Week 72 in Lufkin, Texas (3-30-15)

Hey Everybody

today was a crazy week. Monday night the told us about a meeting in Dallas for all of the district leaders on Thursday, and since my companion is a district leader they sent him. i couldn't go so i went on an exchange with the Henderson district leader. we exchanged on Wednesday night. and my companion and the district leader in Henderson went to Longview to stay with the zone leaders so they could wake up early and leave for Dallas. At 4:00 the assistance called a missionary companionship in Nacagdouches and wanted him to go to Dallas so he had to cancel all of his plans for the day drive to Henderson wake us up and take us to a place called Kilgore to meet up with the zone leaders so he could go to the meeting with him and i got put in a Trio and we headed back to Henderson to work. the meeting for my companion was from 9-4, but it went longer and ended at 5. then the mission president told them to have a zone meeting about what was taught the next day. so i had to sleep another night in Henderson and we went to Longview the next morning for the zone meeting and then left around 1 and didn't return to Lufkin until 3. my companion had driven 600 miles in three days and he was exhausted. we were both exhausted. 

We got a new video to show people. it is called #becausehelives it is an awesome video to get us prepared for Easter. you should go and watch it and fill in the blank "Because He Lives........."

i cant wait for this general conference. #missionarysuperbowl

 

Miles driven in March

New Sunglasses

Exchanges this week

 

Week 71 in Lufkin, Texas (3-23-15)

this week was honestly kind of slow there were a couple of highlights.

1 since the senior couple in Hemp Hill had to go home my district was combined with Nacadouches and Henderson.  Every Tuesday we have to drive to Nacadoches to have a district meeting, and we willl be playing basketball there in the mornings. It will add a special twist to everything. 

2 Every Friday the spanish branch plays sports here at the church and this week they played basketball and for the first half, I was on fire. It actually looked like i knew what i was doing. 

3 Stake parties here are alot more fun than up in Utah. no offense but it was fun here. they did a steak carnival for the youth and we helped prepare and helped maintain it. it was a blast. 

Still been going strong. Elder B***** and i have been working hard for the ward. we now have our vision for the area and are doing great working though it. 

I hope that you all had a great week. bye

District

Perfect gum wrapper separation!

Texas ward party

Week 70 in Lufkin, Texas (3-16-15)

hey so this week was one crazy week for me. we had so much to do and it filed up all of our time. so here we go,

on Monday right after i get done emailing we were told that we were going to go to Nacadoches for a sleep over. the assistant's were going on exchanges with us on Tuesday and they didn't want us to have to wake up super early for their meeting that they were going to have so they told us to sleep over at the elders apartment there. we got there and found out that they had tile floors everywhere. luckily they had two couches, but we were then told that 2 of the 3 Assistants were sleeping over there too. it was packed in that tiny apartment. oh and i for got to say that Elder S**** is an assistant and he was there. we actually went on an exchange with him on Tuesday. it was so awesome to see him again. 

Tuesday came and we had a huge breakfast before the meeting and then the meeting went longer than expected. we left there around 2 with a 30 min drive back to our area and went to a couple appointments with him. he has to be back to Nac by 5 so we didn't get much time with him, but it was still great to see him again. 

then on Wednesday we had another big trip. since there was going top be a big meeting on Thursday with Elder Foster of the 70, we got permission to do another sleep over in Dallas with the assistants. so we drove the 3 and a half hours to Dallas and got there around 10. the assistants had just barely got back from another exchange with other missionaries in East Texas when we got there. and they still had more stuff to do so they told us to go to sleep and they will see us in the morning. they had to wake up early in the morning so we didn't get to see them very much but that was ok because we had a great meeting with elder Foster.

one of the first things he talked about was IPADS. yes IPADS. well he mentioned them and said that we need to be obedient and then went on to talk about missionary work, expectations, and how great God is. it was a really great meeting. i was glad he came. after he had a meeting with all the district leaders and since my companion was a district leader he got to go, and in that meeting Elder Foster told them that ipads will be here in 2 months. so that means in about 3 months i will be able to use one and that my last month in the mission will be a really great one. 

then on Friday it was normal missionary day, but on Saturday we prepared for a baptism. J***** got baptized. it was so awesome and he was so exited. the baptism went really great and there was a lot of support there. it was a really great week.

oh and some transfer news. drum roll...........................i am staying. wooooo. well i hope that you all had a great week. love you.

 

Meeting with Elder Foster of the 70's

Elder Jorgensen and Elder S******

Baptism!!!

 

Week 69 in Lufkin, Texas (3-9-15)

Hey everyone. hope that y'all had a great week.

To start off. Funny story. we were leaving target and we decide to just contact a worker who was picking up trash on our way out from the store. Elder B**** asked her "excuse me, Are you enjoying the cold?" she looked surprised and responded "What!?!" Elder B**** repeated "are you enjoying the cold?" she took out an earphone and said "oh that is what you said, i thought that you said do you want to join our cult." ..........i am glad we represent the church well. we do as 3rd nephi 3:7. Join our Secret works.

We helped a Spanish member remodel his kitchen. We stripped wall paper, worst invention ever! and we helped his pregnant wife build a dog pen for their 3 Chihuahuas. they were just living on their porch, which is 3 feet from the ground and has no stairs.  We sprayed it off and bleached it. it looks soooooo much better now. the dogs just love their new spot. 

And on Saturday we are having a baptism. Ji***** is getting baptized. he is so exited for this. he went up and bore his testimony last Sunday on his baptism. 

On the sad side we had a really strong investigator drop us. She didn't really give us a reason why. she even had a date set out for this Saturday too. oh well that is how it goes. 

well i love you all and hope that you have a great week.

 

Lufkin District

Elder and Sister Donaldson

Youth Activity: Hungry, Hungry Hippos

 

Week 68 in Lufkin, Texas (3-2-15)

Hey Everyone. hope that you all had a great week. it has been crazy down here. the weather went from the 30's to the 60's in just a week. and i thought that Utah had crazy weather. on wensday we were the only missionaries that were aloud to drive. well us and another set in Nacadoches. the rest of the mission was in a couple of inches of snow. and were not aloud to leave the apartment. sad for them.

So at church we go to 2 sacrament meetings since we are covering a branch and a ward. and both of them talked about this dress. that is black and blue, but people see it as white and gold. we had no clue what that was. we had to have a member show it to us and explain. after the explanation we understood what they meant in the meeting. the speakers related it to the gospel and how we interpret the scriptures and how the apostasy came about. he also explained how grateful he was to have a prophet to clarify the things of importance so we didn't have to worry if that dress was blue and black or if it was white and gold. i thought that that was pretty cool.

we have had a lot of miracles this week. when we have had down time we go tracting and everyone knows how efficient that is. and he has blessed us with people to serve. one example is we started to knock some doors and about 2 minutes into it a truck with a moving trailer shows up and parks next to where we were at. we went over and offered to help and they accepted. which is an unusual thing. usually people don't accept. as we were helping he started to ask questions about our work and how long we had been out. it turns out that he had helped with scouts in another state and it was held at the LDS church. he also started family history. we let him know about the library here and he was exited to go. he wasn't interested to hear a message from us, but i would rather have good relation with one person rather than bug 100 and get nowhere. another seed was planted and a family was helped. 

our date for the 14 of march is so far still a go. he just has to quit smoking. we are working with him on that and it is going great so far. thank you for all your prayers and support. i love you all and hope that you all have a great week.

 

The aftermath of Elder B**** driving off the road to park and getting stuck. #chey4x4sucks

 

Week 67 in Lufkin, Texas ( 2-24-15)

So yesterday was kind of disappointing. We were supposed to have a meeting with Elder Foster, but because of the weather it was canceled because of the weather. And also because of the weather we couldn't leave the apartment. Which was kind of lame because we woke up and it was 35 degrees out side and nothing had frozen. it was wet from the rain last night but it didn't freeze at all. there wasn't even any frost on the car. but at like 1 they gave us permission to leave the apartment but only if we walked on the safe roads and only if it was absolutely necessary to be out of the apartment. And we got hungry and were on the point of starvation, so we ate lunch at McDonald and walked around the mall for a little bit then we headed back home took a nap and went to an appointment that lived about a mile away from the apartment. it is a part member family and the husband is looking to be baptized, but he has to conquer a smoking habit first. so we helped him make a plan for that.

We have had a miracle happen. there was this old investigator that was taking the lessons but she stopped because her mother died. She called us randomly and said that she would like to be baptized. we had a lesson with her and set up a date for the 14 of march. She is really solid and we showed her the baptismal font and she said that she was ready right then and there that she was ready to be baptized. 

things here are going pretty good. hope you all had a great week

Week 66 in Lufkin, Texas (2-16-15)

Holy Crap it has been warm here. it got up to 85 degrees here. Super strange in febuary. alot of people have been saying it is suposed to get really cold here. like below freesing in the next couple days. it is raining here so i hope that it doesnt freeze. well if it does we have a truck, #bestmissionvehicle, #chevycoloradoforlife. something like that. it has 55,000 miles on it and it will be retired soon. then we will get a chevy equinox.   

we have been having these mission wide initiatives. last month was the book of mormon and this month is family history. we have been encouraging all of our members to do the family history or to index. the cool thing that i found is that you can put memories on the family search and other pictures. the zone leaders want to hear cool stories about our ansestors so if you have any cool stories can you please send them in. thank you. 

this area is very service oriented. we try to serve everyone we meet and have a lot of service for non members and they have been asking alot of questions about us. so even if it doesnt turn into a actual teaching we are planting that seed and helping them understand more about the mormons. it has been a ton a raking leaves. i am really glad that the leaves are not that bad in utah. #golawnmower #rakingsucks. 

well i hope you all had a great valentines day and i hope that hashtags havent gone out of style yet. #missionlife

 

Old TV they scrounged up-doesn't work

Valentines

Valentine Party

 

Breakfast

Elder B****

Jesse is always on the look out for awesome cars!