"A true disciple loves to forgive"

Hello family and friends! It is so good to be sitting down yet again on another Monday typing up another weekly update for all of you!! This week was crazy, but I was able to learn so much from it and strengthen my testimony because of it.  Monday through Thursday was a blur for me and I honestly can't remember everything that happened.  Friday I was told that My companion (Epuri) and AP Mekala are going on an assignment to open up a new area.  I am now AP Reiss's companion and acting AP for the rest of the transfer most likely.  This is when all the craziness begins.  We are now over two areas... Vasant Vihar and Munirka, so we have a lot of work to do, and a lot of members and investigators to teach and visit.  To top the week off I got to confirm two of the AP'S investigators as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints and that was by far the most spiritual and amazing experience I have ever had in my life.  I am so blessed to be in India right now, and I am so grateful the Lord has trusted me and put faith in me to do what I am doing. 

I want to update you all on my investigators real fast.  Solomon has now come to church twice and has been approved by president to get baptized on August 5th!  He has been progressing so much and he loves taking the lessons.  He has a great testimony of Joseph Smith and he is very excited to get baptized before he has to go back to Liberia.  Gaurav is still trying to figure things out with work.  He has been taught all the lessons, and is so ready to be baptized.  We are going to teach him about how there is opposition in all things and tell him that if he makes this choice and gets baptized that everything else in his life will work out.  I would love it if you all could throw these two in your prays this week, and fast for them this up coming fast Sunday!!!  Thanks! 

Fast spiritual message...I gave a talk Sunday on forgiveness and I based it all on my Grandmas wonderful quote she sent me this last week.  Grandma J said. "Feelings are much like waves.  We cant stop them from coming, but we can choose which one to surf".  I love this quote.  When we are stuck in a situation where we have negative feelings towards someone or we are finding it hard to forgive... ride the happy waves!   We are 100% in control of the feelings we choose to have towards someone.   When we focus on Christ, and really know that every one is a child of God, and that they are our brothers and sisters it will make it easy to forgive.  "A True Disciple Loves To Forgive".  As we are on our path to becoming true disciples we must forive and it is my challenge to all of you to forgive more and choose to "surf" the positive waves.  I love being a missionary and I love being a member of this church.  I have a testimony that Jesus Christ knows all of us personally and he has a plan for each of us.  We must continue with faith and obedience to him in order to receive the blessings he has in store for us.  

/Elder Jorgensen

Highlights: 

-Saw a Donkey outside our Apartment

-Almost got attacked by a dog

-Confirmed two Investigators

-Carried a mattress on my head from the mission home to my apartment 

 

 

TRANSFERS: Week 7

Well this week was just full of change!!!! I am staying in Munirka, but Cleverley and Barber are going to Mumbai!! It was super sad to see both of them go, but I know that the Lord needs both of them in Mumbai.  My knew companion is Elder Epuri from Hyderabad.  He is very different from Cleverley and he is Indian. I am definitely going to learn a lot more about patience and making sure I stand up for myself and what I know is right.  We had a lot going on this week with transfers and things were super busy and crazy.  I'll quickly update you on two of our investigators.  First Gaurav... We finally met him on Sunday at 8.  We ended up teaching him for two hours.  Our ward mission leader and the Pecks, our office couple, sat in and helped us teach and they bore their testimonies.  The spirit was strong and most of the lesson was in Hindi.  Gaurav is back on date for August 19th so please pray for him!!! The second investigator is Solomon.  He is from Liberia and he is our strongest investigator right now.  On Sunday he came to all three hours of church and stayed for the 4 baptisms we had after church.  He keeps telling us "I want to get baptized".  After the baptism we taught him about the sabbath day and about the sacrament and I invited him to be baptized on August 5th... He said YES!! HE is a super strong and smart man, and is going to be a very strong leader for the church!  I am so grateful I was able to find him!  I love being a missionary and love being here in India.  It is the hardest thing I have done, but i'm slowly realizing that it is going to be the most rewarding thing I've done!!  That is my update for the week, and now out of time...I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!! 

Spiritual thought:

This Sunday I had the opportunity to teach Elders Quorum.  I taught on ministering, and how we become true ministers as we focus on the needs of others.  I wanna share a part of my lesson that is very important!!!  "Often times we think that we must do these huge big things to be a good minister. The Savior ministered in big ways, the Atonement and the Resurrection, but he also ministered in small ways through small acts!  He smiled at people, he walked with, talked with, taught, encouraged, made time for, fed, forgave and listened to every single person he saw. Its by the simple acts that we become great ministers. It is by sacrifice as well.  All the things the Savior did took sacrifice.  If we truly want to become like  the Savior and minister well we must sacrifice"!   Like it says in the first line and the fourth verse of the hymn Praise to the man... "SACRIFICE BRINGS FOURTH THE BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN"  Become like the Savior and do the small things!  I promise that as you do this you will be blessed with peace and happiness and you will be guided by the spirit in these moments.  I know that my Savior lives and I am trying to be like him everyday!  I challenge all of you to do the same! This is my testimony!  I love all of you with all my heart and pray for you everyday!  

/Elder Jorgensen

Highlights: 

- Our District had 4 baptisms on Sunday! 

- Had a massive shake at TGIF with AP Reiss

- Had my first Indian style Big-mac from McDonalds... just average

- Sister Pecks chocolate chip cookies 

- Being in India 

- New sister came in from Australia, Sister Watts!  She is awesome! 

teaching English class

Ward members

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Smile through the pain

Hello family and friends!! The weeks are starting to go by super fast, and I sometimes feel like I dont have enough time to write and give you all updates.  This week was super, super hard.  Im not going to try to sugar coat it... It just sucked.  We have not heard from Gaurav in a week and that has been super hard.  He is so ready, and he has a very strong desire to be baptized.  He just cant get work off, and he thinks that God is doing this to him.  He needs some prayers sent his way, so please keep his name in your prayers.  We got a referral from other missionaries in our zone about a man named Solomon from Nigeria.  We met him on Saturday and he is actually the greatest person I've met so far on my mission.  He understood what we were teaching and he asked so many good questions that kept us on our feet.  I loved this experience, and wish every investigator could be like him haha!  He is great!  That pretty much sums up the missionary part of the week...The frustration from the week built up bad on Thursday and so God gave us a MASSIVE rain storm.  Me and Elder Cleverley were the only ones to go out in it, and it was the best decision ever.  All the stress and frustration was gone just like that as we walked and ran around like kids in two feet of water in the middle of the road.   I learned something from this experience and that is what I want to share for my little spiritual message I do every week... but first let me talk about one more thing that happened...We got to watch the WORLD CUP!  That was just amazing... I got to watch the world cup in India while being a missionary... hahaha!  We had an appointment with a less active and we kinda mentioned that the world cup was on and she turned it on and fed us and let us watch it!!!

Ok back to the rain storm.  WE had a terrible week.   WE prayed that God would help us out.   God answered our prayers with a rain storm!!  We knew it was the answer to our prayers and so we went outside.  God does not always answer prayers how we want.  I wanted all the pain and frustration to be taken away with a baptism, or with a dinner appointment, or with something just amazing... Well that will not always happen, but GOD WILL ALWAYS ANSWER OUR PRAYERS.  He may give us a rain storm, or he may give us something amazing... it doesnt matter what it is... he will always answer!  I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for him and his love that he shows to me and every one of his children!  I love being a missionary and I love being in India... even on the crappy days!!!   Well that is all I have time for this week!! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!  Keep going! Keep having faith in the Lord and he will always help you!! LOVE YOU ALL! 

/Elder Jorgensen

Oh quick shout out to my Incredible cousin Quinn!  He has served the Lord so well and has finished his mission!  I am so proud of you Quinn and the man you have become!  You are a living example to me of what a great missionary is.  I love you and cant wait to see you again.  

Bearing one another's Burdens

Hello Family and Friends!!  I do not have a lot of time this week, so my update will be very short!! It was another slow week.  We did not find any new investigators but we worked really hard and tried to. We visited lots of members though and we attended the AP's baptism... that was hard because Gaurav should have been baptized on that day, but he didn't show up.  We have not been able to get in contact with him for 3 days now... super, super frustrating.  All you can do though is smile through the pain, be patient and keep going. The Lord has a plan for everyone and I know he has one for Gaurav!!!  We focused on strengthening each others testimonies this week so we spent a lot of time reading the Book of Mormon, talking to each other, and spending time at the church so I can learn Onward Christian Soldiers.  Grandpa Karren I will learn that song and play it for you when I come home!!! Well I hope you all had a great 4th of July!  If I have learned one thing since being in India it is that America is the greatest country ever!!! Well that is all I have time for this week!  I love you all so much, and hope you are all doing great!!! 

I want to share a quick thought... I was in the mission office this week reading a magazine and it was talking about bearing one anothers burdens!  There was a quote that said, "We may not be able to alter or change the journey, but we can make sure that they do not walk it alone".  As members of this church we have a responsibility to make sure that we are helping our families, friends, loved ones, and ward members during there trials and challenges.  Most of the time we can't alter the journey because its in Gods plan for that person, but we can make sure that they do not walk alone through it.  I have loved doing this even while I have been struggling myself.  When i forget about myself, and help others with their trials It always ends up helping me get through mine!  I love being a missionary and I love this church!!  It is so true and it has blessed my life.

Highlights:  

- I gave a kid a fidget spinner on the street... drove past him 20 min later and he was trying to eat the fidget spinner haha!

- Celebrated the Fourth of July and got... CHILIS!!! 

- Gave two blessings this week
- Played Cricket on pday

Week 4 in India

Hello family and friends! I'm going to keep 
this week short cause we are celebrating the 4th of July early!  So we are going to head out to get some burgers and fries!!  We did not find any new investigators this week... and Gaurav postponed his baptism literally the day that he was supposed to get baptized. That was super frustrating, but as a missionary I've learned that 1. we cannot force anyone and 2. its all on the Lords time.  I have no doubt that this is all part of the Lords plan for Gaurav.  I would just ask that you keep him in your prayers again this week!!  This week was a little slow, and not a lot happened.  It rained 3 days and then was just hot the rest of the week.  I experienced lots of new things, and was able to teach some pretty awesome lessons to some members and investigators.  I love it here!  I love auto rides, I love teaching the gospel and I love being a missionary.  It has been so fun, and I am learning so much!!  

Highlights: 

-New Mission President arrived.  President Hansen.

-Got my first haircut in India... totally botched!!

-Had cereal without milk all week:) not fun.  

-Had 3 rain storms this week... didnt stay inside for any of them

-Put our investigator Ravender on date for August 11th

Thought of the week... I read Mosiah 23:7 this week. The people wanted to make Alma King in this chapter, but he was not made king!  An important lesson of how we do not need to have one person above the rest.  We are all equal, and are all important to the Lord!!  Just because I am serving a mission does not make me better than those who are not. Just because President Nelson is our prophet doesnt make him better than everyone else.  Heavenly Father has a plan for all of his children, and each one of his children is of equal importance to him!  I want you all to know that I love you all so much, and grateful for the examples you are to me. I love my savior Jesus Christ, and I love being here in India! I hope you all have a wonderful week!  

/Elder Jorgensen 

India Gate

we wore USA jerseys to celebrate the 4th of July!

Cleverleys nice haircut