The Errand of Angels: Week 19 Movin' On

Hello Everyone!!

So... here is the update!! Guess what?!! I am getting transferred from my beloved Carrollwood Ward in Tampa to the Gulf Port Branch in St. Petersburg. I guess its on a little peninsula right across the mysterious bridge nearby (I say mysterious because I have not seen it myself and only saw the ocean once... still unsure if I really am in Florida... hmmm... haha! Just kidding. This is when faith kicks in ;)

There will be a set of Elders in the Branch and then my companion and I, whom I will be training. We will be replacing a set of Elders there... yay for getting in more Sisters into the mission!! I am so excited to introduce Sister missionaries to the area and to work in a branch. I don't know much about St. Pete (what most people, including me, call St. Petersburg... much easier to say). But I did hear that the branch is awesome. There is lots of finding to be done (good thing I love talking to everyone! Or at least ask for courage and then just move forward in faith and do it :). And supposedly finding a white person is liking "finding a needle in a hay stack." Haha. We'll see what its really like. Lets just say I am excited. I will be biking 4 out of the 6 weeks of the transfer. My goal, have the branch become a ward in 6 weeks. Haha. Well, we will see what happens. Nothing is impossible with God if its His will :)

Sister Mikolajcik will be training (yes, after six weeks!) and they will be adding three more missionaries to the ward (splitting the Sisters' area and adding another missionary to the current set of Elders there). Woah. I mean, woah!! This work is moving forward like crazy.

I am a little sad to leave my beloved Carrollwood ward, but know that I am needed somewhere else. I am grateful to look back on my experiences here with joy, and not with regret. I know there were times when I could have done this or that better, but I know that I have worked hard and strived to give my whole heart to this area. I will try even harder in the next area. I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me opportunities and prompted me to be very bold with some of our investigators the final time I saw them. He literally threw the perfect opportunities in our laps :)

So, funny experiences of the week:

We got my bike back from the Hermanas (they still had it in their apartment from exchanges). We were running some errands, etc. so used their bike lock to lock it to the bike rack. Forgot to  have them unlock it before we dropped them off. Didn't want someone stealing the bike... so we unhooked the bike rack and carried it, with the bike attached, to our 2nd story apartment. Don't worry, I got pictures ;) Which reminds me, I forgot my camera cord so you will have to wait a whole week for those.

We went over to an investigators house, R, and she had just taken some pain medication so was falling asleep. We met with her friend, L, and mostly helped her friend help her. Her friend did an improv song about how much Jesus loves R and we all clapped and danced to it to help her get back into bed. It was really fun. We had a member with us who has her mission call to France. She loved the experience.

Highlights of the week: Warning, there are many. It was a great last week in Carrollwood!

Just FYI, we believe the Bible to be the word of God, as well as The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a defining characteristic about our Church. You will hear a lot about The Book of Mormon below and I wanted to make sure that was clear :)

Monday night an appointment fell through, which is a bummer, but exciting, because it means Heavenly Father wants you to be doing something. So, we went to visit Stacee and Justice but decided to go talk to a man at their complex who was sweeping (I kind of noticed him out of the corner of my eye, but Sister M actually looked at him. I figured if he stood out to her then we should go talk to him). We went over and he was helping a friend whose husband passed away the day before. We went in and prayed with her. And ended up meeting with her and this friend and one other friend a couple times later in the week. The Holy Ghost works through very subtle promptings and only God knew how much that woman needed us right in that moment.

The friends were willing to listen to us because they had great experiences in the past with Mormons. So, do not discount your influence on others! One of them had a Mormon psychologist who she just adored and I don't remember how the other one had come in contact with members, but he owned a copy of The Book of Mormon. Pretty cool. 

Then met with Justice and some people living with them. It was great. We were able to show forth love. Love goes a long way as does testimony.

Overall, were able to find six new investigators from inspired tracting, inviting all to attend and talking to everyone. This week was definitely a finding week.

The investigator of ours who is the neighbor to the Bishop's family, she is absolutely amazing! But we will be giving her away to another set of missionaries. She met with us twice this week, went to a Relief Society activity, went to church, and read through almost all of 1 and 2 Nephi. Yeah, she is awesome. It is such a rewarding experience to see people's relationships with God grow and strengthen... wow, absolutely amazing.

We were in the same complex as many of our investigators. One of our investigator's sons biked passed us as we were taking out some one's trash. His friend (a girl) asked who we were and what we were doing. She thought we were basically the most amazing, coolest people ever. Then the both of them followed us as we walked to the dumpster. All of a sudden all their friends came over and we had a congregation of about eight kids ages 8-13 gathered around us. Our investigator's son starting raving about how we meet with his mom and what we do. They all wanted copies of The Book of Mormon. Just because of his comments all his friends thought we were so cool. We are excited to see what happens there. We didn't have enough copies for all of them, but the others came back to us when we were in the area again to get a copy. Wow, that boy will go on a mission. He has a great work ahead of him.

Speaking of him, we met with his whole family last night. His mom had gone to her church that day and her religious leader had told her that she didn't need to be baptized again. She was all set with a decision not to be baptized. I was so grateful for the experience to be bold with her and re-explain the Priesthood and line of authority and how important this decision was. She is now praying again and will keep an open mind. I am so grateful for the Spirit and for being bold. She calls me her angel. I love that woman so much. She has faith to move mountains.

It is amazing how much serving others helps them build their trust in you. As missionaries we asked to serve others, especially members. We had the opportunity to help out a Relief Society activity over the weekend and the members were so grateful and hoping that Sisters would get transferred into their wards. It was really cool.

Just a quick observation. Even though I know I have the Spirit strongly, I have realized that He has worked with me and Sister Mikolajcik so quietly. I have learned that always listening is so important. We can have a fleeting thought or just have a person brought to our notice a little bit. When we act on those marvelous miracles happen, especially in finding. I am grateful to be learning more and more how to listen.

My invitation to you: Smile and say hi to as many people as possible this week. If you don't know your neighbors, go introduce yourself to them. Christ loved all men and talked to all men. Plus, you never know who needs a happy smile :) I know your personal happiness will increase as you do this as well.

Have a great day! Love you!

Sister Jenkins

The Errand of Angels:Week 18 General Conference Greatness!

Hello Everyone!  My week was really quite excellent (as always... I think it has something to do with me being a missionary... I don't know... just a thought ;) I will start out with a couple funny things that happened: I want on exchanges this week. I served with Hermana Judd (Spanish-speaking Sister) in her area. We had 1.5 lessons in Spanish (one person jumped between Spanish and English and all the rest of the lessons ended up being in English). I was so excited to eat some great Latin food (the Hermanas always have excellent leftovers of Latin food). Guess what I had for dinner with a member? A all-American hot dog. Well, except I had mayo on it. That was new. Oh well. We joined the Spanish ward for lunch between both General Conference sessions so I had some delicious Latin food then :)

Oh, and picture is of a lily pad pond I saw on exchanges. Really pretty. Gotta love Florida!!!!!!

We received a referral from Mormon.org. We went over to the house (turned out they were having a party). We of course knocked anyways ;) And asked for the person. She was 12. It was her birthday. She had lots of friends over. We explained who we were and that a friend of hers had asked that we come visit her. That friend was at the birthday party. We were able to come in and pray with all the younger birthday partiers (only the mom wanted to join from the adults). It was quite the new experience, but was also a wonderful experience. We turned the family over to the Hermanas to visit. The mother wanted missionaries to come back. So... if you ever want a spiritually uplifting birthday party for your 12-year old just call up the missionaries! They can help you :) On a more spiritual note, it was a really wonderful blessing that the friend was there and that it was her birthday. One family member originally said to "send them away and tell them we're atheists." The 12-year old girl combated that and said that she believed in God and the mother let us in after saying what friend referred. I am very, very grateful to her courageous friend for referring her to the missionaries. Non-funny experience of the week: Found out that ants here bite. We get mosquito bites all the time... you know, about 20 per limb on a pretty consistent basis... but I'm learning to wear bug spray more often :) But yeah, ants. Their bites hurt. I would take an ant bike over a gator bite any day though, so I'm still very well off :) Now the moment you have all been waiting for... highlights of the week!!: General Conference was this weekend. A chance to hear from living prophets and apostles. So yeah, this weekend was AWESOME. Did you get a chance to listen/watch General Conference? What was your highlight of it? One of my highlights of General Conference would have to be having two investigators watch it at the church building with us (one Sunday morning and another in the afternoon :) and doing church tours with each of them. One of our investigators especially LOVED General Conference. She said the talks spoke directly to her and that she could apply them. She sang along during the intermediate hymn. She loved the church tour and said it felt like "home." She is so excited to be on this journey. The family that referred and introduced her to us came along and joined us for the tour as well. It was a great experience. Of course the talks were marvelous themselves!! I am so excited to watch specific talks with investigators and members. One of the ones that I needed most was Elder Cook. I know that if I trust in God and His plan for me that I can be truly happy and feel His peace more. Times when I do this, I do feel that peace. I am working and really doing this. I can see the results. Elder Cook quoted someone else by saying "to believe in God is to know all the rules are fair and there will be wonderful surprises." One way that I ward off discouraging thoughts is to read Moses 1:13 (well, mostly to recite it in my head). God tells Moses many times in this chapter that he is a son of God. Satan then comes and says he is not. He tells him essentially that he has no worth. Moses responds, "Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?"http://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/1.13?lang=eng You may want to check out the chapter. Its awesome. You are a child of God and He loves you very much! Elder Nelson asked everyone to "catch the wave," which I am so excited to use with members and then Elder Perry and President Monson spoke about the importance of obedience. I LOVED these. Obedience is so important. Every moment we are choosing to follow God or the adversary. I know that great blessings are available to those who trust and follow God with exact obedience. Especially as we have perfect trust in His promises. In fact, if you didn't get a chance to hear President Monson's talk, please watch it now: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2013/04?lang=eng&vid=2284596181001&cid=11 I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that his words will touch anyone and everyone who listens to them. Another highlight of this week was Tuesday. Let me explain this day to you: Had kind of a bummer morning, so I knew I needed to work hard to get out of thinking about myself. Left after lunch and talked to the first person I saw (Sister M and I take turns going first on bikes, and it was my turn). Turns out this woman's roommate is a member. She used to have a copy of The Book of Mormon. We prayed with her. She gave us four referrals. When we went back later this week she said she really saw the effects of her prayer. Next we ran into a recovering heroin addict. She was really receptive and excited to learn. We gave her over to the young single adult missionaries. Talked to a couple other people. Then had a lesson with a couple we have been meeting with for a while. After our lesson with them their neighbor talked to us (rarely to people beat us to the first word). Sister Foster and I had visited her apartment before and she was untested at the time. Now she was so nice to us and happy to see us. She said she would love to have us come back and pray with her family. Oh, and turns out she is a long-time less active member ;) Went over and tried to meet with two people who weren't home so met with another investigator of ours in the area. Just as he was leaving, a neighbor of his that we were also teaching came home (one of the ones we were trying to contact earlier). We were able to meet with her (haven't met with her for a month because her dad passed away and its been really tough for her). We are now meeting with her a couple times a week again. Following her we really wanted to go see the other person we dropped by and wasn't home, but we were late for an appointment. Well, she was outside. Set up an appointment with her (which, she later cancelled, BUT Heavenly Father really really wanted us to progress her just that bit more). Made it to our next appointment an hour late, BUT she thought it started an hour late. And she bought us dinner at Chipotle, which was great because we were eating on faith. On the way home we stopped and talked to a young man at a bus stop. Two months ago I had prayed with him and his girlfriend that live in the same complex as on of our investigators. He is Latino so the Spanish missionaries are over him. He is was so excited to see me again and knew that God was trying to tell him something (well, duh! haha. Sorry...). Prayed with him and sent his information over to the Spanish missionaries again. Wow. It's amazing how when you talk with everyone God truly trusts you and puts everyone in your path. When I was with Hermana Judd, we contacted 5 English people that were interested in learning more and gave their information over to the English missionaries in that area. I have realized that I don't mind giving other missionaries the people we find. Why? Because they are being taught by those that they should be taught by, and because they are being taught by missionaries and therefore I trust they are in good hands. Plus, I am being obedient :) This work is so much more than just the baptisms I personally get to see. This work is grand. It extends beyond this life. This is a fight for the souls of men. As I am exactly obedient and try my best to listen to the Spirit, I can have confidence that I am doing my part in God's majestic army. God's missionary army is growing. 65,000 full-time missionaries. 20,000 more with mission calls. 6,000 more with applications in. Please pray about joining His army. There could be nothing greater than being part of His work. If you can't go on a mission right now, then please oh please find ways to share the gospel with your friends. They will thank you some day.  My invitation to you is to 1. visit my blog: blessedinallthings.blogspot.com and comment on your highlights of General Conference as well as share your testimony 2. (Even more important) share General Conference on Facebook and other social media with a comment about your testimony and/or what your highlight was. Great happiness awaits you as you labor among God's children and bring souls back to Him :) Have a wonderful week!! Sister Jenkins 

The Errand of Angels: Week 17 Sister missionaries can extend their missions!

Hello Everyone!!

I love the mission so much!! Do you remember how they tried out the new age in different areas before applying it world-wide to the Church?! They have started doing the same thing for sister missionary extensions!! They have chosen five missions from the North America, as well as others from around the world to participate. The Florida Tampa Mission has been chosen from North America!! So, change of plans... I will be coming home in November 2014 instead of May 2014! I am so excited for this opportunity to serve God and the people of Florida for additional six months!

2 Sisters who came out with Deba

Speaking of length of service, I have now been on my mission for over four months! Wow, how time flies!!! Except not really, because some days have been really long. Haha!! Overall though, time is going so quickly. This last month has felt like the quickest of my entire mission. Wow, I can't believe transfers will be in another two weeks. I could easily be staying or going. I think most likely staying. I LOVE this ward (congregation) sooo much!! As I am sure I will love the other wards in my mission.

This week was very good! Very hard at times, but very good. I have been debating whether or not to share that the work is hard, but I think its important to realize. As missionaries we work hard all day long. People are not always nice to us. People we care for don't always accept our commitments. YET, with all of that, the work is worth it. I LOVE missionary work. I LOVE it. I LOVE it. I LOVE it. I encourage all to think and pray about serving a mission.

I am doing really well. I got a little sad last night because of someone that wasn't very nice to us, people who weren't keeping commitments, and people who weren't interested in the message we are bringing to the area. I was very grateful it was Easter though, because it gave me an opportunity to reflect even deeper on Christ's suffering for all people. His love for all is so beautiful. He even loves those whom He knew would never accept His Atoning sacrifice/gift. We are called to talk to, testify to, and teach all people in the area. I am truly grateful for this opportunity to feel the smallest portion of what Christ has felt for all mankind, and to come to have a greater appreciation of His love for everyone. I am excited to help others become more like the Savior and to in turn become more like Him myself.

I loved being a missionary on Easter. Wow. It was amazing inviting others to Christ all day long. I loved it. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. I know He loves each of us. I know that He knows each of us. I know that sweet relief is available as we turn our trials over to Him, I know that He can wash away all of our sins and guilt, and I know that by following Him and His teachings, unimaginable joy is available to us in the life to come.

I really love missionary work. I think I say this every week, but its so true! Regardless of all the heartache and really hard work, there is no place I rather be right now. 

Unicorn cup

A couple highlights of the week:

Our bus stop family has accepted a baptismal invite and are going to baptized in two weeks! They are so prepared, especially the 16-year old daughter. In fact, it worked out this week for her to come (last minute) to the Young Women (YW) camp out and I think YW broadcast. She LOVED the camp out. She LOVE the girls in the ward and they absolutely adore her, and so do the leaders. Wow, my vision of member work has increased so much by that and one other experience we had this week!

Another experience that really helped me appreciate members and gain a greater vision of how they can be used was with the Bishop's family. They gave us some referrals. We scheduled a time to come back and visit the referrals with the Bishop's family. They were the ones who asked one of the families if we could teach them. It was truly awesome. Wow!!

We have a part-member family that the sisters have been working with for years now. We are always nice to the family members and invite them to join if they are around. Finally, one son joined us for a lesson!! He shared with us how he doesn't believe in Christ or God. We said help him know how to gain his own testimony. We have a return appointment for him this Wednesday. I am SOOOO grateful for that opportunity!!

A less active family referred one of their neighbors who the Spanish Elders are teaching and they said are "golden." They said that the family is so open because they have seen all the members going in and out of the member's house visiting them and they think its wonderful that people in the Church are so caring to do that. Member work goes a LONG way!!

The work is so busy in the area, which I am so grateful for. We are going to try and do splits more frequently, and hopefully that will really help.

The other big testimony builder of mine came from listening to the Spirit for the perfect timing with things (to have even more 100% chance moments).

We were heading home the other night and stopped for a couple minutes to call someone. When we started biking again a car had just broken down and we were able to help them push it back into the parking lot. A couple was helping them as well. We shared The Book of Mormon with them (we will give them a Bible next time we visit because they don't have one), prayed for their car, invited them to church, set up a return appointment, talked about how much God loves each of us (not necessarily in that order), etc. Wow! We visit the mom's complex every week but who knows if we would have ever met her or if she would have been open to the truth if not for the service we were able to do.

As we were riding home from the car incident, we biked past a gated community where a referral/potential investigator live. We biked a little past it and I felt inspired to go back. Right as we got to the gate a car came through so we were able to get in. The same thing happened when we needed to leave. God opened those gates for us. The potential investigator was home and we were able to do Peace and Blessings with them. Wow, I love following the Spirit!!!

A cool one from last night. We dropped an "I care" by off at an investigators home. We saw people sitting on the porch of their neighbor and so we biked up the long driveway to their house. It was dark so they couldn't see us. The two people outside gladly greeted us and we were very excited to find this "golden" family. Turns out they are members! They are living with their mother (who is not a member) and have been struggling getting to church since they moved in with her because of her health. We will be going back this week and will begin teaching the mother the lessons. She is very sweet. They were so grateful we followed the Spirit and stopped by.

I usually always have lots of stories to share, but I just love seeing God's hand in every part of the work. This is truly His work and it will not be stopped!!

I am kind of running out of pictures because I keep forgetting to take them... so busy ;) Here is one with one of the families from our ward!

Oh, and I had to be a little naughty. April Fool's! There is obviously no sister missionary extension (at least none that I know of at this time).

My invitation this week: Pray and thank Heavenly Father for the gift of His son, Jesus Christ, and turn something over to Him that you have been reluctant in turning over. You will feel His love and peace greater.

Have a wonderful week!!

Sister Jenkins

Deba is getting her hugs!

The Errand of Angels: Week 16 The Army of God

Hello Everyone!

Happy Easter! What a wonderful opportunity we have at this time of year to reflect on Christ and all that He has done for us. Did you take my invitation to choose something to come closer to Christ this Easter? How is it going? If you haven't, will you?

I know that Christ is our Savior. I know He has paid the price for our sins, but also felt our sorrows, sicknesses, sadness and discouragements. He did all of that so He could know how to help and so that we can return to live with our Father in Heaven and our families again for the eternities. He overcame our spiritual death (separation from the presence of God) by His suffering for us and physical death by His resurrection. I am eternally grateful for gifts to us. One of my favorite scriptures about Christ is Alma 7:11-12 (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/7.11-12?lang=eng#10). I love the word "succor" in these scriptures - to run to the help/aid. I know that if we turn to Christ, He will instantly come to our aid. He will help us. All of us. Always.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a great web page on Easter. Check it out here: http://www.lds.org/topics/easter?lang=eng and 

I also know that we again have prophets and apostles on earth today. Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet and hear from an apostle of God, Elder Anderson. The world will have an opportunity to hear from living prophets and apostles next week on April 6 and 7. You can go to lds.org or a local meetinghouse to watch General Conference for yourself. I know that God speaks through prophets now, just as He did in times of old. See Amos 3:7 (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/amos/3.7?lang=eng#6). I know that we can learn of the truth of modern prophets by listening to their word and praying about them. See John 7:17 (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/7.17?lang=eng#16). 

Elder Anderson was out here to reorganize a stake presidency and was able to stay so that we could have a mission conference and here him speak... so, he visited my stake and I got to hear from him Saturday, Sunday and today! Woah. Talk about a spiritual weekend.

A few things I want to testify of: 

All missionary efforts truly are not wasted. I am fully in this war against sin and I will continue to fight to save the souls of men. My war cry is being heard by the people in the Carrollwood area. I have asked others to join the fight. I can live every moment to fight the enemy that much more... to cry to the people, invite others to join the fight, strike the enemy with my testimony and therefore the Spirit, to bring others back to our Father in Heaven. I desire to bring others to a greater knowledge and appreciation of Christ. I am here to serve the Lord. I am here to give my might, mind, and strength to His work. I hope and pray that I can always be His soldier fighting with all my might against the enemy for my Savior. I would like all of you to read the words of two profound songs having just read what I shared and try to picture the battle yourself and how you can join (Hope of Israel and Behold! A Royal Army). I know I am part of God's army and that the little things really do matter so much. 

Sister Larsen from  the Edgemont ward. She is here on a Spanish speaking mission.

My Mission President, President Summerhays talked this week about:

P prayer

R reading

O obedience
S service

in order to stay faithful forever (endure to the end). This is true. Plus, he made a joke about him being one of the "pros" which is also true... pro golfer.

I love being a missionary. Yes, it is hard. Yes, most days my body wants to take a nap. Yes, it is sometimes discouraging. BUT I know this is God's work. I know this is where I need to be. I know that NO EFFORT is wasted. And I know that as I develop greater faith and trust that I will be able to overcome the natural man tendencies, for in the Lord I can truly do all things.

This week was good. We have now met with two of our new investigators and realized how choice and truly prepared they are. There is a less active family that both parents have chosen to live the word of wisdom and are seeing the blessings of it. It is a beautiful, humbling experience to be a missionary. I love it. I am so humble and grateful that God has sent me to Tampa Florida at this time. By the way, if you have questions, like what is the word of wisdom? I would encourage you to look them up on mormon.org. 

Oh! My new mission president has been announced...  http://www.lds.org/church/news/print/nea-cn-mission-president-assignments-2013?lang=eng He begins this summer.

My invitation to you is to share your testimony of Christ with someone this week. Christians around the world need to unite in the battle for Christ against sin. It is our turn to stand up and join. Please, please do your best to defend Christ at all times, especially this Easter.

Have a great day! 

Sister Jenkins

NAME THE BIRD

Deba thinks this might be a flamingo because

 it is pink, but her mother thinks

 it has the wrong kind of beak

 and it's legs aren't long enough.

 What do you think? 

The Errand of Angels: Week 15 I love being a giddy missionary! I was almost a squirrel killer!

Hi Everyone!!!!

 

I hope you are all well!!

 

I always LOVE to hear about your missionary experiences so please send them my way if you would like!!

 

So, I decided that missionary work makes me giddy. Yes, giddy. I am sitting here with a giant grin on my face just about ready to burst into a fit of, well, giggles. Why? I am that happy. Haha. It's strange. But AWESOME!! Wow, I love being a giddy missionary. I feel like a little kid of Christmas with so many presents and just wanting to tell everyone about them!! And wanting to play with all of them but there are so many that its hard to decide want to touch first!! I think that is a good picture!! Giddy and happy and so overwhelmed with blessings.

 

I think some of my pictures will also represent the lighter side of missionary work. Missionary work is not only spiritually intense but also just fun. The picture I included with this email is of the last day of last transfer - Sister Foster, myself, Elder Woodard and Elder Hendly (the missionaries in our ward).

 

This week was quite excellent. It was one of those weeks that I knew I was truly a missionary. It ended last night and I realized that I was pretty exhausted. Truly and honestly, I just absolutely love weeks like that and love being a servant of the Lord!

Christ and the Atonement is truly the center of everything. I think one of the biggest takeaways from this week was knowing that I was doing the work that Christ would be doing if he was here and loving the people as such. I know I still can improve, but this week I felt as though I had a deeper sense of charity for everyone I saw.
Okay, so on to the highlights!!!

WOAH, so I have really felt the power of prayer this week and the authority of being a missionary. We were at a less active, part-member family home. During the lesson with the member, her non-member mother-in-law and her children, the mother-in-law started clutching her chest and having severe, sharp chest pains. We asked if we should call 911, but the member said no... so we asked if we could prayer. Siter Mikolajcik, the member, and I knelt in prayer. I prayed that she would feel relief. After the prayer she felt instant relief. Wow. The experience was a catalyst for strong faith and blessings to that family. The member has been telling all her family about it. Yes, that is the power of prayer and faith. The power to know that when you kneel and offer a prayer that God will answer, especially as you l

 

We have had a HUGE increase in support from the ward. Our ward has always been VERY supportive, but I feel it recently jumped even higher. We were able to do splits this week (my first time and it was great!!! One member said she knew she was alive now so that she could testify of something to one of our investigators. Woah.) and teach with members during almost every lesson with our progressing investigators (plus, even some new investigators!). That was really cool. People are also realizing even more so how much we are trying to help the ward with activation and serving leaders and are very grateful. Members have also been giving us rides many places and the Bishop has called some sister ward missionaries to teach with us at night. I think the bikes have helped a lot because people have pity on us. Bikes are great! 

So speaking of bikes. I really do love biking. We have had some really awesome experiences biking and following the Spirit. It's interesting... I feel like I don't necessarily realize the Spirit in every day "where to go" type situations, but I try hard to pray and follow whatever little promptings come. We have had some amazing experiences on who to talk to and where to go this week, especially yesterday.
Yesterday we were kind of rushing to an appointment, which I try to not deter me from talking to people. I know that Heavenly Father put people in our paths. As we got closer to the place I promised Heavenly Father that I would talk to the next person we came across. We met a woman at a bus stop. She needs prayers and God's help more in her life. She knew God sent us to her. We set up an appointment for peace and blessings prayer. We made it to our appointment right on time.
Later that night we were biking home. We were all set to be home on time, but we passed a woman who had a black-eye and I knew really needed Christ (I have a yearning for all I see and a realization of what the gospel can do for them, but her I just felt it stronger)... Sister Mikolajcik said she also realized that. We passed her... biked for a minute... then I stopped. Sister Mikolajcik and I decided to go back. Sister Mikolajcik biked so hard and when she reached her said something simple but divinely inspired words, essentially... "We felt like we should come talk to you. We are representatives of Jesus Christ here to tell you that God loves you." The woman broke down in tears. We then talked to her about her life... it was a rough one. We walked for a little bit with her. Sister Mikolajcik gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon. I added my testimony to hers. She is currently homeless and has no phone number, but has ours so she can contact us. I was so proud of Sister Mikolajcik because I knew all her words were inspired... I could feel it. Amazingly enough, we still made it home pretty close to 9:00. Oh! And I really felt the power of doing Christ's work at that moment.
Our time was very much stretched this week. We hit more lessons that I have ever before had as a missionary. It was awesome!!!!! During the day I put the number out of my head and didn't let myself count. I tried and prayed for my focus to be... who does God want us to talk to next and how can we help them come unto Christ. Essentially I have been trying to fully give my will to God and striving to listen to the Spirit. I am not perfect, but I love seeing the progression and enabling power of the Atonement working in my life and in the Carrollwood B area.
Oh, and we are trying to flood the mission with copies of The Book of Mormon. Yes, flood. Everyone should have a copy :) Along with The Bible (of course!!!) We are helping members and less active members give them to friends and non-member family members. We are giving them to those we meet on the street and testifying. Wow, its been pretty cool! Sister Mikolajcik and I try to have about 5-6 copies between the two of us when we leave so that we can give to all. Its been awesome. One girl we met (her parents weren't interested but said we could talk to her... she's probably 10), just ate up our message and hugged her copy of The Book of Mormon to her chest like it was a treasure (which it is). It was so touching.
A kind of humorous note... I ran over a squirrel with my bike... we think it was just the tail because it rain away hopefully unharmed. I didn't realize that was possible... we had a good laugh after we decided we didn't damage it too much. SO if you see two sister missionaries biking and laughing, you may know why...
I am grateful for all mission rules. We recently gave away our investigator with a baptismal date (Luis, the one that we set up the baptismal date with peace and blessings). We have taught his sister who has kids and his other sister is a new investigator of ours, who also has kids. Luckily the Spirit spoke this week and gave me the realization he is YSA (young single adult). It was initially hard but felt so good turning him over to who needed to teach him. Plus, he was SO excited about the YSA ward (it even works with his work schedule!!).
Well, it was a good week! Busy week!! Honestly, I loved it!!
Your invitation for the week: Write three tender mercies of God and decide on something you can do to come closer to Christ this Easter!

Have a great week!!

Sister Jenkins

The Errand of Angels: Week 14 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

 

Happy Day to you!! I hope that you and your children are getting a little taste and idea of how truly WONDERFUL missionary work is and how much HAPPINESS it can bring to your life!!

 

What a week! This week was absolutely epic!! TRULY, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! (Let's see if I can fit more ! in this email than last week's... :)

 

The picture is of me and my wonderful, new, lovely, powerful, epic, cute, fun, amazing 19-year old companion, Sister Mikolajcik!! She is truly great and I am so glad she decided to go on a mission at such a young age. Her story is awesome. She was praying about going on a mission even though it was 2 years away (previously women couldn't serve missions until age 21), and then the announcement in General Conference came of the age change... wow!! Talk about a miraculous answer to prayer. She is ready and awesome. She is so great and bold!

 

An overall feeling I had this week was one of power, confidence and accepting God's will for myself. I have been wanting to talk to everyone, but before I struggled sometimes having the confidence. This week I felt's God's power even more with me as I chose to just turn over my cares and worries to Him. I wanted to end every day knowing that Heavenly Father was absolutely pleased with my missionary work. Wanting to be a perfect (or as close to as possible) example to my new companion also really helped. I tried as much as possible to talk to everyone. At the end of the day I asked Heavenly Father, "is my work today acceptable to Thee?" Most times I felt yes and sometimes I felt as though there was something I could improve upon... then I told myself I would do better the next day. Then I did! Wow, this week was so awesome!!

This week I did not feel ashamed of my power as a missionary. When I testified, I did it with boldness. When I explained this to people, I did it with boldness. Sister Mikolajcik was a great example of me with bringing up "scarier" subjects and always bringing up baptism (she rocks, did I say that?!). Every investigator we have (well, progressing, new and some of the other) knows that we are here to help them come unto Christ through baptism and making other eternal covenants (promises with God). We have drawn the line and it is now their responsibility to decide if they will stand on God's side or not. This is a great feeling!!! I am hoping and praying so much people will come to God's side and I will do all I can, but I also feel al sense of relief knowing that they have the choice simply and boldly before them,.... its so cool!!

I want people so badly to experience the happiness, peace and blessings of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that families can be together forever (FOREVER... after death and for all eternity), and I know how to help families get there. How to prepare people to make those covenants (promises with God). I want everyone to have eternal joy. I feel like I am living up to my missionary scripture Mosiah 28:3 (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/28.3?lang=eng#2) and desiring all to feel of the joy of the Gospel - to have salvation! The blessings of God are truly available to all as we follow Him!! (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/2.41?lang=eng#40). I know that as a representative of Jesus Christ I have been called of Him to share His Gospel with the people of Tampa. ALL the people. God wants EVERYONE to have this happiness. That means YOU and that means all around YOU. Wow, you also have a great work to do!!

Sister Mikolajcik is a stellar missionary and I am grateful to have her as my companion. We have things to learn, especially since she only had 12 days in the MTC... wow!!! But she is prepared! She is not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or her testimony! She is out here to be a missionary and she is awesome!!!!!!! Wow, I love her. Sister M. has some great insights and she teaches in a beautiful way. Oh, she really listens. That is a huge strong point of hers. She listens to the Spirit and to the investigator. Woah. It is powerful what inspired questions she has as she listens. I love it!!!!!

As we strived to be exactly obedient, work our hardest, be bold, listen to the Spirit, and talk to everyone, miracles happened, more so than maybe I have previously seen.

A couple highlights of the week:

We were doing a doorstep followup with one of our progressing investigators. He is very staunch of his beliefs. We met him about two months ago in inspired tracting - He had a copy of The Book of Mormon and asked us how he could know it was true. He has been caught up on the scriptural and logical side of things verses the spiritual. He has read The Book of Mormon extensively but has refused to come to church. Well, in our visit I asked if he really wanted an answer, what he was willing to do if he got that answer, and what he was willing to do to receive that answer. Then I told him that church was one of those ways to find out. He should be coming to church next week. Boldness is awesome.

Sister Mikolajcik was inspired to bring up the Word of Wisdom with an investigator of three months now. She has been struggling with some commitments but has a firm testimony of The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and now President Thomas S. Monson (This is a cool story in itself...). We had an inspired member with us who testified of the Word of Wisdom (originally Stella said there was no way she was going to live it), and she said she would try it for a week like John 7:17 says (try and see). Wow! Earlier in the lesson we helped her gain a testimony of President Thomas S. Monson. She knew Joseph Smith was a prophet, and so we explained how we still have a prophet on earth today and that he a successor of Joseph Smith, etc. We testified. We asked her if she knew President Thomas S. Monson was the current prophet, she said yes. Woah!!!!!!! Wow, I love it. I LOVE IT!

We contacted a referral from a past investigator. He expressed desires to become a better man and that he had been praying for it and to be cleansed. We did the Peace and Blessings prayer. We felt inspired to invite him to baptism on April 30 - he accepted!!!!!! We still need to set a calendar. But it was awesome!!! I have never felt prompted to invite someone to bapstism on the doorstep, but I felt strongly that we should!!!!! SO COOL!!!

We did inspired tracting and found a man that I had seen before and knew that we needed to/we would teach him. Before we approached the door Sis. M. was inspired that this would become an investigator of ours. He did. It was awesome!!! So cool. I love God's work!!!

Truly this week was great!!! We got lots of member present lessons, all inspired on who should be there and all a HUGE blessing that they were there. I expressed to Heavenly Father that I really wanted to use the members in lessons and how they should be used. Woah. He blessed us so much!! In fact, when I was thanking a member yesterday at church I could not hold back the tears. This is how God's work is meant to be done. Wow. We had a member call us Monday night and said she invited a friend over for dinner with us that she had given a copy of The Book of Mormon to. Woah!! We had been encouraging the family with missionary work and reaching out to them and this miracle happened. Other investigators made an instant connection with the member we felt inspired to have. Honestly, miracles happened right and left. Woah, woah, woah! We even had a member teach on her birthday evening (we didn't know) because she felt inspired to. And she was perfect for the lesson and inspired!! Her daughter taught with us later in the week and was perfect for that lesson! (She felt very inspired to come with us even though she was soo busy).

 

If the members are used right, I feel like they essentially teach the lessons. I have seen miracles this week when we had the right member there to bring social conversion, etc. but they happened to be able to calm all concerns about a committment that the investigator had. It was so cool!!

 

I am so proud of Sister Mikolajcik for working so hard! Because we worked hard. We talked to lots of people on our bikes (so awesome!!!). Sometimes I chickened out and didn't talk to someone then promised Heavenly Father I would talk to the next person. And then I did. And then we got great referrals for us and other missionaries! I am encouraging Sister M. to talk to others as well and she is doing great at it.

 

Anyways, it was a great week. I am exhausted but am so happy. Thank you, everyone!!  

Sister Jenkins

The Errand of Angels: Week 13 Excited/Trainer/Biker

Hello to all my wonderful friends!!

I am excited for the start of a new week. I always love starting the week again, not only because Preparation Day (we get 8 hours to prepare for the week by doing laundry, emails, cleaning, etc) is quite refreshing, but also because I love starting fresh and striving to reach new goals! I cannot express how exceptionally excited I am to see the work continue to progress and hasten in the coming months! 

So.... transfer week! I finished my 12-week new missionary training and will be training a new sister in and staying in my area (I am in Tampa btw, in case you were wondering). And I will be on car share!! Which means... I get to bike every other week!!!

I am so excited to train and to be on car share! I am so excited about car share because it will give us even more opportunities and encouragement for members to teach with us! Plus, you get to talk to everyone while at stop lights, etc.... AND get in better shape at the same time! Although, I am trying to run every morning on our noisy, screechy, yet still wonderful treadmill! I feel so blessed to have one at our apt complex gym!

I will miss Sister Foster - she was an AMAZING trainer and the right/perfect one for me! She is going down South to Venice. But what a great experience it will be to have the opportunity to take what I have learned from Heavenly Father, my leaders, Sister Foster, and others, during these past three months, and impart of it to another missionary! Yay! I have been praying a lot for her and the new sisters coming in :) And for my leaders in regard to receiving inspiration for the mission.

This week was really good (if you couldn't tell by all the explanation marks used in this email). I was not perfect and there are things I definitely learned that I could improve upon for this coming week, but I am so excited to do so! I There are blessings tied to every commandment from God. I love that blessings are tied to obedience, especially as a missionary. I am excited for this opportunity to have the Holy Ghost even greater in the work and to become more Christ-like and obedient :) I am so excited to lead by example with the new missionary and help her see how obedience brings blessings and how working hard brings a greater capacity to work, how talking to everyone allows Heavenly Father to work through you and to find those who are searching, how prayer brings inspiration, etc... Wow, I feel like I need to take a breather in my mind because of all the excitement! Haha...

Anyways, so a couple highlights from the week:

We invited one of our investigators to be baptized in a member present lesson (she was the one that went to the baptism a few weeks ago). She has been reading and praying about The Book and Mormon and has felt its true up until now, but doesn't feel like she has received an answer. When we first asked her to be baptized it was a pretty adamant, "No, I don't need to because I have already been baptized," which is a pretty common answer. Due to the Holy Ghost inspiring the member and us, the Spirit touched her heart and she went from being entirely against the idea to accepting the invitation to pray to know if its the right thing to the do. I felt as though having a member at the lesson and the right member was KEY! I am so grateful to Sister Foster, myself, and the member for listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

We finally were able to have a member present lesson with one of our investigators (we have been trying and trying to have one and it just hasn't gone through). She came to Bishop's house (followed us there) and had dessert with his family. She really opened up about her life and the trials and blessings. Wow! I now feel like working with members is so KEY to success as a missionary. I understand that it is not the only "key," but my eyes were really opening last week to how important members are and I am so excited to use them even more. Wow, really all I can say is "wow" and "hurrah for Israel!" Nothing can stop the work from progressing. We are on the winning team.

Today I read about the 58 new missions opening (http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/list-of-58-additional-missions-created) and then the article about "Members Key to Productivity of Extra Missionary Force (http://www.lds.org/church/news/members-are-key-to-effectiveness-of-increased-missionary-force?lang=eng)." My heart has been so touched by the blessing I have in my life to be a missionary now. A missionary at this time when the work is hastening. I am so proud of the Elders and Sisters choosing to serve... who were waiting so patiently and then jumped on the chance to serve a mission as soon as they could. I am a tad bit older than most missionaries out, but am so glad I waited to go on a mission until it was Heavenly Father's time. He knew that I needed to come now. And I always want to be a missionary NOW. A missionary at all times and in all things I do - a represent  and servant of Christ. I cannot thank Heavenly Father enough for being a missionary at this time preparing the way for a greater surge of missionaries. I love the work. I love my Savior. I love being His missionary.

We really need the member involvement in the work! So members, get to work! Share the gospel by your examples and by words! Invite people to come to church, activities, to read The Book of Mormon, to come to your home for FHE, for dinner with you and the missionaries, to be baptized... anything and everything! The works is hastening. The last days are here!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone!

My invitation to ALL of you is to make a family mission plan (FMP). Pray/fast about a goal date (for example, April 1 or General Conference (even better)) and then pray on how to do it, get local missionaries involved, and INVITE. 

A couple ideas are to write your testimony in a copy of The Book of Mormon or The Bible and to give it to someone or to have a less-active or non-member acquaintance of yours in your home with the missionaries for dinner, or FHE, and/or a lesson. You are key to investigators having a social experience at church and to be retained as members. Even if someone knows the gospel is true, it is sometimes hard for them to go to church if they don't have friends. I know that as you do this, you will be inspired how to. Heavenly Father will bless you in this effort!! I KNOW HE WILL! This is His work and He will open doors for you, help you know what to say (D&C 100:5-8http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/100?lang=eng), and will not let you fail. In order to harvest, first seeds need to be planted and nourished. You may be part of all or just one of these processes. 

You are all awesome! Keep up the good work!!!

Sister Jenkins
(Pictures will be added later in the week because Deba was having problems with her computer and I am away from home where the Flash Drive is with earlier pictures she sent, until the middle of the week.
Sister Jenkins Sr.)