The Errand of Angels: Week 24 Truly, Blessed in All Things

Hi Everyone!

Hello!! How are you?! 

Missionaries are awesome. Wow, I sure do love being  a missionary. I love that Heavenly Father trusts me to labor in His vineyard. He trusts all His children. All members of the Church have a responsibility to share the gospel. God will help them in this effort.

You know, obedience is so key to the work, but more so, love for our Heavenly Father is so key. When we love Him, we love His Son, when we love Christ, we love others, when we love others, we are willing to sacrifice everything for their souls and eternal happiness. At that point, obedience just falls into place. Mosiah 28:3 is a motto of mine.

Gulfport is getting a little toasty. I am sweating up a storm. But people still meet with us. Another way to tell the gospel is true :) We are so lucky and blessed to have the breeze from the ocean though. The ocean. I am so lucky to be serving in Florida on the coast. Wow, I love my mission.

This last week I really felt endowed with power from the Atonement. There were so many times that Sister Bush and I did prayers that ended in tears from those we were praying for and others present. When we are obedient the Spirit is there and when we trust God we say what the Spirit directs to our mind. As we do that, miracles happen. I love this work so much. Sister Bush is so amazing and trying so hard to channel the amazingly strong love she has for Heavenly Father into the work. She really has the Spirit and strives to follow it. I have always strove for obedience but am truly striving on a different level. I'm not perfect, but I sure do strive.

We had exchanges this week. We had some really powerful experiences throughout the 24-hours and I am grateful for Sister Turley helping me out in some interesting situations that I haven't really been up against before (anti- anti- religion people). It was beautiful how Heavenly Father controlled our schedule that day and how He did the entire week.

Just a quick prayer miracle. We were at the home of a returning member that we have been meeting with over the last couple weeks. Had some powerful experiences, but the sister has never joined (another returning member). Duirng exchanges she sat on the computer during the lesson. Her son asked us to pray for her. All of a sudden she opened up to us when I asked if there was anyting else. We did a prayer. She cried. The inspiration that came was so humbling for me. I could not be more grateful to Heavenly Father for trusting me with such promptings and such a precious child on His. She will be meeting with us this coming week.

This Church is true and I love telling people about it!

Oh! I taught my first ASL class this week. God is so good. So so good. I am tearing up just thinking about it. When I first got my mission call I was a little disappointed.... or a lot. I literally cried for hours afterwards (hopefully none of y'all could hear that on the conference call)... I really wanted to go on an ASL mission. I felt like part of the reason I was learning ASL was to use it on my mission. I didn't understand, but I did trust in God and gained a firm testimony within a week that I was very much so needed in Florida. I would have never said "no" to the call because I knew it was from God, but I was grateful that He gave me some good insight and a much better attitude. Before I came out I knew that Heavenly Father would bless me to remember my ASL when I returned home. He has blessed me so much on this mission to not only remember ASL but to use it to move forward His work: meeting Deaf people and teaching them, interpreting in church for a Deaf woman, helping a family to learn ASL so they could communicate with their son with down syndrome better, praying in ASL (I pray twice a day in ASL), and now teaching an ASL class so that the branch can better support their Deaf member. I am so grateful. And will be eternally grateful for choosing to trust in Heavenly Father and His plan for me.

Oh!! This week was so good. An investigator I taught in December, who moved areas so we stopped teaching him, just got baptized!! I talked to him this week. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to start the teaching process with him. Wow, such a tender mercy to have heard from him and to hear of the joy he has found in the gospel :) He was so ready for the gospel. I mean, we found him in sacrament meeting. So ready.

One other tender mercy. A member who said she was done with the church entirely changed her attitude. She is coming back!! So happy!!

My invitation to you this week: Take a copy of The Book of Mormon (or Bible for those who aren't LDS... well, I guess you could still give away a Book of Mormon) and 10 pass along cards with you on your next family vacation. Pray (and if possible, fast) for the opportunity to give it away. Then do. It helps to also have your testimony in The Book of Mormon (Bible). You will be blessed with sweet opportunities.

Have a great day!

Love, Sister Jenkins

How do you think the mailmen feel with all these "different" mailboxes?

P.S. Wanted to include the letter from my Mission President, President Summerhays:

Shortly before I embarked on this wonderful missionary journey, a sports announcer asked my son-in-law, “ why would he (me) give up all of this (the competitive golf world) to do missionary work?” Why would I? Why would you? Why would a collegiate basketball player or football player leave his university career for two years? Why would a filmmaker leave his passion to serve and not even watch a movie for two years? Why would we leave our fathers and mothers, our school or our work, our friends and family and other things that we cherish? We all give up a lot that is dear to us. It is a good thing for us to pause and remember why we were willing to give up all to serve our Lord.

As missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we need to place our whole confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. We face many challenges and much stress and anxiety every day. As we live His teachings and look to Him as the Way, the Truth and the Life in all phases of our lives, we receive help for our anxiety about the future and our ability to handle these challenges. The fundamental principle of our religion is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know that Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement is a principle that requires action and delivers power. Faith in Him is more than mere acknowledgement that He lives. It is more than professing belief. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him. He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties. Always seek to learn so that you can apply. Make this your motto: “When the Lord commands, do it, and if possible, do it today.” Do not procrastinate. Delay will rob you of the Spirit that you could enjoy today. Repent and immediately will the power of the Spirit come. The Power that will come immediately through the Spirit is the Power of peace. The Power of strength, the Power of happiness; the Power of Love; indeed any Power that we need to accomplish the purposes of the Lord in our lives. I testify this Power will come immediately upon our repentance or our commitment to change. Consider these truths:

“..harden not your hearts any longer; for…now is the time and the day…therefore repent and…immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you…do not procrastinate the day of your repentance…for this day is given us to prepare for eternity…” Alma 36:31,33.

“…do as He hath commanded you; for which if ye do He doth immediately bless you…” Mosiah 2:24

“When obedience ceases to become an irritant and becomes our quest, IN THAT MOMENT, God will endow us with Power.”

Now is the time for us to improve. Today is the day to act on the things we have been prompted to do. Let us not miss out today on the happiness and peace that will come immediately upon our demonstration of faith by our improvement.

The Errand of Angels: Week 25 God is good! Happy 6 Months!

Hi Everyone!!

  

Happy Memorial Day! I am so grateful for all those who have fought and given their lives (whether on the battle field or on the political field) to give us religious freedom in this country. Thank you! I have also been so grateful recently for my pioneer ancestors and all others that sacrificed everything for the gospel. They left everything and gave everything for, as Moroni called it, the "cause of Christians." They gave everything to have the blessings of the temple. Of eternal life. I love them for all that they did. I am so grateful for their faith and example.

I am trying to live the law of consecration as a missionary, like they did, and give everything to God. Sister Bush is striving to do this as well. As we are putting God first in our lives, I have truly seen some of the most beautiful miracles of my mission. I could not be more grateful. Its amazing though, as I have seen these miracles I have also had some of the greatest struggles of my mission. Sister Bush and I truly strive to overcome all our struggles and work together to overcome them. Even though there are a lot, it is beautiful how easy we can overcome each hurdle as each of us is focusing on God first and foremost.

I love this area. It is amazing and humbling to see the goodness of God and how the area has changed over the last 6 weeks. Wow. This is truly God's work and not our own. As Sister Bush and I have been striving more fully to become like Christ, we have seen miracle after miracle this week. Just to name a few:

We had experiences with praying for others that were so exactly what was needed that people got a little freaked out, but they came more to believe we were sent from God. One person said she had the exact same prayer (basically word-for-word) written down in her journal and she reads it every morning. Only through exact obedience could we have qualified for such a tender experience. God is so good. This is His church. I am so humble to be His servant at this time. It is amazing and the words just flow as you move forward with faith and say them as they come to mind.

Two other times that the words just flowed: 1. We were meeting with a returning member and had planned a lesson, but got into it and really didn't know what to teach or what to say (originally he had slammed the door on us, then called us a couple weeks later and apologized. he said he wanted to meet with us and share his concerns about the Church). It was a tender mercy that we had the appointment. Then I just trusted God will fill my mouth and went forward. He did. He also filled Sister Bush's mouth. The first 20 mins or so of the lesson were so powerful of God's love, the joy of repentance, the hope because of the gospel, and the blessings from obedience. It just happened. Then we were able to hear his concerns and address them. He is now taking the lessons from us and will be coming back to church. 2. Sister Bush and I were having some struggles. For some reason we bring out the best and worst in each other. We were having a inventory talk and both had things to say but we have been striving to emulate God in all our conversations. I took a min to pray and then opened my mouth, and it was filled. I was not planning on it, but for a couple minutes I just told her all the things I was grateful for that she did/does. Then I lovingly stated what I needed/wanted to say. God can be in all parts of our lives. Both Sister Bush and I are trying to become like Him and have Him in our conversations. She is SO good at this and I am ever so grateful to her. As we do, things are easily overcome and we just grow in greater love and trust. We have a beautiful companionship. It is because we are striving to do all for God and put Him first. Great lesson to learn for future relationships. I really needed to see that experience. It was really powerful for both of us.

There are so many miracles from this week that I couldn't possibly hope to write them all down. But I will try... QUICKLY! And go...

First, God is good. He is SO good. He loves people so much.

Earlier this week we were trying to find someone. Couldn't find someone, so we prayed. Knocked on some doors. No success. Prayed again. Felt like we should knock on two more doors. We knocked on door that a lady said she had just been praying that morning. By the end of the peace and blessings prayer she knew we were sent from God for her. We said things that were inspired afterwards and she KNEW we were from God. Initially she was hesitant about taking The Book of Mormon, but then said she knew we were from God, so she would take it. We are so excited to teach her. She wants us to come over multiple times in the week.

We have been teaching a part-member returning member family. The wife has a baptismal date. This Sunday she came to church, which was a miracle to many in itself. Then, he husband walked in the door. I could not have been more happy right then. It was one of the most beautiful experiences to see this couple sitting together in church. God is so good. He is working His miralces. He is so good. The wife is getting baptized in two weeks by her husband. I am so excited! She is so excited!

This week we also set two more baptismal dates. Family and friends, the field is white already to harvest. Now is the time. God is preparing the hearts of the people. As we have faith and do our part, blessings just pour down. Wow! One of the date sets is a man who was taught by missionaries in 2005. The Spanish sisters found him while tracting. I am so grateful for all the efforts of other missionaries. They may not realize, but this man still remembers their names. They had a profound influence on his life and this baptismal date.

Sister Bush plays the violin. We were going to visit some people and play. We visited one lady who has not been to church for many years because of health issues. We played for her and her son listened in (which he didn't last time). Afterwards he asked us to say a prayer with him. We did a peace and blessings prayer. This man, in his 50s, cried before, during and afterwards. We will begin teaching him the lessons this week. God is good. He is SO good.

I am just so eternally grateful. The blessings were tremendous this week. There were so many tender mercies of God each day that I could not thank Him enough. We prayed and prayed and prayed thanks to Him. He is so good. Wow. I love being a missionary and love this work so dearly. The hearts of the people in this area, members and non, are being opened. God's work is going forth. He is amazing and wonderful and truly loves these people. The members are now teaching more with us! One lady wrote her testimony in almost 10 copies of The Book of Mormon, and taught with us for hours even though she has her own health issues.

Oh, and other tender mercies. One investigator is now praying about baptism (we were going to drop her because she didn't seem to be open), and another one just found out The Book of Mormon is true through prayer. This is God's work!!

Invitation: 1. This week write down 3 tender mercies from the Lord every day. If you are not seeing them, then pray to see them. Share them with others. 2. Pray/write down something you can do to put God first more in your life, make a plan, and then do it! 3. Go teaching with the missionaries. They will love you for it!

Thank you for all you do!

Sister Jenkins 

The Errand of Angels: Week 23 God's Schedule

Hi Everyone!

How are you?! How was Mother's Day?! Did all you women get treated well?

This week was absolutely amazing! Its spectacular what can happen when we strive to dedicate every moment to serving God and putting our faith fully in Him.

Our number of lessons increased dramatically over the last week. God blessed us tremendously as we followed the Holy Ghost on how to find. Saturday almost every moment was inspired. I feel so blessed and humbled. God's hand is in this work. I know that there will be hard weeks in the future... no doubts about that one ;) but I also have no doubt that this is God's work. He is watching out for us. As we strive to put all our focus on Him, He will allow us to do His work His way. Wow, do I ever love being a missionary.

I am still going through my Refiner's fire, but striving my best to learn and find joy. It is exciting to become more Christ-like.

Oh, and we invite everyone to be baptized in the first lesson. We have not had a "no" yet!! Everyone says yes to either soft commit (after you find out this is true...) or hard commit (on a certain date). Now, we have just 1 date set because some of those people disappear, but the beautiful thing is that we invite! Man, I love being a missionary. There is something so powerful about the message of the Restoration that rings true to all that hear and moves them to act on that truth and desire to be baptized. This is not a shy work at all.

So, highlights of the week:

Skyping with my parents for Mother's Day (obvious highlight)

Seeing dolphins in the wild

Eating a frog leg (yes, I did that)

AND:

Heavenly Father truly controlling every step of our schedule!! There are way to many highlights to share about this, but here is an example:

Saturday, 11 May:

Had studies/meeting go late, but only had a few established appointments.

Headed over to a recent convert. Stopped when we didn't feel right about it. Prayed, and decided to head to our first appointment early and talk to everyone along the way and see who Heavenly Father wanted us to find. The first person in our path (who we wouldn't have met if we weren't heading to the recent convert) prayed with us, opened up about her son with addictions, gave us a referral for him, and wanted us to come back.

Got to our appt on time. They weren't there. Left some info. Went to a potentialinv across the street. Not home. Prayed. Was going to leave but felt like should knock on a door across the street. Very not receptive. The potential inv came back home right then and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and have a quick lesson.

Left for the recent convert again. Felt like we should go back and knock on the one neighbor. Did. Not receptive. Before we left the person we had the first appointment with came back. Was able to talk to her and her mom. Awesome.

Was biking away and felt like we should stop by another potential inv. Did. Prayed with her. Biked to the recent convert (nursing home). Had never been there. Felt inspired to use a bike path that we had never used. Met a lady in an electric wheelchair. She knew the recent convert. Very receptive to gospel. She traveled with us to the nursing home. The recent convert was walking into the main area right as we came in. Had a lesson with both of them. The security guard listened in to the entire thing. It was an awesome lesson.

Got a steak dinner. Had a spectacular lesson with a part-member family.

Then felt like we should visit another potential inv. Went on a street that we only go on to visit them. Met a lady, taught her, soft committed her to baptism.

Yeah, that is kind of what happens when you follow the Spirit. Things are awesome. I love it when God controls our missionary work.

One more highlight:

Yesterday we felt like we should change our plans at night and visit a returning member. Went there. Not home. One the way back felt like we should tract a street, but only like 5 minutes before we had to head home. Knocked two doors. No time now. Felt like we needed to knock one more. We can only get home after 9:00 if we are in a lesson. Prayed and moved forward with faith that the door would turn into a lesson. It did, and a new investigator. It was awesome. I love how the tiniest promptings from the Holy Ghost can lead to such amazing blessings.

Your invitation: Compliment someone who looks like they are having a bad day. It goes a long way.

Have a great week!

Sister Jenkins

The Errand of Angels: Week 22 The Refiner's Fire

Well, this week I definitely felt like I was going through the Refiner's Fire.

My heart is full of gratitude and my eyes full of tears at the moment. I am feeling the Refiner's fire. I truly am grateful for weaknesses and for the opportunity to work even more diligently on focusing all my heart, might, mind and strength on our Savior and Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the Atonement and I strive to use it every day. I have enjoyed giving my accounting to Heavenly Father, asking for forgiveness, and moving forward with gratitude and love. And throughout all of it, seeing His hand truly helping the work and blessing us for our efforts.

At first, finding out about a weakness hurts, but I am so grateful that I can immediately turn to prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help me to know what to do and how to do it so I can become more like Christ. I am excited to become. I am already starting to see the Refiner's fire purge and purify. And I have love some of the studies I have had to help me realize more my potential with overcoming this weaknesses and on how to do so. It's beautiful, Heavenly Father doesn't let us stay a pile of coal. He turns us into diamonds.

1. 

Another beautiful analogy I heard this week is about a desk and humility. But I think it goes right along with the "Refiner's Fire." Picture a desk with layers of paint on it. In order for the desk to live up to its natural beauty the paint first needs to be stripped. This is a process that is done layer by layer. Finally you get down to the raw wood. The wood itself is of great natural beauty. But once you get down to the raw wood, its not enough. The wood needs to be sanded and then stained. Once this entire process has been completed, a beautiful desk of amazing natural beauty stands there. President Summerhays said the stain is the blood of Christ, the Atonement. Sometimes life may seem extremely difficult, and we may ask Heavenly Father, why? I was happy being the way I was. But as we let Heavenly Father strip off all of our imperfections and weaknesses, and really cleanse and beautify our lives with the Atonement, then the result is our grandest potential. Something more beautiful than we could have come up with ourself.

Reminds me of the talk about the currant bush. http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-channel-daily/213

Oh, the work is hastening. We know have sister misisonary leaders that help sisters with exchanges (similar to a zone leader). Woah. So cool! I love being a missionary at this time.

A highlight of the week, we invited a 102 year old woman to be baptized (the mother-in-law of the Branch President). She is praying about it :) They said we have gotten father with her than any other missionaries in the past. I am so grateful that they prepared her for when we would come and that we listened to the Spirit and were bold.

Another highlight, we have one progressing investigator, cute little 10-year old Danesha. Pretty awesome. When we came to this area there were no progressing investigators.

Heavenly Father has blessed our meetings with returning members (less actives) to  be absolutely amazing. We found out we have over 60 returning members in our area and we are excited to get to work. We have had such beautiful miracles working with their families - wow!

Also, that lady who said she wasn't ready to come unto Christ and quit drinking finally, truly committed to reading daily. We are so very excited.

I really love this work! I am excited for when I come home and I am entirely a new person in Christ. Missions are not for ourselves, they are God's missions, but what a wonderful tender mercy it is that He allows us to benefit immensly and everlastingly from them.

Your invitation for the week is two fold: 1. Write a thank you note to a special woman in your life (obviously Mom), but maybe one that doesn't get thanks from many people, and give/mail/email it to her. 2. Find someone. Find someone who is lost, that hasn't been to church in a while, and find a way to show them that you love and care about them.

I love you so much!!

Sister Jenkins!

The Errand of Angels: Week 21 Undercover cops and a Manatee mailbox on Treasure Island

Hello Everyone!

(Double click Location on the right to see where I am: Gulfport, Pasedena and Treasure Island)

How are you?! Long time no see! Oh wait, that's true. I have officially been out over 5 months! Wow... Well, by Mother's Day I will have about a year left.

So this week has been really good! We had some really powerful experiences! This area is very different than Carrollwood but I do love it a lot and am so grateful to serve here!

I also learned this week to be very patient with people overcoming addictions. In a lesson with a member who has resorted back to drinking I literally just started sobbing and so did Sis Bush for her because she didn't desire all of the blessings God could offer.  I started sobbing when she said I would have to be patient with her because she wasn't ready to give it up. For some reason I just could not stop crying so she asked me to come sit next to her on the couch and she held me, same with Sis Bush who was also crying. What an interesting phenomenon ... it was actually one of the most powerful experiences I have had. She was so much more open to different things following the meeting. I love her. She is an amazing woman who has been through more trials that I can ever imagine.

Another two experiences that I wanted to share relate to God's infinite love for ALL and EVERY ONE of His children.

Our schedule had been funky with lots of appointments falling through. But I KNOW that if appointments fall through, that God has a better plan for us. So... we had to find what that was. We were biking and Sis Bush called out to me (I was in front) I turned around and she saw a man that I didn't see when I passed by. She briefly saw him, rode by, and then the Spirit distinctly said, "turn around." Woah. I am SO SO glad that she listened to the promptings of the Spirit. We stopped and talked to him. We testified of God's love for him, that God had a plan for him, prayed with him, etc. The man just literally kept on saying thank you and kept on wiping away tears. He had just been praying to God, pleading with Him (right before we talked to him). He knew that we were the answer to his prayers. He said he was moving the next day or two and didn't have a phone (just got turned off and didn't have a new address or something like that). Sister Bush and I were unsure the extent of the experience, but we know that either we were instruments in God's hands of saving that man physically and/or spiritually. He knows that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and one day that will lead him to joining the Church. This experience was so humbling and so beautiful.

Right after him we saw a homeless guy sitting on the grass by the sidewalk. We felt like we should stop and talk to him (side note: we have learned that we can't share the gospel with everyone, so know we have to go by the Spirit. Many of the areas we teach in could be considered "the hood" and there are innumerable amounts of people always outside. The first day we visited this part of town and did talk to everyone it took us almost three hours to go a half mile to our referral's home. Its awesome, but going by the Spirit tends to work quite nicely). So anyways, talked to this homeless man that was literally skin and bone. We knelt down next to him. It was amazing because I didn't even think about how funny this looked with us having our bikes parked on the sidewalk and kneeling on the sidewalk next to this homeless man talking to him. We shared a Book of Mormon with him and taught him some from it about Christ's love for him. It was beautiful just really feeling God's love for this man.

I know that God loves each of His children so much! It is amazing the love I feel for people as a missionary. I am so grateful to feel it :) I couldn't help this week to think of the stories of Christ finding the one lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/luke/15.4-7?lang=eng) and meeting the people "one by one" (3 Nephi 11:15-16 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/11.15-16?lang=eng). He really cares about the one.

Visited one less active, invited her to church, and she came. She hasn't been in years. People in the branch were shocked that we had convinced her to come. Honestly, we were just nice and went by the Spirit. Sister Bush was speaking so it was an easy invite. It was awesome! She is coming again this Sunday!! Loving others goes such a long way.

People in St. Petersburg are very receptive of us but kind of hesitant as well. We either get, "are you 13?" or "why are you asking so many questions?" I am pretty sure many people think we are undercover cops. We have decided that we are undercover spiritual cops. But I guess not that undercover because we have name tags.

The picture is of a funny mailbox. Sis Bush and I saw this one when we got lost on Treasure Island (look up a map of that! our area is Gulfport, part of St. Petersburg, Treasure Island, and Pasendina (name?). We started singing "Barbara Manatee" from Veggie Tales when we saw it. 

We have lots of pictures of funny mailboxes. Oh, how I love it!

My invitation to you this week is to pray about the one person you can help this week. And try to reach out to the one... maybe someone discouraged or downtrodden or someone that just needs a smile.

Have a great day!

Sister Jenkins

This is what I ran to this morning :)

Please, don't be too jealous.

The Errand of Angels: Week 20 Doin' It the Lord's Way

Hi Everyone!

Hey!! How are you?! So let's just say my new area is a mixture of so many types of people in all walks of life. Haha. Oh man. And what a marvelous area to serve. An area where many people are prepared and God is working mighty miracles, yet an area that has so much work to be done!

For example, day two in area. We received a referral. Went to go contact them. We turned onto a street and had about 1/2 mile to go until we reached the person. It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get there because we talked to everyone and it felt like everyone was outside. Most people wanted to talk with us. They were pretty receptive to God and to our message, or at least to us praying for them. God was really controlling our schedule because the aftermath of all that is three progressing investigators one with a possible baptism date. Yup, God is preparing the hearts of the people.

God is working miracles with our schedule and who we run into it. I LOVE IT!!!! It's amazing what happens when you let Him take charge of your schedule and the work. If you put God first everything will fall into its proper place.

The branch is pretty great. It is fun to be in a branch (smaller sized congregation)... I haven't been in one since I lived in New York. Oh, and there was a deaf woman at church. She has kind of had an interpreter on and off, and yet she has still been faithful in attending. I was able to interpret for her on Sunday. It was mentally taxing but very rewarding. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and to grow.

I love Sister Bush! She is NOT afraid to open her mouth. She is a little 4'11" ball of energy and spiritual power. (I think its funny I'm calling her little because I am only 5'1" if that...) We have been talking to everyone and she has taken the lead at least half the time. She is testifying boldly and making everyone feel loved. I am truly grateful to have her as a companion. Plus, we have a great time together.

We are working on overcoming some bumps in the road, but are really focusing on just moving forward from mistakes or hard times and always finding the positive. Sister Bush and I laughed for half an hour last night singing and dancing to Veggie Tales songs and songs from Wizard of Oz. It was a hoot! Oh man.

My invitation to you this week is to read The Book of Mormon and pray about it. If you have already done this, do it again. One's testimony of The Book of Mormon should always be strengthened. If you haven't done this, please do. You will truly find greater peace and blessings plus a knowledge of the restored gospel. The book is true and has blessed my life and strengthened the faith and blessed the life of countless people that I have taught and talked to during my time in Florida. If you haven't done this with The Bible yet, please do that as well! Most people automatically believe the Bible is true, but you can still pray and gain a strong testimony for yourself! :)

Have a great day!

Sister Jenkins

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