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