Monday, July 7, 2014

30 June 2014

This week is going to be crazy. Today we shop for pizza supplies, I buy a suit, and we shoot an advertisement for our Preach My Gospel class. Tuesday we have a Zone meeting. Wednesday we have an English Party and my Taiwanese mom, Sister Zhang, is visiting me! Thursday we start our first session of Preach My Gospel class that we are running for the members. Friday we have a baptism! Saturday we are throwing a Pizza Party (we will be making about 40 pizzas!). Sunday we have Church, Ward Correlation meeting, and Family Home Evening, not to mention that I am also giving out personalized letters of gratitude that I have written (in Chinese!) to all of the members throughout the week.

Then I go home. Can you believe it!? Normally missionaries get pretty trunky at this point, but I just don't have the time to be trunky. I'm stressed out, I'm tired, I'm up to my eyebrows in tasks, but ironically... I couldn't be happier. I'm having a very fun time out here!

I think the main reason I'm having fun is that I feel like I am using my talents and doing my best to help those I love. The Sisters, Ward Missionaries, and we sat down for a while yesterday to discuss what the needs of the ward were. After a while of agonizing thought and discernment, it struck us how incredible it was that we cared so much about the members. I don't think members really understand how much the missionaries care about them personally. It helped me understand a little bit more the love that my parents have for me, and even more the love that my Father in Heaven has for me. It also helped me feel a little bit of the sadness and sorrow God feels for us when we choose to slacken on our personal progression. We are excited to try some new things to help the ward members develop their own conversion in Christ.
We will be starting a class to help members understand how to use Preach My Gospel in the home. I am floored time and time again by how simply this manual teaches the doctrines of the gospel. It is all too easy for us to over-complicate things, and I feel that this is not conducive to receiving the guidance of the Spirit. When the Spirit does not strive with us, we become complacent, because we are no longer feeling promptings to change and repent. We hope that by providing an environment where members can feel the Spirit while reading Preach My Gospel, members will go home and use the tools they have been given to have spiritual experiences on their own.

I'll write you one more time next week, and then I'll see you all on the flip-side! (Or as Elder Hoopes called it, "pool-side".)

Love,

-Elder Jorgensen

No comments:

Post a Comment