What up Family and Friends!
The reason that that intro is in English is because I am currently serving English speaking. Not exactly what I wanted but I'm not questioning it. The Lord has his reasons. I arrived at the mission home on Thursday afternoon and we did some training and had some interviews and then got paired up with companions. My companion's name is Elder McInnis. He is from super northern Washington State, like 5 minutes from Canada. A town called Bellingham. He was homeschooled in high school and he likes music and art. He's a nice guy but he doesn't say a whole lot. He's only been in the field for about 3 months so it's interesting that they already made him a trainer. We live in the basement of a member couple with older children and a son on a mission (the Lyells). They are so nice. I was hoping to get right to teaching when we got here but he didn't have any appointments lined up for that evening so we went and met a few members. Oh I guess I should mention that I'm serving in West Jordan. We cover 2 stakes and 15 wards. We have to coordinate with a lot of different people. It's pretty nuts hahah. Especially because geographically it isn't a very big area. Utah right? We have a car to, which is weird. Hahah but as the family knows, Matt's aunt and uncle the Pugmeyer's (hope I spelled that right) are in one of the wards I'm serving in. We are gonna take an investigator over to their house on Saturday morning to watch conference.
Alrighty so there's my situation, now it's time to get to what's been going on. From what I can gather with my expert sleuthing skillz, this area is a little slow. This mission as a whole baptizes like crazy but West Jordan is like all members of the Church. Literally everyone we meet with has family who are members or they are less active. Everyone has dealt with the Church a ton and at times it seems to be a negative. They feel like they know what the Church is about so they turn us away at the door. But anyways on Friday we only had one appointment which fell through, so we spent the whole day visiting members for referrals and tracting. I'm told that the best finding method here is meeting with members for referrals. We also tract a little bit but that's not very effective thus far. Saturday was more of the same of receiving referrals and contacting them, only to have the people say they aren't interested and turn us away. Like I said it's nobody's first time dealing with the missionaries. We did have a baptism on Saturday though! I met him on Saturday night, his name is Gabriel Soto and he is 9 years old. Disclaimer: he comes from an active family, but they were having a lot of family troubles around the time he turned 8 and he just didn't get baptized, and once they turn nine they are in our jurisdiction. So it is considered a convert baptism I believe, but I really had no part in that and neither did the other elders other than to interview him for baptism hahah. But it was a great service and Elder McInnis and I both spoke. It's pretty easy to give impromptu talks these days. So after being a missionary for 3 days I still had not taught a single lesson and I was pretty discouraged. But things are looking up.
So on Saturday we went by a referral. They are a young family with 2 sons and the dad just recently found out he has leukemia. It's a really sad situation but I truly feel like the Lord is giving them an opportunity to hear the Gospel in their time of trouble. Misty White (the mom) talked with us at the door for a few minutes but ultimately said they weren't interested. But for some reason I just feel like that's not the end. We fasted for her husband's health and for their hearts to be softened to hear our message and we are going by their house again on Tuesday to bug them...I mean teach them. Hahahah. I really am praying for a miracle there. Hopefully next week there's some good news there.
So Sunday we had tons of meetings where we correlated with ward mission leaders and we talked with a ton of members and got like 10 referrals. I also introduced myself in sacrament meeting and basically begged the members to help us out. I think the members can tell that I'm not just here to chill out with the members like a lot of missionaries in the past. IF I wanted to chill I wouldn't be on a mission. So I've been pretty gung ho and perhaps a little forward with everyone I've met, but I want to get some excitement going here hahah. So we contacted all the referrals that day and set up a few promising appointments this week. Then we had my first real lesson as a missionary (4 days in to the field hahah). It was with this great guy named Damien who basically told us he knows the Church is true but he just isn't sure if he's ready to commit. We found out he hasn't really been praying that fervently to know if he should take the leap of faith so we had him pray right there with us. It was really powerful and he said he feels better and better about it every time he prays, but he just can't commit to praying on his own. We asked him to pray every day this week and he said he wouldn't promise anything. Then I made him promise me that he'd pray that night and this morning and I'd call him to make sure he did it. So I'm gonna call him later today and make sure he's praying. The stuff people do when they missionaries truly is the most crucial.
Then that night we got a call from one of the bishops we work with and he said a guy stopped him on the street while he was doing fast offerings with another high priest and asked if they were the Elders. The family (Hernandez) had just moved in and wanted to meet with the missionaries and they needed some blessings. The Bishop went over and blessed their house and saw a pretty read looking Book of Mormon in the house but also lots of signs that they were Catholic. But they want us to come over so we are heading over there tonight. We are really excited. If they are seeking us out we know some good will come with that.
So we are really praying hard and working hard for some miracles to happen. I was feeling pretty down about our lack of appointments but our week is slowly filling up, and I know if I stay positive and keep being gung ho (to the point of being obnoxious) good things will happen. It feels great to testify of the truth. Can't wait to see someone be baptized through our efforts. We've got a few people on date and hopefully we can make that happen.
Alrighty so that's what's up right now! Sorry for how long it was, there's just a lot of info. I'm eating really well. Too well hahaha. The members are really nice and they always want us to come by and hang out. Unfortunately I've told all of them that I refuse to hang out unless we're meeting with a nonmember or a less active or getting a referral or doing something productive. They gotta know that I'm not here for cake and board games.
I'm not allowed to email anyone except family while I'm in this mission. Hopefully that changes when I'm in Mexico, but for now here's my new address! Send some letters my way!
Elder Price Jarman
Salt Lake City South Mission
8060 South 615 East
Sandy, Utah 84070
Life's good. There have been some tough moments here and there but overall it's good. Next week expect to hear about some miracles! I feel good about this week.
The Church is real true! BE a member missionary so you don't frustrate the missionaries serving around you! We're all a part of this work.
Paz y Gozo
Elder Jarman
Photo of incoming missionaries from the SLC South Mission blog. http://www.utahslcsouthmission.com/wp/
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