Transfer.. Am I Staying or Am I Leaving?

Well it's that time again- Transfers. Don't you dare skip down to find out where I am going before you make a guess. We now have P-days every Monday, even transfer weeks, so you will know where I am going before it happens. So what is your guess? Am I staying in Liverpool for a 5th transfer or am I leaving?

So I have been feeling like it was my time to go. It is true when they say you get a feeling you will leave an area right before you get the official news. I got a call Friday night which can only mean two things: A) I am training or B) I will be whitewashing/ opening a new area. It turned out to be option B! I am leaving Liverpool and going to Manchester YSA ward. And guess who my companion is? SISTER MERRILL!!!!! Oh boy. I am so excited. We will be reopening that area for Chinese work. I screamed pretty loud when the assistants told me over the phone. Sister Loh is at the end of her mission and she will be staying one last transfer in Liverpool. Just what she wanted.

I have learned so much while being here in Liverpool and I have witnessed a lot of miracles. Even though transfers are on Wednesday it still hasn't really hit me that I will be leaving. I mean I have been here for 5 months. This is now a place I call home.

The members I have grown close to were disappointed to find out that I was leaving. A lot of them have made the comment ''well hey, maybe you'll come back to Liverpool before the end of you mission.'' I don't know how I would feel to come back to an area I have already served in. I will go where the Lord needs me though.

Sorry this is a short email. Not too much time today! I love you all and I can't wait to tell you about my adventures in Manchester. Happy new year!

Sister Jordan

Looking Forward

Hello Friends and Family!

What a blessing it was to be able to Skype home for Christmas. Christmas in England was wonderful and I am sad it is over. The Spirit of Christmas lives on though. I hope we can all can find ways to keep the Spirit of Christmas in our hearts and let it reflect in our actions as we look forward to 2014. Can you believe 2013 is coming to a close? So many wonderful things happened this year and I know wonderful things will continue next year.

In one of my last emails I talked about how we should expect miracles. Well, I am still on a miracle kick and I had a really inspiring personal study this week about miracles. First things first, our mission has a goal each year for the number of baptism we hope to reach. I don't know how close we will get this year since the totals aren't in yet. Setting goals for the number of baptisms we want is great but we, or at least I, need to be careful with having the right reasons to baptize.  I was feeling like I was letting the mission down since we did not have a baptism as we had hoped we would this month nor do we have anyone dated for baptism yet. During personal study the other day, a thought came to my head in the form of a scripture. It is the scripture that talks about Captain Moroni and his army and how they made a banner that listed the reasons why they were fighting in war. First on that list is God. Then the Spirit brought back to my remembrance something I have already learned from reading this scripture and asked me ''what is your motivation?'' In other words, I had to ask myself what it was that motivates me to be a missionary and share the gospel. Do I have the right motivation to find, teach, and baptize? Am I doing it for God and because I love Him or am I doing it because I want the honor of being a good missionary in the sight of others? Recently, it might have been the latter. After this inspiration, however, I desire to change my attitude. I want to find, teach , and baptize because I love my Heavenly Father and I want my works to glorify Him and I want others to find eternal joy. I have thought about C Minor and how I have sort of given up hope for him to be baptized while I am here in Liverpool. I read in Mormon 9 which talks about how God is a God of miracles. He always has been and He always will be. Just because C Minor isn't going to be baptized this month doesn't mean Heavenly Father's miracles and blessings for him will cease. Wanting to learn a little bit more about miracles, I looked up its definition in the Bible Dictionary. It states:
''Miracles were and are a response to faith.'' ''They were never wrought without prayer, felt need, and faith.''
I have realized that I stopped praying specifically for C Minor and I need to continue to pray earnestly and then act in order for God to work miracles in his behalf. It is great to expect miracles but we cannot forget how they come about. I know that C Minor's soul is precious in the sight of God and I want him to be baptized because it will lead him to the eternal blessing of Eternal life. Just because 2013 has a mission baptismal goal we may not accomplish does not mean I should not expect that in 2014 the work will stop. There is still time for the Lord to work mighty miracles. There is no deadline to His work. He can and will make things happen when we do our part.

On that note, I was able to see many miracles this week. The majority of them being that Sister Loh and I were lead to those that have been prepared at this moment to learn about the gospel. The miracle I would like to share with you is how I finally talked to this man I saw a few weeks ago on a bus.  I wanted to talk to him the first time I saw him, but never had the chance.  I spotted him on the bus we were on and we ended up getting off the same stop. He has an adorable 3 year old daughter and this second time I saw him, he was with his daughter again. I was nervous to talk to him but I felt that Heavenly Father had placed him in our path again for a reason. We started talking to him and he was super nice. After introducing who we were he went on to tell us about how he had this spiritual awakening about a year or two ago that changed his life. As soon as he shared that I knew that he was prepared and could feel in my heart that he is ready for baptism. I had this same impression when we met our now recent convert, Kirk. We had a wonderful conversation about the gospel and taught him on the spot while we were waiting for our next bus. Right after we closed a prayer with him, the next bus we were all waiting for came. The timing of everything could not have been more perfect. We invited him to church and he said he would come. He did not come to church but we called him last night and asked if we could meet with him and share more. He agreed and told us he told his girlfriend about what we shared with him and she is interested as well! Oh boy! I am so excited to see what will come from this :)

Ok, wait. I have one more miracle I want to share. There were many non-members at church yesterday because there were baptisms this weekend. One of them looked oddly familiar but not because I had met him at the baptism. Turns out I met him on the street while on exchange with Sister Hansen ( a sister in my district). We had been handing out pass along cards with the church address on them as we walked to an appointment. He told Sister Hansen that we had invited him to church and so he came. Woah there. Never underestimate the power of inviting people to church. One day they might just show up out of the blue!

It always seems like a flood of miracles always happen at the end of a transfer. I have been in Liverpool forever and have felt a desire to leave but now I realize how much I love this area because of the members and those we get to teach. Dilemma at its finest.

Yesterday at church, one of the teachers asked some really great questions that I want all of you to ask yourself as well as we reflect the upcoming new year:
What blessings did you receive this year?
What blessings did you miss out on?
What blessings do you look forward to having in 2014?

What ever blessings you hope to receive in 2014 can be yours if you make it your focus. If there were some blessings we missed out on, we have the opportunity to receive them if it is our desire. May 2014 be a year full of blessings and miracles.

Wo ai ni men,
Sister Jordan

                                          Boxing day (Dec 26th) with the Jones

Christmas Eve at the Romeros by their Christmas tree

Monkey Bread Yum!

Expect Miracles

Ok. HUGE miracle. So there was this man I met my first transfer here in Liverpool and we ended up teaching him about the restoration right on the spot. After the lesson he told us that he felt we were a sign from God. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and gave us his contact info before he had to leave. I have called him on multiple occasions hoping he would pick up and he never did. One of the last times I called, maybe around two months ago, I left a message on his voicemail. Last week he finally called back! He is willing to meet with us and learn more! Never give up on investigators! I have learned this week that miracles happen when we have the faith to expect them.

This week was full of pre-Christmas celebrations:

On Friday, we had Christmas training at the mission home with part of our zone. We had a big feast prepared by wonderful Sister Preston, performed skits, watched Ephraim rescue, and had a white elephant gift exchange. So much fun! We also got our Christmas packages afterwards. I had quite the stack of packages.. Thank you family! Thank you Sister Wutzke too :)

Saturday we went to watch the play A Christmas Carol that the members in the Liverpool stake have put together. It was fantastic. President Preston came and we were able to get permission to stay for the whole thing. We didn't get home until after 11pm. I was surprised that I was so awake Sunday.

Sunday we watched the Christmas Devotional at the church.

So excited for Christmas!

While traveling on the train to get to our Christmas training, I met this young man that was a student at the Liverpool Uni and was leaving to go home to the Ukraine for Christmas. I asked him about his journey home and he told me that he had a 2 hour flight to Germany and had a 9 hour layover before his next flight. I asked him what he planned on doing while he waited and he told me he was going to drink and read a book. Perfect segway into the Restoration and the Word of Wisdom. I explained that we stay away from alcohol because we can't feel the promptings, comfort, and guidance from the Spirit if we partake of certain substances. He said it made sense and if he understood it a bit more he would probably live it. (Woah!) I got his info and sent it to the mission office for it to be passed on to the Ukraine mission. He will be baptized on day. I know it. His mom too because she is ''very religious''.

A girl in the ward got set apart for her mission to Temple Square this weekend. She had 20 plus members/ family at her setting apart and all 4 of the Sister missionaries in the ward stood in as well. It was weird thinking that only 7 months ago I was in her very position. Nervous, excited, sad to be saying goodbye. I know Sister Andre will do great.

Sacrifice brings blessings

An Elder trio in our district only had one tea appointment this whole week. The Sisters are fed pretty often and Sister Loh and I had already two and one more scheduled for Sunday. Sister Loh and I gave up our Sunday tea appointment so that they could have another one this week. Then after church on Sunday we were talking to a member and he asked ''do you have a tea appointment today?.'' We told him we didn't and he invited us over to have tea with his family. Sacrifice truly does bring blessings :) Heavenly Father takes care of His missionaries.

C Minor still doesn't feel prepared enough for baptism. We have tried our best to encourage him and express our confidence in him but we have reached a point where we just can't push him any farther. We respect his agency and we hope he will feel ready to be baptized in the future. He wants to be baptized, and that is huge progress since 4 months ago he wanted nothing to do with religion and considered himself and atheist. The time just isn't right for him right now.

A lot of our Chinese investigators are leaving or have already left the country for holiday. One of the only downsides to teaching Uni students.

Last week we set up a appointment with this Uni student I met on an exchange. He arrived at the building we planned to meet up at and he had invited two friends to join us-- Great! But they are all Muslim-- Not so great.. We weren't expecting to teach three of them and when ever you met with people from a Muslim background it takes a lot of mental preparation. They asked us a lot of questions such as the typical ''how do you know Jesus is the Son of God?'' We tried our best to answer but they were too skeptical about our responses. The least I could do was bear testimony that I know Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he is our Savior. One of them mentioned how he didn't think it was fair that someone would have to die for us. That comment sparked an inspired thought in my head that I have futher pondered the rest of the week:

 If our Heavenly Father could have, He would have gave His life for us. Since He is God with a perfected and resurrected body, He cannot die anymore. He, however, has a plan for all of us to be able to return back to live with Him again. That plan required a Savior that could die for us and who could stand in our place and pay the price for our sins. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, willingly came to this world to die for us so that we could return to live with our Father in Heaven. He inherited from his mortal mother Mary the ability to die and from his Heavenly Father he inherited the ability to take up his life again. Because of the Atonement, we will all overcome physical death and through the Atonement we can also over come spiritual death. God's plan is perfect.

 I hope we will all gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the Atonement. I am grateful that my Savior, Jesus Christ, died for me. He did it beacause he loves me. He loves us all:

''Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'' (John 15:13).

Love you all!    

Sister Jordan

                                            MIssion Home at Christmas

                                               Shloer It Up:)

                                                    Christmas Training Feast

Are You A Nun?

Ok.. I bet you are all wondering why this week's email has such a weird title. Well, let me tell ya! I was on exchange with another sister who is in my district and we had just called by a potential investigators house when a group of children outside became curious about what we were doing. One of them asked us ''are you a nun?'' to whence I replied, ''Close.. I'm a missionary!'' Sister Hansen laughed at my response but hey, you would be surprised how often we get asked if we are nuns. Nope. Just Sister missionaries. We are allowed (encouraged actually) to get married when we return home from our missions. Nevertheless, we do share about Christ like nuns do? I actually don't know that much about nuns haha.

I'll start off with some somewhat bad news. This week we had to drop  Xing :( We weren't expecting to but in last lesson we had with him it went that direction. We were so close to teaching him all of the lessons and this last lesson we read D&C 20:37 with him which talks about the qualifications for baptism. When he saw that the verse talked about ''desire'' he told us he didn't have the desire to be baptized. I was shocked. I guess some things got lost in translation as we have been meeting with him because I was sure he wanted to be baptized. He hasn't been praying as we have invited him to. Consequently, he still feels like he doesn't have a relationship with God nor does he really understand right now why he should. We bore testimony to him that he has a Father in Heaven who loves him and wants to talk to him. He just won't progress anymore if he hasn't developed an understanding of/relationship with his Heavenly Father in prayer. It was sad but I know that he will be baptized one day. In the mean time, we told him he can still come to church, attend institute, and that he should still try to pray everyday but we won't meet with him anymore. We told him that when he likes the feeling he gets from come to church meetings and events to contact the missionaries.

Now some good news- This past Saturday was another consecrated 4 hour finding here in the EMM. Sister Loh and I decided that we would ask everyone what their Christmas wish is and have them write it down on a piece of paper and add it to our lovely ''Christmas wishes'' box. It was a great way to stop people. We didn't really gain that many new investigators despite our efforts finding most of Saturday. On the bus on our way to our tea appointment guess who I saw again? Thomas!--The man I met my first transfer here who was not at all interested in religion when I first met him but his heart has been softening as I have seen him each consecutive time. I feel that each time I see him again is a miracle because I feel like he has such great potential. I asked him if he wanted to write his Christmas wish and add it to our box of Christmas wishes. He asked what we were going to do with them and I was like ''we will pray that they will come true!'' He said he wanted to be richer (-_-). I told him that perhaps he will be richer in Spirit this Christmas. Before we had to get off the bus I asked him if we could come and share a Christmas message with him soon. He said yes! I finally have his contact information! The Lord has been so gracious to me for letting me to slowly work with this man whom I have come to feel the Saviors love for.

I thought it would be creative to sing Christmas hymns as we went tracting this past week. Not effective at all. The people answer the doors, run back in, and come back with money to give us. Turns out they donate money to Christmas Carolers here in England. I don't want your money! I just want to save your soul!

C Minor update:
We followed up with C Minor on the priesthood blessing he received and he told us he has gained so much for self control from it. He has continued to be able to keep the Word of Wisdom! He still hasn't been dated for baptism but he is so close! I had a really great lesson with him while we were on exchange. I asked him how he feels about being baptized and in his response he mentioned that he hasn't received an answer on whether or not he should be baptized this month. He also feels like he should work on more of his weaknesses before he is baptized. I shared Moroni 10:32-33 with him and told him that it is only through Christ and following his example (being baptized) that we will become perfected. We cannot reach perfection on our own, neither will we reach perfection in this life. I think this scripture helped him a lot. I was bold with him and invited him to pray again if the 21st was the day he should be baptized. The following appointment we had with him he told us he hadn't prayed about a date yet.. Weishenme! (why!). Patience, Sister Jordan. Patience. He did receive answers to his other questions he did happen to pray about so that's great. Now pray about the date please :)

The power of prayer:
For a couple of weeks now, we have been helping these two Chinese students, Louise and Carol, with their English and they in return, help us with our Chinese. We have been hoping and praying that this service opportunity would turn into a teaching opportunity. While I was on exchange, we prayed that we would be able to teach them and that they would become new investigators. As I was helping Carol with her English she asked ''what does your church believe about death? I have been thinking of death and I am scared.'' Oh. My. Goodness.!!! It was the perfect teaching moment. I was able to share a little about the Plan of Salvation and I also taught her how to pray. The other Sister that was practicing English with the Louise also taught about the Plan of Salvation. Louise had a similar question to Carol's. They are both new investigators now!

There are two Chinese families in our ward that have been members for only a couple of years, one of the moms will be baptized a year in February. Sister Loh and I have talked for ages how we need to talk with them all about going to the temple to be sealed as Eternal families. We were finally able to yesterday. We committed them to go to the temple next February and take our their endowments and be sealed to their children. I would love to see these two families sealed in the temple. I am so grateful that the Priesthood has been restored here on earth and that we can be sealed to our families for time and all eternity. What a special opportunity I had to be sealed to my family in the Nauvoo Temple :)

Love you all!
Sister Jordan
                                          Recent P-Day Adventures

                     
                                         Multi-Zone Conference

                                             The Infamous Fell Street

Setting Records

It is transfer time again and I am... Staying in Liverpool! Yep. That's right. I will be in Liverpool for 4 transfers in a row. And my new companion is... Well, it is not a new companion at all-- Sister Loh and I are still together haha. I don't think this has ever happened in our mission: Same companionship in the same area for 4 transfers in a row. Setting records indeed. It is weird to think that I am a third through my mission and I have been with only one companion in the mission field. Perhaps we still have a work to do and we can only do it if we are still together. It will be great though because both Sister Loh and I will be able to spend Christmas in Liverpool which I have heard is the greatest thing ever. We already have members in the ward offering to feed us Christmas breakfast and meals-- they like to book in advance.

Funny moment:

We were running late for an appointment we had made while tracting and we had two members with us that we have become really good friends with. I was walking a little ahead of everyone because I don't like running late for things. Eventually, one of the members started jogging to catch up and a couple seconds later fell to the pavement. I tried so hard not to laugh and I think I did pretty well at just giggling to myself  (It sounds awful but I ensure you he was alright). The next day, Sister Loh and I were in the same neighborhood and a street near where the member the day before fell was called ''Fell'' street. The situation just got 10 times funnier. 

Our mission had multi-zone conference last week with Elder Teixeira and his wife as the visiting area authority. Elder Teixeira encouraged us all to raise our visions and to remember that baptism is the center of our purpose. Sister Teixeira basically called us all to repent because we haven't been the best at exercising in the morning. Guilty! We all tend to pass out on the floor in the morning but I have committed myself to be better at exercising in the morning. 

There was a double baptism in our district this past weekend and before the baptism the Elders put on the movie The Other Side of Heaven. Love that movie so much. My favorite line: ''learn the language; build the kingdom.'' Definitely a new motto for my mission.

One of our new investigators took us to a really good Chinese buffet for lunch. They had a sushi bar so you know I had to go check it out. The man working behind the sushi bar must have looked at our tags and asked ''Are you Mormons '' Yes! Yes we are. He then went on to explain that he is from the Philippines his mom is a member of the church currently living in Sweden. He asked us if he could meet with us because he had some questions about our doctrine. Whaaaat?! Of course we can! We will be seeing him next week. Never would have thought to meet a potential investigator at a buffet. 

Even though I am away from home for this Christmas I still got to wrap some presents. Sister Loh and I helped a lady in the ward wrap some presents. I am impressed that she has all of her Christmas shopping done for her 3 daughters  She will be keeping the presents in a hidden location and bring them down just before Christmas. While we were at her house I thought ''hmm.. I wonder where my mom hides Christmas presents.'' I don't think I have ever looked around for them although curious. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise of Christmas. 

I have had some of the best early morning studies ever recently. Although I have gained numerous witnesses from the Holy Ghost that this church is true, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that Christ is our Savior, I decided I would do as I invite my investigators to do and pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true. As I was studying for one of our investigators I flipped to 2 Nephi 33 ( I have been reading a lot from there lately. Such a good book in the Book of Mormon). I love the humility of Nephi and how he feels in writing he is weak but when he speaks he has power because he is able to speak with the power of the Holy Ghost. Although Nephi feels he is not able to write as well as he speaks, his words are so powerful. I got to verse 6 which reads: '' I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.'' As soon as I read that verse the Spirit hit me. It bore testimony to me that the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus Christ lives and that he is our Savior. It is hard for me to believe that the author of that powerful verse felt weak in writing because he wrote one of the most powerful verses of scripture. What we feel like is our weakness can truly become strong when we turn to the Lord. 

I love that fact that we can all know that this church is true whether we are a member or nonmember, old or young, with a testimony or without one yet. Because I continue to receive confirmation from the Spirit that Christ is our Savior I am able to withstand the challenges of being a missionary and I am excited everyday to testify that he lives. 

I love you all!

Sister Jordan 

Teach Ye All Nations

Hello friends and family!

I would like to first start out with a funny Liverpool moment:
I was on the bus and the lady I had been talking to got off. There was this older man ( I think he was a little drunk) that was across the aisle. I smiled and said hello and he was like ''WOW!!! You're teeth are white!!!!''  I replied ''Yes. I go to the dentist.'' Got to love the people of Liverpool.

C Minor is doing great. We taught him the Word of Wisdom the other day and found out that he will have to give up some things if he is to be ready for baptism. It makes sense now that he didn't feel ready for baptism if he was praying to know if he was ready. Hopefully he will be able to overcome this road block.

This week during personal study I was studying about enduring to the end. I decided to read 2 Nephi 31:16-21 as suggested in Preach My Gospel. Verse 16 reads: ''And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.'' After reading this verse it stood out to me that a part of enduring to the end is developing Christlike attributes. I then thought of how great it would be if the following verses included all of the Christlike attributes. They do! I encourage you all to read this passage of scripture and find faith, hope, charity, humility, obedience, diligence, patience, knowledge, and virtue. I promise you they are all there. There is so many hidden treasures we can find in the scriptures when we take the time to really ''feast upon the words of Christ.'' :)

Sister Loh and I were street contacting on our way to an appointment one day and we saw this Chinese man so we stopped to talk to him. I understood the conversation and then about a minute later I had no clue what they were saying. They had switched to Cantonese! Yeah.. Ting bu dong (I don't understand). It was not beneficial to just stand there not knowing what was going on so I went to talk to this African man that was a couple feet away. I don't know if I had said this before, but I LOVE talking to black people here in England. I always think ''my people!'' haha. Anyway, I start talking to this man, he tells me he is from Nigeria and I tell him I am from America here on a mission. I gave him a Book of Mormon which he was hesitant to receive because he believes the Bible is all he needs. I bore testimony that I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I also told him that I was a representative of Jesus Christ here to spread his restored gospel. It is amazing how much power you can feel when you bear witness that you are a representative of Jesus Christ. I think the Holy Ghost witnessed to him the truth of what I was saying because he finally accepted the copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would read it and if it says the same thing as the Bible, he would accept its teachings. I told him that there are plenty of chapters in the Book of Mormon that quote Isiah . I left him with a prayer and rejoined my companion who was still talking in Cantonese with the Chinese man. After I walked away I saw the man I had talked to reading the Book of Mormon!

A thought I had this week is how much I love being a Chinese speaking missionary. The language is hard, yes, but it is so worth being a Chinese Missionary because the Chinese work here is incredible. I know that the Chinese here in England are very special sons and daughters of God. Many of them are just so golden and have a sincere desire to learn about Jesus Christ.

I have a really great miracle to share! Last week, Sister Loh and I were on our way to an appointment and we had some extra time to street contact on our way there. We were walking past this house when all of the sudden I felt the need to stop. I was like ''how about we knock on this door?'' It was a crazy idea but we went with it. As we got to the door step we were trying to figure out what to say if someone came to the door. Another crazy thought I had was to sing a Christmas hymn to who ever answered the door. We ring the bell, a man comes out. We tell him we were missionaries and that we wanted to sing him a Christmas song. The first thing he said to us was ''I am Christian!'' We sang Silent Night for him, and during the song, a woman came to the door as well. Turns out to be the man's sister who is also Christian. They are from Iran and speak Persian but we were able to set up a time to see them in the following days. The day we went over as planned, no one answered the door. Bummer. We waited 10 to 15 minutes and finally started walking away. Just as we reached the bottom of the drive-way, a lady that I hadn't seen before came out. We stopped her and asked for the people we had met a couple of days before. She eventually invited us in, disappeared down stairs, and brought back the woman we had talked to. She was home! Long story short, we taught her the restoration in very broken English. We had cups that we use as a visual and it helped her understand. At the end of the lesson I asked her ''when you feel gospel good, will you be baptized?'' She nodded and said yes! The fellow shipper we were with may have been surprised and asked her ''you understand?'' and she nodded her head again and said ''yes.'' We will see her again this week. I love England because I get to teach people from so many nations.

Transfers are coming up soon! In fact, today President Preston and his Assistants will be doing transfer planning. I may or may not be training this next transfer.. oh boy.

The Liverpool stake had stake conference this past weekend. The sessions had an emphasis on hastening the work of salvation. It is amazing to see the increased enthusiasm to share the gospel after this past General Conference.

Remember that Christ invites ALL men to come unto him. Of course not just ''men'' but women and children as well. Something I thought of as I pondered this week was that sometimes we may hold back sharing the gospel with certain people because we feel that they would reject it or that they would not want to change their life to live the gospel. Remember that Christ denies no one. I can hear the Savior's invitation '' Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me'' (3 Nephi 9:14).

Love you all!
Sister Jordan

Invitations

This week I went on exchange with our Sister Training Leader in South Ribble. Our last stop of the day was to call by a former investigator couple. They let us in and offered us hot chocolate. Sometimes I am surprised by how friendly perfect strangers can be. They had a lovely home and I felt that I was at home. Anyways, we ended up talking about the Plan of Salvation and how the knowledge that we are sons and daughters of God effects the way we view the world and ourselves. I felt the prompting that we needed to invite them to do something. I thought about inviting them to be baptized but in the end I invited them to read the Book of Mormon instead. They didn't really accept my invitation but I know that the seed has been planted. I can't see the end result of our visit now but I do know that it is so important to invite people to come unto Christ through leaving commitments. After all, this is part of our purpose as missionaries.

One day I sat next to this girl, Louise, on the bus. When we started talking about religion, she told me that he dad was religious but it was hard for her to know what is true because she has never had an experience to help her know. i told her that we all have the opportunity to have spiritual experiences for ourselves. I gave her a Book of Mormon and promised her that she would come closer to God and would have that experience she is seeking for.  She was very grateful for the Book of Mormon and the promise I shared with her and gave me a hug before she got off at her stop.

Another miracle I had while bus contacting this week was when I talked to this young man named David. When I sat next to him he was listening to music and I was thinking ''oh boy.. when am I going to be able to talk to him?'' I said a little prayer in my heart that I would be able to have a conversation with him. Not too long after that, he took his head phones out-- YES! I was able to talk to him and found out that he comes from a religious Christian family. During the bus ride I was able to share the message of the restoration and even got to share with him Joseph Smith's first vision. David was impressed by Joseph Smith's story. I related it to him and how he can go to God and know truth too. I gave him a Book of Mormon and then had to hop off before I could get his info or give him ours. He has great potential though and I am sure the Lord will take care of him.

Ok.. now for the news I am sure you are all waiting for, Kirk's baptism! I mentioned in my last email that I knew that the road to his baptism would not be easy and I was right. He was hit pretty hard with opposition but we were able to help him through it. The actual day of the baptism was interesting because we realized we didn't have keys to the church but we needed to start up the boiler so that the water would be warm and then fill up the font. Every thing did work out, thank goodness. We had a really great turn out to his baptism. There are a lot of members who have come to know and love Kirk and they came to support him. President and Sister Preston also came. Surprise!  Wasn't expecting them to come at all. It was great having them there though. President has talked to Kirk before and knew him well enough to come to his baptism I guess. Kirk was dunked a few times but was finally able to be full immersed after a couple of tries haha. Kirk bore his testimony at his baptism and did wonderful. His little son, Owen, wanted to give a speech but was in the gym when it was time for him to talk. We ended with prayer and saw that he was upset that he wasn't able to say anything. A member of the bishopric told him that he could maybe speak on Sunday and he did. It was so cute! He told the congregation how proud he was of his dad for being baptized and also said that his dad has always been his example, in good times and bad times, and that he wants to be just like him. Yes, those were the words out of the mouth of a seven and a half year old. He wants to be baptized when he is 8. Don't know where I will be in April when that happens but I am definitely coming back for his baptism.

We actually missed our bus by a minute this past Sunday.. Oops! We decided to walk to church since the next bus didn't come until 10 minutes before church would start. Of course we would miss our bus the week Kirk was being confirmed. So we walked, then we jogged, then we ran, and we finally made it to the church. Fortunately we were only 5 to 7 minutes late and arrived during the opening hymn.

We invited C Minor to be baptized next month but he does not think he is ready. We told him how prepared he was and that if he prayed about the specific date that we gave him, it would be easier for him to feel like he has received and answer. Sometimes in our prayers we need to ask the right questions and be more specific and then the Lord will more readily give us an answer. Needless to say, he is still on the fence but the last time we meet with him we invited him to pray to be more sensitive to the Spirit. Until then, Sister Loh will definitely be learning patience.

Just like I invite investigators, I invite you too to come unto Christ. He is the way through this life and he is the way back to our Father in Heaven. Keep praying. Keep reading the scriptures. Keep being great. Love you all!

Sister Jordan