2015 December Ward

POLAR EXPRESS WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

Dec. 20,  2015
Ward Christmas Program

The ward Christmas program was full of warmth, music and love.  Ali Lydall orchestrated a combination of piano, violin, solos quartets and more.  It was marvelous!!

MISSIONARY MEMORIES

ELDER JORGENSON
Heyo!

Hope all is going well with you guys! This has been a crazy week. We found out Elder Helco is being transferred Dec. 2nd. He's going to Milwaukee! Psyched for him. So I guess what we're all wondering is who my new companion is... well so am I! We found out that I am getting to TRAIN!! This is the craziest thing and I feel kind of overwhelmed but I'm getting a missionary straight out of the MTC. So tomorrow night I get to drive down to Milwaukee and find out who it is! I'm actually really nervous hahaha. I hope he's not quiet because I don't know if I can handle doing all the talking. All I can say is he'd better be a dang good missionary cause I'm still working on it!

This has been an absolutely crazy week even on top of that. We spent a lot of time visiting and having Elder Helco say goodbye to all the various people he needed to. But on Friday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Michelle, and her two sons got interested and joined halfway through which was a miracle to her haha. They've shown very little interest in religion in the past. Anyways then best of all they came to church on Sunday! Michelle and her 9-year-old son Cody. And they loved it! We'll be going back to teach again on Thursday and hopefully they'll keep coming. Cody is a brilliant kid, he remembered every single thing we taught him, the primary teacher told us in church that he recited the Joseph Smith story by heart (I feel like half the adults we teach can't do that haha). Then later Sunday night we had a super spiritual lesson with Amanda and we set a baptism date with her! So hopefully her and her 11-year-old son Austin will be ready by their baptism date - January 2nd. We're super psyched for everything that's going on here! Although Elder Helco is disappointed that all this awesome stuff is happening right as he leaves haha.

I don't know what else to say other than that! Love you all and miss you and if you have any words of encouragement I could use em! :) Talk to you soon!

~~Elder Jorgensen

414 East D St.

Iron Mountain, MI 49801

I realized I didn't even talk about Thanksgiving and since like 10 of you asked how it was I suppose I'll tell ya. Completely forgot about it, it feels so long ago! Pretty much everyone loves to have missionaries over for holidays (because we're awesome) so we had two Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday and then another one on Friday for lunch. So I'm all Thanksgiving-ed out to say the least. We've still got leftovers sitting in the fridge but they'll probably be there a while haha. Love y'all! Talk to you next week!

Hey guys!

Meet Elder Harmon, my trainee from San Tan Valley, AZ. I guess he brought the Arizona heat with him up here because all our snow melted. He's a total goofball though. It's great. It's been a crazy week! Between Tuesday and Wednesday I did about 15 hours of driving. Had to go to Milwaukee to pick up Elder Harmon, fresh off the plane, which is normally like a 4.5 (?) hour drive but I had to pick up other Elders, ferry luggage around, and drive to Crystal Falls to pick up another house key because we lost ours. (Long story). But... we got a new car so I'm not complaining much! It's a 2016 Nissan Frontier and I have already driven that thing into the ground. Not to bash on the Jeep but... the Jeep kinda sucked. :)

Great week for missionary work though! Being senior comp now I have been really struggling to fill time. So we've been doing a lot of tracting. But right now we probably have more promising investigators than this area has had in years! It's been tough and waking up at 6:30 every morning will probably stay tough my whole mission but it's been worth it! I have developed such a love for God and for this work that I'm doing. This truly is His work and His glory: "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I know that if I can help even one person along the path to eternal life, then these two years will be more than worth it!

Love ya'll a ton, and thanks for everything! Feel free to send Christmas cards!!

Elder Jorgensen

414 East D St.

Iron Mountain, MI 49801

Hey all!

Seems like this week has gone by so quick. We've done more tracting in this week than I think I did the whole first three months. :) training a new missionary has definitely been an experience! Right now I'm really working on getting him to pipe up during lessons because he really does have great thoughts and scriptural knowledge. I can remember being a new missionary and being super uncomfortable in teaching situations so I can relate. It's tough doing all the talking though... I got a super sore throat on Thursday but luckily it's a bit better now!

Lots of trials happening right now but let me tell you, one thing that has kept me going is prayer! I don't think I could fall asleep at night without first kneeling down by my bed and offering up everything that's in my heart. I can testify that this is the first and one of the biggest steps to lasting conversion! Developing a personal relationship with our Savior was the topic for my farewell address in Sacrament meeting, and it really is something that is of the greatest importance. I've seen it in the first few months of my mission and will continue to testify of it for the rest of my life. As missionaries we absolutely love stumbling upon people who already have a good relationship with God because it makes it that much easier for them to get an answer from Him about our message and its divinity.

Lots of fun stuff happening right now! We've got a much better investigator pool than we've had in a while, and things are going great! I can't think of much to say about it but I really do love the people I'm working with right now and want what's best for them. Thank you guys for everything! Have a great week!!

Elder Jorgensen

414 E D St.

Iron Mountain, MI 49801

Hey all!

This week's been awesome. Although I'm sad to say... we had a brown Christmas. Coming from Utah to upper Michigan I expected it to be colder but apparently not! From what I hear we've had a record breaking warm winter, at least in the past several decades. Climate change anyone? I miss Utah.

But anyways Christmas was awesome! The Newman family invited us over for a surprise breakfast, which we happily accepted and when we got there we were presented with stockings packed full of candy to the brim. It'll legit last me at least until next Christmas haha. We spent some time with the Darleys, who are a really solid young family who we love to talk to. Skyped our families over there and had a nice Christmas dinner with a few of their friends, played some games, shared a Christmas message, etc. Then Saturday and Sunday were back to hard work!

We've been loving this season and the opportunity it gives us to testify of Christ everywhere we go. And it's just wonderful how any gospel discussion can be so easily related to the message of the Restoration. The gospel is simple truth and it all works together! We've seen a lot of success tracting and contacting lately - although a majority of them said "stop by after the holidays" - but I'm convinced the field is white here in Iron Mountain and now we're just awaiting the harvest!

Speaking of which, we were able to set two baptism dates this week. Amanda and her friend Justin are preparing themselves to be baptized on February 20th! It's a ways off but we're beyond excited.

Anyways I hope your Christmas was as great as mine, and I hope you all took the chance to strengthen your foundation in Christ at this holiday season. I love y'all and I'll talk to you next week!

~Elder Jorgensen

414 East D St

Iron Mountain, MI 49801

From Elder Dylan Draper:

Hi all,

We had a great week in Wilhelmsburg.

The coolest thing that happened this week is that two investigators
came to church. One of them has moved to Germany from Iran. He
believes in Christ and was seeking freedom. We had one appointment
with him and invited him to come to church. One of our ward members is
actually from Iran and is a big help all over the mission where these
people are being found. He helps us with translation and is
responsible for a class where he teaches in Farsi who Jesus Christ is.
We had another investigator there as well, that we invited to come to
church on the street. We asked him what he did for Christmas and he
sells light up stars at the Weihnachtsmarkt. He tried to sell us some,
but we didn't want to buy any because they were so expensive. We
talked to him another time the next day and found out that he pretty
much hates America. That conversation didn't end well, but he came
nonetheless.

Other than that, it was a pretty normal missionary week. Lots of
appointments. Lots of fallen out appointments...yeah.

I just would like to say how happy I am that God has a plan. I am not
sure where I would be right now without this knowledge. I am grateful
for a Redeemer that was prepared from the beginning to stand with us
and lift us up. I truly know that there is no salvation except it be
through Christ.

Elder Draper

 

Hi All, We had a pretty good week. It is finally the Christmas season and no one celebrates it as intensively as  the Germans. We already had the first advent. It is basically just a ceremony where they lite the first candle on their wreath thing (Kranz). Some interesting things are that they usually don't set up their Christmas tree until the 24th and a lot of times with real candles on it. Here, you are not allowed to sing silent night until the evening of the 24th. Anyway... We found out about the new Christmas initiative thing. This year we really have a great opportunity to be able to share the video with people in their homes and on the street. We'll see how it turns out. We have had some interesting conversations about Christmas. We asked this one man what his favorite tradition for Christmas is and he said it is when people leave him alone, then walked away. I'm excited though. It is really pretty at Christmas time. We had a thanksgiving activity on Thursday with the YSAs. We brought two investigators and ate a real American thanksgiving dinner. They made some friends there as well, so it was successful. Many don't know anymore why we even celebrate Christmas. It is really a time that we can look back remember all that Christ has done for us. I think it is truly wonderful that the Lord gave his only son so that we could live forever. I don't know if I will ever be able to completely understand why he did all of that just so that we could be saved. I know that he truly did do so, so that can have eternal life. Elder Draper  Hi All, I forgot to mention a very important detail last week. Elder Smith was transferred to Osnabrück. My new companion is Elder Jaburek. He is from Wels in Austria. We get along really well. He has been out for about 3 months. We were traveling a lot this week. We had a special appointment in Cottbus. We basically rode trains the whole week. We had a Christmas party in the ward. It was really interesting. I got to play the violin a few times.  My district is kind of funny. It is only my companion and I and five sisters. I am definitely not used to that. On transfer day, I got to spent some time with one of my MTC companions, Elder Hall, as we waited for our companions to come in. That was pretty fun.  We had a great lesson with an investigator that just moved here from Iran. He is really just a wonderful man. I have really high hopes for him. Anyway... I know it's not a whole lot, but it was transfer week. Again, I would like to mention the "small and simple things," especially the scriptures. (Alma 37:6-7) Through scriptures and prayer I have really seen the love that the Lord has for me. Through them and earnest prayer, the Lord has taught me in His own way. Not the way that I expected to be taught, but the way that I needed. I have seen the potential that the Lord has given us, for me and for these to whom I am called. In times of late, nothing has moved me as much as the word of God. I have found comfort and assurance. I can promise this to anyone who seeks these things if he would only search and pray. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Elder Draper

2015 November Murray 32nd

November 2015 Murray 32nd Ward

Serving at the Dairy on Welfare Square

The Cupcake Contest - Young Men and Young Women

Carsen Ross completed his treatments at Primary Childrens Hospital and got to ring the bell!!

Primary Program- Nov. 8, 2015

During the program Mark Muszynski said the Cub Scouts were involved in service.  They picked up clutter along the walkway and they tightened screws on the chairs at the church house.  Judy Nelson explained that during activity days the girls had a tea party for their moms and they also had a party for their younger siblings.  Way to go!!

Achievement Days sponsored a tea for the moms and daughters

******************

Missionary Moments

Elder Tanner Jorgensen

Hey guys!

This week was full of ups and downs. So to get the downs out of the way first all of our new investigators cancelled our appointments this week. So that was just a little depressing haha. But we'll keep working with them. 

Now on to the good stuff! On Tuesday after District Meeting we did "blitzes" here in Iron Mountain - which is essentially where 4 missionaries tract out the same area. So we had the missionaries from Shawano stay here, we split up and knocked a ton of doors. People were super gracious and responsive to us that day it seemed. So our numbers this week look really great. Although it's not the numbers that matter it's the people! We'll be stopping by several of them again soon.

We've seen some miracles here, also meeting another woman who has a YM age son, she is going in for a surgery and actually asked for a blessing through her sister, who is a member in Escanaba. So we were able to give her a blessing and are going to start teaching her as soon as she's made a speedy recovery from surgery!

It's been a great week. The funny thing is we spent Halloween night out at a small house in the middle of nowhere with a less active member, and didn't get to see a single trick or treater the whole day! So basically to us Halloween didn't even happen. But oh well. We still got some candy.

Great to hear from all of you, and thanks for everything! Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Jorgensen

Nov. 9- This month we've started an "Atonement study" of the Book of Mormon with some of our members and investigators. Basically what you do is read a set aside chapter of the Book of Mormon each day, taking care to mark and discuss things that stand out about the Savior and His Atonement in red and things we do to access that Atonement in green (Christmas colors!). We will be doing this for the rest of the year in honor of the Christmas season. It's a really great experience to do and I can tell you I've learned a ton already through reading, pondering, and prayer. Just wanted to take this time to bear my testimony of the Savior and everything he's done for us. I know that the Atonement was for every one of us, and each of us individually. And it can help you in everything you do. I don't know if I could be out here right now without that enabling power behind me every day.

In terms of missionary work this week we contacted a media referral from Church HQ, who turned out to be pretty much a golden investigator from what we can tell so far! Michelle is her name, and she has a ton of questions and is very open and caring. And willing to follow through with commitments which to be honest is the problem with 90% of our other investigators! We're super excited with the things that are happening here.

But one more awesome thing is this week we went on a hike to a spot called Piers' Gorge - and it reminded me of home a ton! I used to go hiking and go up the canyon all the time back home and it was great to get a chance to do the same thing here. (Not to mention I got some pretty great pictures).

Anyways we're doing really well and I hope you all are too! It's chilly in Michigan so we've been breaking out the thermals but this is my favorite time of year anyways! I'm sure I won't still be saying that when we're buried in snow but for now I'm excited for winter!

Love you all and talk to you soon!

Elder Jorgensen

The days are starting to fly by real fast. As ya'll can tell, I've stopped keeping track, I guess that's a good thing haha. Not much happened this week, my companion has been feeling sick so I've now experienced what it's like to stay in the apartment for most of the day! Not sure if it was nice or terrible. For whatever reason I didn't even really take the chance to sleep, I spent most of the day reading!

This month we've started an "Atonement study" of the Book of Mormon with some of our members and investigators. Basically what you do is read a set aside chapter of the Book of Mormon each day, taking care to mark and discuss things that stand out about the Savior and His Atonement in red and things we do to access that Atonement in green (Christmas colors!). We will be doing this for the rest of the year in honor of the Christmas season. It's a really great experience to do and I can tell you I've learned a ton already through reading, pondering, and prayer. Just wanted to take this time to bear my testimony of the Savior and everything he's done for us. I know that the Atonement was for every one of us, and each of us individually. And it can help you in everything you do. I don't know if I could be out here right now without that enabling power behind me every day.

In terms of missionary work this week we contacted a media referral from Church HQ, who turned out to be pretty much a golden investigator from what we can tell so far! Michelle is her name, and she has a ton of questions and is very open and caring. And willing to follow through with commitments which to be honest is the problem with 90% of our other investigators! We're super excited with the things that are happening here.

But one more awesome thing is this week we went on a hike to a spot called Piers' Gorge - and it reminded me of home a ton! I used to go hiking and go up the canyon all the time back home and it was great to get a chance to do the same thing here. (Not to mention I got some pretty great pictures).

Anyways we're doing really well and I hope you all are too! It's chilly in Michigan so we've been breaking out the thermals but this is my favorite time of year anyways! I'm sure I won't still be saying that when we're buried in snow but for now I'm excited for winter!

Love you all and talk to you soon!

Elder Jorgensen

414 East D St.

Iron Mountain, MI

Hey guys!

So Thursday is my three month mark! Which is exciting because that's the time everyone says time starts flying! Well I am still loving it out here so far, the first real snow came this week so that's been fun! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this Thursday

 because, well first and foremost the food, but also we get to spend pretty much the whole day at member's homes (because ain't no way I'm knocking doors on Thanksgiving, I may be dedicated but not quite THAT dedicated haha). Plus it's the start of a really great time of year where we all start to focus a little more on Christ.

Well this week was Mission Tour, where essentially all the missionaries from three zones gathered in Green Bay to listen to a General Authority touring the area. Elder Schwitzer of the Seventy came to talk to us, and let me tell you it was awesome! He gave a great message on repentance, what exactly it is, how it helps our investigators, and how it helps us daily. And let me tell you it definitely does. That's a process I've gone through too many times to count. And surprise surprise, I was asked to help with a musical number for that too. It's okay I'm very glad to do it, it's a blessing to be good at piano! We did "I Stand All Amazed" with a few great singers from our zone.

Well life is still good! We had several appointments fall through this week but we were able to get a less active member, Josh, to bring his friend Darrel to church this week! We met Darrel by coincidence one day when we just happened to stop by the Josh's home, and now we've begun teaching both of them and we're very hopeful. I've met a lot of rougher-cut people out here and let me tell you there is nothing better than the feeling you get when you see a sincere desire to learn and grow in them. It's the whole reason I'm out as a matter of fact! Not because I have to be, not because everyone else wanted me to, but because I want to continue to help and bless people like the ones I meet every day. And I feel so blessed to have that opportunity.

Love you all and talk to you next week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Jorgensen

Elder Draper

Hi all,

This week was pretty good. Elder Smith and I have been having a blast.

The accidental birthday party
We met one of our investigators at the train station a couple of weeks
ago. We made out an apointment for Saturday. She said that we could
come by any time between 1 and 7 pm. I thought that she invited us to
a birthday party, but my companion insisted that she was only giving
us the time that she and her husband would be home. Saturday ended up
being a pretty crazy day. We played soccer in the morning with one of
our less active members, who brought his friend. We ended up being
really exhausted afterwards. We noticed that our time was getting
pretty short, so we changed and went to Hauptbahnhof to get our next
train to a tiny town called Maschen. As we got there, our train left,
so we decided we would just take time there for lunch. We ate at
McDonalds. We thought, then that another train would be coming soon.
It turns out that we would have to have waited for another hour for
the train to come. My companion  had the feeling that we should go to
Harburg, so we ran and got on the next train going there. We made it
there and ran up to where the Fernzüge are and funnily enough, our
train was sitting there, even though there were not any other options
at the main station. We ran and hopped inside. We got to Maschen,
which apparently has one of the largest train yards in Europe and it
truly was huge. Unfortunately, there are no busses there, so you have
to walk at least for 20 minutes to get to where any people are. We get
to this appartment eventually and there are like 30 Africans there and
it was indeed a birthday party for a three year old. They invited us
to sit down and we just wanted to get right back up and leave. We
decided that after 15 minutes we would go. We got into a conversation
with an old lady, who is a preacher. She told us that we only needed
the bible and had to accept Jesus in our lives to be saved. This
younger girl started talking to us as well about her beliefs in the
bible. They gave us some interesting african food. Cold chicken,
catfish salad, burnt rice with beans and spicy sauce. I didn't really
want to eat because of all the McDonalds I had just had, but they
didn't ask if we wanted it or not. My companion continued talking to
the older one while I talked to the one that actually had some
interest. The older one said that the Book of Mormon was from the
devil and that there can't be prophets today. We ended up getting the
other one's number and had to be getting out of there so that we did
not miss our train. We go out nonchalantly and after we are already
down the street, my companion realized that he forgot his sport
clothes. We ran back to the house and picked them up. We then had only
15 minutes to get to our train, so we ran some more. Anyway.. we were
pretty tired.

Other than this, there is not much that we did outside of the normal
missionary life.

I really know that the Lord lives and that he has provided a way to
return to Him as we make and keep sacred covenants. I am absolutely
sure of a devine Redeemer, who know how to be with us in times of good
and bad. The whole reason I am here is to help others to return. I
know of the truth of the restoration. We have the priesthood and it
truly works. I simply know that it is true.

Alles Gute,

Elder Draper

 Hi all,

I've only got a short time to tell you about this week, but  a lot of
cool things happened.

The biggest thing
We got a text on Friday morning that we were going to have a
conference call in twenty minutes. They told us that Elder Ballard was
going to come Sunday night. We had two days to prepare to meet an
apostle. We got hair cuts and bought train tickets. He only had about
an hour and a half with us, but it was really amazing how he taught
us. He said that we need to talk to more people and be witnesses
wherever we are. He took the time to shake all of our hands. That was
really the coolest thing ever.

Piano concert
All of the missionaries in Hamburg were invited to a piano concert to
talk to people there. The pianist was actually very well known and
very talented. I don't know how they pulled it off, but it was way
cool. The people had to actually pay for the concert, so we weren't
allowed to really proselyte. The goal of the whole thing was to let
the people know how nice the missionaries and members are. It was easy
for me to talk to people because they were all interested in music
like me.

Anyway,

I know that we have prophets and apostles. They truly do lead this
church. I know that God has not changed. The church is going to stay
in the same place that he put it. The only way to have true, lasting
happiness is to follow Christ. Through him there is more to life. Not
everything makes sense to me, but it is clear what the Lord wants for
me and for everyone.

Alles gute in die neue Woche,

Elder Draper

Hi everyone,

It was truly a wonderful week.
It is kind of a thing here that most of our appointments fall out.
This just means we have more time to find prepared people.

The winter came rolling in
Yesterday, it snowed about two inches in the space of a couple of
hours. It was pretty cool. Nobody really expected it, because there
was no snow in Hamburg last year. It got cold pretty quick. We went
for a run this morning and it was a lot colder than a couple of days
ago.

The Weinachtsmärkte are opening now with their roasted nuts and decorations.

We went on splits for a whole day with the youth in Hamburg. I was put
in a three-man. It was good to work with them. Lukas, my companion
said that it was important for him to do this and he has the desire to
go on a mission when he is old enough. We mostly did finding and the
people were not very happy. It was cool though that he really enjoyed
it. At the end, we had an English dinner.

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week.

I feel blessed to be here. I read something in Alma 32 that I thought
was interesting. It talks about planting a seed of faith. At the end
of the chapter, it explains that if the tree is properly nourished, it
will grow roots (for me, that is a testimony.) It talks about how
important it is to nourish the seed and the tree, that people who
slipped and forgot to nourish it, ended up casting it out, because it
had dried up. The seed wasn't bad and the fruit wasn't bad. The
nourishment was simply lacking. It is the same with some of the people
I meet. They say that the feelings that the once had when the
missionaries first came were gone, or perhaps as they had joined the
church. Later after leaving, it wasn't the church that was bad or even
the experiences all together. Their faith lacked nourishment. I would
like to bear testimony of the power of four principles that I learn
over and over, for unshakable faith and testimony. Reading the
scriptures, prayer, church attendance, and frequent temple attendance.
These things are simple, but powerful. They will nourish your faith. I
have seen them do so to me. I cannot attest to have power or influence
to do wonderful things without the strength from God and the
scriptures.

I love you all,

Elder Draper

Relief Society Gratitude Dinner

Karen Johnsen entertained, taught and inspired us all!

Tithing Settlement

Young Women in Excellence

Elder Ross Returns!!

A couple of missionaries (David and Johnathan) in training after their baptisms