Nov 14, 2011

This past week was really good, other than the fact that it is freezing cold and the space heater does litttle to keep us warm. We have finally started to see a little success from our finding efforts. A week ago we had a dinner apt with the Chavez family but we arrived a little early so we decided to tract a few houses. We began walking down the street looking for signs of a hispanic house. We walked down a culdesack and for some reason out of all the houses on the one street and in this circle we only knocked this one door. A lady opened the door and we began to talk. She told us of how she had never talked with the missionaries before and how she wasnt really interested. We set up an apt with her on the basis that all she had to do was listen. Friday the day of the apt came and at 6 we knocked her door. A man opened and told us Christina was not there but another lady said "let them in it is cold outside" so we entered the house and they called Christina to see when she would be arriving home from work. We had about an hour to wait until she would be home, so we began talking to the family that lived there and Christina's kids. They made us some food to eat and when the mom walked in she saw us eating dinner with the kids all laughing and having a good time (I think we earned some brownie points from her). Then we all sat down together and began the lesson. There was Christina (about 28), her son (9) her daughter (4) her sister (13) and her parents (no need to include age). We had a great lesson in which they were all involved asking question and feeling the spirit. After she told us that she would like us to come back because she likes how what we shared can help her kids. I still dont know why we knocked that door and only that door but the lord has a purpose for everything.

Second miracle, happened saturday night after a crazy long day of work and no success. It was about 7 pm and we were knocking the door of several former inv when for some reason I decided to go knock a house that we had found a few days earlier where a hispanic family was living. As we walked Elder Bolivar asked where I was going so I explained to him that we were going to knock this door again. He agreed and off we went. We knocked the door and a man about 40 years old opened the door. I shared a little message with him and asked if we could teach him more. He invited us in and asked us to share more. We talked with him for about 15 minutes about the Book of Mormon and its purpose in testifying of Christ and the restored gospel. At the end he sat there quiet and then told us how he had been waiting for us to come by. He told us of he past struggles and how God had helped him fix his life and that he decided that he needed to be baptized in this church because of it and he was just waiting for us to come find him. The experience really increased my testimony of how God really is preparing the hearts and minds of the people to recieve the message we just need to put in the effort to find them. God is always working in our lives preparing us for bigger and greater things. Sometimes the way in which he prepares us is not how we would like but we cannot see with the infinite vision that God has. We have to have the faith that everything will be ok and that it is all for our benefit.

Love,

Elder Jolly (falling asleep at the computer)

Nov 7,2011

Well this week was pretty decent. I have had better but I have had worse. Elder Bolivar and I are really struggling to find so we have been implimenting our new finding idea. For those who haven't heard of this idea, Elder Bolivar's dad sent it to us and wow it has resulted in some powerfull lessons. We set up lessons with the leaders of the ward and went over to teach their family. We taught a lesson all about missionary work, using inspiried questions and asking them to tell us of their conversion story. Most hispanics here are first generation members so their conversion story is something very close to them. As they would share their conversion story it would invite a beautifull spirit into the lesson. We then would read the parabole of the lost sheep with them and talk about how we need to find the lost sheep. After we would get on our knees and Elder Bolivar or I would offer a prayer pleading that the Lord would place in their mind the name of someone ready to accept the gospel, we would pause for a little bit to give the spirit time to inspire them, meanwhile Elder Bolivar and I would silently continue praying. After the prayer we would get up and ask them what names each person felt and we would make a plan for each person on how to introduce them to the gospel and us. We had an extremely powerfull lesson with the bishop's family in which after the prayer his wife was crying, she told us a name came to her mind that she would have never thought would accept the gospel... it was her brother. We left that lesson and were overcome at the power of the spirit that was felt.

We had a Halloween fireside as a mission in which Stephen B. Allen a area seventy and the director of missionary work came and talked to us about missionary work. Wow he nailed hard on how our mission will determine who we are. If we dont work hard on our mission we wont work hard in life, if we are slacker missionaries we will be slacker members of the church. The thing he said that impacted me the most is that he said "You only have 2 years to do the this work and an eternity to reflect on it". It was a powerfull talk and we all left spiritually uplifted. It is true this work is the most important work in the church, bring imortality and eternal life to God's children. I know this work is true and that we may not see the fruits right away but for those who accept this gospel it will make all the difference for them and their future generations.

Love,

Elder Jolly

Oct 31,2011

This past week was good. It has finally started to cool down so it is easier to work hard and not die from sweating. Although our landlord keeps the temperature set at a nice 60 degrees and so well we freeze during studies. I know this may sound weird but I am super cold when I sleep so I sleep with my beanie on. I got your package and loved it, we have already eaten all the snickers and a tuna helper. Two weeks ago Elder Bednard spoke at our regional conference about the difference between conversion and testimony. He told us that a testimony is not good enough to get us through the challenges the world throws at us, only a deep conversion can help us weather the storms.

We had a baptism on saturday for Jose Hernandez ( husband of hna. Moreno) and it was awesome. He had met with more than 10 sets of missionaries before but when Elder Bolivar recited the first vision he just said "wow I felt that and I know you know it is true" of course in spanish. His wife was so happy that he finally got baptized and they are making plans to go to the temple in a year, hopefully everything works out.

So when I went back for the baptism of Rubi and Alejandro I got to see all the old ward members which was awesome. They all came up and asked how I was doing and what was new. Fred Mendez (former Jehovah's Witness) was at the baptism and he told me some great news. When I had left he told me he was definitely not looking to get married but I told him that you never know what God has planned for you. Well Fred is engaged now to a lady from the old ward. They are planning on getting sealed in the temple in April of next year and Fred wants me to go. Also, I saw the Burquez family oooh man I miss Hna. Burquez's cooking. Anyway, ran up to me and grabbed my arm and said Elder Jolly, I have a surprise for you, we have our interview this week to get prepared to go get sealed in the temple as a family. She told me the moment they know the date she is going to call me so I can attend. It was awesome to see that everything is still going good back in the River 9th Spanish Branch and people still remember me... sweet! Anyway sorry this email is not to spiritual lol I promise to do better next time, we just have a lot going on today and not much time to write. Hope you got my letter mom!

Love,

Elder Jolly

October 24, 2011

So this past week was good although I think I am getting sick. My throat is killing me and I have had a killer headache for a few days.

Jose still seems good to go for his baptism this saturday. He just loves to talk and joke around so it makes the lessons super long sometimes. The otherday we taught a lesson on the Word of Wisdom that took an hour and a half because he had a ton of comments and questions. He is way awesome though and he loves it when we come over to teach.

Lucero is another one of our investigators who we have started teaching recently. She seemed pretty interested but she has a ton of doubts. Leaving her house after teaching a doctrinaly and spiritually sound lesson we pondered on how she can have so many doubts and how people can be so confused about who God is. She told us she doesn't believe that God is a man, she believes God is love and God is peace but he doesn't literally exist. She believes God created our spirits, I was so confused. How can God not really exist and still create us. How can God just be love and peace and still know us personally. I know God is a man, and I know that understanding His nature and who He is is key to understanding who we are and our purpose.

This past week we were finally able to meet with Lizeth. Our senior couple has been a huge help lately with Lizeth and Erik. Erik is always out of town working and he takes the only phone and car they have so it makes communication almost impossible with Lizeth. The Crawfords (senior couple) went over to their house this past week and took Lizeth and her kids out to dinner and then brought them to the church so Lizeth could go to the english class. Afterwards we taught her and the Crawfords watched her kids. It was a huge help and she is still crazy excited about getting baptized, they just need to find a time when Erik is in town so they can get married.

The baptism for Rubi and Alejndro was awesome! It was a spiritually over powering baptism in which tears were shed. The room was full with people standing everywhere and also a ton of missionaries were there. Having been taught for two years several (to say the least) missionaries have been involved in the teaching process. After two years of finally waiting they were able to be baptized. As I pulled Rubi up from out of the water she just looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "Gracias, gracias". It was an awesome experience that I will never forget.
I feel that people who have never really done an investigation of the church and it teachings are left in the dark. They do not understand what they are missing out on. They do not understand the blessings they are foregoing. It's all true, it really is, and people who dont believe in this work have never sincerely read and prayed about the Book of Mormon either that or they have denied the spirtual confirmtion they have recieved. It may be a bold statement to make that this is the only true church on the face of the earth but it is a statement I feel confident making for I have recieved a witness of it truthfulness.

Love, Elder Jolly

October 17,2011

Well this week was a good week. We taught quite a few lessons and extended a few baptismal dates. Jose Moreno was handed back to us from the Zone Leaders and he is solid for baptism. We gave him a date for Nov. 5th and then when we stopped by sunday to remind him of church he asked if he could be baptized earlier so he now has a date for October 29th. We taught Jose Sagabadra for the first time this past friday. He just randomly showed up at church last sunday so we went up to him and were like heyy.... baptism.... well something along those lines. At the end of the lesson on friday he accepted baptism for the 6th of nov and he showed up for church sunday so things with him are going well.

I really learned the blessings of service this week. The sister missionaries Sister Chatter and Sister Hurst invited Elder Bolivar and I to lunch on thursday so we went. Sister Hurst went to go pay but her missionary credit card wouldnt read so I went up and slid my card and paid. Later that day 2 different cars drove up and gave us $20 each, blessings..... We are teaching this man Wilfredo who has been meeting with missionaries and going to church for more than 10 years and finally I just asked him why he wont get baptized to which his response surprised me. He is married to a member who is sealed in the temple to someone who has since passed away, and he asked why can men be sealed more than once but women no. It was a very deep doctrine question, but really comes down to the simplest answer. Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge. Sometimes we dont understand the why but we have to settle for the answer of "It is something we cannot answer but is the church true?". He even sat down with M. Russell Ballard before and asked him, he didnt have time to answer fully but he said he would call him later. Regretfully Wilfredo lost his phone since then and got a new number so he never got the full answer.

    BTW mom, we recently went by and visited the Espinoza family and I was told to tell you that I have been adopted as their white son and they are my brown family. Lol still love you mom.

September 12, 2011

Well tansfers just happened and Elder Bowers is out. He is now serving in Murray covering 10 stakes. My new companion is Elder Bolivar, straight out of Columbia. Well he left Columbia about 5 months ago so not straight out of Columbia but pretty close. This is his third transfer and one of the first things he told me is "I am shy so you will need to help me to open up". Haha President wrote me and the first sentence was "You will have to get your companion to talk more", so I guess I have a new challenge on my hands. He is a great kid though, hard working, knows the scriptures, just needs to open up a little more. His dad just finished serving as a mission president in the Columbia, Cali mission so he knows how the mission is run.

This week we had a lot of success, so things are looking good. Alonso was baptized last sunday and confirmed yesterday. On Wed. we had a lesson with a less active Iris, her roommate Stephanie and her daughter Isabel. The lesson went really well and they accepted baptism on the 25th of September. Yesterday at church Stephanie was telling people how she is excited for her baptism. We met with Lizeth Moran on thursday, she is excited for the wedding, but they are saving up money so they can have a little party and invite friends. She hopes it will be at the end of sept so she can be baptized on Oct 2nd with her husband. Christian, told us that he will get baptized since we cant find his records so we are just trying to decide on a date that works for him. We have a few more investigators that are progressing well. Gabby is doing good, she came to church yesterday with her daughter. She asked me if Elder Bowers will ever come back and I responded "of course, for your baptism" haha she looked shocked but smiled and said "ok". We have an appt with her tomorrow and we are going to extend a date and see what happens. She is ready, she is just very scared to take the step. Two returned sister missionaries were called last week and man they are a huge help. They ran around yesterday picking up investigators for church and getting them rides home. It felt good to relax a little. They are also going to be teaching the new member lessons so we can focus on finding more people. Yesterday in Ward Council the Bishop and Auxillary leaders gave us like 15 families to go by. The conversation went a little like this "Well none of us can get in the house...hmm.... lets send the missionaries" haha some of the names have kids that are not baptized so it looks promising there. There is just so much to do.

When we taught Iris the other day she was talking about how life is tough since her husband is in jail, so we shared a scripture with her. At the end she stopped for a secod and then said "wow, I felt that, it felt good when I read that scripture" she then told us that it was the same feeling she gets when she takes the sacrament. I know that that was the Spirit! The Spirit is the converter, it teaches truth and speaks peace to the mind and to the heart. That is what these people are looking for, peace and comfort in a world where life is so hard. That true peace is only found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no subsitute there is no other way. The experiences I have had on the mission have grown my testimony, just like the seed of faith, it has been nourished and now it is growing. I love you all and thanks for all the bday wishes.

Love,

Elder Jolly

August 22, 2011

Hello Hello.

This past week was a great one! We had a speacial mission conference about music and the power and influence it has with regards to the Spirit. The 2 people who created the music and conducted Messiah in America came and talked to us. I love one of his quotes "Anyone who has been elevated to a standard of excellence will never again be complacent with mediocraty". He talked about how Boyd K. Packer said we grow up on musical french fries when we could have a gourmet feast. At the end we all sang "We need thee every hour" and it was very powerfull.

On tuesday we did splits in the afternoon and I went with an RM named Manuel and we had a pretty crazy experience happen. I learned to follow the Spirit of the Law more than the letter of the law. Right before I left the house I had this feeling like I should grab the chapel keys, I had no idea why but I did. We went to our first couple of appts and then for some reason we both felt the impression to deviate for our route and scheduled appts to go visit Patrichia an inv that is not progressing. We went by and she was busy so we set up an appt and asked for refferals. She gave us a refferal for 2 of her neighbors. We went an knocked the 2 doors to no avail. As we were walking back to the car. This hispanic man came running up to us. As it turns out he had broken his car key and saw us walking and asked us to give him a ride to get his key fixed. We said "sure" as this was the perfect opportunity to trap him in the car and teach him. As we drove we began to talk about religion. The first place we went to didnt cut keys so we continued on, eventually leaving my area. We talked about the restoration and Jospeh Smith, he had a few differences of opinion. As we continued along we could not find a key place but then a guy told us of a key place about 10 blocks north, which was outside the mission. Manuel asked me what we should do, I thought about it for a minute and said "lets go". We get to the key place and the guy only has a dollar, he have just arrived form Mexico and about a dollar in change was all he had left. So we left him at the key place to go get $10. When we came back he was outside with the key, saying "this is what you call faith". The owner had decided to give him the key free because of his circumstance. As we drove home the guy began to talk about how hard his life was and how he felt so depressed and like there was nothing he could do. I pulled out the Book of Mormon and told him to read Ether 12:27-28. He began to read and got quiet, 5 minutes later he was still quiet. I then looked back to see this man (Juancarlos) staring at the page tears running down his face. Manuel then leaned over to me and said "We r taking this man to the chapel, do you have the keys?" Suprisingly I did because I had grabbed them earlier. We took him to the church building and asked if we could show him around he said yes and I asked if we could start with a prayer. Right then he broke down bawling. He was going through some really tough stuff in his life, leaving his kids in Mexico to come here to find work to support them. He felt like nobody understood him and that there was no purpose to life. I gave him Alma 7:11-13 to read and he read the whole chapter. The Spirit was very strong. Manuel then bore testimony of what he was feeling. I told him a personal experience with the spirit and then Manuel invited him to be baptized. Right then and there the first time we met him, but the Spirit testified to this man that this was right and ture. He accepted baptism and told us he needed to make this step. He then opened to a random page and began to read. Manuel started to say something but Juancarlos stopped him and said "Let me read, this book speaks to me, I understand it". I was a crazy experience! We ended in prayed and then took him home. Afterwards the car was quiet as we we shocked at what had just happened.

Lulu was baptized saturday night! Her baptism was awesome. Her dad who is not a member came and supported her. Lulu asked me to baptize her and it was so amazing to see how this girl knew and wanted to follow Jesus Christ. In the process of teaching her she would say the most sincere prayers asking for help to learn so she could be baptized. I loved every moment of teaching Lulu and her family.

This is what missionary work is all about, helping people find Christ in their lives. It is so rewarding and I find my love for Christ grow as I help others find that love in their lives. I know this Gospel is true, this is THE church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth through his servant and prophet Joseph Smith, I know it and I feel its truth!

Love,

Elder Jolly

August 15,2011

well we are coming to the middle of august, and today marks 11 months. This past week was decent teaching wise but extremely hot! I am super tired of all this hot weather and I cant believe I am saying this but I am ready for winter. Everybody who lives in Utah says Oh Utah is the best because it has all four seasons. Those people are liars!! It has 2 seasons, hot and cold. There is no spring and no pretty fall where the leaves change color. This past week we went out teaching a few times with a guy named Jesus, he just got back from his mission to London last week. He is a mexican with an english accent. He made me realize how blessed we are here teaching wise because England is one of the hardest missions in the world. He came to a lesson with Monica a less active and her son Alonzo and we put Alonzo on date for the 28th of August. Lulu is still set to get baptized this sat, and she is all prepared for her interview thursday night. Alonzo is really solid to get baptized but the 28th may be a little soon just because he has to make it to church both times in order to be baptized on that date. The Moran family is still looking solid and our new goal for them is Sept 4th (good day). Alicia is solid but she wants to wait for her kids to come up from Mexico and she is really set on that idea so we honestly have no timeline for her.

Two weeks ago we went back to my old area to a baptism for Layli De La Rosa and it felt so good to be back in my old area. Everyone came up and shook my hand at the baptism. It also happened that the branch was having a picnic that day so we went to that too. It was awesome! Hermana Burquez ran up to me and said asked me if I had come back for good and I had to tell her that it was only for an hour or two. She then asked if she could hug me lol I told her after the mission she could hug me as much as she wants but right now I am off limits. Afterwards we went and saw Carmen, Israel and Ared and aww it was soo good to see them. We talked for a bit and then Israel took us out for ice cream.

On wednesday we did service for this lady who had just moved here from Texas and man it was tough work. We redid her sprinkler system and built a patio. I got super fried but it was all good because she invited us to a bbq on sat and it opened up a teaching opportunity for the german speaking sisters because the ladies mom isnt a member and understands german a lot better than english.

Yesterday we had to speak in sacrament meeting with Pres Pineda from the mission presidency and it was fun. I talked about the importance of a testimony and shared parts of my experience finding a testimony and afterwards pres pineda told me it was a very inspired talk.

Man this past week I have been thinking a lot about who I want to be and what I want to change in my life to become a better person. I can see I have changed some but I am not yet where I desire to be. I think the biggest thing I have learned is patience and how to love everyone. The other day I was walking to church and my comp was mad at me because well he loves to wrestle and I hate it so he tried to wrestle me and he got hurt. So he wasnt talking to me and I was thinking of all the things he did wrong and why it was his fault and then I realized. How can i think this way and expect to have the Spirit. You can't. The Spirit follows thoughts of love and kindness and actions of service. It brought me back to the mote and beam analogy. You can't expect people to be perfect, we all have our own faults and the moment you expect perfection you have to give perfection. Anyway, I love you all for realz and hope you can look for the good in every person and every situation.

Love

Elder Jolly

August 8, 2011

So this past week was not the best. I was super sick tuesday and wed and so I had to stay inside all day. I found myself reading and watching all the church movies we have in portuguese and Italian. It was suprising how much I understood. We went hiking today up to some waterfalls in sandy near brighton and it was a tough hike. THe elevation gain was about 2,000 feet in a little over 3 miles. I am so ready for a nap and I am super sunburned (sorry mom). I took a lot of pictures, so you should be happy about that mom. I am surprised at how fast the time is going by because at the end of this transfer I will be hitting my one year mark. Oh btw mom and Megan I hope you had great birthdays, I remembered on the days but when it came time to email I totally blanked. I dont have too much time because I have to get home and shower before our next appt in an hour but I will talk more next time. I love you all, always hold on to to iron rod.

Love,

Elder Jolly

August 1, 2011

Well the weeks keep passing fast. This past week was not a great teaching week but when we did teach we had great success. Lulu's parents want a few more weeks before her baptism so her baptism has been pushed back until the end of August. We went by Erik and Lizeth and taught a great lesson. We asked them all the baptismal questions and they answered perfectly, they even told us that they are not married but want to be married so they can be baptized. They have a date for Aug 14th so hopefully we can get the marriage and all that good stuff done before then. They came to church and loved it, the kids enjoyed their classes and everything for them is looking up.

Monica is a less active who is starting to become more active. She is an awesome lady and we are teaching her 11 year old son who is unbaptized. He came to church yesterday with his mother and siblings and he loved primary, the kids took him in and showed him around. This kids is amazing, his mom has 3 kids besides him, 2 are babies and the kid (Alonzo) is always more than willing to help his mother out.

Yesterday after church we were running from appt to appt and it began to dump rain on us. We spent about 3 hours walking in the rain going from appt to appt. When we got home Elder Bowers and I both took warm showers because we were freezing.

Recently I have been trying to focus on my prayers and making them more personal. I have noticed a very strong difference between the spirit of my prayers when I make it personal and heartfelt and when I just ramble off some words because I am tired and want to go to bed. As I have slowed down my prayers and thought about my feelings, needs and blessings, I have been more emotional. I find myself tearing up in my prayers and sometimes I dont even know why, but my heart feels full. I know that our prayers have more power as we ponder and let the spirit guide our words. I heard someone say that you know when yours prayers are heartfelt because the spirit will guide your words and you may say things you were not expecting. It is so true! I love you all and pray that the Lord will guide and protect you.

Love,

Elder Jolly

P.S. Tansfers just happened and Elder Bowers and I are still together

July 25, 2011

Wow how the time goes by, of course the last p-day was only 4 days ago but still what a quick 4 days. So this past week we witnessed the baptism of Sergio Figeroa and it was an awesome experience. He bore testimony after his baptism of how one little scripture and a heart felt prayer led him to be baptized because it was through the scripture and prayer that he felt it was true.

Lulu was at church on sunday with her family and she should be ready for her baptism next week. So ever week we have to wrtie president and tell him about life and all that jazz, so I wrote him and told him about our out of nowhere baptism and he wrote back and said, "You deserve that miracle". Kind of made me feel good. He had Elder Bowers and I do I special fast yesterday to get members involved more and to move the work forward, it was probably one of the more spiritual fasts I have done before because my mind was focused on the purpose the whole time.

I think over the course of the mission so far I have realized that the mission is not about who you are or what you do, but more about who you will become. If we leave the mission with 100 baptisms but have failed to change ourselves then our mission was a complete failure. As Elder Holland told us, that our most important convert is ourself and if we go home having failed to convert our own self then we have failed as a missionary. I feel myself getting firmer and firmer in the gospel everyday. I am amazed to see the sacrifices some have made to accept the gospel and I can only hope that one day I can say I would do the same. I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. Sometimes it is tough, but I am always learning. Always press forward and always endure.

Love,

Elder Jolly

July 20, 2011

Well so another week in the good ol slc of utah has gone by and guess what!!!??? We have a baptism this week!!!! One of our investigators who has been taught for over a year came up to us at church on sunday and said "Elders I am ready to take the next step, when can I be baptized?" We were shocked but Elder Bowers asked when he wanted to be baptized and he said this friday. So this friday we will have the baptism of Sergio Figeroa.

   Sadly the Moran family didnt come to church so looks like they will have to be baptized August 14th the week after Lulu which is August 7th. We have been teaching a less active girl and her friend, well she is not less active because she does everything she needs to to be considered active but she lacks that testimony. Anyway, her friend Christian is a member but also lacks that testimony and well the church cant find his records, so we are trying to help him find his testimony and then we will have to rebaptize him. He seems ok with the idea although he is not super excited. They love us coming by though and I am not exactly why because Elder Bowers and I are just 2 goofy missionaries, but I feel like they really trust us. Yesterday they asked us when we were leaving (transfers) and we told them we dont know but that we will both probably be here until september at least. Liz the girl seemed excited and asked us if we would come back and visit them after we finish our missions. We told them of course. I think after my mission I will come visit the wards I have served in often.

    So our friday night dinner was a pretty cool experience. I attended my first ever Quincinera. It was for a girl in the ward and was held at the church building and was fun. It was crazy fancy, catered food, practiced dances, tuxes, professional photogrpahy and videos. It was cool because the family loves the missionaries and so well they signed up to feed us friday and so we had to attend the quince.

    Other than that it was just a normal hott week it the wonderfull valley of utah. A few weeks ago we went up to Park City for p-day and wow during the summer it is gorgeous up there, green everywhere, but not trees more like green bushes everywhere. I took some pictures for you mother and will send them up on my memory card in a few weeks. I have really gained a fancy for taking pictures recently and I dont know why. I think it is because Elder Bowers is addicted to pictures. Sorry this email is not crazy spiritual, it was just like a normal week in utah, but I often found myself staring at the sky and mountains and saying a little prayer in my heart about how beautiful this world is. I dont know if you guys have ever caught yourself doing that before but it was cool. I just walked and it felt like I had a lil conversation with God about the beauty of the earth and how I know it was all created for us. Well I gtg because I just got an email from President Miller asking me to call so we can have a little chat, hope it is a good thing! Love you all! Remember the most rewarding blessings can only be found in the true church of Jesus Christ! There is no other way to reciecve the blessings of Salvation and Eternal Life .... well..... cya!

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

July 20, 2011

Well another week has come and gone and this week was exceptionally fun and overwhelmingly tiring. So this past week Elder Bowers and I continue to find success in hard work. We found 7 more new investigators and 2 more so far this week. It is actually becoming a problem because we cannot keep up with them all in an area this large when we are walking. We talked to President about it on tuesday when we had interviews. Our teaching pool has now exceded 40 people and in order for investigators to progress they need to be contacted 2 to 3 times a week if not daily. This task is impossible since, well, our investigators are spread out over our whole area and those 40+ inv live in 27 different households. President said we need to just focus on those who we really think will progress and then come back to the others later or he said he may split the area so we would have 4 missionaries in this one spanish ward. Whenever we are running a little late Elder Bowers loves to just start running even if we have just left from our dinner appointment, so I have been getting back into shape from all the running we have been doing. The weather here recently has been about 90 and extremely humid so it is not the best running conditions.

     We had a cool experience this past week. We were invited by President to come up to his house sunday night and sit down and just talk with him and celebrate his sons birthday with him. We had some heart to heart talk with President ate some cake and stuff. Afterwards he had to drop his son off at the airport and he took us along. It was just a neat experience to ride along with President and just talk about life with him and talk about the mission. I am starting to see him as a real person now. He has definitely earned a lot of respect from me!

    Yesterday we began teaching a young couple and their two little kids. I believe that this couple was the most prepared people I have ever met in my life. She bore testimony of how she knew she was guided to Utah by the Lord so she could find this church and raise her kids in it because she said she knows that this is Christ's church. I tried to give the baptismal commitment but they said yes before I even started. They should be getting baptized July 31st if everything goes well.

  We started teaching a less active part member family and they were very receptive. There seems to be a key similarity with the people we are teaching right now, which is that they all want to raise their kids with a strong belief in God and good principles. Now of course all these things are found in this church. We put the daughter on date and the parents were very supportive, so she will be baptized August 7th. We are still trying to work on the father.

    Another investigator that was being taught a few months ago but decided to stop taking the lessons randomly showed up to church and she is almost done reading the Book of Mormon so we are hoping things will go well with her tonight as we try and extend a baptismal date.

     During this past week I have pondered often on the church and why so many people love the church and the principles it teaches there children. I can firmly say that the church teaches the exact principles and the exact way we should live our lives in order to be happy, which is why I know I will raise my kids in this gospel. I hope I can give my future kids the same foundation for success that my parents gave me as we focused on the little things of the gospel. I dont remember many Family Home Evening lessons, but I always remember doing it every monday night and I remember the time we spent as a family. Just as it is with teaching investigators, it doesnt always matter what you teach them or what the lesson is, but it is how they feel. As we strenghten our family relationships and as we set our sights firmly on Christ, the Spirit will always guide our path. I thank my parents for having showed me this path and for having raised me they way they did. Love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

July 6, 2011

hola hola hola,

Well this week was good. To answer your question mom, on holidays
they lock us all in a building and we have a speaker come and talk to
us and we play games and stuff. It was a nice 102 degrees the other
day and we were out knocking doors and visiting people for 9 hours and
didnt get any success besides the fact we now know who not to visit.
We are having a problem getting inv to show up to church but I imagine
this is a problem all over the world. President heard about our good
week we had and he pulled us aside to talk to us about it. He invited
us up to his home sunday night so we can talk and he said he is going
to see what he can do to get us a car. Now you may ask why do we need
a car. Well our area (in comparision in this mission) is huge. We
found ourselves literally running from appt to appointment yesterday,
like not jogging, full on running because we had a long distance to
get to the otherside. I felt like I was going to puke at the end of
one of the run because we had just left our dinner appt. We then
taught a very powerful lesson about the atonement with a less active
and her bf. It was probably one of the most powerful lessons I have
experienced. I walked out and felt great afterwards because I could
feel my own words as I said them and Elder Bowers bore testimony too,
it was awesome and we knew they could feel the love that was present
in that room.
I know you wont like this mom but I think everyday I come home
sunburned. Sorry, but i dont have much time and it always slips my
mind. We had a cool lesson on the 4th of July. A professor from byu
came and taught us about all the scientific evidence that lines up
with the creation period as described in certain places and in the
pearl of great price.
I have come to learn that the only way one can touch someones
heart is through teaching with power and authority, because it is this
power and authority that makes missionaries who they are. As we teach
with power and authority the Spirit will guide us to the needs of our
inv. Some of the people we are teaching as missionaries are people we
knew on the other side and are people we promised to find teach and
baptize. I love you all and until next week.

Love,
Elder Jolly

June 29, 2011

Well, I love my area! The area is really big and we dont have a car but Elder Bowers and I are still killing the area (in a good way) last week we picked up 13 new investiagtors and everyone was shocked. We put 2 more people on date for July and things are looking up. In the past 2 weeks we have picked up 21 new spanish inv and 3 english. Sorry if it seems like I am bragging, I am just excited. The only bad part about this area is the blisters on the bottom of my feet. We had a great experience the other day tracting. All our appts sunday night fell through so we decided to tract out this street. At about 9pm right as we were finishing up we knocked a door and a man stepped out and then his wife followed. We talked for awhile and then the lady said "Can you come in and say a pray for my son who is in the hospital with cancer?'' Turns out they have been to church several times and are very interested in being taught. We also found some kids in a park playing baseball so we joined in and told them we would play if they would listen to a lesson. Afterwards we taught the kids and the mom. The mom then told us of how she is strugglin with diabetes and is dying from cancer. We introduced them to the english elders and they are all now being taught.

   I love working with elder Bowers because we work crazy hard but we have fun doing it, we are litterally always laughing and joking around (appropriately). Elder Bowers was a wrestler before the mission and so he is kicking me into shape, we start off every morning now doing a million pushups and dand I am sore all over. Oh man so we just had to move to a new house and well yea in the begininng it was gross. It smelled like pee and was crazy dusty and dirty and so the first day we were up until like 1am cleaning. The other day I got out of the shower and saw a huge dust bunny under the toilet. I looked closer and realized it had claws, it was no dust bunny, it was a dead bird. By the looks of it the bird had been there for several months. This could have contributed to the smell. My backpack also broke this week and so I had to by a new one so that is why I have spent so much money this month mom. It is a really nice backpack, kind of expensive but it comes with a lifetime warrunty (sp). we have also had to by a ton of things for the house since we didnt have cleaning supplies or even lightbulbs. Anyway I love this area and I am having sooo much fun. I hope everyone is doing great back home. The power we have as missionaries is amazing, but we cannot use it if we are not doing our part. We have the authority but how much power we have as missionaries is all up to us. Work hard be good and love you all, like always.

 Elder Jolly

June 22, 2011

Well another week has come and gone in the life of Elder Jolly. This week was awesome by all standards! Some of it I will not explain but just trust me, the week was awesome. I feel like a new person. So this was the first week in my new area in Kearns and I absolutely loved it. My new companion Elder Bowers is from the great northwest, to be more exact he is from Yelm. He and I get along great, we have the same personality the same likes, we are always laughing but also we love to work hard. This is going to be a fun transfer. The first day with Elder Bowers he bore some powerful testimony that probably changed me for the rest of my life. He is an excellent missionary, he knows how to work hard and how to also have fun. The amazing part about this ward the Olympic Park 3rd Ward (spanish) is that they are actually doing the ward mission process and who would have thought that it is working. We have recieved 4 referals for less actives that all accepted the invitation to be taught when a member of the ward invited them so we are going to start teaching them starting this week. In the past week Elder Bowers and I have just been going through all the investigators that we have and giving them dates to see how they will take it. Many have been receptive and many have been staight up well not so receptive and so they are going to be the first to be dropped because we are looking for the elect. As we walk from lesson to lesson we have literally been talking to everyone and from that we have set up over 15 appts this week and since last wed. we have picked up 12 new investigators. The work is exploding here and it is great to be apart of it. The only hard part is the fact that our area is like twice as big as my last area and we are still walking and it is very hilly. The Olympic Oval is in the middle of our area and looks amazing as the sun goes down. I have noticed that just in the past week as both me and my companion are native english speakers that my spanish has begun to improve at a faster rate as I have to express my thoughts and I dont have a native to fill in for that which I dont know. The Spirit has helped me too and I have felt its influence and guidance a lot in the past week. I will go into more details next week about inv. as I get to know them more and more and as we get a clearer idea of where they are heading. The gospel is continuing to roll forth and to be a missionary at this time is amazing. I love the mission I was called to serve in and I feel like my mission president, President Miller is always recieving revelation for the mission and for me as a missionary in his mission. I know this church is true and I know we are guided by a living prophet today, just like the primitive church. Everything we teach as missionaries is real and true and I get to live it everyday for 2 years. I love you all, work hard and dont forget to read your scriptures.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

June 15, 2011

Well Well Well,

 

I have now finally been transfered! After seven months in my greenie area, I recieved a call yesterday telling me I had been transfered to Kearns. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone and I will miss the area a lot. When I went over to Rubi's house to say goodbye she cooked me a special dinner and told me that whenever I want to come over that I can. She told me I was one of her fav missionaries because of how humble she felt I am (hard to believe that one right mom). Jk no she said her house is my house. I was crazy touched as everyone said goodbye to me. I had a little bit of a shock when I went over to say goodbye to Savanah and her sister. I walked in and sat down and we began to talk and she told me to write her. I told her I would need her address so we could keep in touch. She then got a picture from her senior pics/ dance pictures and wrote her address on the back. Sis Estevez has a crazy wall of pictures and Savanah told me that if I had a picture wall I could put her picture up. We said goodbye and she promised to invite me to her baptism. As I got up I went to shake her sis hand and her sis stood up and just gave me a hug out of the blue, I did not see it coming. Savanah just then walked up and hugged me too. I stood there shocked, not having recieved a hug in 9 months and having just not intentionally broken a mission rule. I left content because I know they will be baptized and to just have had to opportunity to be (with my comp) the first missionaries to talk to them and help them get started was an amazing feeling. They both are going to girls camp this weeek and loved their first week in church.

       My new area. I am serving right around the Olympic Oval in Kearns just east of Bangator. It seems like a good area and we live in a really nice house. No car but that is ok. I am excited to work here and am also excited to be able to return to my old area soon for upcoming baptisms. I would not be surprised if my old area has 4 of 5 baptisms this next transfer from people we were teaching. The area is flourishing and I know Elder Santiago will do a good job taking care of it. I didnt get your letter by the way because ZL dropped off mail on tuesday because of transfers, although I did get a letter from Hna. Purziani. Her letters are always well.... amazing!!!! She always knows excatly what to say in every letter. It is like she writes a letter of revelation. So Hna. if you are reading this, props! One thing I learned this week. Missionaries are not here to be peoples friends or even be like family to them. I will draw it out for you

 

Savior

 

savior

 

Angel

 

Family

 

Friend

 

Aquantiance

 

We are here to be peoples savior because we cannot be their Savior because only Jesus Christ can take that role. So we are called to be their savior (lower case s) anything less than that is unacceptable and will not help them experience true conversion. True conversion can only take place when we come to know our Savior and we come to understand him and our relationship with Him. This gospel is so amazingly and beautifully true and I love you all.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

June 8 2011

 

Hola, hola, hola,

    This week was a lot better besides the heat. It is getting up into the upper 80's and we hadnt hooked up our swamp cooler, so last night I got on the roof and hooked it all up. This past week has been fun and went by very fast. Friday night all the missionaries in the mission hopped on the TRAX and went to the tabernacle center to see a chior of 400 adults and 200 children and 200 person orchestra perfom Messiah in America. The words of the concert followed word for word verses in 3rd Nephi about the coming of the Savior and his appearence in the Americas. It was AMAZING, the spirit was out of this world. The best part was at the very end they did an encore where all the children sang a beautiful rendition of Beautiful Savior. I was crying the missionary next to me was crying and wow people everywhere were crying. Our mission president was in the chior and at the begining he came up to the balcony where all 200 missionaries were seated and told us we could take off our suit jackets. As we did so everyone in the tabernacle applauded us and stood up, it made me feel loved.

    Saturday we did exchanges so I was in Taylorsville working with Elder Gomes from Cape Verde while Elder Hughes (district leader) and Elder Santiago worked in my area. It was a fun day. Elder Gomes is a very hard working and so we got along great. We visited a lady who did not understand the priesthood but she asked for a blessing so it was the perfect time to explain it. We then grabbed the bikes to ride across town to our next appt. I had to use Elder Hughes bike which would not have been a bad thing except it could not shift out of the lowest gear. So riding up hills was not to bad but in every other part I had to pedel crazy fast to keep up. We taught this family who had about 6 million question but they were honest real questions. They went to church the next day and seem like they are prepared for baptism. We ended that day extremely tired and ready for bed.

    Mond mrning Elder Hughes randomly showed up at our house during personal study. He had had a long talk with Pres about our area. President had actually called him to talk about our area. We havent had a baptism in awhile and President told him that Elder Santiago and I are too good of missionaries to not have had a baptism in so long. He told us to be more bold. Elder Hughes told us everything pres wanted us to do and so we decided we would do it. Yesterday we started our new teaching idea where we tell people straight up the first time we meet them that our purpose is to help them gain their testimony and them baptize them. If the get angry well then we know they are not prepared. This way we dont get stuck with investigators that long term dont want to commit to anything. So yesterday when we went into our lesson with Alberto we taught the Restoration and told him that we are here to help him be baptized. We were extremely bold, but we care about him and when you are bold the spirit will testify. It worked. He accpeted the idea and agreed to be baptizd July 17th. We have another appt tonight with a new investigator so we will see how it goes this time. Pres has his eye focused on this area so we have to preform. It is more fun this way too because people know why we are there and they know we are expecting something in the end, we are not just there to teach, we are there to bring people to the waters of baptism so they can make so neccesary covenants to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

      We also found 4 more people to teach this week and one said he would invite his friend to sit in also. The work is progressing, the spirit is strong. I love the mission. I know that baptism is necessary for every single soul. Not just baptism but baptism by the proper authority into Christ's one and only church. This is that church, we are building his kingdom. Enjoy your week and look for the miracles in everything around you.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

May 25, 2011

   This past week was really good!!! We found 3 new people to teach and 2 of them were definitely spiritually guided. We had an appt with Savanah to watch the new Joseph Smith movie and she was running a little late. So we were sitting there on a rock thinking and Elder Santiago asked me if there were any houses nearby that we could knock (asking me because I know this area like no other). One house came to my mind, it was not the closest house and it had been knocked like 10 times before. Everyone told us they were "super catholic". I told him about the house that came to my mind and we went. We knocked on the door and this girl answered the door. We began to talk and she told us that they are Catholic. Then Elder Santiago told her of the little experience we had had choosing her house to knock and she looked a little shocked and invited us in. We sat down and she began to open up to us. The mom came down and began to talk too. Turns out the girl had been feeling depressed for the past while because she felt like something was missing in her life, she felt like her heart lacked something and she hadnt found it in the Catholic church. Her mom told us of how her daughter will cry and she can just feel it as she is working and she will call her daughter and ask her if she is ok. This lady has so much faith but she says she doesnt feel like her current religion takes advantage of the faith she has. She told us how she learned to pray from her heart from a Mormon friend. We bore testimony and I felt inspired to promise her that if she listens to our messgae and applies it in her life she will never feel that empitness again. Anybody could have felt that spirit. They invited us back and they want to be taught.

    We also began to teach this 17 year old boy named Ramon. He was released from prision just recently.e used to sell drugs, and just be involved in a lot of not so great stuff, but he told us that when he was in jail last time he just started praying and he doesnt know why but he prayed and he now has this huge desire to change.

    We had zone conference this past week and I heard an analogy that I really liked. I talked about us and the gospel and compared it to a puddle and a stream. A puddle is stagnent and doesnt move, it sits there and grows dirtier and dirtier. While a stream is constantly flowing and as it flows it naturally purifies itself. We must be the same, we must always be moving in the gospel, we must always be purifying ourselves. President Miller also talked a lot about loving those you serve and teach. I really have found that I have come to love the people I teach and serve. I love their culture, there Spirit, I just love everything about them and I know that is because the Spirit has given me a greater capacity to love and understand.

   I love the Lord's mission that I am on. I love every minute of it! Sometimes it is hard but there is something to be learned from every hard moment we encounter. If nothing is learned than we wasted an opportunity to understand a little bit more God's plan for us. I love you all and have a miracle filled week.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

Three Kinds of Love

Since our English word love is used so broadly, it is helpful to distinguish between different types of love in order to gain a more precise understanding of the New Testament's message. This can be easily accomplished because the New Testament was written in Greek and there are various Greek words for love.
Eros:  Eros is probably what most people mean when they announce with a smile, "I'm in love." This type of love covers everything.   There is a very interesting characteristic about Eros love. In order to exist, Eros love is dependent upon the situation and circumstances.
Philia:   This word refers to brotherly love. This is the love of friendship, best friends, and the fellowship of being with those people you enjoy.
Agape:  This is charity or God’s love.  Unlike the previous two types of love, agape is not limited to being held hostage by its environment and someone's perception. The reason why agape can soar above these is because it is based upon the commitment of a decision. It entails the decision to proactively seek someone's well-being.  Understanding this opens up a whole new understanding of the scriptures. 

“This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.  So      when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.  He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto his, Feed my sheep.  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”  John 21:14-17

John is giving us a clue when he tells us this is the third time the Savior has appeared.  There is significance in this number.   Now the Savior asks Peter the same question three times.  The first question translated from the Greek refers to newborn lambs and he asks Peter if he loves Him in the Agape form.  The second question from the Greek translation refers to young lambs and again Jesus uses the Agape form of love.  Each time that Peter answers “thou knowest that I love you”, he answers with the Phila form of love or friendship.  The third question the Greek translation refers to full grown sheep.  When the Savior asks “lovest thou me”, he asks in the Philia form or, in other words, he is saying to Peter “Do you only love me as a friend?”  This is why “Peter was grieved”.   
Even though we read and have some understanding of the scriptures, it takes searching and feasting on the scriptures daily to uncover the hidden messages and profound doctrine in them.  “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39.  If you want to be free of discouragement, search the scriptures.  If you want to teach with power and authority, search the scriptures.  If you want to speak with the tongue of angels, search the scriptures.  If you want to know your Savior Jesus Christ, search the scriptures.  This is not an invitation to enjoy an appetizer; it is an invitation to enjoy a feast.

May 18, 2011

Hola,

  Yea a sensitivity to the spirit is necessary! I cannot imagine how many times I have missed something the Spirit was trying to tell me because I just wasn't listening. The Spirit is the only thing we have that allows us not to just look at the now but also the "to come". The Spirit has the vision of what is coming, and we dont; so we must listen if we are to find true happiness.

   This past week was good, it was a lot of fun. There was a huge bbq that the relief society put on and they asked us to bbq for them. We spent 4 hours bbq about 70 lbs of chicken but it was so much fun!! The party was good and I even showed off some of my white dance moves (solo of course) to the people present. I learned quickly that my white dance moves dont go well with Spanish music, but hey everyone got a good laugh out of it. Two of our investigators were at the activity, Patricia and Benito. We have been teaching them for about 2 weeks and every time we teach them and bear testimony they begin to tear up. It isn't the words we say, but the things they feel that makes brings out the emotions. The Spirit always is the real teacher and he teachs through our feelings, love, peace as taught in Galatians.

    Alberto is coming along well too! We watched a movie about the importance of families and how they can be eternal. Afterwards we bore testimony about the importance of raising your kids with principles of righteousness and principles that will make their futures bright, which principles are found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now he was crying after that lesson but I was too, so it is all good. He is starting to understand how important the message we have is and what it offers his family. We hope to start teaching his wife this next week.

     The work is great and everyday I am learning more and feeling closer and closer to my Heavenly Father. I know this church is the only true church on the face of the earth that offers us all the blessings our Father in Heaven offers us. There is nothing more beautiful than to see the eyes of someone as they realize the love their Savior has for them. I have grown to understand that love better. I have grown more sensitive to that love, so I can feel it in my life. The love is there and it is eternal. If you havent felt it in awhile or haven't felt it at all search for it. Search and ye shall find. I love you all (like always). I feel my capacity to love and to understand is growing. Have a great week and search the scripture :)

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

May 11, 2011

 Hola,

   Well this was the first week of the new transfer with my new companion Elder Santiago de Tiajuana Mexico. The week went by so fast, I would imagine because we hardly had an extra minute to rest our feet. We worked hard and knocked about 400 apartment doors in 2 days. It was tiring but we have about 10 lessons scheduled so far this week which is way up from last week. We are getting along great and he is helping me a lot with my spanish, since we only really talk in spanish. I carry around notecards and every time he says a word I dont know I write it down and review them after the day is over. We are teaching this guy we call muchacho and his girl friend, they live with Ruby and Alejandro. The other day we went over there and we watched the movie Finding Faith in Christ with them and at the end we bore testimony about how our Heavenly Father has something very special planned for them, but they must first seek him. It was a great lesson.

   I am finally starting to be able to express myself in spanish as I do in english. I think in english the thing that makes me  well me is my sense of humor and finally I am starting to get a hold of my sense of humor in the spanish language. I told a joke yesterday at Ruby's house during dinner with Muchacho and he laughed and said "Man this kid can speak spanish". That made my day because I felt like the past few transfers my spanish has been good and I can understand but now I can be myself and talk.

     I am starting to learn and understand what the Hispanic people mean when they say "chili es bueno para las memorias". The past 4 days we have eaten incredibly hot food for dinner and every night at around 10pm I lay in my bed in pain as my stomach burns. I am just glad that the food has the same affect on Elder Santiago, so I am not alone in this.  Peptobismol and vasaline are my two new favorite things, but it doesn't completly relieve the burn. Don't worry mom I will survive, you just may see some large expenditures on my debit card for my 2 favorite items, just know I love you :) .

    I am really learning the blessings that come from hard work. When we do our part the Lord is obligated to do his part. I find when in my life I feel like God is distant I knell down ask him "God where are you" and the response is obvious "I am here, where are YOU?" I think that goes the same for everyone of us. The Lord's hand is always streched out, but a lot of the time we do not want to stretch our hand out to meet his. The Lord does not distance himself from us, we distance ourselves for him. I have really felt our Hevaenly Father's presence a lot lately and that is from me focusing on what I need to do. I know he loves us and is waiting to bless us, but it is dependant on our obedience. The church is true and this gospel is truly a gospel of love, a gospel of happiness but only when founded on the principles of the gospel. I love you all and have a great week.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

May 4, 2011

My week was good. How is the job hunt going for dad? Transfers just happened and who would have thought that I would still be here in the same area? Well I am, I have been here for 5 1/2 months already. Elder Fordham was transfered to Taylorsville and my new companion is Elder Santiago. He is a hard working missionary and I am sure we will get along great and get a lot of work done. I am excited for this next transfer although I imagine it will be my last here in this area.

    So in my letter i think I told you about Savanah, if not tell me and I will tell you about her. Well last wed we taught her the restoration and watched the video and she loved it. She asked us if we have the faith that she will recieve and answer and know the church is true, obviously she will. Anyway we went back and taught her yesterday. We were going to hand them over to the english sisters but they are sick so the transfer will happen next week. So we were waiting for her to get her Book of Mormon from downstairs and then she came up with a visitor, her 15 or so year old sister wanted to sit in. We read Mosiah 3 with them and paused along the way asking questions and explaining. They had a lot of really good questions. At the end the sister told us that she really wanted to learn more and she has always wanted to be baptized, so we are going to help her to know that these things are true also. Hna Jimenez the grandma looked so happy to see her granddaughter be taught and then when her other granddaughter sat in and wanted to learn more, I dont think anything could have ruined Hna Jimenez's day, she looked overwhelmed with joy.

     I have officially decided to diet! Yesterday a former investigator told me I look fatter than the last time he saw me. That was the last straw so I am dieting to lose about 10lbs. Sister Estevez told me I could lose a good 10lbs, so we will see how that goes. Anyway that pretty much sums up my week. Love you all!

 

Love,

Poetry shared by Elder Jolly written by his friend James H. Lee Jr.

Because He Loves Us
8 February 2003

The Savior, Blessed Jesus, has watched for many years
To heal our tears and sorrows,
And banish all our fears.

He's sending forth His angels to gladden heart and soul,
And help us stretch beyond the mark
To our eternal goal.

He loves us each and every one, and wants us to be true,
True to God's commandments
Each day, our whole life through,

So we may be together for all eternity,
Helping Him perform God's work
For His posterity.

Since He's our Elder Brother, our Savior and our Friend,
He's hoping we will follow Him
Down to the very end,

Submitting to the Father's will, just as He did here,
So we may share in His reward
In heaven's atmosphere.

All the Father has is His, His to have and hold,
More precious than a thousand worlds,
Or all their wealth and gold.

And it is His to share with us if only we will be
Faithful in our stewardship
As His posterity.

The world and all its glory has nothing to compare
With what is waiting for us
Beyond the Golden Stair,

If only we are faithful as followers of He
Who gave His life, His love, His all,
And died on Calvary

So we, His friends and family, and all of Father's clan,
May glorify The Father,
And help ennoble man.

God help us to be faithful as His own children here,
So we may find eternal joy
In heaven's atmosphere,

And be with friends and loved ones, and with our Savior, too,
Helping build God's kingdom,
As Jesus said to do.

Dream a Dream
8 August 1980

Dreams have a way of becoming
Whatever you want them to be,
But they can only become as much
As your inner eye can see.
If your vision is very limited,
Your dreams will be limited, too,
For you can only stretch as far
As your greatest dreams come true.
So dream a dream worth dreaming,
And raise your vision higher,
And start today to open the door
To gain your greatest desire.
Envision the things you're dreaming
As having come to be,
Pretend you already own them,
And pretty soon you'll see
Your visions and dreams becoming
More glorious every day,
And things will start to happen
In a most miraculous way.
What wonders do await you?
Only your dreams will tell,
So dream a dream worth dreaming,
And let it cast its spell.

Heart Thoughts by Jim

April 20, 2011

Dear Peoples,

 

   Another week has come and gone. This past week was good and we picked up 2 new investigators Oscar and Alberto. Oscar is a part memeber family, his wife and daughter are baptized but less active so we are working to activate them, it is a tough but rewarding task. Alberto has 2 kids very young and we are hoping to start to teach his wife coming up. On sunday we had a miracle happen. There is a part member family in the branch, the son is active dad less active and the other 3 members of the family are not members. We tried teaching them about 4 months ago but they were very against the idea, so they began taking the daily dose english classes with the senior missionaries that only speak english. Eventually they gained a trust with this family so last week the senior missionaries invited them to church and they accepted. The mothers sister who is also not a member watched conference and loved it. So on sunday the whole family came to church and the branch warmly welcomed them in and they plan on coming next sunday. The senior missionaries are going to invite the family to be taught by us in the near future.

  On friday I got an intersting call from Carmen. First of all she never calls us so when I saw her name appear on the phone I was like "Huh?". I answered the phone and asked her how she was doing, she said fine. I asked her if she needed anything she said no. So we just talked for a few minutes before we had to go to an appt. I could tell something was bugging her so I called her back a little while later and asked what was wrong and she told me she was having a really rough day so she decided to call me because she said, "I always know how to cheer her up and make her laugh." Now whether she is laughing at me or with me is still to be determined but the fact she trusts me enough to call me and have me try to cheer her up touched me.

  Sunday we had dinner with the Elders Quorum Pres and his family and sister. We were talking and laughing and just having a good time. At the end the sister told us that when the hispanic members see us they think of us as angels because of what we have brought into their lives. She said we just have a different countanance about ourselves and you can see it in our faces. Earlier this week a lady we ate with told us how much she loved us in her house because it was as if the Savior himself was there because we are his representatives. The people in this area are just too loving, I think I need to be transfered.

   I hope things are going well back home and dad is having luck with finding a job.  I loved the pictures. My memory card on the camera is full so I may send it home soon. Let me know how the job hunt is going for dad. Love you all.

 

Elder Jolly

April 13, 2011

Hey mom,

 

Don't know if Makenna told you  but Fred our recent convert went to conference and while there he managed to find a ticket. He got inside sat down and started talking with a Bishop about his conversion story and an Usher invited him up to the roped off section. For more information about the story check out http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/60767/Conference-moment-Seeing-a-prophet.html because his story was on the back page of the church news!!!! It mentions how the missionaries helped in his conversion, that was me!!!! 

  

    Now about our crazy week. You wont get many letters this week because this week was just weird, but here is what happened. Last Friday night elder Fordham woke up at 5:30 in the morning and woke me up. When I woke up I could tell something was wrong, the room was really dark and there was not a good feeling inside. He told me he had a dream like the sister missionaries experience I told you about 3 weeks ago.  He said, "I dont want to be here" So I told him we could go play basketball. We left that house in a hurry. 2 nights later it was my turn. I woke up at about 2 am and the same feeling was there. I layed there in bed nervous. I could sense that someone from the other side was in the room. All of a sudden all my hairs stood on end and I had the darkest thoughts run through my mind. It was as if he had taken a hold of me. I couldn't move, I tried to scream but I couldnt even open my mouth. I had no control over my own body. This lasted for about a min before I could move. Then it happened again. It was the scariest thing I had ever experienced in my life. I had always known that the 1/3 cast out of heaven were here on the earth but I had never taken much thought as to what they could do.  I layed in bed for about an hour afterwards reading the ensign with the lights on and then at finally around 4am fell asleep with my scriptures in my hand. I have never experienced something like that before and I hope I never have to again. The harder we work to get closer to  God the harder Satan beats up on us, especially missionaries.

   Other than that it has been a good week. We talked with the stake president about doing a youth fireside to talk about how they can share the gospel with their friends. He loved the idea and it will probably happen early next month. We did some service with the sister missionaries in our area pulling out strawberry plants. The weather cant seem to make up its mind so somedays we bike others we walk. I need to bike more so i can lose these unwanted pounds. Conference was great!

    It is amazing how fast these past 7 months went past. Fastest 7 months of my life.  Oh man we have been having some problems with the branch, they want to feed us too much. We had too many dinner appts sunday (4) and they were all so good but I was so full afterwards. I went home and weighed myself in at 181.6 lbs. I think I am going to start to diet.

   Anyway, I love you all and I hope my experience didnt scare you mom. I will continue to pray for dad and the Lord will provide. 

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

March 23, 2011

This week was really so so. Elder Fordham was sick until sat, so sunday was the first day we got back out working. Although on sunday we had the baptism for fred and it was an overwhelming powerful baptism. After he got baptized and had changed he came out and sat by me. I looked at him and he had huge tears in his eyes. I put my arm on his shoulder and he turned to me and said "Elder Jolly, I feel like a new man". He then got up and bore an extremely powerful testimony of how he knows the book of mormon is true and how he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. There were some pretty wet eyes in the room. He told us of a dream he had had 2 years prior where he saw the gold plates with their ancient writting. He said he had no idea what they were or what the ancient writting meant but when he touched them he could just feel that they were true. In the end of his testimony he told us of how after his divorce 7 years ago he went truck driving to find God and he said after that long search he has finally found him. The Elder's qurorum pres then got up and reminded his that he is a son of God and that Satan will try and convince him otherwise but to always remember that he is a son of God and that we all are.

     Today was transfer day and guess what!!!??? I am still in my area.  I thought I was a goner for sure. When I told carmen and Israel I was probably going to get transfered they sent me a text back that said how I have become a special part of their lives and I always will be. That touched me because I am just doing the Lord's work but I have gained eternal friends from it.

   Our teaching pool is down to Nicolas but he is progressing well and his wife is even sitting in on the english lessons. The other week when Elder Fordham was sick we werent able to go to church and usually we have to knock nicolas' door if he is going to wake up and come to church. But we couldnt so we figured he didnt go. We recieved a call that week from Nicolas about how he had woken up at 7 am sunday and figured it was a sign that he needed to go to church so he got dressed and went. This guy never gets up before noon and he woke up at 7am and went to church.

    Anyway, that was my week. Many doors to knock in the week to come. Hope you all have a safe and fun week. Don't forget to say your prayers and read the scriptures (even you non-members). Love you all! Remember how blessed you are to have the restored church of Jesus Christ on the earth once again.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

March 16, 2011

 

This week was tough! Elder Fordham came down with the flu friday and he is still out. We havent been able to do much work but thats ok because the work is beginning to slow down. I had a lot of time to study the scriptures while he was sleeping and a lot of time to just ponder. It was a good time to relax. I was allowed to do exchanges for 2 days so I got to go out then. We taught fred and he is all ready for his baptism this sunday. Every single commandment he could tell us of a dream he had that made him realize why each commandment is important. Rene's baptism was great, the relief society room was more than filled. I feel like in the past week I have had more than a million types of chicken noodle soup having a sick companion and all. Other than that, that was our week. Sunday after church we recieved like 10 phone calls from members asking us where we were and when I told them elder fordham is sick they all brought over food. Anyway sorry there wasnt much to write, I am hoping there is more to write next week. Love you all.

 

Elder Jolly

March 9, 2011

   OK so the week, well we had a good week. We went out with the senior missionaries a lot teaching people english and introducing them to potential investigators. If the people are not interested in the gospel usually they like free english lessons and some of the lessons are about praying in english and every lessons begins and ends with a prayer. And the end of all the 50 lessons the people usually want to meet with the missionaries. It is a good way to bring the spirit into their house without teaching the gospel. Nicolas one of our investigators who we have been teaching for 2.5months came to church for the first time on sunday. Last thursday we went to his house and he expressed how nervous he was to come to church, so we told him put on your shoes we are going to go tour the church right now. We showed him the church and explained the paintings and then ended in the chapel where we bore testimony.We asked him how he felt and he said "weird", we asked him to explain and he said he couldn't;  he felt good, really good, but weird. He began to cry and said "I'm coming this sunday". We invited him to a baptism and he said yes. Sunday morning we knocked on his door and walked him to church and he loved it. Jorge was there and was really nice to him and befriended him so that was good too. Tomorrow we are going to give him a date for his baptism.

      Fred the Jehovah's Witness was also at church and loved it. He is continuing to progress and is ready for his baptism on the 20th. When he goes on his trucking trips he brings pass along cards and talks to everyone he sees about the church, he is a pretty good missionary. I feel like everytime we meet with Fred he teaches us something, he is way cool.

    Jorge got back sat night from his trip to texas to start training for his new job selling alarm systems. He said that when he got to texas they dropped his off on a corned at 12pm and said we will pick u upat 8:30. He told us how he learned how hard it is to be a missionary knocking on everyones door and having them say "GO AWAY" and all the walking. We talked with him for about an hour and he told some of the funniest stories. He had an interview with Pres Humphrey and is getting the priesthood this sunday and also got a calling to be the gospel principles teacher and branch missionary. I asked him what he said when pres humphrey extended the call, he told me "bring it on, I am ready."
      We may go up to park city today to relax for p day but we are ending off the day in the most perfect way possible, we have a baptism tonight at 7. The church is true and as we invite others to come unto Christ some will say no, but the Lord will prepare them. Joseph Smtih was a prophet and I know he restored the church in these latter days, the same church Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior established when He was on the earth. Have a great week and I love you all.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly 

March 2, 2011

wow Kevin Twitchell is going to Brazil thats crazy!!! I was thinking of Micah Morrill the other day so if you could send me his address that would be bomb! This past week was awesome. We starting teaching Fred the Jehovah's Witness. He knows more about the bible than most people I know, except Brother Adams of course. He asked us a question about baptisms for the dead before we started the first lesson so we answered it. He totally understood the significance and even had a question in his Jehovah's Witness bible about why they dont do baptisms for the dead since they did them in the time of Jesus. He has been a Jehovah's Witness for 20 years but on March 20th he will be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He told us of how he had a dream a few months ago of the Savior with His arms stretched out surrounded by stars. He told us he woke up and sketched out his dream. His dream was answered a few months later when he went to the visitors center at temple square. He walked in and saw the statue of Jesus with the stars all around and he said "this is my dream". He has read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price in the past 3 weeks. He said he cannot wait for his baptism.

     Last wednesday we went and taught Vicente and his family for the first time. We brought Israel because he wants to experience what it is like to be a missionary. He did an amazing job as we taught the plan of Salvation. We taught Vicente his wife, his brother and his wife and another friend. They invited us back and we are eating dinner with them tomorrow.

     On saturday and sunday we had Stake conference and the stake president was being released so we had Elder Clark and Elder Gong there. Elder Gong shook our hands like 30 magillion times along with Elder Clark. We took Israel and afterwards Elder Gong walked up to us and asked who was the guy with us, we told his Israel a recent convert. He took Israel's hand and got really close and stared him down. He then asked, "You like the church Israel" Israel  was looking at the ceiling and answered "Yes". Elder Gong replied "is it true?" Israel  looking at the ceiling still replied "Of course, yes it is!". Elder Gong seemed please and then took my hand he asked, "Elder Jolly are you a preach my gospel missionary?" I replied "Yes sir, not perfect but I do my best". He seemed satisfied so he asked my companion the same question.

   Last wed. We went to Draper because the producer of an MTV show Nitro Circus likes missionaries so he invited us and a few other missionaries to come over and check out the set. They had trampolines with huge foam pits and ramps and bikes and stuff. Outside was a huge course where Travis Pastrana rides for the show. We got to take pics with Travis' bike (really really famous dirt biker).  Anyways that was basically my week, we had a lot better week picking up 6 new investigators. We hope that march will be a good month for us although transfers are coming up soon and I think I may be headed on out to a new area but we will see. I love u all, but most of all I love my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

The work moves forward

Elder Morgan, a familiar face in the MTC

Feb 23, 2011

Lol well Idk how I went from stuffed to starving so fast but this week it is back to stuffed. The Branch came to our suppport and has provided us with meals for the next 2 weeks and they are planning on continuing to feed us everyday of every week even though the branch pres said no. But finally the english ward called us so we have been eating 2 dinners every day this week. But starting today we will just be eating with the spanish branch.

We had an interesting experience last night. So Renee is 9 years old and was supposed to be baptized this coming tuesday so we stopped by to confirm plans and see how things are. We brought their home teacher who they really like just to have a member with us. When the dad answered the door he was really angry. He invited us in and we sat down with him and his wife. They explained how their baby had been in the hospital all weekend (we had known because we stopped by to offer our service) and how she had called a member of the branch pres. to come give the baby a blessing. The person said he would and then never showed up. She called the releif society pres and asked for meals because she was in the hosptal the whole time. Nobody came to help. She was soo mad and hurt that nobody came to help them. She and her husband told us that they would never come to church again and that their son Renee would not be baptized. Things were looking down. Then with a few inspired words from the member we brought everything changed. He said, "People are not perfect, especially leaders, and you cannot expect them to be perfect". He told them how leaders are usually very busy and cannot always get to everything but that doesnt mean they dont care. The spirit was so strong. Then he testified about how important it is for Renee to make the baptismal covenants and to have his dad baptize him. They paused and thought and said we will come back to church and we want to go to the temple. Renee will be baptized monday (earlier than expected). We walked out of that lesson wondering what had just happened and how the spirit of the conversation changed so fast.

    Two more really cool spiritual experiences I had this week. The first was last friday while checking up on a potential investigator. it was about 8pm and the inv was not there so we were walking back and I got an impression to stop. I stopped looked around and looked at the house that was to my left. "Knock that door" came the feeling. Elder F asked what I was doing and I told him we needed to knock that door. We went up and knock and a man answered. We talked for a few minutes and then at the end he said, "I want you to teach my family, come back sunday at 3".  The second story, we were knocking doors in a condo complex. We would knock about 1 or 2 doors a building and just ask if they knew of anyone that spoke spanish in the complex. We had gone through about half the buildings when Elder F suggested that we leave. I agreed and we were about to leave when the impression pretty strong almost as if I had heard an actual voice say "Not yet (dont leave) there is someone here for you" I again stopped and looked at the complexes in front of me and took a step to the left, the voice came again "Go right" I immediately walked to the back right complex and we began to knock all the doors in the complex, something we had not done previously. In the last door in the top right a man answered. He said come in come in. We walked in and we sat down on the couch, there was a lady in the chair across from us. He was american but she was from Bolivia. She looked at us and said. "You are here for a reason". I asked her what she meant and she told us that she is a member, served a mission and is still very active. He is a member too but has been less active since he was 14 (both were about 40). They were dating and he was trying to come back to church and trying to gain a testimony for himself but it just wasnt working. She told us how 5 min earlier they had been talking and she had said we need the missionaries to come by and teach you. 5 min later we came knocking on the door. We had never been in this condo complex before and to be there at the exact moment she needed us was nothing but inspiried. We talked about his struggles and shared some scriptures to help him. He then asked us how we knew it was true and if our new converts ever struggled. We told them yes we all struggle, people think so short minded as if baptism is the end, but it is only the begining and after baptism our eyes are set on the temple and its hard for new memebers to realize the ultimate goal of an eternal family. We told him he was not alone. Then she asked us to share our conversion story. Elder F shared his, a powerful story of how he had made some dumb mistakes was doing somethings wrong and one day desired to know and to change and how he read and got on his knees and recieved a powerful answer. She then asked for mine and my story is a lot different that his. I related how I had always grown up in the church, tried to do the right things, how my family was always doing what they needed to do. How I read the book of Mormon to get my spiritual confirmation, you know that powerful confirmation that it is all true, that confirmation everyone talks about. I told him how when I finished the Book I got on my knees and prayed my heart out, desiring this confirmation and.... nothing. I had reiceved nothing, no answer no powerful "YES TAYLOR IT'S TRUE". This left me wondered what had happened. Then I was touched by the spirit as it told me, "do you need that confirmation?" I thought on that and realized how I didn't need that powerful yes. I knew the church was true already. I had seen how the church and the teachings of Jesus Christ had changed my life and how I had seen it in my families life too. I realized I have always known the church was true, I had always known Joseph Smith was a prophet and Heavenly Fathe knew I knew and he knew I didn't need that powerful witness and so I wasn't going to get a witness I didn't need. I testified to him that I knew the church was true, I didn't know exactly why it was true, but I knew it was and I could not deny it. After both our stories everyone was in tears. We ended with a prayer and told him we would come back to teach him and check up on how he is doing. Walking out of that condo I realized the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost, because as missionaries the message we bring is the answer to peoples prayer and if we are not listening then we may have just cost someone an answer to a heart pled cry for help.

   Other than that the week was great, we worked our butts of in the pouring rain/snow wed and sat. When none of our investigators came to church we thought we had worked so hard and recieved nothing in return. We were wrong! In gospel principles class were 2 new people who had come to learn more about our church. The one was a lady who soaked in every minnute of class and afterwards came up to us and told us to teach her more and she wanted to learn. The other man (no relation to the lady) introduced himself in Preisthood meeting and said (spanish of course)"Hi, my name is Fred. I was Jehovah's Witness for 20 years, but always thought that there was something more to the Bible but my religion held me back from learning more. I got a copy of the Book of Mormon 2 weeks ago and I am in Moroni and will finish it today, I know the church is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet and I am glad to be here today." Elder F and I looked at each other baffled. We talked to him afterwards and set up and appt to teach him.

    It was a great week where I have really learned of the blessings our Heavenly Father has prepared for us as long as we ask and work for them. The church is true! I know it is! I love you all and have a great week.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

Feb 16, 2011

lol glad to hear everything is going good in Cali. I got your package last week mom, loved the candy and the other goodies. Although the candy is gone. Lol we havent had dinner appts for like 4 weeks so my monthly spending money is gone and our cuboards are bare since we are low on food and money so I am going to have to charge some food today at walmart to my debit card. I hope thats ok. This past week was alright, but pretty slow. We picked up another family of 6 who just moved here from texas and we are teaching vicente and his family (11 people live in that house). Lol mom I think you can include peoples first names in my blog, I think it confused bishop. Anyway, sunday we had Branch Conference and the Branch President and Stake President talked. The stake presient praised the missionaries on our work and pretty much chastized the members for letting us go hungry. He said these missionaries have been working their butts off and the last thing they need is for you guys to let them go hungry. We stopped by Emma and Emmitas house and taught them and at the end they both wanted to get baptized but we are still working with the difficulty she has of living with a man married to someone in mexico. On monday we worked on mormon.org and I was thinking mom and dad that you should make a profile. It is a really cool site. Oh mom Sister Miller called me and said that if you get a bill for my medical stuff that you dont need to pay it, she said to call the mission office because I am doubled covered and Missionary Medical should cover anything left over after the charges go through our insurance. My favorite ride is probably space mountain or Screaming California. Hannah we r going to have to go on it again when i get back in 19 months. My 5 month mark was yesterday. Weird to think how fast these 5 months went by. Other than that it was a good week but pretty slow. We set some good transfer goals and our goal for baptisms is 13 as a companionship so pray that our investigators will progress and accept the commitments that we leave for them. Have fun in Cali and hey mom can you send me some pics of the house and yard and stuff. People keep asking me what it is like in kirkland and where i live and my description doesnt do it justice. Oh and my baby I want a pic of my baby the truck lol. But have a great time in cali and do whats right.

 

Love,