Murray 32nd Ward May Newsletter

GARAGE SALE WITH YOUNG WOMEN

MISSIONARY MOMENTS

Elder Tanner Jorgenson

The weather here is really psyching me out haha. Today it's gorgeous, but Saturday man, Saturday was the worst. Near-freezing rain made it pretty hard to street contact anyone! We ended up bussing all over to parts of Madison I've never seen to contact less-active members. Ended up spending the whole day and having the only person to answer turn out to only speak Hmong so that was fun!

Church this Sunday was really good, we really thought Rebekah was going to come this time, but she called us with a headache at about 9:30. So that sucked. Plus summer's coming! So Rebekah (and all the other students) will be going back to their various homes in a week or two. I honestly don't know what we're going to do all summer! Hopefully at least a few people decide that summer semester is a good time to go to college haha.

But things are going well! This has probably been one of the hardest weeks of my mission, but honestly it's been one of the most spiritual times as well. It's a shame that we only truly turn to the Lord at times when we really need his help. But I can say that I'm so grateful that he really is there when we need it, and our adversity really is for our gain at the end of the day. We're coming back from a slump right now but I'm more committed than ever to open my mouth at all times! And I know he won't let me down, because he never has before.

Love you all! Talk to you next week!

Elder Jorgensen

308 Forest St. Apt #5

Madison, WI 53726

So this week was kinda tough, not a lot happened honestly. Except we did find this awesome Chinese student named Yasin (pronounced yee-shen... we're not sure he knows quite how to spell in English yet) who we're meeting up with on Friday. It'll be sweet to get some of the semi-active Chinese-speaking members involved in teaching and fellowshipping again. Other than that a pretty ineffective week! Everyone is stressed about finals.

BUT then Sunday was the most dreamy day haha, it just kinda floated by. First of all Rebekah AND Jie came to church! Which is a prayer answered right there. Especially since Rebekah leaves to go back to Marshfield next week. So Jie brought Elder Newman and I some gifts as well, two big canisters of green tea like direct from China, super authentic stuff. Hahaha after having Melissa explain to him how we don't drink tea he said we could have it anyways, totally keeping it as a memento. He was just beaming when he gave it to us, man why couldn't I get called to China for my mission I love these guys haha.

In other news, calling home went great, it felt really good to just kind of let everything go for 45 minutes! And we spent the day at Braden's with a couple of other Elders, and he is just AWESOME. So solid.

Basically, life's good! I know that I'm fulfilling my purpose out here and that what I'm teaching is the truth. The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses lives and I've seen it! I love my family a ton and am excited to work on the task of uniting others' families. Peace out til next week!

Elder Jorgensen

308 Forest St. #5

Madison, WI 53726

So it's been an interesting week, haha here our success is like completely dependent on the schedule of the students. So with finals and graduation this week, let's just say it's been a little tough hahaha. Everyone running around frantically downtown or packing to move out or whatever. But it's been a fun week nonetheless! So it looks like over the next few weeks of pre-summer semester we'll become aimlessly roving the street referral-makers for the 1st ward elders hahaha. We'll see how it goes.

On the plus side Jie came to church again and we had a really good lesson with him. Xilu has been indispensable as a translator, it's been great. We've had some cool experiences too, yesterday we watched a homeless guy roll a joint on a crowded bus right next to us. Well I guess not really that cool but whatevs. He didn't even spill so props to him I guess. :) And we saw a sweet family of owls. Okay I give up trying it was a pretty boring week hahaha.

Love ya'll and have a great week!

Elder Jorgensen

308 Forest St. #5

Madison, WI 53726

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Sister Monica Adams

Hola todos!! 

Happy Late Mother's Day! 

It was so good to skype and talk with eveyone yesterday  I can't believe that it is already Mayo! I feel like just last month we skyped for Christmas.. The time is just flying by!! 

I dont' really have tons to tell since we just talked yesterday... But I wanted to say how grateful I am for my family 

In Argentina marriage isn't a very common thing. A lot of couples have been together for 20+ years but don't ever want to get married. It's always really cool to teach the plan of salvation and explain that we can live with our families for eternity. I love to teach and talk about the sealing power of temples. We are so lucky to have 14+ temples ALL in Utah and close to our house. Our mission theme is "Prepare the Patagonia for a Temple". When Hermana Crofts arrived in the Comodoro Rivadavia Mission... the MISSION was having about 9 bauptisms a month... The WHOLE mission... But this last month we had 25 as a mission. We are progressing as a mission and it's so cool to see the Lord preparing His children. This month the mission has a goal of 62 baptisms... We are going ot have a fast as a mission and this month we are going to be working SOOOOO hard to reach that goal! After this transfer we will be getting our new mission president. It will be sad to see President and Sister Rogers go, and it will be a big change but that's okay! 

The gospel of jesus Christ is so amazing! I love learning new things and recieving answers to my prayers. We are so blessed to have the fullness of the gospel and the restored church on the earth today. I invite you to go to the temple this week: I miss the temple so much and can't wait to go when I get home. I love being a missionary! I love our Savior Jesucristo and will forever be grateful for his sacrifice for us. 

Much loveeeeeee,

Hermana Adams

Hola Todos,

Well, it's now my Second transfer in Rawson  My companion is Hermana Johnson. She has 10 months in the mission and is from Utah. She just came from Rio Gallegos with Hermana Woodbury! We are working hard together and are really excited for what these two transfers together will do. We put a goal to do 140 contacts and 18 lessons a week. That is a very big goal that we are working hard to meet it!! 

We just had conference with President and Hermana Rogers (that's why I am writing today) and this was the last time we will see them because they go home in the very beginning of July and then we have our new President and Hermana. We were all really sad to say goodbye to them and there were lots of tears from everyone.. But the good news is that they are from Utah so I will be able to see them again! They have been such great examples of the love they have for the Lord, this work and the people of Argentina. They love all the missionaries so much in our Mission and we can always feel that love when we have conferences or interviews with them. 

Our new mission President y Hermana Salerno sound like good people.(I found this tiny story on them) http://www.ldsdaily.com/church-lds/8-new-mission-presidents-called/

He studied at BYU and has his masters in Buisness, he speaks portugues, ingles and italiano. His wife speaks ingles. They are very excited and nervous to come be presidents and it will be very fun to get to know them. 

In several weeks we will travel to Puerto Mardyn and we will go see the Whales!! Every year they migrate from the south to give birth to their babies from June to December. I am super excited to go see them because everyone says that it's just so exciting to so see so many of them! I have heard that many people go the little town of Puerto Madryn around this time of year, just to see this migration! I hope I get to go there and serve, I've heard it's really pretty there! 

Thursday we had correlacion (don't know what that is called en ingles) where we meet with the mission leader and talk about our investigators and we were talking with the Elders in our ward and I said how one of my goals in the mission is to teach a lesson in English (Don't know why, but I want to) so on Friday we had to go to Trelew and when we got back to Rawson we got off the bus and I noticed some ladies speaking English. So, I decided to talk to them. They are from Polland, one is here working as a Marine Biologist and the other was her friend who just arrived here from Polland to visit. They were surpised that we spoke English and we shared who we were and why we were here and what we believe and so it turns out that we taught them a lesson in English! It was a cool little milagro that showed me that our Heavenly Father truly does hear our prayers, knows where we are, and the intentions of our hearts, and blesses us to accomplish our goals.  

I was reading in John 17 y Romanos 8 this morning for Studies. I love reading about the love that the Lord our Savior has for us. We are all children of a Heavenly Father who loves us SO much that he sent His son.  He loves all of his children equally, and desires to bless them. I am learning to see others as He does, and have this same love for my investigators and the people here in Argentina.

Love you all. Have an amazing week! 

Hermana Adams 

Murray 32nd April 2016





MISSIONARY MOMENTS:

SISTER ADAMS:

What's good in the hooooood?

This week was so busy! I arrived at 2pm and by 5 pm we were out working!! And we have already seen the blessing of working hard!!

So my companion Hermana Crofts is such an amazing missionary! I feel like I have already learned SO much from her in just one week!! She is so loving and you can just see how much she loves the people and this work! We are working hard with all of the recent converts and the investigators that we have. 

Milagro of the week: We have two recent converts, Sandra and Muriel (mother and daughter). In this family the father and son want absolutly nothing to do with the church, but they both came to the baptism for Sandra and Muriel. We learned that Sandra has been praying and asking the Lord to soften the hearts of her son and husband.. well, the husbad watched all four sessions with her and her daughter AND then he went to the preisthood session all by himself!! WE talked to him after one session and he said the talks were so beautiful and powerful!! WE are so excited! They are such a great family. We are hoping to pass by and talk with the husband and ask him what he thought! 

This truly IS the Lords work and I am so happy and loving the opportunity I have to see HIS hand in everything!! I am so grateful that we were able to watch and hear from our beloved Prophet. How exciting that we will have 4 more houses of the Lord in the world. Ourt mission moto is prepare the Patagonia for a Temple. We are working and praying for the pepple here in this mission so that these wonderful people can one day have a temple near to them . We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives and all the many blessing that it brings. 

I am so grateful to my wonderful family and friends for the great examples you have been to me in my life! I hope you guys loved conference as much as I did!! 

Have a wonderful week.

con amor,

Hermana Adams

Another week… and another P-day,

Yesterday Hermana Crofts and I were talking and we decided that our bodies seem to know when it’s almost PDay.. Our area is VERY big, so we are walking a lot of the day and by the end of the day we are just so tired!! It's always good to come home after being so tired from working.

This week we learned how to make Pan y Ñoquis! :) We spent the morning on Saturday with one of our Recent Converts (Sandra y Muriel) because they really wanted to teach us how to make bread and ñoquis. We each made our very own loaf  of bread (and mine came out better! ) They gave us the recipes and then we had lunch with them. They are such a great family!!

So… it turns out that there are quite a few dogs here.. Well, there is an Hermana in the Ward who has a dog that just follows her EVERYWHERE. So when she goes to church this dog comes along and sits outside by the door. At any and every opportunity this dog tries to sneak inside to the meetings. Well, during sacrament meeting the dog got in to the foyer and was scratching at the chapel doors … we were sitting in the front row, right next to the doors. We tried to ignore the scratching, and then all of a sudden the dog is on its hind legs and looking in through the little window.  We looked over at him and I was trying so hard not to laugh! hahahahah Someone came in late and sat in the back (and the dog’s owner was sitting in the very front next to us) well the dog came in when the door opened and walked along the isle searching the rows to find her.. Now there’s something you don’t see everyday!! hahah it was so funny!! 

I met two more of our investigators this week. Two little girls names Valentina and Milagros. Vale as she is called is 13 and Mili is 8.. They are SO cute and they need lots of love. They live with their grandparents because their mom has had some challenges and now she doesn’t have custody of them. Their grandparents are almost never home.. so Vale is in charge of watching and finding food for her three younger siblings. It’s honestly so sad but they are amazing kids. It’s very humbling to see the way this little 13 year old cares for these children. They ALWAYS want us to sing hymns. 

Before I arrived, the Hermanas had taught them about the Plan of Salvation.  When we stopped by the other day we could only talk with Mili and decided to ask her about God and what she thinks he is like… She said that He is fun and He is probably sad because we aren’t living with him right now :) She is a very smart 8 year old and remembers a lot! She says that we were invisible because we didn’t have bodies, when we lived with him before we came to earth. The little girls want to be baptized it’s hard to be so young and not have support of parents to help them stay active. We are going to keep visiting them and just show them love. They need someone that they can count on. 

I have considering the blessings that have always been a part of my life. We are so lucky to live where we do, to be able to get an education, have the opportunities and the many things we do. In Argentina, it is VERY common to see 15 year olds with a toddler. A lot of kids smoke, drink and do things that 14 year olds shouldn’t do.. It’s very humbling to see their circumstances and it also gives me hope and I pray to find and teach these people that they can change and choose to be different from the rest. There are so many who simply follow the examples of those around them in Argentina…  I am grateful everyday for this chance to share my knowledge and testimony of the gospel and to be an example of the happiness that comes from living what we teach.  

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Count your blessings everyday!!

Hermana Adams

The weeks are flying by!!!!!!!!!

This week on Monday we found a new investigator, her name is Jessica. She has several different challenges that she needs to overcome but she is VERY honest, never has been baptized and wants to go to church. We taught her and invited her to get baptized! She agreed and we have a great feeling about her!

Yesterday I gave a talk in Church  Every 4th Sunday is Missionary Sunday.. So I talked, Elder Clark talked (District Leader) and then our Mission Leader talked. My topic was El Libro de Mormon and the role for missionaries. I re-read the talk given by Elder Holland in 2009. We have used the Mormon Message of him and this talk before and everytime we do it just gives me the chills and makes me tear up. We are so lucky that the Lord loves us SO MUCH that He gave us ANOTHER book of scripture to provide guidance for us!! 

I love 2 Nephi 29:8-9

8. Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

 9. And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

A lot of people here are Evangélicas and Católicas... And they don't want to accept the Book of Mormon or they just try and find scriptures in the Bible that say we can’t have other books.. It's really hard. But we are trying really hard to help them see the importance of having a second witness of Christ.  I have discovered a new love for the Book of Mormon! It has the power to change lives! It has changed mine!! I understand more now as I read it than I did before. I love reading it and thinking of my purpose as a missionary and how I can apply everything to missionary work! 

Next Pday we are having a 'Super' PDay.. Which is just a really long Pday and we get to go  and do something special! For our Super Pday we are going to Gaiman. It is a really pretty little town about two hours from where we are. We don’t really know what we are going to do there, for sure, and we will have a big Asado as a Zone and play games. The last super Pday they went and saw the Penguins!! Go figure it was the Pday before I got here.. I JUST MISSED IT! 

Fun fact about Gaiman... It's known for it's Tea House.. In Argentina they have a thing where during the middle of the day, EVERYONE drinks tea… So in Gaiman there is a place to have tea and it's about 200 pesos for a cup of tea and cake and some tarts.. kind of pricey, but hey, that's Argentina.. 

Well I hope everyone is doing good and enjoying spring!!

Con amor, 

Hermana Adams

ELDER DRAPER

Hello Everyone, Unfortunately, I will have to keep this one short, because we have got to get to an appointment. The cool thing that happened this week is that we got a guy on baptismal date. He is the one that we found last week at the bus stop. I have been thinking a lot about how much my mission really means to me. I have really experienced a lot. It is hard to summarize it. I have definitely learned what it means to have a loving Heavenly Father who truly tries to reach out to all of His children. I have learned that the best opportunities come when we least expect them, to learn and teach about the gospel. It is truly great to learn and teach the gospel of Christ, because it is the very thing that I need and the thing that everyone else needs. This is the most precious of gifts. It is the key to living with God after this life. There is a life after death, I know it. This is an important time to live on the earth. There is no other effort that is more important than trying to follow Christ. With Him at the head of our lives, we can truly do anything. We would triumph over all sorrows, misunderstandings, trials and losses. His only goal in life was to bless others and he will do that with us today. I promise that the Savior can bless you today! He has done it for me over and over. Times get hard, but that is okay. It only supports our steadfastness in Him, who has given us life. Elder Draper Von meinem iPad gesendet ------------------------------------------------------------------ Elder Draper is now home!! ELDER TANNER JORGENSON Elder Tanner Jorgenson So pretty unexpected news, Elder Cox is leaving! Pretty disappointing to have him go after only 1 transfer but I honestly do know it's for the best! Maybe we goofed off a little too much hahah. My new companion is Elder Sam Newman from MURRAY UT. I literally sat next to this guy in English. How crazy is that haha? I'm pretty psyched for this next transfer, even though it'll be sad to see E Cox go on Wednesday. I really do love being right where I'm at right now though. The gospel works and mission presidents are inspired! We did exchanges with the Zone Leaders earlier this week, we blitzed campus so essentially there were 6 elders split contacting all over campus today haha. But we hit our goal of teaching 70 lessons this week which was really solid. We got a couple return appointments out of it so we'll see how those go. The hard thing about this area is that we teach a ton of lessons but finding someone who's willing to take time away from studying and friends to meet up is tough! But if nothing else, I'll plant plenty of seeds for the future in the rest of my time here. Rebekah was unable to come to church this week because of midterms, so that was disappointing as well but we're still keeping in contact! Life is good! Love you all! Have a great week. Elder Jorgensen 308 Forest St Apt #5 Madison, WI 53726 yeah so it's not really summer but it sure as heck feels like it! The last couple days have been consistently in the upper 70s and totally clear, and walking around in white shirts in the humidity is kind of horrible. Summer (when it actually gets hot) is going to be rough here on campus! Other than that though it's been an awesome week, we met with Rebekah and committed her to a "soft" baptismal date for May 21st. She's pretty unsure about it but she's hoping to get an answer about the Book of Mormon by then. And she's reading even with school conflicts so that's awesome! Saturday we basically just tried to do a ton of less-active visiting across the city. It was pretty rough because we found out that like half of the people we were trying to find had moved and the rest weren't home. One of the perks of trying to work with students I guess! Anyways I'm pretty sunburnt from biking and walking everywhere. It's been great though! Elder Newman and I have been working hard and my testimony has definitely grown as a result. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is real and blesses lives. We're praying for miracles every day and are loving planting seeds of faith with amazing new people every day. Love ya'll and talk to you next week! Elder Jorgensen 308 Forest St Apt #5 Madison, WI 43726 -We've bowled on P-day like the last 3 weeks, it's been a blast haha So this week we worked hard and got a couple new investigators, from China and India. I love the members of this ward - we talked to on older Chinese man named Jie on the street the other day and he speaks VERY little English. But when we told him our church building was RIGHT there (we were across the street from the institute) he was super excited to come try it out. When he arrived Sunday morning Xi Lu, a recent convert himself, jumped right up and welcomed him, and talked him through everything. When we talked to Jie afterward all he said was "I feel good." The spirit that exists in a group of people worshipping God is very real! Sometimes I think we take those basic "good" feelings for granted - at the end of the day, that's the best way to describe the spirit. We don't always understand it, but we do know it's good. Well other than that not a lot happened this week! Rebekah is doing well, she definitely has some concerns to work through but she has the desire in her heart to know the truth and she feels good about her path right now. Elder Newman and I have been working hard and even though college students rarely have softened hearts our efforts have been worth it! Talk to you all next week! Elder Jorgensen 308 Forest St #5 Madison, WI 53726 --Pictures of our new loft lighting system and foxes chillin on campus! Spring is sweet