Semana de los milagros

Oh my freaking week of miracles! This week was insanely good. We have lots of baptismal dates for August and are praying and fasting that they all go through! We had a lesson with two little kids in a part member family. Their date was for late August but they decided to push it up! Oh my goodness we were so stoked. They are so smart and so ready to be baptized.

     

We also had a few lessons with P. She is so amazing. We were talking about the Book of Mormon with her and she started crying. She told us that she has read and prayed about it and she can't explain the way she feels. She said she feels so happy when she reads it and that she got an answer. It's so amazing to watch people feel the Holy Ghost and gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Yesterday P was going to come to church but something happened so she couldn't but she ended up taking her husband and her kids to walk around the Houston temple. She has told us in the past that her husband probably isn't interested in learning about the gospel. So they went to the temple together and while they were walking around he started crying and told P that he had prayed to know which church is true before they went in and said that he felt a really warm peace in his chest. He wants to start taking the lessons and reading the Book of Mormon! We gave him one with our testimonies in it. He said he would read! I still can't believe it.

     

I decided this week that I want to make sacrament more meaningful. So while they were passing the bread and the water I thought of Christ's life. I felt so peaceful and clean. I would imagine it's the same type of feeling when you get baptized. Unfortunately I can't remember too much from mine... But I felt the effects of the Atonement and truly thought about the baptismal covenant I have made with God and Christ. I want to keep His spirit with me always. I realized that as we gain more knowledge of Christ, we understand what he lived and died for a little more. Though I will probably never understand all of the Atonement in this life, I am grateful for the opportunity to remember Him at all times and especially on Sundays. I want to challenge you to study a little more about the life of Christ as well as his death this week and I promise it will make the sacrament more significant and meaningful. 

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen 

Hotter Than Satan

¡Hola!
It's so hot here!

Yesterday a lady came to church that hasn't been since she was a teenager. She came with her two kids and her Catholic husband. After sacrament meeting we went and talked to him and he kept telling us how much he loved the service! Last night we went over to their house and taught them the restoration and he kept saying how he never knew any of this. He said he was going to read and pray to know if it is all true and told us to come back this week! He has really humbled himself to provide the best life for his family.

Yesterday the elders that we serve with in this ward had a baptism. The boy is 10 years old and so grown up. He's also as tall as me. It reminded me of Aidan. After he came out of the water he hugged the guy that baptized him and cried and cried. The room was filled with the spirit. He was so happy. It reminded me of how blessed I am to know the truth and to be baptized by the proper authority. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find lasting peace in this life. Nothing else will bring us such joy that the gospel does. It is everything.

It's been a really good week filled with lots of miracles. If you'll excuse me I have to go tend to my companion who just fell off a table.

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen

Estoy Gordita

Amigos,

Such a good week! As always I was over fed everyday. I am constantly full of tortillas, rice, and beans. It's delicious. 

I'm getting to know more people in my new area and I love it more and more everyday. I met the O family a few days ago. There are 7 kids in a tiny apartment. We are teaching the son who is ready for baptism. They are so cute. The Hermana and I clicked really well. She loved all the pictures I have of the family and all the kids said they wanted to paint their hair blonde just like my family's :) Really cute kids. They are struggling so much with a lot of trials within their extended family. But we're trying to get them to center their life more on the gospel so that they can feel support from God in their trials. 

     

Our mission president has been really focusing on the Book of Mormon this month and it's message. In times like these the Book of Mormon is one of the only things that we can turn to for God's guidance. It is a light in the darkness and and anchor in the storm. It was written for OUR times. God knew that the world would forget Him and the things that he regards as holy. We have this book as a great guide and as we read it EVERYDAY we will be triumphant. I have personally committed to never go a day without reading the Book of Mormon. I know that with this covenant I have made with God, I will receive blessings and help from on high and I will never fall into temptation. 

     

Yesterday we took D to temple tours! She's from one of the English classes we teach and we have grown really close to her. She told us that she has worked near the temple for 24 years and all this time she's never been on the grounds. I know she has been prepared by the Lord to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and enter into sacred covenants with Him. 

Con mucho amor, Hermana Jorgensen 

Grand Theft Auto

So I'm in my new area! It's called Walters and the ward is Houston 6. I love it. There are random people just wandering around all the time. It feels like that video game Grand Theft Auto. My new companion is Hermana S. She's the greatest. From Utah of course and she looks like Natalie Portman. It's been a really good week.
     
So if you were wondering, our 4th of July was quite normal. We ran into some people that wanted to bible bash and had some other appointments and then that night we ate burgers on our porch and watched fireworks. 
🇺🇸 God bless America.
     
There's a cute young couple that we met from English classes. Awhile back the missionaries gave them a Book of Mormon. They texted us last night and told us that they read some of it! We went over and taught them the Restoration. It was the most spiritual lesson of my life. They were hanging on to every word we said. When I told them Joseph Smith's words of the First Vision, they were so amazed. They committed that they would pray about the Book of Mormon and the things that we taught them to know if it was true. And that when they received a testimony they will be baptized. Meanwhile I was feeling the spirit the strongest I ever have in that lesson. It reaffirmed my testimony of the truthfulness of the Restoration and of the Book of Mormon. R and J are truly prepared by the Lord. I'm so excited to keep teaching them.
      
We have been getting lots of questions from different people about the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. I was thinking about that this morning during my studies and turned in the Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi 2. This chapter talks about Adam and Eve and the fall. I was reminded of how precious the family is to God. This is why the Fall had to happen. Families are one of the most precious gifts of God. Taking the heat on this isn't easy but the will of God isn't always popular to the natural man. We need to stand in holy places and be examples of truth and righteousness. My family is the greatest gift God has given me.

Hermana Jorgensen

I will go, I will do...

Hola!

We got to go to the temple this week! Oh man so good. We were supposed to go so we could receive revelation for our investigators, but I ended up learning a bunch of stuff for myself... I was sitting
there praying and praying and six words came to my mind. "I will go, I will do." I opened up the Book of mormon and read 1 Nephi 3. I love verse 7 but verse 6 really caught my eye.

"Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because

thou hast not murmured."

These past few weeks really have been a trial. We have put out all our effort to find and teach new people with small results. Appointments cancelled, many people we were previously teaching decided that they didn't want to take the lessons, etc. I found myself murmuring and I didn't even realize it until I read that verse!

Reading verse 7 reminded me of God's promise:

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and

do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord

giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare

a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth

them."

I have received an inspired call and made a covenant at baptism with Heavenly Father to share the good news of the gospel. If I act, he will provide.
   

We had a mission president's fireside yesterday. It's called Why I Believe. A few recent converts of the church share their conversion story and their testimony. So many cool stories! I particularly loved
the story of a lady that was baptized in January. She had just lost her 22 year old daughter in a car crash and her family was devastated. Their new life was miserable and they didn't know if they could go on living the way they were. Just a few weeks later 3 sister missionaries knocked on her door and brought her the gospel and the rest is history. She has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard! Cool stuff.
  

 I am being transferred! It's bittersweet. This is my baby area and after 3 transfers I am finally gone! Haha just kidding it's been so good. I am sad to leave but hopefully I will go to the ghetto! Cross
your fingers!

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen

Refiner's Fire

Buenos días amigos,

This week was one filled with ups, downs, miracles, and hardships. Just in the past 7 days I have learned a lot about enduring well. We have been working with a family for the past 4 months. The older boys are all less active, the dad isn't a member, but the teenage daughter and mom are active. A few of them just started coming back to church and reactivating recently. We met their dad over Skype two weeks ago. Just this past week their dad was killed in another country a week before he was supposed to move here with his family. It was
very sudden and heartbreaking for them as well as a shock to us. Though it could have been devastating, they truly saw this experience as a way to grow. They already have plans to do his work in the temple and to be sealed as a family. It was a beautiful example to me of how we can look at our trials in this life. I loved a quote from president Uchtdorf in this month's ensign about the pioneers:

"...doing hard things deepened and strengthened body, mind, and

spirit; magnified their understanding of their divine nature; and

heightened their compassion for others."

It is vital to look at trials and hardships as an opportunity to grow, learn, and love. Sweet blessings and promises are in store for those who endure well. I know that there is a grand purpose to this life and that no matter what happens here on the earth is not permanent. Our Savior made that possible for us. I am forever in His debt.

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen