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.

Week 16 in Plano, TX

This week is transfer week.  Jesse doesn't know if he is staying or going.  Hold off sending anything in the mail for a couple of weeks until we know what the Lord has in store for him.  Jesse had to talk in Sacrament meeting a few weeks back.  He sent us his talk (which I am posting).  It is good to see him have to stretch and get out of his comfort zone and speak. As always, his letter this week is short, sweet, and to the point :)

Been doing some hard work. The splits didn't go so well this week. The first day we had three appointments cancel. The second day went well and the third day was ward temple night. We will be doing the same thing this week. We dropped B****. We did have Elder E**** from the seventy come and speak to us. He gave a missionary training on Friday, did an adult session for stake conference on Saturday.  He gave a talk in stake conference on Sunday. He was good. Other than that nothing special happened here. Have a great week.

Talk given on Sunday, December 22, 2013

     Hello, brothers and sisters.  My name is Elder Jorgensen.  The topic that I was assigned to talk to you about today is Elder David A. Bednar's talk "Becoming a Preach my Gospel Missionary." Ths talk was given to missionaries in the MTC in Provo on June 24, 2011.  Now Just because it was given to missionaries doesn't mean that you can just tune yourselves out and not listen because it still can apply to you today.
     The first point "Understand that you serve and represent Jesus Christ".  So what is a representative? it is kind of self explanitory. It is someone who represents some else.  Now as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we all promised to be representatives of Jesus Christ.  Don't believe me, well let me read a scripture that should be familiar to you.  It is found in the Book of Moroni 4:3.  It reads, "O God the eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy son Jexus Christ to bless and sactify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy son and witness unto thee O Goad the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son and always remember him and keep his commandments which He hath given them that they may always have thy spirit to be with them, Amen."
     In there it says that we are willing to take uypon the name of thy son Jesus Christ.  Taking a name upon you sounds like representing Jesus Christ.  So now athat all of you are representitives of Jesus.  You are one step closer to becoming Preach My Gospel Missionaries.
The second point is to be worthy.  When someone chooses someone else to represent them, they want to choose someone that won't make them look bad.  Jesus Christ was perfect and now he trusts you to be His representative. So how do we be worthy of being his representative?  We can be worthy and clean through repentance.  Elder Bednar says something in his talk that I really like.  It says, "Repentance is a principal of hope and healing- not of discouragement and despair. Repentance indeed is humbling-but not frightening.  Repentance is a priceless gift made possible though the atonement of Him who we love, serve and follow".  We shouldn't be afraid to repent. How are we supposed to be representatives of the cleanes person who has ever been on the earth if we are spotted with the world's dirt.  In D&C 121:37 it reads.  That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the childeren of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. " It says here that the authority that we possess as a representative is gone if we sin.  Isiah tells us how we can be clean again.  In Isaiah 1:18 it says, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."  Now this is only possible through repentance.  So don't be scared to repent.  Be happy that you have this opportunity to be clan once again.
     The third point is to treasure up the words of Christ.  As Nephi liks to say in 2 Nephi 32:3, Angels speak gy the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.  Werefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.  Feast on the words of Christ."  The words conained in thse scriptures tell you and help you how to return to live with Christ once again.  The word contained in these scriptures are the most valuable things on earth.  They are worth more than all the gold, silver and diamonds on their eargh combined.  These words should not be for snatching purposes only.  Now there are people that read the scriptures and do it every night, but don't get anything out of it.  This is called platoeing.  I am a runner and plateoing is very common inn the world of running.  There are people that just can't get any faster.  Every race they are hitting the same time and the are frustrated because of it.  These people are have trained trained hard but they fall into doing the same thing over and over again. They go through the motions.  My coach had a remendy for such platoeing.  He said that you won't get any better until yuou increase one of three things, time, tempo, or intensity.  Time for how hard you do the workout. Tempo for how many times you do a workout and intensity for how hard you do the workout.  Just like running you can escape the studying platoes by increasing one or more of these.  For time, you can study the scriptures longer each day.  For tempo baybe you can study twice or more each day.  Intensity, study hard with no distractions and have a purpose you are shooting for.  Now that we treasure up the word we know what we ate taling about and how to better represent Jesus.
     The fourth point is to understand taht hte Holy Ghost is the ultimate and true teacher.  There is a simple fact that we need to understand which is hard for even us missionaries.  The fact is that we can't convince anyone of the truth of the Church.  We can't convince anyone that Joseph Smith was a proghet and that the Book of Mormon is true.  Our job is to bring the spirit so that the Holy Ghost can teach them that it is all true,  All the credit we have as missionaries goes to the Holy Ghost.  this concept is very hard for people to understand, but the sooner you learn this fact the easier it will be in the long run.  That is why being worthy is before this point.  How can we possible bring the sprit to the hearts of all thoses we meet if we are dirty. As alma states in Alma 7:21 and "he doth not dwell in unclean temples."  That is why brothers and sisters we need to repent and be clean.  This point leads to the last point, which is teaching is much more than talking and telling.  Even though we can't convince anyone of the truth of all things we can answer their questions. that is what missionaries do when they teach is they answer questions.  When we are teaching we need to be listening as well.  Elder Ballard said "missionaries who talk without observing, listening, and discerning, teach neither lessons nor people rather they talk to themselves in front of people."  This thene is true for me as a missionary and you shoring your testimony as a friend.  it is like telling a friend who has a question about who we believe God is and you sharing your testimony about Joseph Smith.  We need to listen and know what they need.  Which is why we need the spirit and why we need to study.  If we don't have the spirit then we don't have that perfect teacher and if we didn't study then how will the spirit bring to your rememberance like it says in John 14:26, "but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my mane, he shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
     Now all of you can be great Preach my Gospel Missionaries. You just need to remember that you represent Jesus Christ, and because you represent him you need to be worthy and clean.  You need to study the scriptures so that the Holy Ghost can bring the things you studied into your remembrance, so you can teach and share your testimony and answer questions that your friends might have.  I know, brothers and sisters, that you can become great preach my gospel missionaries and be great representatives of the Lord.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
  

Week 15 in Plano, Texas

     Well this week was a bit slower. We had five appointments bail out on us on Tuesday and Wednesday. We were able to reschedule one of them for last week but the other four we couldn't till this week.
     Let me tell you about a lesson we had with a recent convert family. It is the J**** family. We bumped into him a week ago and he had moved from another house that was in the ward. He hadn't had missionaries over for a while so we set an appointment for last Friday. The family has a mom a dad and three children. The oldest is a boy about 10 then a girl at 7 and another girl at 4 or 5. We taught them about how Satan makes bad seem good. (so back story. Last Monday we went to an Asian market and I bought two bags of candy. One bag was good and the other was just disgusting. It tasted like the Mexican candy.) Anyway I brought that bag and five of the alpine chocolate bars and gave them a decision to have one small chocolate or to have an entire bag of candy. The bag was really shiny and kind of looked like shiny tootsie rolls.  At the end of the lesson we made them decide which they wanted. Everyone wanted the chocolate except for the little four year old. She wanted the bag. So we handed out the candy and she was so proud that she had a bag of candy and everyone else just got a little candy until she put it into her mouth. Then her face just dropped. The dad was even teasing her making her keep it into her mouth. Her eyes got teary and she was about to cry. It was so cute and funny. Finally the mom let her throw it away. The family really liked the lesson.
     Well that was my week I hope that you all had a great week yourselves.
Love ya.

They dressed up like Book of Mormon characters and read the scriptures.

Night time entertainment (I don't know what it is of really :))

Snow!  1/4 inch of real snow, not ice.