The Errand of Angels week 2

Deba is feeling the importance of her calling and the joy of meeting relatives and old friends.She loves your letters.

Well Hello All!

Oh how I love you and am grateful for all your love and support! I have loved the letters and drawings I have received this past week from all of you.

This week has been great at the MTC. My companion and I are learning how to teach by the Holy Ghost more and to teach to the investigators needs. We are also working well together. We had a lesson at the end of this week that was awesome and really showed me what it is like to receive revelation while teaching and to say the words that come to your mind. It was also very humbling because I didn't extend the baptismal invitation I felt prompted to and felt awful afterwards. I have repented and will try and do much better.

On Friday we received in-field orientation and that was amazing. We learned how to work with members how to street contact, and basically how to find success while actually in the mission field. It was really powerful and I want to become the missionary that Christ would be (the missionary that God wants me to become). We learned that back in 1999 we had 300,000 convert baptisms a year and President Hinckley said we were living far below our privileges and that we could double that if we worked hard. Last year we had 201,000 I think. I want to live up to my privileges as a missionary. If all mission rules are followed exactly and if I strive to always have and teach with the Spirit then God will help me find the people that have been prepared for me to teach and the Spirit will help them to come converted. Please pray for me to become this missionary. We have been commanded to teach to all of the earth and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, I think one of the reasons I was called to be the Coordinating Sister was to learn my weaknesses. I learned a big weakness of mine this week, which was hard to handle and hard to change by myself but actually pretty easy to change with the help of my companion and the Lord. I am so grateful to discover my weaknesses because I want to improve to become a better person. My time is fully dedicated to the Lord right now and I hope to become who He knows I can become. I want to stay that same person after my mission.

I feel so close to God right now. My prayers have become much more sincere and I can really feel my reliance on Him and my becoming more humble. I have a long way to go, but am working hard.

Yesterday the BYU Men's Choir came and sang for our devotional. That was beautiful. They did a great job!

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. Families can find so much peace and happiness in this life and can be together for forever with God. Wow. Isn't that awesome?! I feel so blessed to know that and to be able to partake of that blessing. I know that families can be together forever! I challenge all of you this week to think of a family member that you would like to thank and write them a thank you letter. Tell them how much you love them. I love telling people about this blessing!

Last week we taught an investigator (yes, a legit investigator) and it was pretty awesome. It was great to tell him about eternal families (his wife is a member and he isnt). He can have this blessing if he chooses to be baptized and sealed in the temple. The biggest emphasis to him was to sincerely read and pray about The Book of Mormon. If you learn that The Book of Mormon is true, you will also know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's restored church on the earth.

So speaking of families, guess who is in my zone?! Elder Lincoln Poore. Yup... second cousins. He's leaving for the field tomorrow. That was a fun discovery.

Oh, and guess who's joining my zone on Wednesday this week? Elder Trevor Shaffer (Curtis's younger brother). I get to welcome his district to the MTC along with the two zone leaders. Our zone randomly includes an English district or two and a couple Philippines districts.

Happy birthday to Mark and Rachel! I love you two so much! I hope you had great birthdays!

Can everyone dearelder.com me their mailing addresses? I would really like to send letters to more of you.

Earlier this week I sat by some disabled women at lunch who work at the MTC. They were so sweet! Reminded me of NISH. Great people work there.

I got a fun package from a boutique that I shop at near CleanTelligent (Cherry Lane Boutique). They found my mission address and sent me a tub of popcorn. How sweet is that?!!!! Wow. I have also gotten packages from some friends and letters. I love you all! So much for healthy eating ;)

You probably won't receive an email from me next week because I will be in an airplane heading to Florida! This time went by so fast!!

Fun note... ran into the following people the last week: Spencer Weeks in the temple, Johnny Claybaugh walking to the TRC, Sister Hollister (Alexis's mom) at Relief Society, President Claybaugh at lunch... so many people that are great!

Love you all!

Sister Jenkins

The Errand of Angels: Week 1

Deba is loving her first companion and life at the Missionary Training Center.

 Here is her first posting:

I love being a missionary and I absolutely love the MTC (Missionary Training Center)!!

Well, I have never felt the Spirit consistently so strong in my life as I have in the MTC. The MTC is, like our teacher said, is like an extension of the temple. Plus, I get to study and teach the gospel, pray and think of Christ all day long. Wow! What an opportunity.

My mom asked about the food, and I will say, its really good. I was blessed with an AMAZING companion, Sister Yardley, who is healthy (so no desserts for us!), likes to run (we have been running for our entire gym time everyday :), and who is really prepared for a mission and wants to be exactly obedient. I am grateful for her example to me and her encouragement to make this mission all she can. Our companion unity is great and we have felt the Spirit so strong as we have studied and prepared to teach, and as we have taught.

Our first teaching lesson actually wasn't horrible :) We taught an investigator, John (aka, our teacher Brother Terry). We taught him about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was very strong, especially as Sister Yardley testified about Joseph Smith's vision of seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ. He did not commit to pray with us, but did take a Book of Mormon and commit to read a few passages and we have another meeting with him later tonight. We learned that we need to ask more questions and teach to a person and not at them. Great lessons to learn.

Our second teaching lesson went much better. We taught an investigator, Emiko (aka, our teacher Sister Kahawaii). She wasn't familiar at all with God so we tried to teach like Ammon did to King Lamoni in the Book of Mormon and help her realize there was a God and that he loved her. By the end of the lesson she prayed and felt good. She has committed to pray and meet with us again this coming Tuesday.

We also start teaching investigators at the TRC (Training Resource Center) tomorrow, which is exciting, but I'm also a little nervous. Some of these individuals are actually investigators, so we will see how this goes. I am confident though that as I prepare, pray, be humble and have faith in God, and be exactly obedient, that he will pour out His blessings and Spirit upon my companion and I that we might speak the words He would like us to speak.

Oh, I was called to be the Coordinating Sister for my zone. The Coordinating Sister works with the different sisters in the zone to make sure they feel loved, welcome and that they have assistance in their experience here and in any discouragements that they experience. I feel excited but a little overwhelmed by all the meetings. I hope and pray that I can live up to this calling and what Heavenly Father would like me to accomplish in this calling. This also means I will be the junior companion for my entire MTC experience, which I am okay with because I am excited to learn so much from Sister Yardley. Right now we only have 8 sisters in our zone, but by tomorrow we will only have 4. Hopefully we will get some more sisters next week.

I feel the Holy Ghost so strong in my life right now. I feel like spiritual insights to the scriptures come in more abundance and my ability to retain scriptures and memorize them has increased significantly.Which is only because of God and His blessings upon me.

I want to let everyone know that I know God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to atone for our sins. Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and submitted himself to be killed so that He could raise again, and so that we might have the opportunity to repent and become clean and that we have the opportunity to be resurrected. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its completeness to this earth through a living prophet, Joseph Smith. I know that we also have a living prophet on the earth today that speaks modern revelation from God, President Thomas S. Monson. And I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and a man will get closer to God by reading, studying, praying about the truthfulness of the book, then abiding by its doctrine, than by any other book. I know that The Book of Mormon is a second witness of Christ, and along with The Bible, it stands as a witness of the divine role of the Savior. The Bible is also the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly.

I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for it my life. I am also so grateful for this opportunity to serve others, by general charitable service and my sharing the message of the restored gospel.

My challenge to all of you this week is to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional (Fireside?) , if you have not already done so. This can be found on the front page of the lds.org website. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it yesterday and feeling the Holy Ghost testify of the Savior, His birth, and the purpose of His ministry here of the earth. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and non-members alike will enjoy the wonderful message of Jesus Christ and of having charity during this Christmas season.

I wish all of you the best of luck in your lives! May you feel the Spirit with you!

Sister Deborah Jenkins

 

Spirit of Thanksgiving: Week 4

Well, I am almost a missionary, so here are my remaining daily "thanksgivings" for the month:

Nov 23: I am thankful to be all ready to move my stuff to storage! 

Nov 24: grateful for those days when I get hardly any sleep the night before but still have lots of energy when I need it.

Nov 24: I am grateful for knowing great guys who volunteered a couple hours to help me move my stuff to storage. They not only packed the truck but also unpacked. Thank you so much!

Nov 25: I am grateful for my current ward (church congregation) and past wards and branches I have been in. I feel like I was in each of them at a certain point in my life when I needed those friends and associates. My current ward has been such a support for me through the last year and a half, and I appreciate all of their love and examples. I really have been so blessed by all of you! Thank you to those in past wards and branches as well. I appreciate all of your examples! I know so many wonderful, righteous, and absolutely loving and serviceable people!!

Nov 26: I am grateful for being short. You may not believe this, but there are many benefits... I can sleep comfortably on most couches, I can more easily find skirts and dresses that are modest and long enough, it is socially acceptable for me to date most men because they are taller than me, I have lots of leg room in airplane seats, etc. Life isn't too bad for a short person, but obviously there are benefits to both sides of things.

Nov 26: I am also grateful I already own so many bike accessories because I just saved myself about $100 for my required mission bike and accessories. So awesome!

Nov 28: I am grateful for my parents who are handling all my affairs when I'm gone (blog posting, taxes, registering for classes).

Nov 29: I am grateful to have a roof over my head, shoes on my feet, and enough food to eat.

Nov 30: I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to think about what I'm grateful for everyday. I am so blessed and as I've been recording my gratitude, I've noticed so many more blessings.

Christmas Miracle: One Lucky Fish

I procrastinated adding this story about one amazing "Christmas Miracle" (as one person dubbed it).

Two weekends ago (Thursday - Monday) my uncle and aunt were fishsitting their grand kids' fish, Oscar.

Monday came along and I was eating breakfast and looked over at Oscar; he was floating at the top of the water. I got a closer look and sure enough, he was dead.

My uncle, Richard, called his daughter, Melanie, and relayed the tragic news. She suggested giving the fish CPR, because it had "worked in the past."

Richard and I look at each other and gave each other a "no way" look. It was decided that Melanie would just come over and take home the dead fish.

In the meantime, Richard had a crazy idea. He got a glass of water and put his oxygen tube in it. He let it bubble for about five minutes and then asked me to pour it into the water.

I poured. The fish just flopped around in the moving water, then floating again to the top once I was done pouring.

Richard then had a crazy idea. He asked me to take the fish over to the sink. I washed out the bowl, and then he hooked up the oxygen to the tank. The fish began flopping in the moving water.

Dead Fish

I checked back in about 20-30 minutes and Oscar was still dead. I told Richard that it was pointless, but he wanted to keep it hooked up.

I went and did other things. About an hour later I got a knock on my door and it was Melanie. She said that Richard wanted me to see something. I was thinking that maybe we were going to have a fish burial or something.

Nope, he wanted me to see a Christmas Miracle.

I went back into the kitchen and Oscar was alive and swimming around in his bowl. Yup, the little fish had been brought back to life. Richard was beaming and so was his grandson.

Alive Fish

 Video of Oscar and his life-saving hookup:

Later, Melanie calls Richard up and shares what her soon said about Richard, "Mommy, can we get Grandpa his favorite food? He's my hero."

Merry Christmas everyone! Remember, don't loose faith even if  your fish seems dead and your efforts seem pointless.

Errand of Angels: Mission Pictures

I was so blessed to have some good family and friends help out with my mission pictures. I will forever rave about them! Here are my mission pictures (the first one is the actual picture I am using for my mission plaque):

 

Spirit of Thanksgiving: Week 3

It has been so nice reflecting on what I am grateful for! Wow, I am so blessed!! Week 3:

Nov 15: I am grateful for Utah Tech X and the great training and opportunities it provides for startup and small businesses in Utah. The mentoring offered is truly incomparable. Thank you Utah Tech X!

Nov 16: I am grateful for ASL. I love ASL and I love Deaf Studies. And I love my friends I have me through both of these.

Nov 17: I am grateful for the power of God demonstrated through the Priesthood and that we can be blessed by it.

Nov. 18: I am so grateful for all the friends and family that came to support me as I gave my mission farewell talk. I feel so blessed to know so many amazing people!

Nov 19: I am grateful for modern technology. I do remember the day when we all got along with home phones and AOL dial up on our computers, but I do love where we have come and am grateful for how easily we can connect to friends, family and important information.

Nov 20: I am grateful for a car. I sold my car to help pay for my mission and I will miss her. I happily have her for another week and am grateful she makes running errands so much easier.

Nov 21: I am grateful for random strangers who go out of their way to be friendly or help others with things. I have lots of wonderful experiences with lots of sweet people this week :)

Nov 22: I am grateful that a lot of my family is so close. It was great going to three different Thanksgivings that three of my siblings were hosting.

Spirit of Thanksgiving: Week 2

I am way behind on posting what I have been grateful for on my blog (luckily I have kept up on Facebook). Here you go:

Nov. 8: I am grateful for my co-workers, especially our company's management team. I am so excited for their drive to help our company's vision move forward, and I have no doubt in their ability to find succes!

Nov. 9: I am grateful for snow. What a beautiful day! Oh, and I'm grateful for car scrapers... So glad I finally invested in one a couple years ago so I could stop using my school id as a substitute.

Nov. 10: I am grateful for the opportunity I have to live so close to so many LDS temples. I am also grateful for the peace I feel in my life as I attend the temple regularly.

Nov. 11: I am grateful for indoor plumbing, and right now especially dishwashers and kitchen sinks. Right now our dishwasher and sink is unusable. It's funny how being without something so basic makes you realize how great your life is. AND I am also so grateful to the troops that protect our country and am proud of my family members serving in the military and am grateful for them and their family's sacrifices.

Nov. 12: I am grateful for alarm clocks (or alarms on phones). I am unsure how I could manage my life without them :)

Nov. 13: I am grateful for my siblings. Even though they are much older than me, we are all so close. They are always very supportive and loving and just truly amazing.

I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be grateful!