Spam & Conversion

This week was crazy! We have been trying to get our feet under us and especially me as I adjust to my new assignment and responsibilities.  We were busier than I think I've ever been.  A few days we forgot to eat lunch!  

On Sunday we had FIVE investigators at church. It was wonderful.  We are teaching a family that I really love. My biggest adventure this week was trying SPAM for the first time.  I actually liked it!  My mom probably won't fix it for me when I get home, so I better enjoy it while I can:)  I am in Westminister which is just north of Huntington Beach.  It is beautiful here and cooler than La Mirada.  I saw the ocean for the first time on my mission!  We were dropping some sister off in Huntington Beach and I was so happy because I love the ocean!

I really love my mission, the work is rolling forward and it is so much fun.  We do lots of tracting- but my new mission president changed the rules. He doesn't want us to plan our day around tracting.  So basically we set appointments with people and when they fall through we tract by them. My area is HUGE compared to my first area, but compared to other missions it's tiny. I'm in the smallest mission in the world.

I've been thinking a lot about conversion and how it can be a difficult process for many.  There are a  lot of negative things, true and untrue, about our church.  Faith is so important in conversion!  Sometimes you have to look at the reasons why the church is true instead of the hard things it says or does. Believe it or not, the "pro" list outweighs the "con" list (I've actually made one).  The doctrines, feelings and opinions in this church are pretty bold.  But you can't forget that the God we believe in destroyed cities because of wickedness and is constantly declaring repentance and rebuking His children for not following his ways.  Even the Savior spoke boldly.  So boldly that they took His life.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do love us SO MUCH. They would do, and have done everything for us, but salvation was never easy. I find for many people it's much easier to not go to church, to not go on a mission, to not obey the word of wisdom, to not read the scriptures, to not be Mormon.... but I believe in God. I know He wants me to do something about the feelings I've had, and when I pray like Joseph Smith did and ask "Which church is correct, or is there a church that is all true" I always receive the answer that it is this church.  Even if we get yelled at all day with this and that and told by others how they hate our church, I still know it is true.  It's not because I'm stubborn or prideful, It's because of the Spirit.  One of my favorite talks this conference was by Elder Ballard entitled, "To Whom Shall We Go?".  Here is  the link: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/to-whom-shall-we-go?lang=eng/. I would recommend it to anyone who is struggling with doubt and fear, or who may feel inadequate or unworthy.  It is wonderful!

I promise that there is nothing in this world you can do that would cut you off from God.  Sin can be forgiven!  That is why we have repentance, so everyone can be worthy to return to God. Even the worst sinners can repent. WE ALL FIT INTO GOD'S PLAN!  We always have.  

Love you all,
Jess

Leaving La Mirada with only 24 WEEKS LEFT!

Jessica has been called as a Sister Training Leader (STL) and will be serving in the Huntington Beach North Zone with her previous companion, Sister Watson!  As I asked what STL's do she told me that they only have 2 STL companionships in their mission.  These sisters watch over about 20 sister missionaries (there are about 40 sister missionaries in her mission).  They conduct exchanges, help teach and train, go to leadership meetings,and work with closely with sisters that are struggling.  This will be a new adventure for her and she is excited for the challenge.  She sent some wonderful pictures of a baptism of a sister named Judy who she loves this weekend.   Judy texted me on Saturday and Sunday with pictures.  Her excitement to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was overwhelming.  Here is what she texted me:  "I feel fantastic!  Your daughter is the sweetest, most sincere person I have ever met.  I'm sad she is being reassigned and leaving La Mirada.  I am going to try and meet her for lunch in Huntington Beach.  Thank you for raising a delightful, sweet, darling daughter."

Jessica also sent pictures of members who have become like family to her in the La Mirada Ward.  Here is her letter:

SO this week was a little crazy.  I'll highlight a few things 

1) We had Elder Aldern of the Seventy come visit our mission this week. He is the nicest guy. He said a ton of things we need to work on and do.  I have a list the size of a small planet with things to work on. I was really upset though because I was thinking about how I'm never going to get there, and how it was going to be way to hard.  Then I felt this overwhelming sense of love and peace. God told me how proud He was of me and how much He loved me.  He told me He knew I was going to work on them anyway but He wanted me to know he was proud of where I was. 

2) We had dinner with M&L at In-n-Out.  This is the wonderful couple that joined the church while I was serving in Cypress.  Judy almost came too, but she couldn't make it.  It was so fun to see them and talk about the church.  Mike has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever seen.  

3) Judy was baptized!  The baptism was crazy- we had to do all the set up and take down.  Judy was so excited and the Relief Society had so many treats.  I was asked to give a talk and so I talked about the Holy Ghost.  It was fun! 

4) I'm getting transferred to Huntington Beach and I would write more but I have to go!

Love You All!

Sister Webb

This is Sister Watson and I with Judy.  We will be a companionship again in Huntington Beach!

Judy's dear friend introduced her to the church and this is her friend's son who is a return missionary from Alabama.  He was able to baptize her and it was awesome!

This is Judy and her husband

Brignoni's - a wonderful family from our ward

The wonderful Bishop and Bro. Degner

Wonderful Bro. Oto came out every week with us on splits.  Such a faithful and devoted member!

These are my girls!  The Young Women of our ward!

Another wonderful ward member

Our amazing ward mission leader

The Smith family who made THE BEST GF food for me!

The Price Family

My friend, Katie

Fellowshipping more ward members

A great family in our ward

A family that was reactivated while I was serving here

The Aiono's from Tonga

The Power family - The dad can read minds . . . I'm not kidding!

Such a great baptism!

We found HONEY STICKS last P-Day!  I love these!

Hong Kong and General Conference

FIRST OF ALL . . . AMANDA IS GOING TO BE A MISSIONARY IN HONG KONG CHINA!  I still can't believe it!  I cried when I heard the news.  She will be amazing and I'm going to miss her so much!  My 18 month mark is March 9th, but because of transfers, I won't be coming home until the end of March.  I thought about trying to push getting home a few weeks early so I could see her before she leaves for China on March 8th, but it didn't feel right, so I'll just have to write her and pray for her!  

SECOND . . . I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! 

So if you wouldn't mind, send me your favorite quote, line, paragraph, talk- whatever!  I just loved the whole darn thing!  

So here are some fun things that happened this week-

1) On Saturday night we decided to go to Brother Moriel's house (we never go on Saturday night- he is always working). We caught him outside and invited him to come to conference with us at the stake center the next morning. It was so wonderful! It felt like the entire session of conference was built for him. We all came away uplifted, and he was so happy he got to come!

2)  Sunday we went to a less active/ investigator's house (President changed the rules and asked us to try and watch some of the sessions with people we are teaching). Anyway- the Spirit was so strong. There were several talks that we felt applied directly to this family. 

3) Sister Gil made. the. best. Mexican. food. in. the. whole. world.  She really is the best cook ever and I honestly think I get better Mexican food from her than the missionaries in Mexico.  She made red, green, and mole enchiladas and they were SO GOOD!!!

4) I shut myself in the trunk to see if I could get out... I CAN!

5) We had a neat experience with a less active lady.  I have been knocking on her door for literally 7 months, and she has never been home. BUT this week she invited us in!  We got to share the restoration with her and she cried several times. She really wants to come back to church so we are going to try and help get her there.

6)  We were going to see a less active member and we were contacting people on the way. A lady was outside, so we started talking to her, and she said, "I can't BELIEVE you are talking to me!!"... We were both thinking "Oh no, here we go again- she's going to yell at us for talking to her"... Then she started telling us about how she had wanted to join our church at one point in her life and how her best friend was Mormon. She was excited for our message and asked us to come back. We areso excited. 

So many people this week came up to us and told us that they had "noticed something different" in our religion and that they had "always liked our religion".  They know that we are DIFFERENT.  So keep being different because they are finally seeing something! 

Love, Jessica

We think it's guava?  We ate it anyway

Post Daily Planning . . . 

Right after prayer

Flu Shots! OUCH

General Conference Weekend!

Mustache's!

A beautiful early morning at the LA Temple!  I really love the temple!

Sunrise over the LA Skyline

Still smiling after a long missionary day:)

Pancakes, Chili & Pie

I have 10 minutes to write a big email of this week so lets start at the top. 

Wednesday was Sister Jones's birthday so we took her over pancakes with a candle.  She goes home in a transfer and a half which is SO WEIRD!  She came out three transfers before me.  Which means at the end of this transfer I only have four left!  That's nuts.  

We are teaching a 15 year old boy who is a friend of a member of our ward. His dad had cancer and passed away this week. He is the sweetest kid and this gospel will really help him and his mother so please pray for us that we can be good teachers and invite the spirit.

We also showed Judy the baptismal font this week and we had her try on some of the baptismal suits. She is really excited. On Sunday she went to her friend's congregation for church and watched the primary program. She said she loved it. She is so excited to join the church (and we are so excited too). 

We also were walking out of the church and the mother of two of our investigators was in the hallway. We have wanted these two foster kids to be baptized for quite a few months but we have been meeting resistance from the foster parents, which is understandable because they see a different side of them at home than we do.  Anyway they had a baptismal date for the 8th of October also, but we didn't think it would hold.... BUT we were walking out of the church and she said to us "So the baptism on the 8th of October will be okay but it has to be after 4:00..." WE COULDN'T KEEP IT TOGETHER- we ran outside and started screaming!  We are so excited.  I really pray it will actually pan out this time. 

We got to go to the temple this morning and I actually remembered all the words in the ceremony!  I was pretty proud of myself. I absolutely love the temple!

We also had a ward party!  It was a chili cook off and OH MY HECK- I've never seen so much chili and pie in my life.  This ward really knows how to throw a party.  I honestly have never seen any ward parties like the ones in this ward.  They are a huge hit AND we had investigators and less actives there. 

Brother S (our ward mission leader) was released this Sunday and I was pretty sad about that, but they called a new guy named Brother G.  My companion played the violin in church this week and did SO WELL. 

We saw many other miracles this week and we also did quite a bit of walking and knocking. Thanks for your prayers.  I felt them this week!

Love you all! 

How About Today?

Jessica & Judy

This is Julie.  On Saturday afternoon I received a text with this picture.  Here is my texting conversation:

Julie:  Thank you for sending this picture of my daughter!  It made my day!  Who is she with?

Judy:  Me.  My name is Judy.  Your lovely daughter has been doing service for me.  I have needed help with some health problems.  In the process we talked and to make it a short story, I am being baptized October 8th.  

Julie:  Oh  my goodness!  Judy, thank you for taking time to share this with me and my family!  We are so excited with your decision!  I hope you have felt how much God loves you.  I hope we can meet you someday!

Judy:  That would be nice.  Your daughter is an exceptional young woman.  I love her.


Now here is Jessica's letter this week:

So.... JUDY'S GONNA BE BAPTIZED ON OCTOBER 8th!!

I'm super excited if you can't tell. So Judy worked with Sherry as school teachers.  Sherry happens to be LDS.  They became close friends and Sherry started talking to her about the gospel.  Judy was receptive and loved to learn so Sherry went ABOVE AND BEYOND.  She took her to temple open houses, she read the entire "Work and the Glory" with her, she bought her dresses for church and they went on church tours. The lesson here is simply this- DO NOT CHECK YOUR RELIGION AT THE DOOR. Be bold, and talk about what you believe with everyone.  

We have a lady in our ward right now that does just this!  She loves her religion more than anything in the whole world and she shares it with literally everyone because it is what she is thinking about all the time and she isn't scared to talk about it. I admire people like that, but you don't come across very many.  This is what I want to be like for the rest of my life. 

I've been thinking this week about the process of a mission.  According to my UVU mission prep teacher (love him- he's the best), there are people who "go on a mission" and people who "become a missionary".  The words "BECOMING" have been stuck on my mind all week and I've been praying that God will help me get over my mountains and valleys so I can become who He wants me to be.  In very personal ways, I've been given an opportunity this week to "become" even more of what Heavenly Father needs me to be.  Hopefully I can make it through with a lot of faith. I want to become the kind of person who will not be afraid to share the gospel and stand up for Christ in any circumstance and especially when I'm released as a full-time missionary.  I continue to change in my process of "becoming" and it's not always easy.   

Thanks for the prayers and keep them comin!  I could use all the help I can get! 

Love, Jess

Faith

So this week I really studied faith and believing. I need to have more faith. Our zone leaders asked my companion and I to give a training on faith leading to miracles. I also studied faith with doubt, and faith preceding action. There are so many things we can do to build faith and yet so many things can tear it down.  The world is filled with ideas contradicting many points of church doctrine.  The church is doing better at countering these with the topic essays and other links.  However, for most active Latter-Day-Saints, it takes more than this for true conversion.  Without faith, we are not planted deep in this gospel, no matter how much we 'know'. 

Our ability to comprehend the "ways of the Lord" is inexplicably small.  We may have many unanswered questions amid all of the contention and chaos of life.  When we choose faith over doubt, we are blessed.  Faith is NOT present when we are stubborn and prideful and unwilling to admit we are wrong. Faith is NOT blind and it often requires diligent study and pondering on our part. Faith can be hard to explain to others. Faith is more than just kind of believing or thinking you know. Faith is obtained though the witness of the Holy Ghost.  Sadly too many people think that the witness of the Spirit testifying of truth to a humble soul is less powerful than a googled fact of the church's stance on (FILL IN YOUR BLANK).  Faith is the only antidote to doubt, and God made it that way on purpose.   

So there is my rant :)    

Love you all!  Jess

The Week of Unexpected Turns

Hi Everyone!  We've had a good week and alot has happened . . . 

1.  J and G- So yesterday we went to a lesson with Brother P (LOVE HIM- he has a daughter on a mission that went to the MTC the same day as me).  We walk in and we asked if they had read the BOM... they hadn't (surprise surprise).  So we read the best chapter in the whole book (3 Nephi 11). Then we talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon.  The spirit was strong and I invited them to be baptized- as I have done with them many times before- and they said "I've already been baptized".  I just thought, oh great here we go again. Let's explain the priesthood and flip to that one old same scripture and blah blah blah blah... WELL he was like, "Let me explain" and he told us how he was baptized catholic and then he told us how he was BAPTIZED MORMON!  He is totally a less active member. He just busted up laughing and I know I'm a sinner but I wanted to hit him over the head with my bible.  Do you want to know how many times we counted him as an investigator lesson!  He is such a tease!  He said he was testing us to see if we were good missionaries.  He isn't on the ward list or anything, and nobody in the ward had any idea- but he wants us to come back and his wife is interested.  

2.  So we had an appointment scheduled with a man who is investigaing.  I was an idiot and started going to plans from the day before (I don't know what I was thinking, I guess I was just tired and had looked on the wrong day).  We pulled up and I realized my mistake, but we decided to contact a few people outside.  This big Hispanic guy with tons of tattoos started to walk towards us- and we decided we could probably take him (or not) but we decided to contact him.  Turns out he is the less active son from an active member of our ward.  He had gotten heavily into drugs and he told us he wants to change his life. So we went over a few days later and did an ARP lesson with him.  His parents are so happy.

3.  BROTHER W is one of my favorite people in the ward and he made us a chocolate cake :) He's amazing. As a missionary, you feel so much gratitude for ward members who take such good care of the missionaries!

4.  "J"  CAME TO CHURCH "J" CAME TO CHURCH "J" CAME TO CHURCH- we went over to his house and made chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning (the good kind that I'm allergic to) and he said he would be there.  So he came to church and bishop gave him a calling. He is officially the primary pianist- and he is so excited. He is also going to come to our lesson with another less active man in the ward.  I love this kid!  He is so awesome!

5.  We were contacting in the park on Saturday (I totally understand why missionaries everywhere say they hate Pokemon Go..... but our church building is one of the safe houses or something, so we have almost given a few church tours because of that game. I think God should re-vamp it and direct everyone to our church building on Sunday at 9:)  We talked to this guy named Joe. We had a good time and we told him to come to church with us the next day. It was a pretty normal contact but HE ACTUALLY SHOWED UP AT CHURCH!  We picked him up as a new investigator at the end of the meeting.  That is the first time that has happened to me on my mission. I wish my actual investigators would come to church sometimes!

It was a GOOD WEEK! Sorry for the long letter but I bet at least one person will read it! 

Love, Jess