The Errand of Angels: Week 34

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you are well! How are those invitations coming? 

Funnies  

 of the Week: I found a baby gecko in my closet! It was the cutest thing ever! I named him Ralph. It was a sad day to release him. 

This last week the missionaries in our branch attempted to go fishing. Well, it was a major fail.

We hooked a couple shells and different things. We hooked something so hard that half of our pole just popped off into the water. We watched it slowly sink down not being able to do anything. It was a sad day. 

Later we caught it on a hook and almost got it up, but it fell again. Oh well, we will learn sometime how to fish in the ocean.

Also, we do role plays a lot as missionaries to practice teaching. At a district meeting we were doing a role play for a baptismal invite. The missionaries helping the "investigator" understand the feelings on the Spirit used the scripture Galatians 5:22-23, which talks about the fruits of the Spirit. This isn't exact, but the role play went something like this:

Elder T: Do you feel the fruits?

Elder L "Investigator": Yeah, I feel the fruits.

Elder R: Yeah, I feel the fruits too.

Anyways, no one could keep from laughing. It was a lot of fun. We are making district shirts today with the fabric paint that Becky sent me, based on that exchange. It was so funny.

Tender Mercy: A member came up to me and said he cried as he watched me sign "There is a Green Hill Far Away" during sacrament meeting because of my emotions. That was so sweet. I am so grateful God has blessed me with this opportunity to sign.

Tender Mercy/Miracle of the Week: Barry's baptism would have to be one of the most touching experiences that I have had on the mission. Every baptism is so special, but this one was extra exceptional because of the marvelous support from the branch and his reaction to the support. 

Probably 40-50 people attended the baptism. The room was packed. Many were investigators and some even from another ward that our interpreter invited. An interpreter from Seminole interpreted for the baptism. She was an absolutely beautiful signer.

Right before the actual baptism, the primary children from our branch came up and signed and sang, "Families Can Be Together Forever." The primary leader started crying as did many others, included Barry and myself. Then a group of around 15 branch members came up and signed the same song following me. The Spirit was so strong. 

We had testimonies while Barry was changing and after he returned back Sister Bush gave her testimony in ASL and I interpreted. I am so proud of her for learning enough ASL to sign her testimony. It was gorgeous and again, the Spirit was so strong. Her testimony was just beautiful.

I had the opportunity to give a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which I did in ASL, with the interpreter voicing for me. It was a really sweet and simple talk, but it was exactly what I felt like I needed to do.

Barry was able to be confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost right after my talk. We did it like this because it was on a Sunday afternoon (he works a lot during the week). 

Following the baptism countless people came up and used the ASL that they had learned to congratulate him, or I interpreted. There were hugs and tears and just a joyous atmosphere. Barry was truly prepared for him baptism and his Spirit touched everyone so much. Afterwards he said he felt the Spirit so strong and he felt so good.

Thank you Gulfport Branch for your wonderful support!

  

Invitation: If there is a baptism in your ward or area, please attend it. Those joining the church would love your support and love.

I know Christ is our Savior and that baptism is a necessary step to enter the temple and to salvation!

Have a wonderful day!

Sister Jenkins

P.S.

Stay strong to the standards of the church! 

The world has gone far afield; [it has traveled; it is nowhere to be seen;] it has proceeded way, way out, all the way out of this [building and around the world]. … What we and our children and our grandchildren have to remember is that the Church will remain constant, [it’s still right here; yet] the world will keep moving—that gap is [becoming] wider and wider. … Therefore, be very careful. If you judge your actions and the standards of the Church on the basis of where the world is and where it’s going, you will find that you are not where you should be.”⁴

Back then I could not have imagined how far and how fast the world would move away from God; it was impossible to understand that, given doctrine, principles, and commandments. And yet the standards of Christ and His Church have not moved. As He said, “The truth abideth forever and ever.”⁵ When we understand and accept this, we are prepared to face the social pressure, ridicule, and even discrimination that will come from the world and some who call themselves friends.

Especially for YSA, the For the Strength of the Youth is so important! We are encouraging people to read it to better know how to stay safe from the world.

The Errand of Angels: Week 33 Goals are Great!

Hello Everyone!!

 I am grateful to be here!

Funny of the Week: Well, its summer time here in Florida. So, I don't have a specific funny thing to share, but the following have taken place this week: 1. Being drenched by rain and running with rain coats and umbrellas from our car to houses and back. 2. Screaming when finding bugs. I freaked out when I found a cockroach during service. Another one of my companions freaked out when a spider got on her. Yup, summer time brings rain and bugs. Yay, for Florida!

Talk of the Week: There were two that stuck out to me again... haha. Basically every talk I read stands out to me because they are all AMAZING!! 

In Elder Bruce D. Porter's talk, "Beautiful Mornings," He discusses not fearing the future and basically finding joy in God. Quote from this that I love "When our only desire is to please Him, we will be blessed with a deep inner peace." This is a great talk for those of you who are discouraged or downtrodden. God is on your side. Trust in Him, put Him first, and everything else will work out. Plus, with God, you can be truly HAPPY. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/beautiful-mornings?lang=eng

The next one is a short message from this month's Ensign. A man shared his experience about putting God and His church calling first when he was going through law school at age 53. We shared this talk with a family this week; the father is taking the bar this coming week. He demonstrated his trust in God by coming to all three hours of church on Sunday. God will bless that man and anyone else who chooses to do the same! Its called, "With God Nothing Shall be Impossible." http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/07/with-god-nothing-shall-be-impossible?lang=eng

Tender Mercy/Miracle of the Week: I would say the greatest tender mercy of the week was that we met many of our goals. One of them being, new investigators. We recently lost many of our investigators, including some with a baptismal date. This is always a sad thing, but luckily we have really tried hard in our companionship to just trust in God. So, that's what we did! We had a goal to find three new investigators this week. Our zone leaders gave the zone a goal to find 40, which means about five per companionship. 

We know that goals are inspired, so we moved forward in faith. We found an investigator early in the week, from a part-member family (it was so exciting and a very solid investigator!!), but after that we couldn't find anyone. We contacted all our referrals (yay!!) and set up a family mission plan, visited some other members and taught them some lessons asking for referrals, even did some tracting and street contacting (always talking to everyone, of course!), but nothing,

Finally Sunday night our zone only needed three more and we needed to find at least two more to reach our goal. After contacting our last referral and knocking that neighborhood we visited the house of a potential investigator we met a couple months ago. She was sitting on the porch and her kids were playing outside (we didn't get to meet them before). She was SO excited to see us. We were able to teach her and her children most of the first lesson. She wants her kids to baptized, but doesn't understand yet why she needs to be baptized. And was adamant that we come back soon! She told her children that we would be coming over every week to teach them about coming closer to Christ. Yup, she is awesome. When she was in foster care she lived with an LDS (Mormon) family. She loves the gospel and knows she needs Christ more in her life. 

I am so grateful for goals and for God helping us achieve them as we put faith in Him. We went home right after that lesson having completed that goal. Our zone also completed our goal of 40 new investigators.

With this experience, I also want to bear testimony of referrals. The reason we found this family in the first place was from a referral given at the beginning of the summer. We received a referral for her neighbor. The neighbor wasn't immediately receptive, but we knocked some other doors in the area because we know referrals are inspired. God led us to her family. We actually knocked her before the referral. So please, if someone comes to your mind, refer them to the missionaries. Its best if you introduce them yourself to the missionaries, but, regardless, refer them. They are inspired from God and miracles DO happen from them.

Other Highlights of the Week: So many of these! This is going to be a really LONG email... oh well! It just means life is extra awesome! 

We had an appointment drop and we knew that God had somewhere else for us to be (that always happens when an appointment drops), so we prayed and felt like we should visit our investigator, Tamika. We visited her and she broke down in tears. She was so overwhelmed that she was considering ending her life. She knew that God loved her and decided to accept the invitation to get a Priesthood blessing a couple days later. She is so prepared to hear the gospel, but she never has time to meet with us. Regardless, God is using us to help her.

Barry should be getting baptized this coming Sunday. He is so awesome and so prepared. He comes early for church and reads from the scriptures and/or watches church DVDs. When I say early, I mean over an hour. He is so awesome. Very, very prepared and very faithful! 

Two weeks ago the adversary was working super hard on our companionship. There were a lot of hurt and frustrated feelings. This week has been significantly better. The unity has dramatically increased as well as the love. Our lesson balance has also been better. I love companionship inventory. For those of you who don't know what this is, its a time to just sit down with your companionship and discuss the strength of your relationship, challenges, goals to improve, other companionship goals and personal goals. Its a really great experience.

We had a huge blessing this week from doing triple spits! All three of us split up and taught with members. We did almost all of our branch assignments for the week in 2.5 hours. It was a HUGE blessing. We taught 7 lessons during the time. Plus, the members really felt the power of missionary work.

Members have been so awesome this week! We have gotten fed almost every day, we have had a chance to teach them, teach with them, and setup family mission plans. They are so great!! We have many new family mission plan appointments scheduled for this coming week :)

Last Monday, Sister Jones took us all around St. Pete Beach and Pasa-grill Beach. It was so fun!! 

Pictures: Near the ocean on St. Pete Beach (Island)

  

Invitation: 1. Are you reading your scriptures everyday? If not, start today! Scripture study and prayers are a great way to put God first every day :)

I love you all! Have a wonderful day!

Sister Jenkins

The Errand of Angels: Week 32 Christine's baptism

Hello Everyone!!

How are you?! I surely do miss all of you! But I hope you are doing missionary work all the time at home while I am abroad on the exotic peninsula of Florida! Florida is a peninsula, right? ;)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: PLEASE SEND ALL LETTERS AND PACKAGES DIRECTLY TO ME. I will not post my address on the blog because its public and there are creepy people here. SO... um... I guess just post a comment on here that you want my address and my dearest mother can send it to you (thanks, Mom!) or you can email me directly (yes, friends can email me). You can also get my email address from my sweet, sweet mother (thanks again, Mom!) Mom’s email is jtjenkins55@gmail.com .

Funny of the Week: Maybe not so much funny, but there are three red-headed missionaries in the branch! So awesome!

Talk of the Week: 1. The Lord's Way: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-lords-way?lang=eng Talks about beautiful ways to do missionary work (at least that's what touched me) 2. Marriage: Watch and Learn http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/marriage-watch-and-learn?lang=eng SO good! Great suggestions about having Christ in your marriage. If you two put God first and then each other, everything else will work out :)

Tender Mercy/Miracle of the Week: You know, its so hard to pinpoint "the" tender mercy or miracle of the week. We have so many every... single... day! Maybe I'll go with "tender people" of the week instead :)

Christine. How can I not talk about Christine? Her baptism was absolutely beautiful! She was so happy and loving. There were 40-50 people there to support her. Her boyfriend has a lot of friends/family in the area. Three of our baptismal dates also came to see the service, which was so wonderful!

 

Barry: How can I not talk about Barry? Haha. He is our wonderful Deaf investigator. Barry is so solid in the gospel. He is a man with a sweet heart. We taught him many commandments this week and he instantly agreed to live them and threw away anything in his life not in-line with those commandments. He teared up before church as he was talking about how he felt during his scripture study. He teared up at the baptism because his heart was touched and he is so excited to get baptized. We are working out some special circumstances with him right now, but he is so prepared. He has come to church 5 times. He is so awesome.

Other Highlights of the Week: Found some new investigators! We have been struggling with that. Here is how we found one of them. We had limited time to travel last night so we decided to stay in walking distance. We felt like we should visit an investigator, so we headed over there. She was sleeping. On the way back home we passed a house with a rainbow flag (not uncommon in Gulfport). We all waved to a man on the porch and walked forward. I felt we really need to go back and pray with him, so we did. Later I found out both Sister Bush and Sister Howard got the same impression. The prayer was beautiful and he was SO accepting of the message we shared. He instantly took a copy of The Book of Mormon. He was tearing up. Some people might look at someone who is gay, homeless, tattooed, or whatever, and say that they are not ready for Christ's gospel. I want to testify that Christ's gospel is for EVERYONE. He loves each person on this earth so much and wants each person to return back to His presence. Look past a person's countenance and follow the Spirit to know if their heart is ready.

Oh, and we got more food! And more food! And more food! We didn't eat dinner with anyone, BUT we had people drop off dinner almost every night. Now we have an abundance of food we can share with the elders. Plus, we have dinner appointments almost every night this week! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers!!

New companionship (and Elder Ryan)

Invitation: 1. Pray for the missionaries in your area (and of course, me and all the other missionaries) 2. Okay, ready for this one? Have the missionaries over for dinner or FHE with your family AND either a less active person/family or a non-member person/family. You as members are the key to missionary work. I want to hear about your stories next week. Please send them. Even if you just schedule it for a couple weeks in the future. That's okay, but I want to hear about it. If you don't know who to invite, pray and God will tell you.

The work is hard. This week has been really tough, but I know that through prayer, scripture study, church attendance, fasting, priesthood blessings, and just enduring to the end, we can receive so much strength.

Elyse Moore attended my branch on Sunday. She was in my BYU freshman and sophomore ward. She works for EFY as a coordinator of sorts. That was pretty cool!

Have a great day!!

Sister Jenkins :)'

The Errand of Angels: Week 31 Transfer Update and Please, Come to Church! We love you!

Hello Everyone!

 

GUESS WHAT?! I am the official owner of a Jenkins' mission laundry bag!! Could I be happier?! Probably NOT! All I can say is Thank you!! I absolutely LOVED what each family did. Wow, it was so so so so special!! 

 

Funny of the Week: We met our new Mission President this week! President Cusick! Funny, right?! Haha. Just kidding. But on the way travelling to the meeting was marvelous!! We carpooled to the meeting because it was about 30 minutes away. The two cars of Elders left Sister Bush and I while we waited for the the Hermanas to arrive. They arrived... maybe 5 minutes or so later... I don't know. Anyways, we caught up to a car of the Elders around 20 minutes into the drive. As we passed them they had the most amazing SHOCKED faces ever. Ah, it was marvelous indeed. Obviously, they couldn't let us beat them, so they stayed ahead of us until we got a couple minutes away from the church. Well, I decided to be sneaky and try for luck. I used to serve in the area where we were going (Carrollwood) so I turned a street early, went a back way that intersected the other road. Luck was on our side and our light was green while theirs was red (they were the first car waiting for it). Because of that we beat them to the church building by about a minute. And we beat the other car of Elders as well. Sweet was the victory!

 

Talk of the Week: While on my mission I have felt an amazing connection to my pioneer ancestors and others who have crossed the plains. I have been so touched by their amazing examples and have felt the strongest appreciation for what they did - facing mobs, rebuilding homes in the different cities they had to escape to, burying loved ones, living on little food. These people are amazing. We can also live for Christ today? What are you willing to sacrifice for the "cause of Christians"? (Alma 48:10 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/48.10?lang=eng#9). The talk I would like to share this week is "The World Needs Pioneers Today" from the most recent Ensign. Read it Today:http://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/07/the-world-needs-pioneers-today?cid=HPL1P01W01022&lang=eng

 

Tender Mercy/Miracle of the Week: Wow, we had a lot. How to choose... Let's go with Christine. Christine is a member referral. We have been teaching her with her member friend. She is so prepared. In fact, after about two weeks of teaching her, she is getting baptized this Sunday. Members, refer your friends! They are so prepared! She is amazing and as our missionary leaders dubbed her "an angel." Good job for sharing the gospel!

Other Highlights of the Week: We had four investigators and their children at church on Sunday! (and another non-member). Wow! Sister Bush and I have been trying so very hard to help people come to church and it has been a struggle. The last couple weeks have been amazing and this week was just so beautiful. Almost all of our baptismal dates were there (all but one!). It was so exciting! The work is rapidly moving forward!

 

You know, I just want to highlight this family we are teaching. Both of the parents have a baptismal date and then they have two children. They have come to church the last two Sundays and four church activities in the last two weeks (YAY for all the church activities!!.. Good job, Gulfport!!). Not only did they come to church and the church activities, but they stayed regardless of whether or not people were talking to them, two of the activities were fundraisers (one for a soon-to-be missionary and one for girls' camp) and they donated quite a bit to these, they invited their neighbors to the activities (and they came!!!) plus the wife is willing to walk all the way to the street to smoke during all of this. So many people could use smoking as an excuse. "I can't wait three hours to smoke so I'm just going to stay home" or "people at church may judge me if they smell smoke." Yes, smoking is a sin, BUT look at what she is doing to try and overcome it? She is going to church and staying. She has work to do, as do we all, but she is putting forth the effort. Oh, did I mention she has requested multiple Priesthood blessings and they read their scriptures almost every day?No matter where you are, come. Come to church. Do not worry about being perfect to come, just come. God wants you  there, we want you there. The church is for every person and will help you move forward and become better.

 

Sister Bush and I have really been striving to save money. Food is necessary but sometimes a costly expense. We had bags and bags and bags of food donated to us today. We couldn't help but thank God for the wonderful tender mercy that was.

 

There are way too many to share. Wow! God has blessed us so!!

 

Transfer Update: Okay, okay, the moment you have all been waiting for... drum roll, please!... Sister Bush and I are staying in Gulfport A and training a new sister together! Woo! I have never served in a trio, but am very excited! Plus, I am so excited to be training with Sister Bush. She is AMAZING and I just feel so blessed. This is going to be an excellent transfer!!

 

 Happy Birthday Breakfast for Sister Bush

 
Invitation: Go to church. If you are already going to church, invite someone to come that hasn't for a while. If you don't know who to invite, pray about it. When you go to church, try sitting by people you don't know or seem new, and try to talk to those who don't seem to have a friend. Your influence WILL make a difference.

 

I love you all! I know that this is Christ's church and the fullness of His gospel. I know He lives. I know that the Bible is the word of God. I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know families can be together forever because of restored ordinances available in temples. I know we have a prophet of God on earth again today! If you have any questions, please visit mormon.org.

 

I love you all!!!

 

Sister Jenkins :) 

The Errand of Angels: Week 30 PRAYER WORKS!

Me in the rain! Yay!

Side view of me in the rain! My plastic bags broke in my backpack and so I wanted to protect my books. Typically I don't use an umbrella and a rain coat.

Hi Everyone!

How are you?! I just love missionary work so much! Isn't it the best?! It just makes me so happy! I know that as you strive to share the gospel and invite others that you will feel of the same wonderful joy!! Woo!!!

Funny of the Week: Well, tis the season to have lots of cute, little froggies in Florida! Gulfport has exploded with them! On Saturday Sister Bush and I were walking to the church for a branch activity and I saw a bunch of little froggies. As you all know, I LOVE frogs. So I caught one and had Sister Bush find my camera in my backpack to take a picture. The frog kept on jumping out of my hands so I had to keep on catching it. Eventually we gave up on the notion of taking a picture. We began to walk forward again and looked up and two members were sitting in their car waiting for us. They saw and stopped to

 give us a ride. They saw the whole escapade. They thought a necklace broke or something and we were chasing beads. Whoops. Haha. Sometimes its good to have a reminder that people are always watching. I was very grateful for their ride though ;)

Talk of the Week: "Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness" by Elder Cook in the last General Conference. (Read/Watch/Listen here: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/personal-peace-the-reward-of-righteousness?lang=eng). The talk is marvelous! Christ didn't promise world peace, but promised personal peace. I love this. The world won't find peace until all are willing to turn unto God and follow Christ. A great quote from the talk: "President Heber J. Grant described the Savior’s peace this way: “His peace will ease our suffering, bind up our broken hearts, blot out our hates, engender in our breasts a love of fellow men that will suffuse our souls with calm and happiness."

Tender Mercy/Miracle of the Week: Thank you for all your prayers regarding my bike! God's promise to me was fulfilled. He told me to "be still and know that I am God." Well, He certainly is God. I got a call this week that a sister who is going home next week is donating her bike to me. I cried when I got this call. God is so good! He arranged this beautifully! Especially since when I had called our mission office a few days prior, it was reported to me that all the sisters going home had already chosen what to do with their bikes. The sister that donated her bike to me will be immensely blessed by God. She saved me. I am so grateful to her following the promptings of the Holy Ghost! Wow!

Other Highlights of the Week: This week was a very special week with many, many prayers answered! We had a family of investigators that came to church on Sunday and to two branch activities. Our deaf investigator also came to the branch activities.

We are on foot, and there were many times that we said a prayer about finding a ride if it was God's will and all of a sudden a member would come out of nowhere and give us a ride. We had the same member two days in a row. One of the times she had missed a movie that she was going to see and ended up driving by us gave us a ride. It was such a blessing!! I am so grateful to all the wonderful members for their service! They are absolutely wonderful! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And thank you!

Invitation: Please, oh please, oh please, pray daily! Are you saying your personal prayers and family prayers every day? If you aren't, start doing that! Are you praying for opportunities to be an instrument in God's hand everyday? If not, start doing that! Are you following the promptings you are getting to reach out and serve others? If not, start doing that! I am so grateful for all those who have followed their promptings to help us.

Closing Notes: I love this work so much! It is true! God loves each of us! People can change! The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone!

Have a wonderful day!!

Sister Jenkins

Oh! I forgot to add to my emails! We have crazy thunderstorms here. Sister Bush and I both woke up around 2:00 AM with thunder so loud that we could hear the dishes in our kitchen clinking and a car alarm went off. Yup, supposedly Florida is the lightening capital of the world (or maybe just America). Its pretty awesome. Except when the thunder is loud and you are trying to sleep. Oh, the power of God!