called to serve: December 2, 2013

I was flipping through my planner to remember everything we did this week, and I was thinking, man, where did all the time go? Sometimes my mission feels like one giant blur of time. I can't believe how quickly this past year has flown by!

I celebrated my 21st birthday this week. Our roommates took us out for hot chocolate in the morning, then we spent most of the day weekly planning. The elders had a baptism, so we went to help them set up. The water heater wasn't working, so the girls had to be baptized in cold water. It reminded me of my own baptism 13 years ago in the freezing cold. I told them it would be something they wouldn't ever forget. We (the six missionaries that serve in our branch) were pretty hungry after the baptism. Actually we were starving. Well, I was. So we went out to dinner for my birthday. I'm blessed to be serving with such hard working and truly amazing missionaries.

We really did have a great week this week. We taught a lesson to Tyler on Tuesday. At first the lesson was a little challenging - he seemed to have gone back to some of his original concerns about church leadership. About halfway through, I was just sitting there, praying for the Spirit to be there so I could know what to say. I asked him a question and it got quiet for a second, giving the Spirit a chance to come rushing in. The lesson instantly changed, and we were able to powerfully testify to him of the importance of faith and trust in the Lord. The rest of the lesson was amazing. He opened up and shared some of his concerns about praying and about miracles. Sister Westover and I both shared our testimonies of the power of sincere prayer, and Tyler agreed to start praying every day this week. It has truly been miraculous to see him progress.

We had a lesson with Nick as well. He just amazes me all the time. If I only came on my mission to teach him, it was worth it. He has such a desire to understand God's will and to increase his testimony. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and about God's perfect plan for His children. Nick expressed his love for the kingdoms of glory - that it just makes sense for there to be different places for different people based on how they chose to use their agency.

Sharon had surgery on Wednesday and we stopped by to see her. Sister Westover and Sister Anderson were on an exchange to teach a lesson in Portuguese, so Sister Gale and I were together. Some other people we were teaching happened to stop by, so we taught them all in the same lesson. It was one of the craziest lessons I've ever taught! We had Sharon, our recent convert, Lindsay, a returning less active, and Rob, Sharon's boyfriend who recently became a new investigator. Somehow, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, we were able to teach a lesson that met each of their needs. I'm so grateful for the Spirit, because there was no way that I was going to know how to teach a lesson that would help each of them.

In our lesson, Rob agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and we had another appointment with him on Friday. He'd been taught by missionaries in the past, but never really gained a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Church was true. We taught him the Restoration, and invited him to pray about Joseph Smith. He came to church on Sunday with Sharon, and we have another lesson this week.

Thanksgiving was great! We had dinner with a companionship of missionaries from one of the nearby family wards with a family in their ward. They had four little kids, and it was so fun to just sit and play with the kids. It reminded me of my own family.

On Sunday night we had dinner with the Winfields again. We meet with the Winfield sisters just about once a week. They are a lot of fun and we love visiting with them. This week we talked about the power of the Atonement. The Spirit was really strong as Sister Westover and I each testified about how the Atonement had blessed us personally. We invited them to reflect on what they could do this week to more fully let the Atonement work in their lives. I have so much love for them and I want them to find a way to come back to church. I know it would bless their lives, but I don't know how to help them see that. They made brownie sundaes for dessert and sang happy birthday to me, which was very sweet of them. I'm grateful that my companions and I have had the chance to get to know them during my time here in Tidewater.

I'm so grateful that I get to be a missionary. This really is the Lord's work. We have a member of the seventy coming to tour our mission next week and I'm excited to learn from him at our mission conference. Have a great week!

With love,

Sister Jasperson