Week 20 in Farmers Branch, TX

One really special thing that happened to me this week was on Wednesday. Our whole day was crap. We had like no set appointments and the few we did have all cancelled. So the whole day was spent tracting. Then after dinner we went to new apartments that haven't been knocked yet. In 2 and a half hours we were able to get 7 lessons and return appointments on each one! Most of the return appointments were on Saturday. As we were going to eat dinner Elder S******* noticed that his back tire was flat. Then he found a staple in his tire we are about 3 miles away from our apartment. We took the staple out and tried to get the goo inside his tire to work. Then we pumped up the tire and we ate dinner. After dinner we noticed that his tire was flat again and we didn't have a patch kit on us. So we had three options: 1 walk to the appointments and leave our bikes locked up where we were, then walk the bikes home. 2 walk back to the apartment and fix the bikes and ride to the appointments. 3 call the elders with a car and have them drive us back to the apartment and grab the kit and drive back and fix the bikes. One thing I forgot to mention is that the appointments were 1 and a half miles away. So we decided to call the elders and have them drive us. We spent the next hour and a half trying to fix tire. We missed our appointments and we just tracted the rest of the night. No matter what we did we were going to miss the appointments either way.  

Well that was my exiting story for the week. 

How has your week been? I read your emails about Pine View. That sounded like fun. Have you gotten all the blood from Oscar cleaned up yet? Speaking of stains, most of mine on my shirt came out. I am referring to the putting the clothes in the same washer incident. All but four shirts came out ok, but it is ok because Elder W*****, Elder S******'s last companion left three brand new shirts still in the package. They fit me perfectly. So all in all it is only a loss of one shirt. So remember a couple of months ago when i said that my bike shifter broke on one side, well the other one decided to break too. This time it took the tubing that holds the wire with it. So my bike is either stuck on gear 2-7 OR 3-7 depending on what it feels like and that will need to be replaced. So if you could transfer about $150 from my savings to my checking so I can get that fixed? I will just have to replace the shifters and the wiring and the tubing. Other than that it has been working fine. Our apartment is at the top of a hill and everything is downhill from us. So my legs are getting a workout every time we head home.

Hope that you have a great week.

Pictures of Jesse's District in Plano, TX.  The tallest Elder is only an inch or so shorter than President D*****.  Jesse says it is hard to play basketball against him because he gets all the rebounds :)

Week 19 in Farmers Branch, TX

 Jesse is in such high spirits and a long email this week!!!!!!  I am so grateful to Elder S***** for being so good to Jesse.  I talked to Elder S**** mom through facebook and out that Elder S***** was just made district leader at the last transfer (about 3 weeks ago).  He sounds like an amazing companion that will teach Jesse a lot :)

So as you all have heard I got called back to Carrollton and back into Spanish work.  My new companion is named Elder S*****. He has been out 9 months. He is a district leader here. The area is really nice. We have our own mini Mexico. There are 4 apartment complexes around here that are just filled with Hispanics. We have been able to teach a lot of lessons. The Spanish is hard but it is coming. I am on a bike. It is pretty nice to be in an apartment and a clean one at that. Me and Elder S***** get along really well. He lives in Orem and went to Timpanogas High School. He played baseball and football. He also likes to eat a lot. We went out to eat like 5 times this week. We went twice to Dickies. We still knock doors, but at least we will get into a door every once and a while. The hard part is coming back.

i haven't washed my whites yet. I bought bleach and I hope that it will all work out in the end. Last week i got the call at 8:00pm on a Sunday. So I threw everything in the wash at once and PUT IT ON COLD. We went and said goodbye to some people and I came back and the washing machine was stopped but it was completely full of water so I put it on a rinse and drain cycle and then threw into the dryer. With my clothes just soaked (this is where i think i messed up) then after the dryer I threw everything into my bag and left at 1 to come to Carrollton. I was just in such a hurry I didn't have time. One thing that the other Elder that left did was leave a bunch of stuff in the apartment. Some of which is 3 brand new shirts, not opened which saved my life.

 One funny thing that happened to us this week was that when we were knocking doors a little kid comes up to us and asks us who we are. ( this kid is like 6) we tell him that we are missionaries. he stares at us and says "are you bad guys?" :) We tell him no and then said that we share a message about Jesus Christ. We then pull out a card with a picture of Jesus on it and ask him if he knows who this guy is. He says God.  We say yep your right. Then he asks us "are you looking for him?" :) We tell him "no we found him and we share a message about him" He just stared at us for like ten seconds and just ran off. 

The weather has been pretty constant.  So now we get to email at a college across the street from our apartment. I think that I am going to get really fat and spend a lot of money here. I weigh 152 pounds right now. I was like 145 when I left. The sad thing is, is that it isn't the fattest I have been. I weighed more in tenth grade than I do now. Sad isn't it. Well I need to get used to it. I am in Texas, the fattest state in the country.

Well that's all for now folks. I will write you next week. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Week 18 Surprise Transfer back to Carrollton (Farmers Branch)

 Last night we received an email from a sweet sister in Plano expressing her love for Jesse and how sad their family will be to see him go.  Early this morning Bart received an email from the Bishop in the ward he was serving in expressing his gratitude for the work Jesse has done in the ward. We were touched by the loving thoughts expressed from these amazing members. We were shocked to hear that Jesse had an emergency transfer back to Carrollton and back to Spanish speaking.  I can't wait till next week to hopefully hear more about why the sudden change.  Please keep him in your prayers as he makes this change and is diving back into the Spanish language.  He is nervous about the switch back :)  Good news is he sent lots of photos of those he was leaving!

Big news. I got transferred back to Carrollton back to the 3rd ward back to Spanish. I am leaving Elder S**** just when I got used to him. We had a goal to teach 20 lessons this week and as soon as we hit the goal, the assistant called and said that I am going to be transferred. I am really sad that I don't have much time to say goodbye to the people here. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I am more sad. I am leaving a great area, with great missionaries, and great people and a great ward. My mom will be happy (not about the transfers) I took a ton of pictures of everything and everyone. I am leaving at 1:00 so I won't be able to go the the all you can eat Chinese Restaurant today. I will miss that tradition. My new area is a bike area so i don't even have the car privileges.

One fun thing I did was knock in the rain two days ago. It was a complete downpour and we got splashed by a couple of cars pretty good. 

well you guys have a great week. 

love,

Elder Jorgensen

Missionaries on p-day

I don't know what he is doing :)

Just a few of the amazing families that Jesse just loves :)

First time trying Greek food....loved it!

Action shot...Teaching the Gospel

Week 18 in Plano, TX

We found out this week that Jesse will be getting a new mission president in July.  His name is President T*****.  He too played basketball at BYU.  We joked with Jesse that apparently you need to be a BYU basketball player if you want to be a mission president latter in life.  Good thing he is practicing his mad basketball skill every Monday :)  We received this amazing letter/email from the Bishop in the P**** ward.  I love email!!!  What a blessing for all the missionary families!

      So this week I met my new companion, Elder S*****. He is awesome. He loves to work and we will do great this week. Elder S***** has been out for 14 months. The bishop is pushing us even further to get the 20 lessons a week.  He told us and the ward that if we need more lessons to call the ward members and have a surprise lesson with them.
     That is as much of the new president as i know.  The ward is going to be so different when I return.
     Everything is holding up pretty well.
     Grandpa's trip sounds fun. That would be cool to go to a baseball game. 
     Here is some pictures of the M***** cat. It is a long haired cat and they just shaved it.
    Get well soon.  I love you.  Hope that you guys had a great week.
love ya

 Letter from the Bishop

This evening we were honored to have your sons over to our
house. They were fulfilling their duty of helping each of the members
complete a family mission plan which is part of our Ward mission plan.
Tonight they taught seamlessly and bore fervent testimonies as they taught
us in our home. You should've seen them in action! We're thrilled to have
such prepared and hard-working Elders in the P**** 3rd Ward. This is a
reflection of their upbringing and what you have taught them over the years.
Thank you for preparing them to serve so valiantly in this part of the
Lord's vineyard.

I'm pleased to tell you that your missionary sons are in good health, happy
and working hard. As the bishop of this ward, I promise to keep your boys
busy and working hard. There is a great work to do here and we can't do it
without them. I'll keep an eye on Elder S**** & Elder Jorgensen to make
sure that they are eating well, in good health and being good boys :-).

Thanks again for preparing these fine missionaries to serve in the Dallas
Texas Mission, and specifically in the P**** 3rd Ward.

If there's anything we can do for you or for your missionaries, please don't
hesitate to ask.

Greetings from your Texas Saints

P. S. Here is a pic of our missionaries. BTW, they road their bikes in 38°
weather tonight. The Texas cold is closer than your dry cold. They are
showing that they are not afraid to work and get things done!

Last day with Elder D****

Jesse's new companion Elder S****

Jesse showing off the cats new haircut.

Week 17 in Plano,TX

There was an ice/snow storm that hit Jesse's area and confined all the missionaries to their homes.  Makes it hard for a transfer day as well as a p-day to get things done that need to be done.  Jesse is staying in Plano and will be getting a new companion.
     So everyone will be wondering about transfers. I am not getting transferred. Elder D**** my companion will though. He was going to D****, but last night at like 10:00 pm he got called and he is now going to P**** out east. P***** is in East Texas.  To go to East Texas you leave on Monday at 1:00. He has a ton of crap and he doesn't know how to fit it in his bags. So he was freaking out. Then to top it all off, the weather decided to snow and ice. So they now changed when they are going to East Texas to tomorrow. Which is a relief to him because he has more time to pack. It is crazy. Now my new companion is named Elder S**** (no i did not misspell his name).
     I really do miss track. Tell Mikaela to have fun. Also tell Mikaela not to wreck my car. I still want it when I return. I was not able to send a card to Grandma. I want to buy one today, but the mission said to stay in and not do anything today. Oh well, when I go shopping I will send her one.
     Skiing sounds like fun right now. It is the perfect temperature, 21 degrees. All I need now is four feet of snow and a pair of skis.  Well have fun skiing the next few weeks. Oh BTW could you also send me a small vile to hold oil. i don't have one and it would be kind of useful.  
          I hope that you had a great week. Love ya and stuff.