No matter how hard Friday is Sunday will come!

Week #48
8/25/14

Hey Everyone!

Well this week went a little bit better than the last week  but not by much! At least progress is progress! 

The coolest thing that happened this week or my favorite thing is that we received a reference from one of the members and his name is John A! Hes is 20 years old and he is really cool! We had two lessons with him this week! In the first lesson we taught him about the restoration of the Church and about halfway through the lesson he asked us about baptism. He wanted to get baptized which was really cool! We told him that we were going to explain that to him a little later and when we finished the lesson we invited him to be baptized and set a goal for him baptism and he accepted! That was my favorite part of this week and during the lesson I was thinking about a Mormon message from Jeffery R . Holland that says no matter how hard Friday is that Sunday will come!! That was the most spiritual experience we had this week!

After that we didn't have much luck again finding our investigators... Although one of the investigators that we are teaching came to the church this Sunday for the first time which was cool!! We had gone to pick him up and take him to church and so we got to Church a little bit late. When we got to the church we sat in the back and i was looking around trying to see who had come to church that we are teaching.  As i looked around i saw a bunch of people that we had  been teaching and it was just a good feeling to see people come to church and progress!!

We have been working a lot recently with the less actives and they have been coming to church too so even though we aren't having many baptisms we are helping members come back to the church which is good also! 

President Williams is really cool and his wife is really nice too! We got a letter from the President today and he notified us of a lot of changes that are going to happen in the mission!? Some of them seem like they are going to be difficult to do! For example one of the new rules is that we cant teach or baptize anybody under the age of 18 unless one or both of their parents are members of the church! In the long run i know that it will be good for the mission and for the church but we have investigators that are progressing under the age of 18.. So were going to have to make some adjustments from now on! In the long run it should be good for all of us and for the converts too but it might take some time to adjust!

Overall everything is going well! My companion will have 1 year in the mission in 3 days and in 5 days is his B-day so this should be a good and a fun week!

Hope you all have a great week and enjoy summer that's coming to and end! I know this church is true!!

Love,

Elder Jarman

This week has been one of the harder ones of my mission!

Week #47
8/18/14

Hey Everyone!!

Well this week has been one of the harder ones of my mission! I guess it was a test of our faith! I'm sure it wont be the last one either but hopefully next week will be better!

Anyways so this week started off so so.. We had quite a bit of lessons planned but it seemed like all of the lessons failed and that nobody wanted to let us into their houses!! I don't know if we smelled bad this week or what but nobody wanted to let us in!?!! We were just basically walking around the whole time getting rejected by everyone! So yeah it was pretty fun haha!

On top of that we went to visit Gregori who had a baptismal date and we actually got into his house which was a shocker. When we got into the house we had planned to watch a video and so he went to get the DVD set up but right before he left he told us he had to tell us something and then he left to set it up. So we were waiting there for a couple minutes my companion and I just going through all the things that he could tell us and we thought of the good things and the bad things too! Finally he got everything ready and we started the lesson with a prayer and then right after that he told us... He said that he was going to withdraw from the church because of some problem that he had and that he didn't know for how long but he also said that some time in the future he was going to pick it up again.. That was a bummer for us! He was progressing so well or at least it seemed like it! He always said that he had those little doubts but that over time he was going to resolve his doubts and things like that but he never wanted to tell us what they were and i think that his doubts got the best of him! He told us at the end of the lesson nice meeting you guys and maybe well see each other again sometime.. So it was pretty sad! It was like losing an investigator but more was like losing a friend! I hope that some time in the future he does get baptized even if its not with me!!

We also had some other difficult lesson with some members of the church and it was hard to help them feel the spirit and help them return to the church. 

On the other hand we were able to have a couple of good lessons with a couple of people! We are helping two youth come back to the church and they seem like they are really progressing well! They both came to church this Sunday and one of them especially seems really excited and she felt good in the church! Its really cool to see those experiences! The church is like a big family and everyone was happy that she came to church that day and it was just a good day! 

We were waiting for another youth to come to church this Sunday but he never ended up coming! His name is Luis M and hes really cool but he never makes it to church! If he came to church this past Sunday we were going to invite him to be baptized at the end of this month but he didn't end up coming even though we called a bunch of times and we had someone go by his house.. Hopefully he'll come next week!

Another cool thing is that one of the less active members that we are teaching came to church this Sunday too! She had come the last two Sundays too but she got to the door of the church and then turned around and didn't come in... So this Sunday we were waiting for her at the bottom and she came!! That was cool! Now hopefully next Sunday she can come with her husband too who is investigating the church!

Other than that there is one news that's really cool!! This week the whole mission got cell phones!?!?! I thought the time would never come but it did!! Haha! So now we should be able to work a little more efficiently!

Other than that all is well! Hope you all have a great week! I know this church is true and that we are literally guided by Jesus Christ!

Love,

Elder Jarman

Today is my 11 month mark!?!

Week #46
8/11/14

Hey Everyone!!

Today is my 11 month mark!?! I cant believe its already been 11 months! Its flown by so fast!! So this week went pretty well!! There were a few things that i really liked! One experience that was really awesome!

The first thing is that after all i did not have a change which means i will be here for a couple more weeks, im excited about that! If i dont have an emergency change in the middle of this transfer that means that i will be here for my 1 year mark, my companions 1 year mark, my companions birthday, my pensions birthday, and also Gregoris baptism!! Theres also a little festival thing thats coming to Jaen so there should be some cool stuff from Peru to buy as little gifts and things!! So im pretty stoked i didnt have changes! Now im hoping that i wont have emergency transfers!!

The second thing was that on Saturday we had the baptism of Luz Vargas! She is the sister of Ruth, one of the recent converts! After she was baptized she gave her testimony and shared her feelings with everyone and that was one of my favorite parts of the week! During her testimony she said that the first time that we visited her it was in the perfect moment in her life! She said she was passing through trials in her family and that she was having some difficulties in her life and thats when we showed up to be able to help her! I remember the first visit we had with her! It was one night that we were going to visit Ruth and we called her name but her sister, Luz came to the window and said yeah she'll be down in minute and when Ruth came down to meet with us i just felt like i should ask if her sister wanted to meet with us too. Ruth went and asked and from then on we taught Luz until she got baptized on Saturday! It was just a cool experience to realize how guided we were in that moment by the spirirt! Thats was a really cool experience for me!!

Other than that this week has been pretty normal! My companion has started studying English and so im helping him learn and thats a pretty fun experience! We started saying some prayers in English and i have to admit that the first time i had basically forgotten how to pray in English! I had forgotten how to phrase everything! It still sounds weird to me to pray in English but were getting better at it together! Haha! Hes also teaching me how to talk in an accent from Argentina and its pretty fun! Other than that all is going well and im happy to be staying for a little while longer! 

Hope you all have a great week! I know this church is true and that there is a living prophet today and that we should follow his words just like in times of old!!

Love,

Elder Jarman

We just felt prompted

Week #45
8/4/14

Hey Everyone!!!

Wow i cant believe that its already August!? In a week i'll already have been in the mission for 11 months!!  Wow its going by fast!!

This week was pretty awesome!! We had two things that really stuck out to me!! 

The first thing: Remember Gregori... He's an investigator who always comes to church and always goes to the activities and even sometime went out visiting with us sharing his testimony to the other people! He never wanted to be baptized because he always had doubt after doubt! We have been visiting him a little less since he wasnt really progressing but this week we went by and visited him and now when we go we always talk about the Book of Mormon because thats his biggest doubt. We visited him a couple days ago and were just talking to him about the Book of Mormon and we just felt prompted to ask him to be baptized and we said we wanted to help him set a goal to get baptized the 30th of August and he accepted!!!!!!! That was really cool to hear!! The bummer is that there is a chance that i might not be here for his baptism... Hopefully i will though!!

Changes are next Tuesday and so this Saturday they will tell us if we have changes and then Monday if i have changes i will be coming down from Jaen. I think it is very likely that i have changes even though i dont want to have changes. The cool thing is that if i do have a change i will be in the transfers meeting and i will be there when Camille presents herself in front of the mission!! That would be pretty could but its going to be sad if i have to leave! I feel like ive gotten to know the people so well and its always hard to say goodbye but who knows maybe i wont have to!

The second thing is that in the mission now we dont focus so much on what is missionary work but what is the work of Salvation. So instead of putting all our focus on baptizing people we are also focusing on bringing members who are less active back into the church! This week we were able to do that! We helped a member of the church who was less active get all the missionary lessons over again and talk with the bishop and now she is attending church again!! Thats a cool thing that happened this week!

If eveything goes well Luz Vargas is going to get baptized this week which will be awesome! Shes really cool and understands everything and is really prepared to be baptized! She started reading the Book of Mormon too! The only thing is that her sister went on vacation and Luz wants to get baptized while she is here so if she doesnt get back this week i will probably miss her baptism too.. 

Other than that everything going really well and the mission is awesome!! Hope you all had a great week and that you will have a great week too! I know this church is true and im so grateful for it and i also know that the Book of Mormon changes lifes and i have been able to experience that first hand!

Love,

Elder Jarman