Wall had both been jumped. Then a random man came on the phone and told us that they had been hurt pretty bad and that an ambulance was on it's way. We got of where they were and drove it like we stole it over there. For the entire 15 minute drive there, we were in complete silence, thinking the worst. 

By the time we got there, Elder Vance and Elder Wall were both in the back of the Ambulance and there were two police cars on the scene. When we opened the back of the ambulance, Elder Vance was laying there on a stretcher with a decent amount of blood on his shirt and face. Elder Wall was sitting beside him looking untouched. Anyway, we ended up following the ambulance to the hospital where we were led to where Elder Wall, just outside Elder Vance's room. When we saw Elder Wall this second time, he had quite obviously been punched right in the face. He had swollen up pretty bad but looked better than Elder Vance by a long shot. 

After all the scans and x-rays, they found that Elder Vance had a slightly fractured skull, nothing that would require surgery. We sat around in the waiting room of the hospital for a good 5 hours, really just waiting for Elder Wall to get checked up so that we could leave. By the time we were good to go, it was 4 in the morning. President Brown was waiting with us at the hospital the whole time and told us we should go home and hit the hay so we did just that. We left Elder Vance in the hospital so that his wounds could heal. As you can imagine, going to be at 4 in the morning threw off our schedule a little bit. We're doing well now and have Elder Vance here with us now. He's still not doing great but he'll be fine. 

Just a brief story of what happened to them. They had just stopped by an investigator and were getting their bikes when a group of 6 gangster came up to them and took everything they had. Elder Wall was choked out and punched a few times but Elder Vance was pretty much beat on until the guys' fists hurt. We're pretty sure that these guys were just targeting them because they were white. We're upset with those chumps to say the least. 

Other than that our week was good. Lauren and Anthony came to conference. We set a baptismal date with Lauren and she's pretty excited about it. 

So sorry for the lack of info this week but Elder Vance isn't doing great. We've got to get him home. Love you so much and hope you have a great rest of the week! I loved conferece too!!!!!

Love, Jack

Week #62

Hey Mom!

I love hearing about the family! I miss them so much! I wouldn't be upset if you sent me pictures of you guys! I don't need anything fancy... just take random pictures of the kids! I have some funny ones of the family I'll have to send you hehe! 

So we are having a little trouble with Frank. He doesn't want to meet with us until the new year or maybe later. He said that he wants to wait until he moves to a new apartment. I'm really hoping that we can convince him otherwise. He is so golden! He loved church and really wants to come back! I want to teach him again so bad!

Anthony does have a baptismal date. He is so amazing! Everything we teach him he accepts and knows it to be true! He is probably the first person that I have taught that made the connection that if the Book of Mormon is true, then so is everything else in this church. He's progressing really well and is doing great at being a missionary himself! He pretty much lets everyone know that he's going to be a Mormon. He's getting a lot of persecution for it. He has had people come up to him while he's been reading the Book of Mormon somewhere and tell him that he isn't Christian and that he shouldn't be reading that book. He tell us jokingly that he wants to beat them up. He has such a firm testimony, I don't think anything or anyone can shake him! His new baptismal date is for the 15th of October. I'm hoping we don't have to push it back any more. 

Pam doesn't have a baptismal date yet. She is having a really hard time right now financially. She is super stressed so it's hard to get her to slow down and feel the spirit in our lessons. Hopefully we'll get to set a date with her this week. I love to see the spirit touch her. She always tells us that she feels better after our lessons. I'm hoping she can find time to read and make it a priority in her life to progress in the gospel. She's awesome!

Lauren is doing AMAZING as well! She is strong in her Catholic faith but she is loving the Book of Mormon right now! She's coming to church next week! We still haven't set a baptismal date with her but we're getting close. She is improving so much its crazy! I love teaching people the gospel!

This week was a rough one with finding new investigators and with meeting with all of our investigators. I just feel like there isn't enough time in the day to do everything! It's crazy. I'm not sure if this week will be a whole lot better because we have Mission Leadership council on Tuesday, which doesn't get over until about 4:00, and then we have to travel back, which takes us to about 5:00. Then we have to plan for zone training meeting, and then we have zone training meeting on Thursday, so it might be a little crazy. It will all work out though. 

Oh and I didn't even know Ansley got married!!!! That's insane!!!!!!! 

Love you so much! Have a good week!

Love,

Jack

The title of Liberty Jackson and Elder Davis made for training on Jackson's pillowcase.

Jackson in the new ties we sent him. :)

Jackson took a bunch of pictures of Cleveland.

Week #61

Wazzzuppppp!!!! 

Hi Mom!

Had a good week this week! So if there are any letters that should be capitalized that aren't, just ignore it. This keyboard that I'm using has a terrible shift key and it's driving me crazy. 

We totally got to take Lauren to Kirtland which was AWESOME!!!!! She loved it! The spirit was so strong there, like it always is, and I think she was able to feel it. We meet with her every Tuesday, so we'll see her tomorrow and answer questions she has. She's doing so great! 

Pam is doing really well too! She's been sick, so we haven't been able to see her in the last week.  She didn't come to church, but we plan to see her in the next couple of days. I think the fact that her sister is a member is a huge motivator for her to continue learning about the church. She is really wanting to improve the quality of her life and come closer to God as well. We're hoping to set a baptismal date with Pam this week.

Yvette didn't come to church either. She had to work yesterday, which is what really prevented her from coming. She still isn't sure if she wants to join the church or not. She keeps telling us that what we teach her seems right and seems like the will of the Lord. All she wants to do is what the Lord wants her to do. Hopefully we can get her to church this coming Sunday.

Anthony is still doing well! He is crazy busy, but we're meeting with him this Wednesday. We are going to reset his baptismal date for some time in October. He was at church yesterday and loved it like usual. He's been there 4 or 5 times now!

Zone leader responsibilities are going well! We had zone conference just this last week and gave a discussion on finding. Zone conferences come every 3 months and those are easy to prepare for. We have zone training meeting (ztm) every month and that requires more planning. For ztm, the zone leaders meet with all the missionaries in their zone and relay lessons/info down that we get from President Brown, at mission leadership council (mlc) which takes place every last Tuesday of the month. The reason those ones require more planning is because we do all of the teaching. Still really fun. For our last ztm, Elder Davis and I made a Title of Liberty for our zone on my pillow case! We didn't have anything else to write it on so we figured that would do! I'll have to send you a picture next week! It's pretty hilarious!

Exchanges are good. They're fun, I just don't like having to be out of my area for a day. Other than that, I love them!

Okay now I have a miraculous miracle! 

On Saturday, we were doing some service for a lady, helping her move a ton of stuff she didn't want out of her house, that was less clean than I would have preferred. While we were doing that, we got a phone call from a random number. I answered, and on the other end was a man with a deep voice. He told us that his name was Frank and that he needed a copy of the Book of Mormon. When we asked how he had heard of the Book of Mormon, he said that back in 1999 missionaries came and gave him a copy. He had since then read it and given it away to someone else that wanted to read it. When we went over and visited Frank, he showed us a little address book that had the missionaries' names down and their phone number back in 1999! He was so excited to get another copy of the Book of Mormon! We invited him to church which was the following day and he accepted. He just needed a ride to church. Sunday morning we were scrambling to find someone that could take him! We were barely able to get a member to pick him up. We did get Frank to church though! He's so great! Love that man! We are having a little trouble trying to set a return appointment with him, but we'll get there!

I know from miracles like these, that this is the Lord's work. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. I know that I'm meant to be here, and am eternally grateful for the experiences I'm having. I love the work!

I love you Mom! Great job in the dive meet Ben! I am going to need some videos of his meets! That would make me super happy! Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Jack

Week #60

Hi Mom!

I can't believe Mitch is going to Cambodia! That's insane! I love him so much! He is going to be such a good missionary! 

I'm glad Cooper is doing good in XC! That's so fun! I miss those races! Good times in cross country. 

I have no idea where I want to go. I'm thinking that I want to go to UVU. Not totally sure yet but I think that's what I'm leaning towards. I have put zero thought into where I want to go but most of my friends will be at UVU so I'll probably go there. 

This week was a pretty good one! So we had the hardest time getting in contact with Anthony! He fell off the face of the earth for about a week and a half which was a bummer. We finally got a call from him on Friday telling us that he was just super busy with work. We were able to meet with him and have a powerful Word of Wisdom lesson. We had to push back his baptismal date. Not sure yet when we are going to set it for but most likely some time in October. We have some solid other investigators I haven't told you a ton about. 

So we've been teaching a lady named Lauren since I got here but she wasn't interested in joining the church at all when we started. She was just getting back into Catholicism and had just barely joined one of the local Catholic churches. She just wanted to know what we believed and what the Book of Mormon was all about. Well, we probably should've warned her that the Book of Mormon tends to change lives.Lauren is currently reading in 3 Nephi right now and is loving it! It's amazing to see how much her spirituality has grown in just a few weeks! This last week we committed her to pray about the Book of Mormon to know if it's true. Depending on if she recognizes her answer or not, we'll try to set a baptismal date with her. Oh and this Saturday we have planned to take her to Kirtland! Can't wait!

Pam is another investigator we have. We found her 2 weeks ago or so and she's amazing! Pam is a middle aged woman that has a true desire to improve the quality of her life. She is reading the book of Mormon like crazy right now! She wasn't able to come to church this last Sunday but she plans to this coming Sunday. We tracted into her and when she answered the door she told us she was super interested and that her sister is a member of the church! Pam is so cool and prepared! 

Yvette is another investigator that is doing great! She told us that she is really considering joining the church! This last week she went to a relief society activity and had some great fellowship. She really enjoyed it and it was a huge step forward for her. We plan to have her at church this coming Sunday as well. 

That was most of the progress we made this week. I'm not sure why this area has been more difficult to get people to engage. I have seen the work progress a lot more with taking members out with us though. We had a promise from President Brown. He said, "If we do missionary work the Lord's way (taking members out teaching with us) then the Lord will provide a way for us to do his work". In other words he was saying that we are going to be way more successful if we take members out teaching with us. 

I'm loving it here in Shaker Heights! The area is great and the members are trying to do missionary work! I love you all so much! Only 3 1/2 more months until I get to Skype with you! Have a good rest of your week!!!

Love,

Jack