Heart, Might, Mind and Strength

Hello, friends and family!

Sister Chu and I are both working really hard to find people to teach and baptize. We are committed to our 3 application steps of talking to the first person out of the flat, having 10 gospel conversations each day, and inviting at least one person to be baptized each day. As a result we have taught a load of on the spot lessons this past week. Unfortunately, our  member present lessons still suffered this past week but this week is already looking more on the bright side for that; we set up some fellow shippers for our already scheduled appointments at church. We meet so many wonderful people each day and it is evident that the work is indeed about to explode:

-Jean. a lady that lives near a recent convert and the bishop that was given a Book of Mormon by missionaries a few months ago. She told us we can come visit her after she gets back from holiday.

-Emma: Street contacted her and she told us she was Christian. We briefly taught about the Restoration. She is interested in learning more! We invited her to be baptized by someone holding the restored priesthood, she said she would.

-Adam: a man in his 30s we street contacted that told us he wants to overcome his addictions. We testified about the power of the Atonement and change. We should be meeting with him this week.

-While on exchange, Sister Chu and one of our STLs invited 2 people on the spot to be baptized on a specific date and they both accepted a date! One of them fell through on their appointment but we are set to see the other this week.

-Lez: a elderly man in his 70s who said he ''was not trying to be sarcastic'' when he asked us why there were so many churches if there was one God. Such a golden question. We were excited to teach him the restoration but he sort of walked off before we could tell him anything haha. Cute old man. I am sure we will run into him again.

-Slav: a young man from Poland that is Catholic we street contacted. We taught him the restoration and he was grateful to know about it because he had never heard about our church and Joseph Smith. Ironically enough, he lives in our same flat complex. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet.

-Elvis: Yes, you read that right. We met a man named Elvis, everybody! We were walking home after church and talked to him in front of his yard. He had a question about religion that we were able to answer using the Book of Mormon (there is so much power using the Book of Mormon in our finding). He accepted a return appointment and committed to read the Restoration pamphlet we gave him to help him prepare.

-Taylor and Joe: Met them on the journey back home from church as well. They live outside of our mission in Birmingham. We testified that God is their Heavenly Father and loves them. They were so ''happy to know some one loves them.'' They gave us their info so we could pass it on to the missionaries in their area.

-There are Chinese people that are starting to come out of the wood works. Because of the rarity of spotting someone Chinese during the summer months, we end up running after a lot of them. Many aren't interested but there are a few that have interest. Yes!  

- We finally received some referrals from the mission office. One of them wasn't really interested but the other said she was and told us to call back another time.

Before any thing can progress and before Heavenly Father will make great things come to past, however, I know we will need to prepare the ward to handle to big influx of baptisms I know we will experience.

On that note, we have been able to see 7 families /members/ less actives/ recent converts this past week. We already have a good idea of the members we will be seeing this week too. I have had this impression that we need to put the members before our investigators for a short while. For instance, yesterday there was a YSA fireside in Chester that we could have attended with an investigator but it conflicted with choir practice. The ward choir director is very passionate about choir and depends heavily on the ward missionaries to participate. Knowing how much this meant to this member in the ward, we decided to go to choir instead. We were also able to offer some service for the ward this past week and help set up a meal after a funeral service that was held this past week.

We had tea( aka dinner) at the bishops house this past week. Bishop's son is going on a mission to Greece this month and they have been watching the District DVDs together. As a result, Bishop has been inspired to work more closely with our WML and missionaries. I am so grateful that the he has been able to get on board with the hastening of the work here in EMM through the Spirit. 

This morning I was studying Doctrine and Covenants 4:2:

''Therefore, O ye that embark in the service‍ of God, see that ye serve‍ him with all your heart,might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless‍ before God at the last day.''

 It is something we recited all of the time in my mission prep class and it is a verse I have read and pondered about time and time again before and during my mission. I  wanted to learn a little bit more about what it means to devote all my time and attention to serving the Lord. I turned to the topical guide for inspiration. Next to each word were related words that gave me a lot of insight.

Heart- Conversion; new, spiritually reborn.

Might- Authority.

Mind- Intelligence; learning; study.

Strength- Courage; health; power of priesthood.

After looking at these words it occurred to me like never before just how much we are to full consecrate all that we are as missionaries to the Lord and His work. As a result of my discovery, I asked myself a series of questions:

 Have I given him my whole heart? Have I become my first convert through my service? Have I become spiritually reborn because of my mission?

Am I using all my might?  Do I realize the power that comes with that authority? Am I righteously exercising the authority I have as a missionary? Do I live worthy by living all of the mission rules to qualify for the power of that authority?

Am I using all of my mind? Am I sharing all the knowledge I have obtained before and during my mission to help those I teach? Am I devoting all my studies to the needs of my investigators and find answers to their questions?

Am I using all of my strength? Am I courageous in fulfilling my purpose as a missionary? Am I keeping myself healthy so I can serve at best? Am I relying on the power of the priesthood for more strength when I need it?

I know that everything we have (our knowledge, testimony, our conscience to do good, etc) is all from the Lord and it rightfully belongs to Him. I know that as we consecrate our lives to the Lord, He will bless us beyond measure. This principle applies to us at every stage of our lives. What can you do to consecrate yourself more fully to the Lord?

I owe every good thing in my life to the gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church once again established on the earth. With the Restoration of the Church came the restoration of gospel in its fullness. The church is designed to help us live the gospel more fully in our lives. We must remain active in both the gospel and the church. I'll leave it up to you to ponder about what that means.

Love,

Sister Jordan 

Discover Your Gifts

Ladies and Gentlemen: Buckle your seat belts!

Great things are on the verge of coming to pass here in the EMM:

Our mission will be getting iPads between September and October! Yay for technology! Once we have iPads we will be allowed an hour each day  to use them for proselyting (i.e, skyping people from around the world to share the gospel with them).

At our Zone Conference on Friday, President Ulrich also shared with us revelation he received about the hastening of the work in our mission-- The work here in the EMM is going to, I quote, ''EXPLODE!'' and ''the work is going to move forward in a very fast pace.'' Woah. I feel so blessed to be in this mission at this time. Its about time we all buckle our seat belts in anticipation for this work that is about to take off.

So great news on one of our investigators, Garry. Garry was found back in April/May. He is originally from Hong Kong but has lived in the UK for more than 20 years. His English speaking and listening ability is superb which is helpful when he attends church. He works at a Chippy and works everyday of the week except for Sunday and in the past he was only available to meet with him once a week during one of his lunch breaks. As a result, he has been coming to church on Sunday but we really haven't been able to meet with him. He has been leaving after the first hour until recently when he has stayed for one hour more. Because of his diligence in coming to church, we decided it was the right time to set up a time to teach him. It is not very often you get such great church attendance from an investigator! We met with him this past week and taught him very simply about the Holy Ghost. It was an inspired lesson because when we asked Garry why he has been coming to church he told us it is because he feels peace and comfortable at church. We linked this into the lesson on the Holy Ghost and explained how these are the feelings from the Spirit. Both Sister Chu and I felt prompted during the lesson to invite him to be baptized. He told us he wants to be able to have more experiences with feeling the Holy Ghost. We have been praying that he can learn to recognize the Holy Ghost and during Gospel Principles he asked the teacher, who happens to be our ward mission leader, more about the Holy Ghost. I was so grateful our ward mission leader left the lesson plan to focus on the needs of Garry. Garry is willing to meet with us more often now. It is funny how a slowly progressing investigator can all of the sudden shoot to the top of your most progressing so quickly.

Our next progressing investigator would have to be Lukman. He recently got a job and is super busy. Fortunately, he still sets aside time to meet with us. This past week we taught him the laws and ordinance lesson on Missionary Work. He loved it a lot and even mentioned that he agrees with so much with what we teach him. He desires to have the same conviction we have about this gospel. He still attends church at a nearby Methodist church and is always assigned to give a sermon on Sundays which conflicts with him coming to church with us on Sunday. He told us, however, that he will turn down the next time they ask him to ''preach'' so he can come to church with us. We took the time to establish the fact that he should be making these promises to keep commitments with God and not us, the missionaries.

We have found great success on the streets the members have prayed for. While tracting one of the streets, the first lady we met knows the 2nd counsellor in the bishopric! There is no such thing as coincidences.. Even better, she told us we can come back and share more! We also talked to this elderly couple that was walking their dog on the same street and turns out they know Bishop and his family. This street is too good to be true! We went back Sunday night to finish tracting the street. It was soon time to head back to our flat and we had just a few more doors left to knock. I felt we needed to knock the rest of the doors so we did. Behind the very last door was a man named Nick. We taught him the restoration on his doorstep. He feels like there is too much doubt in his heart to learn more but he is still a miracle because he accepted a Restoration pamphlet. I have faith his heart will be softened and the Lord will continue to prepare him. We plan on following up with him in a week or so.

I love our new mission president and his wife so much already. Quick funny moment: I love how Utah they are and how ''guys'' and ''awesome'' are a common feature in their vocabulary. These happen to be words we are taught to avoid saying in our mission since we try to be dignified in our language. Sister Chu is still working on not saying guys and awesome anymore and one night she innocently asked ''does that mean we can say those words now?'' I shook my head saying ''Nope! I still expect you now to say them'' :) She was like ''Oh man!'' I thought it was pretty funny.

President Ulrich is what I would like to call a DEEP doctrinalist-- he knows this gospel inside and out and his vision is for us to become gospel scholars by the end of our missions. In preparation for our multi zone conference last week he had us all commit to memory all of the 13 Articles of Faith. There is so much power in knowing these by heart! If you don't have these already memorized, get to work! President Ulrich also emphasized being bold missionaries. As it says in Proverbs 28:1 we are to be ''bold as a lion.'' I know he is just what the mission and I need.

I have recently discovered that I have a spiritual gift of being able to bring peace to others around me. Since being on my mission, I can recall countless instances of people that I have been around telling me that I have a calm energy around me to that I have helped them feel less stressed and greater peace. I wonder what other gifts I have that I don't know about..

Do you all realize the spiritual gifts Heavenly Father has given you? These gifts are given to everyone and the scriptures tell us that, with the Lord's help, we can all work and develop more. He really is a giver of the best gifts :) Don't be selfish though-- These gifts are meant to be shared and bless the lives of those around us!

Love you all!

Sister Jordan

Have Confidence in His Love

First things first. Happy belated 4th of July! 'Murica! :)

This week I was able to go one exchange with Sister Lau, one of the Chinese speaking Sisters. We came into the field at the same time and we haven't had the chance to serve together yet. We had too much fun here in Wrexham :) -- that is probably the reason why President Preston never put us together.. haha.  It was a blessing to have her come to our area because she has served here before. It really helped for her being able to see the Chinese families and recent converts that she has built such a great relationship with and encourage the ones who are struggling to come to church.

Sister Chu and I have been sharing the lost sheep parable in our member lessons. We are involving the members in our finding by committing them to seek inspiration through prayer for what streets we should find on or who we can go visit to find these ''lost sheep'', whether they be less actives or those wandering unaware of the gospel. We have seen great success. The members are having names of people they know and streets come to their minds. More to report on this in the future!

The Lord has been placing very prepared people in our path lately:

One of them is a lady named Rose. We street contacted Rose when we had 30 minutes to find before coming home to the flat one night. Rose told us that her father passed away not too long ago and that she has been very curious about what different religions believe about the after life. We asked her if we could share more about our beliefs and she said yes!

Then there is this other lady named Karen whom I talked to while traveling back from exchange on the train. The funny thing is I was looking for someone I could sit next to and Karen had a bag in the seat next to her but I boldly asked if I could sit next to her and she moved her purse so I could. I got talking to her and she opened up about how she has been learning about different religions lately. I knew instantly in my mind she was going to accept the truth if she knew where to find it. I wanted so badly to act on the natural tendency to tell her this was the restored gospel she was looking for but instead I asked her what it was she was looking for by going to so many churches. She explained she was trying to learn more about God; who He was, what He is like. I got even more anxious to tell her everything! But I didn't. I listened to her and to the guidance of the Spirit in what to say next. Long story short, I was able to get her information down (sadly, she doesn't live in my area) and give her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She graciously accepted the Book of Mormon. I will refer her to the mission office and I hope to hear of her progress. I know without a doubt she is prepared to be baptized.

This is was not the first nor the last time that I have had to refer someone I think is so golden to the office. It is hard not to get bummed when you find prepared people like Karen that you cannot teach yourself because they live in  a different area. It is in times like that I have to remind myself that we as missionaries, in our mission or even as missionaries around the world, are all on the same team. We should all be happy to ''pass the ball'' to our team members on the court. I working on waiting patiently for the Lord to bless my companionship with success in our own area.

I had a loaded study session on faith this past week. I love reading the definition entries in the Bible Dictionary. Included in the ''faith'' definition are the lines that to have faith is to ''have confidence in someone or something.'' I am going to have to paraphrase some other lines-- God has revealed His true character and attributes to us, one being love, to enable our minds to be able to put full confidence in Him without reservation. I love that. We can have confidence in Heavenly Father's love without reservation. This sentence in the Bible Dictionary reminded me of a recent experience I had teaching these young men on the street the other day about the purpose of prayer. We taught them that they could pray to give up their bad habits. One of them asked us ''so if I stop drinking, will God love me more?'' I rephrased his question to give him my answer: ''You will be able to feel God's love more if you stop drinking.'' I know our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally and that His love is real and is always there. I know we can have confidence in His love for us. ''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life'' (John 3:16). Have confidence that He is a loving Father who will give us His mercy when we repent.

Love you all!

Sister Jordan

pictures!

                                                                             Sister Chu and I 

                                                                   
                                                               Sister Lau in our 4th of July wear

Enjoy it Well!

Its official. President Preston is no longer the EMM President. We got to say our goodbyes at the mission farewell this past Thursday. I have grown to love and appreciate President and Sister Preston so much and I know their impact on my life will extend into the eternities. Among the many things the Prestons have taught me is that our success in life and on a mission depends on our attitude. In the midst of chaos and things not going as we planned, our attitude is the one thing we are in control of. President Preston changes the statement ''endure it well'' into ''ENJOY it well.'' Some times we endure our trails waiting for them to pass but we can enjoy every second of life, even the hard moments. I am striving to always follow their counsel and stay positive and grateful in all circumstances.It was hard saying goodbye but I know our next mission president, President Ulrich, will be what this mission needs. I have already spoken to him and his wife of the phone and they have so much love for us already.

HUGE miracle! (The following investigator names have been changed)
On Sister Chu's first day in Wrexham we meet this Muslim man, Oscar, who seemed like he actually wanted to learn more about the restored gospel and not just argue his religion to us like most Muslims... We got his number and rang him last week to see if there would be a time we could share more. He asked if we could meet him that very afternoon and that he had a friend that wanted to come too. It is always a big risk teaching Muslims because they will either drown you in contention or if they are sincere interested in learning their very lives could be at risk if they are to convert to Christianity. I was hoping Oscar was actually interested. We met with him and his friend that afternoon I was surprised to discover I had meet his friend with Sister Lee 2 or 3 weeks ago! Alex is also Muslim and when I met him earlier on the street he seemed sincere but wasn't willing to give us his number because he would ''contact us''. In our mission we have to ask Muslims that want to meet with us a few questions to see in they are truly interested and not just curious about our beliefs and then get permission from the Mission President to teach them. Both Oscar and Alex said they would make the necessary changes in their life if this was really the right path. President gave us permission to teach them but feels more comfortable with Elders being there when we teach. The Elders whitewashed in and do not have a big teaching pool so we are just going to hand Oscar and Alex over to them to be taught.

Lukman was gone in London for most of last week.  The biggest hurdle for him right now is that he has ''already been baptized''. We have taught and testified about the loss and restoration of the priesthood authority. I some times let impatience thoughts creep into my mind telling me to just drop him since he still hasn't committed to work towards a baptismal date but the charity and love I have for him always wins and I refuse to give up on him. We had another break through in our lesson with him this past week. After asking a few inspired questions, Lukman admitted that he thinks he already knows the answer to his prayers about the truth of what we have been sharing but he is afraid of the answer because he knows he will be disappointing a lot of people if he changes churches and is baptized. I understand where he is coming from and the best thing we can do for him is to get him completely enveloped by the love and support of the ward. Please pray that he can have the courage and support from the Lord.

We saw great miracles this weekend for four hour consecrating finding:
Shuetyee, a recent convert, came out with us. She is in her 60s and copes with arthritis but she is so willing to always come finding with us. I am so grateful for her sacrifice and selflessness. She sat down on a bench to rest for a bit while Sister Chu and I contacted people in the town centre. I looked over and saw her talking to this lady and then hand her a pass along card. Amazing member missionary, right? Turns out  that lady was a co-worker from a previous job she had  who had attended our church when she was younger. There is no such thing as coincidences!

We took the bus to an area we don't really go to and did some tracting. Just about every door we knocked on this one street said we could come back and share more! The greatest miracle on this street was Sophie, a 15 year old girl who's mom is familiar with our church. Sophie told us she wasn't too sure what she believed in. We taught Sophie a little about the Book of Mormon and how she can come to know with a surety what she believes in. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We have a return appointment with her this week. We will make sure her mom is ok with her taking the lessons.

I am learning so much from Sister Chu. She is great at reminding me to keep things simple as we teach, something easy to lose once you get further into your mission. She is also teaching me to have enduring patience for our investigators that are not progressing as fast as I want them. She is helping me to understand that even though an investigator is not progressing but still has sincere interest in learning, it is our duty not to stop teaching them but help our investigators develop greater commitment so that they can progress. It won't be easy but with the Lord (and the ward's) help, it is possible.

As the Prestons have taught me, I hope I can encourage you all to do the same. Don't just endure to the end, enjoy to the end. I am sure this will take on different meanings for all of us.

 Remember that this life is meant to be one of joy:
''Adam fell‍ that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.'' ( 2 Nephi 2:25)

Love you all!
Sister Jordan

                                      Goodbye President and Sister Preston :')

                                            The lovely British landscape

Nourished by Faith

Last Tuesday I went to something called ''Train the Trainers'' where newly called trainers go to the Mission Home for the evening and are ''trained'' on what to do as we train a new missionary. On a board was all of the 12 incoming missionaries, 5 being Sisters. One of them was Chinese and it became pretty obvious to everyone who I was going to train.. haha.

The next day at transfers, the trainers all lined up in front of the chapel as the new missionaries walked into the chapel and we shook all of their hands and hugged each Sister. The Chinese Sister who I saw on the board the night before came to give me a hug, had a quick glance at my double tag and said ''oh! we are probably going to be companions!'' The cat was out of the bag and there were no surprises when President Preston announced who was training who:
My trainee is Sister Chu. She was born in Taiwan but has lived near Toronto, Canada for the past 10 years.

This transfer meeting was President Preston's last one as our mission president and  for 20 missionaries that were departing. By tradition, the closing hymn was Hymn 152 ''God Be with You Till We Meet Again'' and there wasn't a dry eye in the chapel. I felt bad for the new missionaries that were surrounded by so many emotional people for their first day in the field. I I said goodbye to Sister Merrill and about 5 or 6 other missionaries I have been privilege to serve around. It was sad know they were all leaving but the work must go on.

On a happier note, Sister Chu and I have been working really hard this past week and taught 21 lessons from Wednesday to Sunday alone. Sister Chu has so much energy! She is really bubbly and sweet which reminds me of Sister Loh a bit.

Training a new missionary is not as scary as I thought it would be. I know the Lord trusts me to do a good job and I know with His help Sister Chu will be an amazing missionary in 12 weeks time, even more so than she is now. I love being able to go through the first 12 weeks booklet again and relearn the basics.I was worried about training and having to instil missionary attributes in my new companion but Sister Chu is already super diligent and has so much faith. She shows her diligence by calling PIs that we have met, filling out the area book, and talking to everyone on the street. The amazing part about all of this is she does it with out being asked. I am a proud ''mom'' :)I feel like a parasite feeding off of Sister Chu's faith because I love being able to see missionary work from her eyes where all of these experiences are new and exciting. With the diligence and faith of a new missionary, our area is definitely being blessed and we have seen countless miracles each day.

Some of the biggest miracles we saw this week include having FOUR investigators at church! A high since I have been here in the past month and a half. We also found a new investigator because we stayed out contacting all the way until 9pm one night. Her name is Camilla and she is from China! She went to a Christian school growing up and considers herself Christian. While talking to her she asked us first about where our church was. She came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it. She goes back to China at the end of this week for summer holiday and we are going to prepare her before she goes back home so that when she comes back she will be super solid.

Teaching our investigators laws and ordinances before baptism is definitely inspired. I was fasting for Lukman last week and felt impressed to give him my mother's conversion story. At the end of the story my mom writes about our family being sealed in the temple a year after she finally joined the church. Lukman read the story in one of our lessons this past week and asked what being sealed in the temple meant. It was the perfect opportunity to teach to his needs and share about Eternal Marriage. I think this lesson really softened his heart even more. Family is really important to him and what we have been teaching about eternal families now make a little more sense to him. We were also able to testify about the Priesthood being restored through Joseph Smith making temple sealings possible.

Another great teaching experience we had this week was when we met with our investigator Zak. Sister Lee and I were not able to meet with him all that often because he had been super busy. As Sister Chu and I were planning our lesson for him I remembered Zak sharing with us his desire to learn more about Christ. We turned to PMG for some inspiration and decided to read one of the chapters suggested we could read to help others come to a knowledge of the Savior.  We read1 Nephi 19 together in the lesson and it was incredible getting to feel the power of the Spirit enter the lesson as we taught and testified about the Savior directly from the Book of Mormon. Zak seemed to learn a lot about Christ and he offered the closing prayer. He gave such a sweet and sincere prayer. He apologized in prayer for not reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day as he was invited to do by missionaries. It was just such a sacred moment as we listened to an investigator repent because the influence of the Spirit that was invited during the lesson.

I had a really great personal study this morning as I read Alma 32. I have probably read this chapter a bazillion times but I got so much out of it today as I read with an investigator in mind. The Spirit taught me a lot from this chapter this morning  but I would like to share this short and powerful insight I had: Alma 32 is all about how to plant a seed, growing, and strengthen our faith. As I read verse 37:
''And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit''
my mind then went quickly to the end of the chapter and verse 42:
''And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.''
The connection to these verses 37 and 42 is that as we nourish our faith, our faith will nourish us. As we nurture our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will bring us the peace and happiness and so many other blessings from Heaven that we can then partake of. This Gospel is filled with so much goodness and I love sharing it with others that they can have this great blessing in their lives.

I hope this long letter didn't bore you! haha.

Love you all!
Sister Jordan

Finding Joy in the Plan

Transfer update:

So the time has finally come for me to train a new missionary. I will be training in Wrexham and Sister Lee is leaving for the Ashton Zone. This has been one of my favorite transfers. Sister Lee is such a hard worker and has such a powerful testimony that has changed the life of everyone privileged to hear it. It is hard for her to leave this area she loves but I have been helping her understand that she has fulfilled her purpose here and it is time for her to go and do the same in another area. I don't know what to expect next transfer but I know the Lord will help me in this important assignment. I think of how my trainer Sister Loh has impacted me in so many ways. Some ways I probably haven't even noticed yet. I hope to have just as big of an impact on my trainee.

 

British term of the Week: Chav (noun). Definition- a teenager that is a delinquent to society, typically referencing to those of the male gender. Mode of behavior- smokes, drinks, loves to pull pranks. Most active late at night. Synonym: punk.

This week Sister Lee and I park contacted a big group of chaves. It was quite the bold move. We went up to them, held up a Book of Mormon and asked ''have any of your ever heard of this book?'' (disclaimer: I have heard of a missionary doing this before). To our surprise, a nice hand full of them had heard of the Book of Mormon. Sister Lee and I both ended up teaching lessons to different people in the group. The chav I was talking to had a lot of doubts about the existence of God and has lost faith in the principle of prayer because he feels like his past prayers have gone unawswered. I had him read the prayer page in a pamphlet. He had many questions but wasn't really willing to accept the truth of my answers and turned down my invitation to him to meet with us and learn more. During our conversation, I noticed his girlfriend that sat to his left was listening very intently. When her boyfriend was distracted I asked her if she would be interested in learning more. She said she was! I got her address and phone number. I prayed with them and I asked afterwards how they felt. To my surprise, the chav said he felt some of the feelings of the Spirit that are listed in the pamphlet.

 

An update on our most progressing investigator, Lukman. Sister Lee and I have been working really hard to prepare him to be baptized on the 28th of June. I have full faith he can still make it to that date but I think it is best that we push it back to July. He has a few concerns that we are helping him resolve by inviting him to pray about the truthfulness of what we had taught. We had a really powerful lesson with Brother Pattenden the other day and it was just what Lukman needed. I left this lesson with a renewed witness that this church is true. I felt so full of the Spirit the rest of the night. By the end of the lesson, the weight of his concerns seemed to lift. Sister Lee and I are fasting that Lukman can overcome his doubts with greater faith. This morning during personal study I received a lot of revelation on how to help him to continue to progress. I have a lot of hope he will be dated again by the end of this week.

This week I have seen a lot of miracles that have come from applying different ideas on how to find new investigators in our missionary planners and PMG; We have found a new investigator by offering an unplanned act of service. We helped an elderly lady carry her heavy groceries to her home. She is Christian and wants to get to know other believers in Christ in the community; We were doing our best to smile to everyone on the street one day. A lady we smiled and waved at stopped to talk to us and complimented us on how cheerful we were. She gave us her address and we have since called by and set up an appointment! Lastly, we tried an even more uncommon finding strategy and offered to teach a family how to hold an FHE. It was pretty successful.

Lately I have realized how much joy comes from when we are following God's plan for us and when we put our trust in Him and become who He knows we can become. For instance, I have always questioned why I have always been a leader and if I am even up for this challenge at times.  As I have come to see myself through my Heavenly Father's eyes, however, I understand that this quality is apart of my divine and eternal nature. I have discovered time and time again that He knows me better than I know myself. I know from experience that what God sees in me is true. He will always give us the strength we need when He calls us to fulfill His purposes. His plan is perfect. This gospel is true.

Love,

Sister Jordan :)

Windows to the Soul

It has been a really great week. A lot of good things are happening in our area.

Lukman is doing quite well. We have been keeping his lessons well fellowshipped. Lukman is practically best friends with Brother Reynolds, a member in the ward, which is perfect. We had invited Lukman to attend Sunday's Missionary Fireside earlier in the week and he said he would come. Saturday when we had our lesson with him and when we followed up on church he told us he would either go to church or the fireside--not both. My heart was saddened that we probably would not have a way to the fireside with out him but I knew church would be more important, especially as were are preparing him to be baptized at the end of this month. He came to church with us yesterday and it was a miracle! Brother Reynolds ended up giving a talk in sacrament meeting and I think this really helped Lukman feel the spirit. He enjoyed sacrament so much that he changed his mind and was willing to go the fireside. He said he enjoyed the fireside as well.

We also had a really great lesson with our investigator Lin Yun this week. We brought a Relief Society sister to come teaching with us and she was so vital to the lesson. We are still teaching Lin Yun the Plan of Salvation and we read in Alma 42 together since she hasn't been reading in a while. Yun still isn't sure if what we are teaching her is something she believes is true. We spent time talking about the Holy Ghost and how He will help her know the truth. The member we brought along shared some really great experiences about how the Holy Ghost has protected her family. Lin Yun seemed to gain a desire for the Holy Ghost after hearing these stories. She always prays that her children will be safe and healthy. We explained that after baptism, she can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Sister Lee and I are remaining diligent with inviting all of our investigators to church each week and we have seen the blessings of doing so because one of our investigators that we haven't seen in forever just showed up to sacrament on his own. Miracles! I am grateful the Lord is helping us reach the standard of excellence for sacrament attendance so far this month.

This week I went back to Manchester YSA for exchange . It was weird going on exchange in an old area but I loved it. I loved being able to see both of my recent converts and so many of the YSA members I have come to love so much. I had a bit of deja vu and it confused me so much when I woke up in the middle of the night trying to figure out where I was and why I was back in my old flat haha.

A lot of the miracles we had this week was when people letting us into their homes when we were tracting. I haven't had many experiences like this so far on my mission and I am just so grateful for the great hospitality these people showed us. Those that did let us in weren't ready to accept the gospel just yet but I know the Lord is helping them be more prepared as we help their hearts continue to soften.

This past week I am working on personalizing the atonement to my life. I know if I am to teach about the Atonement, I need to have more experiences of feeling the power of the Atonement help me to change. I know I have many weaknesses I still need to work on getting rid of and in my scripture study this past week I came to a realization of how important it is to replace our bad habits with something good and the pure power of the Atonement will do its job.  The Book of Mormon is filled with stories about real people that were the vilest of sinners but experienced a marvelous change as they came unto a correct understanding of the Savior. These stories in the Book of Mormon give my soul so much hope that I can change and become a better disciple of Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true.

As I reflect on my week, something that stood out to me is how looking into the eyes of people we talk to has really helped me to connect with the people I meet. The eyes really are the window to the soul. I feel like my soul can connect to their souls, awakening them to hear the truth of our message as missionaries. I know deep within everyone we meet is a memory of what they once knew before this life. As I consciously peer into their eyes I silently pray that the Spirit will communicate to them as I speak. Each time I do this, I have seen my prayer answered. There is just something so special about looking into someone eyes, something that helps them linger there with you just a little bit longer. Even if it only means I am  able to talk to someone for just 10 extra seconds I know it is because I looked into their eyes and caught their attention by the Spirit.

Being a full time disciple of Jesus Christ is such a privilege. I love my Heavenly Father and I love my Savior. I know they are inviting us to come unto them every single day of our lives.

Sister Jordan



                             My new split tag! Gotta love havin connections ;)

                                                The Wrexham Chapel