Week #81

Jackson is transferring to Sandusky, Ohio this week.  Here's his new address:

Elder Jackson Scoresby
106 W. Boalt St., Apt. 2
Sandusky, OH  44870

Hi Mom!!!

As you already know, I'm being transferred! I'm going to Sandusky to be a District Leader! I'm pretty excited about having the opportunity to serve as a DL. I'm sure I'll have a great time! I'll get to work on a closer, more personal level with the missionaries I serve. I've always been a little frustrated about how distant we are as zone leaders. My new companion will be Elder Wheelright. (I'll have more accurate spelling on his name next week, I just took a shot in the dark.) I came out with Elder Wheelright too! Once I am with Elder Wheelright, I will have served with 3 of the 26 or so missionaries that came out with me! I've heard a lot of good about Elder Wheelright so I'm stoked to be his companion! 

It has been sad the last couple of days saying goodbye to people. I think the Van Leuven family was one of the harder ones to say goodbye to. They are a powerhouse family! Their daughter, McKenna wrote me a note and gave me a picture. They're such a sweet family! I will for sure come back to visit with them! 

It has been a bummer. I really wanted to take another picture with Anthony and Lauren but we haven't seen either of them for a couple of weeks. Anthony has been out of town and Lauren has been crazy busy! They're both awesome and I'll miss them a lot! 

I feel like we didn't do a lot this week. We did a lot of finding, knocking doors and talking to people on the streets, but didn't have any immediate success with that. We did, however meet with a lot of my favorite Less Active ladies. There are a ton black women in this ward that are inactive in the wintertime because of health, travel conditions, and so on. They love it when we come and visit them! Their testimonies always strengthen mine and help me to keep moving forward. I'll send some pictures of me with a couple of them. Their names are Sister Olive Griffin, Rose Roberts, and Elizabeth Dinkins. It has been so fun to get to know each of them and develop strong, lasting friendships. 

I'm looking forward to my new area! I always love getting to know more people! I know that there are so many fantastic experiences to be had ahead. I'm going to work my butt off! One goal that I have for this next area is to find a family, consisting of a mother, father, and at least one child, that I can help bring into the gospel. I have wanted this for the last 18 months and I think it's time to make it happen in Sandusky. I can't wait to meet all the people in Sandusky! I've loved all my areas and I'm sure it will be no different for my next, and quite possibly my last area. 

I love you so much Mom! I can't wait to see the family in 6 months and see how much each one of them have changed. I'm sure Bennett has matured a lot but I bet I could beat him in a wrestling match! I have to establish dominance before he goes on his mission!!! If Cooper is up for the challenge, I'll wrestle him too haha! Love you Mom! Hope you guys have a great week! 

Love,

Jack

Sister Rose Roberts

Jack says this is typical Cleveland

Jackson with Sister Dinkins and her son David

Brother Gupta- They gave a blessing to his wife.

Brother Gupta with all the missionaries in Jack's apartment

The awesome Van Leuven family, that took such great care of Jack in Cleveland!

Jackson and Elder Christiansen

The Van Leuven kids. 

Week #80

Hi Mom! 

I'm excited for Jackson Arnett! He's a good kid and I'm glad that he's going on a mission! It's crazy to think that all those boys are going to be on missions when I get home! It's even crazier to think that Bennett and all his friends will be leaving right when I get back! I'm sure it's hard to send your sons on missions but it's definitely the best thing that they could ever experience. It really doesn't feel that long ago that we said goodbye at the curb of the MTC. It's honestly hard for me to believe that it was 18 months ago!

Well I've got some bad news... Latrice is no longer investigating. Such a mega bummer! We had an appointment set for last Friday or something and we called her Thursday night to confirm the appointment. When we called, as soon as we told her that we were the missionaries, she hung up on us. We called again later and she rejected our call. When we stopped by at the time of our appointment, she was pulling out of her driveway. Luckily, we were able to talk to her as she was leaving. She told us to come back the following day. So the next day, during companionship study, we called her to make sure the appointed time would still work for her. We called, she answered, we told her it was the missionaries, and she hung up. Such a sad moment! That was proof to me that people can feel the spirit when you teach but they sometimes don't latch on and end up rejecting what you're trying to teach them. 

We have been struggling to see our other investigators. Lauren was out of town this week and so was Anthony. Anthony's mom is still doing okay. Don't know when he'll be back. May not be for a while. 

We stopped by Eric and Terri last night. They weren't home but all their kids were and they told us to come by on Saturday. I want to teach that family so bad! There were at least 7 or 8 kids there last night and I think that most of them are Terri and Eric's! It would be so cool to have them come to church and fill up an entire pew! I'll let you know how it goes next week.

We had a great miracle this week! So Elder Christiansen and I stopped by a Less Active member but they were busy and unable to meet. As we walked back to our truck, this couple walked past and we shared a card with them. We didn't get their names or anything but as they walked away, the man said, "I'm excited to talk to you more!" We didn't think much of it. Then that night, we got a media referral for someone named Eric, wanting a Book of Mormon. We went to deliver it and the guy we talked to earlier answered the door! He had called the number after we gave him the card! Just a couple of days before, I had said to Elder Christiansen that I wanted someone to call the number on the card! Heavenly Father watches out for us and wants to bless us with success. 

This week it snowed a bunch so we helped a ton of people shovel their snow! One of the ladies we helped, who isn't a member, said that she was going to have us over for dinner before I got transferred! She is super cool and is really good friends with Carrie Rhodes, a member of the ward here in Shaker. We'll see if we can end up teaching her and her family! 

As far as transfers go, I would be very surprised if I didn't leave next week. I've been in Shaker for over 7 months now. I have no idea where I'm going to go. Hopefully I'll be a zone leader in another area. That way, I get to go to Mission Leadership Council and see all the other Elders and Sisters that go there. The only place that I don't want to go is North Olmstead... The only reason I don't want to go there is because that's the assistant's area and I think it would be pretty hard to be an AP. Anywhere else I'll gladly go! I'll let you know on Tuesday where I'm off to.

They made a bunch of changes to the missionary daily schedule too! I'll send you the document with all the changes but it's essentially the same with more flexibility. 

Love you so much Mom! Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Jack

Week #79

Hi Mom!

This week was crazy! I can't believe how fast it went! Our meeting with Elder Gay was AMAZING! We had to drive to the mission office twice for meetings with Elder Gay so that punched our miles right in the face. It's so hard to stay within mileage limitations when we have tons of meetings! This month is one of those months. Here are some things I learned from Elder Gay.

1. If you aren't receiving revelation daily, you aren't doing missionary work.

- You have to receive revelation daily in order to do effective work. If you aren't receiving revelation, you might be doing work, but it's not missionary work.

2. Missionary work doesn't start until someone says "no". 

3. Faith is a power that can awaken a soul that is dormant. 

- Someone asked him how we get someone motivated to act on the message of the restored gospel. He responded with that quote, meaning that our own personal faith will awaken the souls of our investigators. 

4. When the Lord commands, there is always a path.

5. If you magnify your calling then the Lord will magnify your life!

- This was his departing promise to us!

Super fun to learn from Elder Gay!

I feel like I don't even remember what happened this week! Our investigators are all doing the same. We haven't had any major break throughs with them. We did have a super great lesson last Wednesday night. We got a bible referral for a lady name Latrice so we stopped by her with a member and had a strait fire lesson! While we were teaching the Restoration, she started talking about how her husband was in prison and she had just lost her job. She has her 5 daughters living with her and she has no idea how she is going to provide for them. She started to cry when the member, with tears in his eyes told her about his circumstances. We were totally unaware that this member had just lost his job and is now looking for work. They talked, and cried together and the spirit was so strong. I know that it wasn't just coincidence that we brought that member to that bible referral. At the end of the lesson, Latrice committed to read the Book of Mormon and was stoked to learn more. We're planning on seeing her this coming Saturday. She seems so prepared! I love finding and teaching people that are excited to hear the restored gospel!

Funny story that will remind you of how uncoordinated I am... 

One morning during companionship study, I was standing next to my desk, throwing this basketball into the air and catching it when something catastrophic happened! The basketball slipped nearly out or my reach! I took a step to reach for the ball in order prevent it from hitting the ground and waking up our downstairs neighbor. Then, being the human I am, I rolled my ankle on that single step I took... I ended up hitting the ground with my whole body simultaneously (including my face). All I could do was lay there and sort of laugh at my stupidity. I did, however, keep the ball from bouncing! Looking back though, a little basketball would have probably been quieter than the force of my entire body (once again including my face). Goes to show you that a mission might change me spiritually, but it sure as heck isn't going to make me more coordinated. 

Sorry for the lame email today! Emailing gets harder and harder each week. I feel like I'm going to see you so soon! Oh and by the way, I was wondering if you could wait to send me anything for my birthday. Transfers are on the 8th of February and I am almost for sure leaving. I don't want to have to try and fit anything other than what I already have now. Thanks Mom!!!! Love you so much!!

Love,

Scoresby, Jackson, Tyler

Week #78

Hi Mom!

So we haven't met with Elder Gay at all yet. Our conference with him is tomorrow for most of the day. Then on Friday, all the Zone Leaders are going to meet with him. I'm so excited to be spiritually uplifted by this conference! I feel like I'm working hard but just need a little kick to help me work more effectively. 

Sad story about the fireside... We were all ready to go, super stoked to listen to President Brown and the Kirtland sites director speak, when we got a text from Anthony. He told us he wasn't going to be able to make it. He had a friend come into town from Chile unexpectedly and couldn't leave. It was sad... Earlier that day at church, the heater in the building was broken! The whole building was freezing cold! I think the primary room was mid 40's! The whole meeting I was shaking in my shoes because it was so cold! Towards the end of the meeting, the first counselor got up and said that the rest of church would be canceled. Never before in my entire life have I had church canceled! As a missionary, when something falls through, you don't just go home and take a nap. You have to go and make something happen! We spent a lot of time Sunday finding because so many things fell through. 

Despite Anthony not being able to go to the fireside, he's been way less busy. He's doing super great! He's reading more and we get to see him more frequently. This past week, we got to help him oil some of the wood at his mansion home. We're going back over on Friday to help him some more. He's so awesome! Still struggling a little bit with church attendance but other wise he's crushing it!

We saw Lauren this week! She's so awesome! I forgot how prepared she is! She's loving and totally understanding the Book of Mormon. She is almost done with the New Testament to we're going to talk with her about that next time we see her. I am loving the New Testament! I started in 1 Peter and am going to revelations. There is so much good in there! I can't wait to come home and study more out of the bible. I don't have enough time in the mornings to read everything that I plan to. 

Frank is back and forth between wanting to be baptized and not wanting to. We're still meeting with him, he's just having a hard time. 

Terri and her family have been crazy busy so we haven't seen them recently. We're hoping to see them some time next week. We're staying in contact with them over the phone and they seem to be reading and loving the Book of Mormon! 

I got a couple of flat tires this week so that was fun! Good combination of biking and walking haha. We've been trying to bike more so that we can be out talking to more people. The only problem is, I need steel tires or something for the Cleveland roads! So much crap on the road! 

Also, I noticed that my pants are starting to look a little rough. I was wondering if you could send me just a 2 pairs of pants from Mr. Mac for my birthday. I really like their pants! I would love a light grey pair and a dark grey. That would be awesome! 

Love you so much Mom! I think I gave you permission to watch that video so hopefully that works. Love you!

Love,

Jack

Week #77

Hi Mom! 

Glad to hear that you and the family are back to the regular schedule! The same goes for us here! We've had a hard time with members and some investigators. They've been really busy but are finally slowing down. It feels good to get back into the flow of a routine.

This week has felt crazy! We've had a few meetings which always make me feel crazy busy. We met on Sunday with President Brown and President Haymond, the stake president for the Kirtland Stake. We meet with them once a month to talk about how the work is going in this stake. It always amazes me how much love both President Brown and President Haymond have for the people that we're teaching. They're both more than busy but find time to meet with the missionaries and see how they can help with our missionary work. 

Then we had Mission Leadership council Yesterday. We usually only have one every month but this month, we have mission conference. Elder Gay is coming to our mission and the zone leaders will be meeting with him Friday evening. I'm so excited to meet with him and learn what he feels we need to work on. 

As for investigators, we met with Anthony yesterday. He's doing really well! Lately he's been having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon so we set a goal with him last week to read a chapter a day. This goal helped him to get back into the habit of reading. We're going to Kirtland with him on Sunday for a mission president's fireside. That's when President Brown gives a devotional specifically geared towards new members and investigators. I think that it will be a great spiritually uplifting experience for Anthony.

We met with Terri's family this week! Terri, unfortunately, wasn't home but her husband, Eric, and sister, Keisha, were there so we got to teach them! We started to read the Book of Mormon with them and they were both pumped to start reading it on their own! If we can get this family involved in church, they would be a huge strength to the ward! They're so cool and have a strong desire to come closer to their Father in Heaven. 

Traci doesn't seem very interested, but Joshua is still meeting with us and is reading the Book of Mormon very consistently! He's pretty quiet and I feel like we haven't quite connected with him yet but he is definitely interested in the Book of Mormon. He's determined to find out for himself if it is true. 

We haven't met with Lauren recently but we have and appointment this Saturday that should go through. I don't remember if I said last week, but she texted us and said she finished all of 2 Nephi! She is cruising through the Book of Mormon. I love going to teach her because she's always got such good questions about what she reads! 

This week the weather has been super weird! It started off freezing cold, but today it's supposed to be in the 50s I think! Yesterday, there was freezing rain! For those of you that don't know what that is (everyone that lives in Arizona) it's when rain falls and freezes when it hits the ground aka the ground is a treacherous piece of ice! I walked outside and started running as hard as I could in place to avoiding falling on my face. That was probably the closest to death I've come to death on my mission! 

I love and miss you family! I hope you're all doing well! I miss you and am stoked to see you in person in a little over 6 months! But in the mean time, I'm just going to work my butt off and have a good time doing it which sometimes means dunking on other missionaries! 

Love,

Jack 

Jack's facial expression when it drops below 30 degrees!

Week #76

Hi Mom! 

This week was great! We didn't get to meet with Terri and Eric but we have an appointment scheduled with them on Saturday. We stopped by this last week and most of the people there were still working. They all have Saturday off so we should be able to teach them all then. They're so awesome! I love that family!

We're meeting with Traci and Joshua again tomorrow. I don't know if I told you about them. We met them through tracting. They're so awesome! Joshua is about 16 or so and Traci is his Mom. They both have a strong faith in Christ and a sincere desire to come closer to him. They've been reading the Book of Mormon and are loving it! I love teaching them!

We found out this last week that Yvette lives in the neighboring ward... We've been meeting with her at her parent's home which is in our area, but we had to hand her over to the other Elders this week. I'll take a picture with her soon and send it to you. I realized that I need to start taking pictures with people because my time here is almost up! 

We haven't met with Lauren recently. We have an appointment set up for this Saturday! Stoked to finally teach her again! She's so ready to receive the gospel, we're just working on getting her a baptismal date. 

We also have an appointment set up with Anthony tomorrow. We're planning on starting to read the Book of Mormon with him to help him stay strong as he strives towards baptism. I really hope that he'll decide to be baptized soon. He's more than ready! He loves the gospel and knows he needs to live it. 

Those are all the progressing investigators we have right now. Hopefully we can meet with more of them this week! 

I'm super excited to be staying in Shaker Heights! There is so much for me to do here! I love this area and I love the work! Hope you have a great rest of the week! 

Love,

Jack

Week #75

Hi Mom!

I'M STAYING IN SHAKER HEIGHTS FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lord answered my prayers this week! I'm so excited to stay in Shaker Heights for another 6 weeks! There is so much work to be done here and I can't wait to see this area blow up (in a positive way)! We have some amazing people we're starting to teach that show great interest! One of those people is Terri. She's a new investigator that we found a couple of weeks ago. She is one of the nicest people that I've ever met! We met her outside her home initially and talked to her a little about the Book of Mormon. As we were talking about it, she asked us, "Now where can I get me one of these books?" That is the question that every missionary wants to hear! We obviously gave her one right then and there. She couldn't wait to dive in and read it! We struggled to get back in contact with her for a couple of weeks but we finally got a hold of her. She told us to come by Christmas Eve to talk with her more. When we stopped by, Terri answered the door. Her home was full of people, all family members! Most of them were her kids but a few were her sisters. Anyway, right when she came to the door, she told us that her husband, Eric, was really interested to talk with us. He walked up to us and we talked to him a little about the Book of Mormon. Again, that golden question, "Where can I get one of those books?" When we handed him his own copy, Terri called from the back of the room, "Now you don't have to steal mine!" Turns out, Eric and Terri had been reading the Book of Mormon together! They let us in and all the kids were gathered around wondering why we were in their house. Terri told them we were missionaries. She started going off on how amazing the Book of Mormon was and of course, all the kids asked us "Can I have one of those?!" We ran to our truck and grabbed the remaining 5 copies of the Book of Mormon. We dished them out to all those that could read (some of the kids that were 4 or 5 were trying to grab a copy out of our hands! Anyway we ended up teaching the Restoration and every person inside of that house had their eyes glued to us! As Elder Christiansen quoted the First Vision, the spirit bore witness that what he was saying really did happen, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has, in fact, been restored to the earth. At the conclusion of the lesson, they committed to read the Book of Mormon as a family. I'm so excited to get all of them to church! We're seeing them this weekend to talk with them about the Plan of Salvation. I'm so excited for them!

Our other investigators are doing great! We ate dinner Christmas night at his house. We ate in his beautiful dining room on the most immaculate china I've ever seen. We were unaware as we sat down, that we were about to be served a four course meal! I've never had such a fancy meal before! It was like a dream! He's such an awesome guy! 

I can't even remember what else happened this week. It was such a blur! I'm so glad that I get to stay in Shaker heights! I know that there is a reason I'm here! 

It was so great to talk with you and the Family! I love you guys so much! I'm a little jealous that the rest of the family is going skiing but I'll get over it haha! I do remember when we couldn't stop laughing Mom! One detail you forgot was when I almost choked to death on that water I drank! You were still laughing as I crawled into the back seat to attempt to recover from my near death experience! Hahaha that still makes me laugh when I think about it! 

I love you so much Mom! You're awesome! Me and the Elders I live with are going to go and play spike ball now! Such an awesome gift! You're the best! 

Love, 

Jack 

Jackson, Elder Christiansen, and the Van Lueven family

Jackson and one of his previous companions, Elder Brewer, at a zone conference