Week 36: from Jordan

This week was a really fun one for everyone, it seems! How was the Xmen movie? And how is 드래건 길들이기 2? It has some fun posters!

This week we got to meet with a few good people. One is a missionary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He really wants to know if what we're saying is true and he likes it, but he's not sure if he can make the commitment to join the church. He's currently signed on for life-time missionary service, so I understand the worry. Elder Pons also got to meet a 52 year-old man from Gambia. He is studying for a Master's degree so he can become minister of education in Gambia. He is loving the message and the only thing he doesn't like is that there are no missionaries in Gambia right now. He says he will personally translate the Book of Mormon in to Fillani because "the people of Gambia need this book!" He's doing really well, but since he is so old, and doing the entire master's program in one year, he is always really tired, and so sometimes sleeps through our appointments. I look forward to meeting him soon, though.

I didn't get to go to the lesson with Mr. Ba (Gambia) because of a conflicting appointment, but it worked out int he end it seems. In similar news, I was senior companion for a day because of exchanges with Elder Ashby. He's still struggling with the language and is noticing some gigantic differences between Korea and Utah, but he's working hard, and that's what matters. :) He said it was really weird to be with someone other than Elder Redd. That's fair. 

Other than that, we have had a pretty quiet week. We got to go visit the northern end of our district and walk by the river. People were much more willing to talk up there. Still not exactly leaping for baptism, but willing to hear us out. That was nice to experience in contrast with the always busy areas where we usually are. We should always be willing to give time to listen. We can learn a lot when we do. :) Not only that, it is through listening that we help others feel important. Granted, people need to want to talk first, but when they are, it is listening that helps them keep going. Maya Angelou said, "People will forget what you say. People will forget what you do. But people will never forget how you made them feel." As missionaries, we are helping people come closer to Christ, and, in large part, that means helping them see their true worth. 

Sorry there's less to report this week. We have had a lot of time street contacting in new areas. It hasn't yielded as many stories, but it has given us the opportunity to meet some people that possible never would have been found otherwise. It's been good. :) Thank you for all you're doing. I am always happy to hear about your adventures back home. Keep up the fun times, but now that school has started, 시간이 많이 없다. Hope you have fun anyway. And that you use this lack of time as an opportunity to focus on what is most important. :) Have a great week!

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.

Best wishes,

Elder Jones

Week 36 - Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? AND Acts 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

Dear Jordan,

Thank you for your amazing last email. Mom was able to post the emails and send them out to everyone for the last two weeks. People asked questions of me because they hadn't seen anything for a bit. Bruce asked if everything was okay. Liz Merrill didn't know there was a blog so she had just been thinking of how you were doing.

Since returning home from the cabin, things have been pretty quiet. On Saturday Robert took his Pilot and I took Lori/Nate's van to be serviced at the dealership. Fortunately, Hannah and Rachel had mowed the lawn yesterday because it was Alpine Days and Saturday would have been a mess to get through. Hannah and I also worked on the Stake Farm removing weeds. I did the regular shopping and then picked up the van. Mom and I then went to the High Priest party and then went with Rachel to see the last Xmen movie. Sunday was pretty usual but after church Hannah and Bekah had interviews with the bishop. Bekah also received a calling. We were both surprised. Mom went with us to Robert's house for dinner and then we watched "The Butler". I got it for Mom for our anniversary (23rd). Mom got us big pillows so we can sleep better. On Monday we had Family Home Evening and the lesson was on Happiness. We also talked a little about your last email.

On Tuesday for scouts we talked about camping and two of the boys had their board of review. They both became Stars. On Wednesday I went around the ward getting the permission slips for the camp out this Friday. We wanted to go to Albion Basin, but it was booked for Friday. We decided to go to Alpine instead. We had a good campout. On Thursday Mom and the girls were supposed to go to a musical but they stayed home instead (Holly wasn't feeling well enough to go). On Friday, I checked on several campsites up little cottonwood canyon, but they were all full due to the fact that it was the last weekend before school starts. Only two scouts showed for the campout, so I also took Sarah and Pete Jensen. Kyle Herd and his boys came down for a little bit as well. They were late because Kyle sold the van for us, and the buyer was late arriving and the car wouldn't start. (We got a whopping $500 for it. At least it's gone!) At the camp out, we got to watch  Despicable Me 2. We all slept in separate tents. We ate "pigs in a blanket." On Saturday, we ate a "mountain man" breakfast and then the scouts mowed grandma's lawn as a service project.

We forgot two of our chairs, so when mom and Hannah arrived to mow the lawn, they discovered that the lawn had been mowed already. It was a busy day, so mom was frustrated (!) that she lost the time. The good news was that Hannah got to drive home (reluctantly). The hardest part for her was getting to  the mountain. Once she was up, she did great. There were probably 2 dozen bikers strewn along the way, so she was nervous about hitting one. We decided to have her drive in the left lane with her hazards on so that she didn't have to worry about her blind-spot so much. We then went as a family to the annual Sahara Cares Autism fair. It was the 10th year, and there were more than 3,500 autistic kids and their families. Sarah again bewildered us with her excitement about holding the pythons, a tarantula, a boa, a scorpion, 2 turtles, and three lizards. Sarah had no fear! Eventually, even Hannah and Rachel tried the tarantula and the turtles.

Once we were home, we raced off to Little Caesar's to get pizza for the missionaries, a cake and soda for the girls' party and ice to keep everything cool. We had rented White Towers Swim club for their birthday. They each had 4 friends so it was run having the place to ourselves. Even mom squeezed into a suit and actually dove off the diving board several times. Sarah tried to coach her about how to dive, but her belly kept causing belly-flops no matter how hard she tried. The rest of the girls had a great time.

Just a curiousity. Have you tried any of the following:
Banana Milkis (milk)
Ojingeo Ttangkong (roasted squid and peanut balls)
Misubong (fish sausage)
Tteok (rice cake with red bean)
Samanco (vanilla ice with red bean)?

I got this list from a video called "Americans try Korean snacks." Some of them liked some of the snacks, especially the Samanco. They didn't like the Misubong.

We love you and care about your well-being. We just got your shoes, so feel free to buy new ones. You'll have $270 new shoes to wear when you get home. (Hannah was bummed that they were too big for her.) You are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. G&G Stamps put your name on the temple roll every week. :) I can't remember if we told you that they got called to be in the temple presidency. They are exhausted. They are coming to visit this fall, so that will be fun.

Be well, my favorite son!

Love, Rachel, Bekah (now 12), dad, Mom, Sarah, Hannah (now 16)

Week 35: From Jordan

I'm glad to hear so many people got to go up to the cabin! I wish I could've been there, but I am very glad I am here. Congrats to Sarah for catching a fish! I hope everyone had a great time up there and enjoyed nature. Utah is blessed with a lot of nature very close to home. There is nature here, but it is a bit far, and... missionary work doesn't really allow for long trips. ;)

All in all, things are going well here in impossible 이문! We have continued to find really great people, but we have been having to drop a few who want to talk more than listen. We didn't plan this, but there was a streak of 3 days where we taught no one but Muslims. We won't be meeting with some of them because they want us to convert... They're hilarious at times (like when one was trying to disprove our view of God with the Koran. He struggled to find the section, so we nearly quoted it to him verbatim from hearing it so much already and told him where it was.), but some of them have literally no concept of religion outside of Islam. We've been studying for them a lot and we have gotten a lot of revelation on working with them. I look forward to talking about it when I get back. We also realized that there are really not very many missionaries who have much experience on working with Muslims. There are just not many people who serve around large groups of them.

Other than the Muslim crowd, we had a couple lessons, but there were a lot of meetings this week, so I have less to tell you about this week. Sorry about that... Either way, we have had a great week, and we look forward to many more. Lately we have been learning a lot about boldness, so we are going to try to be even more bold. It will probably cut into numbers of lessons, but I think it will help in the end. I look forward to the challenge.

A mission teaches many things, but one of the things I have learned the most is exactly how the spirit works with me. It is different with everyone, but there are few things- if any- that are more important than learning how the spirit works with you. I don't know when, but do something with the family about that. I suppose FHE would be the place, but follow your heart. ;) I am very glad to hear that everyone is doing well and enjoying the ending weeks of their summer. School is almost here again! School has started here, so students are back. I look forward to meeting new, excited students. 

Thank you for everything, and I look forward to continuing to hear from you. I am having the time of my life out here, and I will be sad to see it end. Thanks for the reminder that time is going so quickly... ;P Love you all, and I hope you notice the little things in life. Sometimes, they are actually the things that hold everything else together. :)

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.

Best wishes,

Elder Jones

Week 35 - Alma 37:35 - O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

Dear Jordan,

    We are back from the cabin. It was a great time with all of my siblings except Juli. I was able to visit with her and her family before going to the cabin. Last Sunday they came by Robert's house and visited with us. So we had Grandma, Robert, David and Don, our family (except you), Lori and Nathan (except Dallin and Jason) with Brian, Josh, and Jemma, Daniel and Jackie with Bryson, Caleb, and Natalia, Debbi and Mark with Tyler and Sean, Bonni (Chris in Afghanistan) with Sam, Lizzy, Ann, Matthew, and Joseph, and Ben at the cabin. It was a full house (cabin). Dan rented a trailer so that he and his family could stay there but still enjoy the cabin.

We were supposed to go to the cabin on Friday; however, Mom, Sarah, and Bekah didn't get back from the cabin until evening. Hannah and I had gone to Alpine to mow the lawn in the morning. We couldn't pick up the trailer with the kayaks because Lisa drove Grandma's Pilot to Denver and Lisa wasn't back yet. When they arrived at home i drove to Alpine and picked up the trailer and kayaks. Since the sun was setting when I got back I decided that we would go up Saturday morning. On Saturday we packed up and drove to the cabin. Mom and Sarah came up later in the day. We unpacked and then most of the people went on a hike on the roller coaster trail. We ate well but surprisingly we didn't have a lot of extra food left over. On Sunday we went to church. It was Fast Sunday and our stake president had asked that we fast for missionary experiences. Back at the cabin  we played games inside because it was raining. On Monday most of the kids went into the river. Later we did some fishing. Sarah caught her first fish. I forwarded the pictures to you. On Tuesday we went to the open house for the renovated Ogden temple. It is beautiful and it has many paintings that I haven't seen before. It doesn't have a main chandelier but it does have four in each corner. It was raining again and it was a pretty good downpour. On Wednesday we went to Smith and Moorehouse to use the kayaks. On Thursday we did the river again. Mom, Sarah, and Hannah then went back home. Hannah went so that she could finish reading her book. Aunt Liz, Amanda, and Emma also visited on Wednesday. On Friday we cleaned the cabin and went home. Hannah, Rachel, and I then drove to Alpine to mow and drop off the trailer. I will borrow the Pilot for a camp-out this coming Friday. On Saturday we helped on the stake farm and did the shopping. In the evening Mom and I went to the High Priest party and then we went to a movie. Today we celebrated our 23rd anniversary.

    We received your letter. Mom said that it is kind of hard to read the green ink.

    Lori and Nathan bought a new van on the previous Saturday. They are letting us use their old van until Dallin starts school in January. He will be released on August 27th. You have now completed 1/3rd of your mission. Time is still passing quickly. We hope that you are enjoying all of your experiences.

    We love you. We continue to pray for you. Mom has been checking you bank balances and is working on getting you replacement shoes. Please let us know if there is anything else that you need.

    Please keep working hard and smart. Keep studying the languages and reading the scriptures. Be obedient.

Love,

Hannah, Rachel (back from Denver), Bekah (ditto), dad, Mom (ditto), Sarah (ditto)

Week 34: From Jordan

Thank you for the email! It is great to hear that everyone is doing so
well! I am sorry to hear about Mom falling in a dishwasher, though. I'm
glad she made it back out again safely. :) It's great to hear that Utah is
getting some rain! Seoul has gotten a bit less, so I'm glad it's going
someplace where it's needed! What book is Hannah reading for English?

Things are going really well here. We have been able to meet with a lot of
prepared people, and they have been fairly receptive. There are a couple of
language barriers, (we are meeting with people from: the DRC, Sweden,
Korea(sometimes ;) ), and China), but it's all good. Those who are ready to
hear the message are ready to hear what we can get across. One of the
people I am very happy we met is names Yves. He's from the DRC and attends
church elsewhere, but is wiling to listen and has been wanting to meet
since I met him my first week in Korea. He (like basically everyone...) is
sad that Elder South is gone, but he is happy to be meeting at last. He was
very excited to get *Le Livre de Mormon. *I look forward to working with
him more.

I'd tell you more about people progressing, but we've been meeting a lot of
people for the first time this week, so progress isn't quite applicable
yet. Still, things are going very well. The area continues to do well. The
branch is always happy to see missionaries work. All the missionaries are
having a great time, and are working hard. There has been a heavy rain
hanging in the clouds for the past week, but it just keeps drizzling from
time to time, never quite feeling ready to commit. Through it all, we're
having a great time and are looking for even more ways to serve. Apparently
when Elder Cook came, he told the mission president that he wants the
missionaries in Asia to do more physical service for the people. That is
now getting down to us. Any ideas on service projects? We're looking, but
the things we would do in America (moving, groceries, lawns) are either
done for pennies by companies, or don't exist... It's been an interesting
search. :)

I liked the article you attached. Elder Pons and I laughed out loud. We are
currently meeting with a few Seventh-day Adventists, and there are more
crosses on the skyscape here than Cahpel spires in Utah. Basically we feel
for the missionaries that experienced that. It is definitely a good
strategy to do research and then give an answer, and that is actually in
Preach My Gospel. It hasn't worked too well in the past, because everyone
either sees our not knowing as proof we are not real missionaries, or they
ask their preachers, who inevitably just say we are a cult. Basically we
are serving in a world of modern technology and speeds, but with the
religious fervor of Upstate New York in the early 1800s. It is a very
interesting juxtaposition. At times just plain funny. :) All I will say is
that I am glad we had those videos about the bible and church history back
home. ;)

Thank you for all you are doing. I am always so happy to hear about your
service, and experiences. It is a pleasure. I hope you all continue to enjoy
your summer and spend every moment doing what brings you joy. Say hello to
everyone at the cabin, though I think you will read this after the cabin is
over... Only another summer, then I can go. ;) Have a great time!

 Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.

Best wishes,
Elder Jones

Week 34 - John 13:34 - A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Dear Jordan,
    Since we are going to the cabin on Friday, this email will only be from Sunday to Thursday. It is more important that you receive an email than it is that I include everything. With Mom, Sarah, Rachel, and Bekah in Denver, it has just been me and Hannah (and Michaela) at home. Hannah is in AP English so she has a book/paper report due over the summer. It is a 500 page book, which for Hannah generally is no problem. However, she hasn't been able to enjoy the reading so it has been slow going. I have had to ask her to meet certain goals in reading each day so that she would do it. She got to page 400 last night so we were able to watch a movie.

    On Sunday I finished writing your last email. It was just Hannah and me at church from our family. The Richards spoke as their farewell. They did a great job and Riley played a piano piece. After church Hannah and I finished getting the food ready and then we went to Robert's house for dinner. Robert and Hannah made Spencer Mix and we talked about the schedule for the cabin. On Monday we had Family Home Evening and we tried to get Mom and the girls on FaceTime but they didn't pick up. On Tuesday the Young Women were supposed to hike to Doughnut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon but there was rain so they canceled and had regular classes. For scouts we talked about the Eagle projects that are coming up and then we had a knot tying competition. On Wednesday I taught Hannah how to jump start the van and then I drove it over to Kyle Herd's house. He will try to sell it and then we will split the amount. If he can't sell it, we will donate it. I then watched the movie with Hannah after she read to page 400. Mom also called me last night to give me an update on her activities. Yesterday while doing dishes, she fell into the dishwasher at Bonni's house. She has some bruises but is otherwise well. The dishwasher carriage had to be repaired so she called a repairman and he was able to fix it. Today Hannah is supposed to mow the Terry's lawn while they are away. Friday morning we will go to Grandma's house to mow the lawn and get the trailer ready. Mom is expected around noon on Friday from Denver so I will need to make two trips to Alpine because I don't want to try to mow the lawn during the hot part of the day. It is still hot even with the rain we received so we even have some humidity. We will then drive to the cabin in the afternoon and stay for the week. On Sunday (Fast Sunday), the Stake President has asked that we fast for the missionaries and for missionary moments.

    Jason is in the MTC and Dallin is finishing his mission. Nathan will go through another round of chemo but the Colgrove's will be coming to the cabin. It will be a pretty full house, except for all of the missionaries. Bonni has asked for me to bring my fishing equipment to help teach Sam. By the way, your fishing license expired on 7/3/2014 so no fishing in Korea. ha ha

    Unfortunately this will be a shorter letter so I will add on the end an article that was referenced in the LDS Living email.

    Please keep working hard but enjoy the experience as well. Continue to watch for the many blessings that Heavenly Father continues to send to you, especially the ones that are only meant for you. We love you. We pray for you.

 

Love,
Sarah, Hannah, Rachel, Bekah, dad ,Mom

 

How a Missionary Can Answer Any Investigator’s Question

By Mission Home — 07-25-2014

I had a totally confused look on my face as my mind raced to understand what he’d just said. My new mission language was still really tough, so it took me a few moments to comprehend the question. He then repeated himself again, this time a little slower. “Why are there no crosses in Mormon churches?”

My investigator had a good point. “Why didn’t we have any crosses in our churches?” I thought to myself. Even though I’d been a member my whole life I didn’t really know the answer to this question. I could have tried answering with an educated guess, but I didn’t really know.

Little did I know that that moment was just the tip of the “I don’t know” iceberg.

Like most missionaries, I spent the MTC experience hoping no one would find out how few scriptures I’d memorized or little I knew about (cue deep echoing voice) “THE OLD TESTAMENT.”

Most missionaries in the MTC believe that they need to become a “super human bank of knowledge,” able to answer any question, anywhere, for anyone. And this gets them pretty stressed out. Is this really the expectation the Lord has for us?

The missionary purpose is to “invite others to come unto Christ.” It doesn’t mention anywhere answering everyone’s questions with sound gospel knowledge. Maybe that expectation is too big.

I think our objective should be to develop our ability to teach anything, anywhere, to anyone. But teaching doesn’t mean we have to be the smartest person in the room. We don’t need to memorize tons of facts and figures. We need to learn how to simplify what we know and continue our learning based on the needs of those we teach—especially according to the Spirit. Experience in the mission field will shape what you “need to know” over time. Believe me, you won’t figure that out until you have someone to teach.

For example, there was one investigator who we taught, the importance of the Sabbath day and then invited her to come to church. She didn’t say yes or no; she responded with a question, “Why in some faiths is the Sabbath day on a Sunday, and others, a Saturday?”

This question was really important to her. Her late husband (who had introduced her to Christianity) had gone to church every Saturday until he died at around age 40. Of course it was natural that she was confused about the division of understanding in regards to which day the Sabbath day should be.

My companion and I didn’t have a solid answer for her. It wasn’t something we’d ever considered or done any research on. We didn’t know any more than she did on the subject.

So I responded with, “We’re not too sure, but we can see that this is very important to you, so we will go away and study this together, come back later, and teach you what we learn in tomorrow’s lesson.”

The next morning, we franticly searched through our books together, trusting God would help us find an answer. Our investigator hadn’t been to a church in years, and we wanted to help her reconnect with God. We felt that finding an answer to her question was the key to unlocking this blessing.

We searched the Bible Dictionary and references in the four standard works on the topic of “Sabbath day.” We cross referenced Old and New Testament passages with Preach My Gospel. It was like a Da Vinci Code-style puzzle to solve, and it became really interesting.

I won’t tell you what we discovered, I’d hate to spoil all the fun, but in the end we did find what we were looking for. That helped us to teach our lesson with real power. Our investigator was so taken back by the effort we’d made that she came to church with us that Sunday—the first time she’d been to church since her husband’s passing.

If we want to “invite others to come unto Christ” we need to be willing to work. Missionary work is not a sales pitch; these people are not customers, and we certainly can’t bluff our way into “closing the deal.” Sometimes it’s good to identify when we don’t know something.

In that moment, I understood what a mission was all about. Loving your investigators! Which isn’t about “having all the answers” or sounding really smart. It’s about making an effort to go the extra mile, listen to the Spirit, and trust that God will help you say exactly what they need to hear. That’s the real way to answer any question—at any time, about anything, for anyone.

For more mission tips like this, check out www.missiongeek.net. You can also find Mission Geek on YouTube or Facebook. The Mission Geek

Week 33 P.S. from Jordan

Oh yeah. Elder Redd's trainee is from Alpine, Utah. Elder Ashby. Cool kid. Everybody in the house is now from Utah... that's something I was thinking I could avoid... I Korea... Oh well, things are good aside from the tremendous jet lag. I don't think people ever get over jet lag so much as they just accept being tired all the time. ;)

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.

Best wishes,

Elder Jones