Monday, December 26, 2011
New Area Elks Grove Ca
Jarediah is in a new area and we believe this will be his last. He will be coming home on April 5th, 2012. Following are some of his recent post.
Even at the moments of wonder and confusion, there still exists the calm assurance that everything will be fine and that God will bless us to be successful. It is all very interesting and wonderful to me. There are many changes taking place in me and I am becoming a very centered person that just accepts things as they come and overcomes them piece by piece. It is truly wonderful. I remember back when I would get frustrated and not be happy, but now when I go through things in life it is a lot easier to bring myself to remember God and see that it is probably because I need to change something about me. I truly love the great blessings I am having at this time and I am so happy that I decided to come back to the Lord and to follow in the way that he wants. I am so happy Mom. That part about my siblings pitching in almost moved me to tears. Something has always been different for me in regards to the family. It is like why I didn't bring a picture of the family. Something about how sacred my family is to me that I wish to keep them only in the confines of my mind and not share them with the rest because I would only want to keep that image of who they are to me and the feelings that I have for them. In Tracy I truly learned how to love and how to be a kind person to all in all circumstances. I have learned how to love unconditionally and more deeply on a level that can only be explained as spiritual. Haha my companion doesn't know, but I have some presents for him. I had 5 extra shirts that I am not going to need so I decided to give him 4 of them and wrapped them up and hid them from his sight so that he would not know about them. I also wrapped up a tie I received from my first companion in this mission, and also I made him a card that lists off 100 things that I admire about him. I know he is going to have an explosion of happiness when he sees it, because there is no way he could ever suspect it or ever know it. I am excited for Christmas and not because I plan on getting anything, but because I am so excited about what I am giving to someone else.
Also we will be having a baptism on the 25th, Christmas day. I am so excited because this is my first baptism since when we baptized Ramon back in March. I am excited because I know that this baptism is going to open up doors for others that before hand have not been up. So with that I will tell you about my week. On Monday we went and taught an amazing family that we had a family home evening, and an amazing miracle happened with that. We had planned to see the movie Joy to the World, but were not able to find the movie anywhere. I felt however that the Lord would take care of us, and when we got to their apartment, we felt impressed to check the trunk again. There wedged nicely between a couple other movies was a newly wrapped Joy to the World movie. That was not there before! I know that God had placed it there because that movie was what the family needed to see. It was so exciting and they really felt the spirit as we were sharing the movie and then for the first time the family got to make snowflakes together that they could decorate the house with. It was just so exciting and they were so happy and had a lot of fun. As we taught others we saw great blessings as we taught another couple that before hand had been having some great problems in the family even to separation, but when we got done talking to them they felt even more calm and apologized to us for their recent behavior as of late. We taught another man that recently had an accident and he was more than open to the idea of hearing the gospel. All in all it was a wonderful Monday. Tuesday we had a family home evening with another family and we ended with a snowball fight. This we did with marshmallows and the idea was for them to throw it in each other's mouths. Since there was two couples in the home we had a little bit of a competition and everyone was laughing and having great fun. We taught a man that was from Guatemala and he was a man that didn't talk to us much before, but as we got talking about Guatemala and the things going on he got really interested and we had a good message with him about the atonement. Wednesday we taught a man named Tim who was retired because of medical reasons, and because of that he was caused to look in great need for the spiritual aspect of life. We had a really wonderful lesson with him and set up a time for the missionaries to come back. We then right after were looking for a dropped investigator and we found his whole family. It was truly wonderful and they asked us to come back another day. We then taught a lady from a Caribbean Island and it started off as a small battle but soon became a testimony meeting where we prayed in the end. I was told by Elder Luttrell that I was a little bold in my prayer and might have offended her, but I knew I said what I felt I was supposed to say. In the end we were called over to talk with our new less active who is blind and we had a great lesson with her about the gospel and invited her to the party on Saturday. On Thursday I went on an exchange with the new missionary Elder Hernandez and it was quite the adventure. We got lost a couple times but all in all had a wonderful day. As we did some role playing on teaching The Plan of Salvation and I was able to share some great experiences with him about effective teaching tools. I was grateful for the things I had learned throughout my experiences that will bless others much in the earlier stages of their missions.
We taught a lady named Laura and we taught her about baptisms for the dead. It was pretty intense, but the Lord guided our words and in the end she accepted to read the BOM and pray about Joseph Smith. We taught Stacy who is going to get baptized this next friday and she is really excited. In the end we taught a family named La Cruz and it was fun to see the great things going on with them. They have a little girl that was walking around in a walker and it was pretty cool to talk to them about eternal families. We had three member lessons. It was wonderful. On friday we had a wonderful planning session and taught the family that we had found earlier in the week. They had many questions and what looked like it was going to end up in a bible bash, soon became a great discussion and they were really interested in our message in the end. On Saturday we were greatly blessed to begin teaching Maria. She really wanted to learn more and as we taught the Restoration she said that she knew that it was true and that she was interested in being baptized. As we were leaving we were passing the house of someone that we hadn't been able to find before and decided that we would try and find her and we found her! It was so wonderful that God blessed us to be able to find her. We found another lady later on that was playing with her daughter outside and allowed us to share a small message with her. She wasn't too interested in the end, but we know someday she will accept the message. We went to the Christmas Dinner we had 25-29 people that were not members that came to our activity. It was so wonderful and the activity was so awesome. I know our investigators felt the spirit greatly and we excited about Christmas with the great program that we had. We prayed that all who came to our activity would come to church the next day. Yesterday we had 3 that ended up showing up, but the best part is Maria, in whom we taught the other day, set a day for the 25th of this month to get baptized. It is just so exciting. We taught a man named Sai who is from Fiji and we had a hard time teaching him because of a slight language barrier and also a lack of desire to listen, but I know he felt the spirit in some small way. A small seed that someday will be able to be harvested by another person. We taught Raquel at the church and got them (her and Carlos) really thinking about getting married and making preparations for a marriage. We hope that they seriously contemplate this great blessing so that many generations to come can mark the moment that the Gospel fully began to bless their family. The last person we were able to see what Joseph. He was an indian man that we had taught before and we went to his house to do some Caroling and he asked us to come into his house. We shared a message about the birth of Christ and we know he felt the spirit. He is meeting with the English Elders and we know that he is going to get baptized. I am so grateful for the many blessings that are coming into our lives and I know that they are taking place because the our diligence, faith, and the Lord's great mercy and love for all his children.. With love,
Elder Harmon
Even at the moments of wonder and confusion, there still exists the calm assurance that everything will be fine and that God will bless us to be successful. It is all very interesting and wonderful to me. There are many changes taking place in me and I am becoming a very centered person that just accepts things as they come and overcomes them piece by piece. It is truly wonderful. I remember back when I would get frustrated and not be happy, but now when I go through things in life it is a lot easier to bring myself to remember God and see that it is probably because I need to change something about me. I truly love the great blessings I am having at this time and I am so happy that I decided to come back to the Lord and to follow in the way that he wants. I am so happy Mom. That part about my siblings pitching in almost moved me to tears. Something has always been different for me in regards to the family. It is like why I didn't bring a picture of the family. Something about how sacred my family is to me that I wish to keep them only in the confines of my mind and not share them with the rest because I would only want to keep that image of who they are to me and the feelings that I have for them. In Tracy I truly learned how to love and how to be a kind person to all in all circumstances. I have learned how to love unconditionally and more deeply on a level that can only be explained as spiritual. Haha my companion doesn't know, but I have some presents for him. I had 5 extra shirts that I am not going to need so I decided to give him 4 of them and wrapped them up and hid them from his sight so that he would not know about them. I also wrapped up a tie I received from my first companion in this mission, and also I made him a card that lists off 100 things that I admire about him. I know he is going to have an explosion of happiness when he sees it, because there is no way he could ever suspect it or ever know it. I am excited for Christmas and not because I plan on getting anything, but because I am so excited about what I am giving to someone else.
Also we will be having a baptism on the 25th, Christmas day. I am so excited because this is my first baptism since when we baptized Ramon back in March. I am excited because I know that this baptism is going to open up doors for others that before hand have not been up. So with that I will tell you about my week. On Monday we went and taught an amazing family that we had a family home evening, and an amazing miracle happened with that. We had planned to see the movie Joy to the World, but were not able to find the movie anywhere. I felt however that the Lord would take care of us, and when we got to their apartment, we felt impressed to check the trunk again. There wedged nicely between a couple other movies was a newly wrapped Joy to the World movie. That was not there before! I know that God had placed it there because that movie was what the family needed to see. It was so exciting and they really felt the spirit as we were sharing the movie and then for the first time the family got to make snowflakes together that they could decorate the house with. It was just so exciting and they were so happy and had a lot of fun. As we taught others we saw great blessings as we taught another couple that before hand had been having some great problems in the family even to separation, but when we got done talking to them they felt even more calm and apologized to us for their recent behavior as of late. We taught another man that recently had an accident and he was more than open to the idea of hearing the gospel. All in all it was a wonderful Monday. Tuesday we had a family home evening with another family and we ended with a snowball fight. This we did with marshmallows and the idea was for them to throw it in each other's mouths. Since there was two couples in the home we had a little bit of a competition and everyone was laughing and having great fun. We taught a man that was from Guatemala and he was a man that didn't talk to us much before, but as we got talking about Guatemala and the things going on he got really interested and we had a good message with him about the atonement. Wednesday we taught a man named Tim who was retired because of medical reasons, and because of that he was caused to look in great need for the spiritual aspect of life. We had a really wonderful lesson with him and set up a time for the missionaries to come back. We then right after were looking for a dropped investigator and we found his whole family. It was truly wonderful and they asked us to come back another day. We then taught a lady from a Caribbean Island and it started off as a small battle but soon became a testimony meeting where we prayed in the end. I was told by Elder Luttrell that I was a little bold in my prayer and might have offended her, but I knew I said what I felt I was supposed to say. In the end we were called over to talk with our new less active who is blind and we had a great lesson with her about the gospel and invited her to the party on Saturday. On Thursday I went on an exchange with the new missionary Elder Hernandez and it was quite the adventure. We got lost a couple times but all in all had a wonderful day. As we did some role playing on teaching The Plan of Salvation and I was able to share some great experiences with him about effective teaching tools. I was grateful for the things I had learned throughout my experiences that will bless others much in the earlier stages of their missions.
We taught a lady named Laura and we taught her about baptisms for the dead. It was pretty intense, but the Lord guided our words and in the end she accepted to read the BOM and pray about Joseph Smith. We taught Stacy who is going to get baptized this next friday and she is really excited. In the end we taught a family named La Cruz and it was fun to see the great things going on with them. They have a little girl that was walking around in a walker and it was pretty cool to talk to them about eternal families. We had three member lessons. It was wonderful. On friday we had a wonderful planning session and taught the family that we had found earlier in the week. They had many questions and what looked like it was going to end up in a bible bash, soon became a great discussion and they were really interested in our message in the end. On Saturday we were greatly blessed to begin teaching Maria. She really wanted to learn more and as we taught the Restoration she said that she knew that it was true and that she was interested in being baptized. As we were leaving we were passing the house of someone that we hadn't been able to find before and decided that we would try and find her and we found her! It was so wonderful that God blessed us to be able to find her. We found another lady later on that was playing with her daughter outside and allowed us to share a small message with her. She wasn't too interested in the end, but we know someday she will accept the message. We went to the Christmas Dinner we had 25-29 people that were not members that came to our activity. It was so wonderful and the activity was so awesome. I know our investigators felt the spirit greatly and we excited about Christmas with the great program that we had. We prayed that all who came to our activity would come to church the next day. Yesterday we had 3 that ended up showing up, but the best part is Maria, in whom we taught the other day, set a day for the 25th of this month to get baptized. It is just so exciting. We taught a man named Sai who is from Fiji and we had a hard time teaching him because of a slight language barrier and also a lack of desire to listen, but I know he felt the spirit in some small way. A small seed that someday will be able to be harvested by another person. We taught Raquel at the church and got them (her and Carlos) really thinking about getting married and making preparations for a marriage. We hope that they seriously contemplate this great blessing so that many generations to come can mark the moment that the Gospel fully began to bless their family. The last person we were able to see what Joseph. He was an indian man that we had taught before and we went to his house to do some Caroling and he asked us to come into his house. We shared a message about the birth of Christ and we know he felt the spirit. He is meeting with the English Elders and we know that he is going to get baptized. I am so grateful for the many blessings that are coming into our lives and I know that they are taking place because the our diligence, faith, and the Lord's great mercy and love for all his children.. With love,
Elder Harmon
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