Week Ending: Oct 28, 2013

Well this week was a weird one. Good, but weird. We barely made any contacts despite all the tracting we did and the tables and everything. It was really quite disappointing. This week did go by fast though and it went by in a blur.

Our investigators are not progressing a ton, it's been really hard. It's hard to see them and know that they know it's true, but they're either too lazy or too scared to commit 100%. And I never know how to help those people. It's kind of disheartening. We did however teach a less active this week, and we only had 20 minutes to do so and he came to church on Sunday! That was nice. Actually, there were two other less actives that came, and they're all less actives that we have been trying to get a hold of. And in relief society the teacher asked us missionaries to teach the first lesson in the beginning and when Sister Beck recited the first vision, the less active girl that came was crying and looked at her friend and said she had goose bumps! That was cool. I hope that she sees that she needs this in her life to give her complete joy.

One of our investigators won't meet with us. She keeps randomly texting us saying that she wants to come to the branch and she misses it. She even asked us to do lessons with her. But we tried meeting with her on her day off and she didn't want to because it was her day off. She just wanted to relax. We are the most relaxing demand ever! All we do is sit and invite the spirit to teach people! I mean, come on...Anyway, I digress.

We got to work at the bishop's storehouse this week and I really like doing that. I love doing that hands-on service type stuff because we're moving the whole time and people are so grateful. Missionary work is awesome, but some people are not thankful to have missionaries on their front door step talking about Jesus. We do, however, always meet such nice, sweet people, so there's nothing to complain about. It's a good day to be a Mormon. It's a good day to be a missionary. That's what one of our elders said while he bore his testimony and I really really liked it. Yeah, there can be days where no one wants to talk to us or learn from us or anything else, but it does not mean it's a bad day. There's always something good in every day, you just have to find it.

So Saturday was probably the best day this week... We got to meet and hear from Elder Oaks! So so so cool! He is such a nice and relaxed man! I had no idea. And his wife is the spunkiest, most adorable woman ever. She is just darling. There really is no other way to explain her. Anyway, Elder Oaks was all over the place topic-wise, but the spirit was so strong and he taught where the spirit directed him. He even told us that. And three times he said, "it does not matter what I say. What matters is what you hear." So good! I meant to bring my notes with me while I was emailing but I completely forgot! In the end he talked about how this isn't our missions. That it is untrue to say that this is "my mission," that we need to understand that this is the Lord's mission. Talk about something really hitting you. So true! Now I'm trying to devote myself to having the Lord etched in my heart and mind so that I can become a missionary. He said that you can do missionary things and be obedient and a good person, but that doesn't mean you are a true missionary. Here's my commitment to change. And the last thing he gave us was a list that President Hinkley gave to missionaries in Poland or something. I cannot remember everything on the list, but I'll try. It's a list of ten things we need to take home from our missions:

1. Understanding of the meaning of personal virtue

2. Increased polish and poise

3. The courage to act

4. The faith to try

5. The humility to pray

6. Increased appreciation and love for your parent

And I honestly cannot remember everything else. That's sad... I mostly remember the first two because those are the one's that really spoke to me. But I love all of them, I just can't remember the exact wording and/or order, which is important because the last one he said was the "humility to pray." I find that interesting and extremely telling. Anyway, I'll continue to write more about his talk next week when I bring my notes.

 

Love you all tons!

Jocelyn

Sorry everyone of Jocelyn's fans.  I had her email down incorrectly.  Here is the correct email:
jocelyn.smith@myldsmail.net

email from Jocelyn 10/21/13

Dad I'm excited for you to be serving with Bishop Johnson (well...now President Johnson), he's always been one of my favorites. Tell him thank you for me. 

This week is a blur. We made a standard! Our mission goal is to get 70 contacts in a week, and we've never made it to 50 and this week we got 70! We only had a short amount of time to tract yesterday and we only had 11 left so we ran from house to house because we wanted to get our 11. Well, the Lord blessed us and we got exactly 11! However, we were 15 minutes late to our appointment because we ended up talking to this one lady for days. 

We did tables at KSU, it's both fun and hard. It can be really awkward just going up to random students my age and trying to talk about Jesus with them. Some are really receptive and nice, others are just downright rude and/or awkward. IT's great though because the people who really listen are the people who are hard to forget. Also, one of the members in the branch had work off that whole Wednesday we did tables so he hung out with us the whole day and came to lessons with us and bought us dinner. It was way nice of him and now we want to do that with other members in the branch, especially the ones that are planning to go on missions or have not gone on a one and should sometime soon. This guy has gone on a mission, so he was nice to have around for tips and knowledge and all that good stuff. 

We went tracting in this ghetto ish apartment complex and we taught to these people while they were smoking, which was fine, but one guy was rolling a doobie most of the time we were talking to him. However, two of the people in the group actually seemed legitimately interested and asked us for a Book of Mormon. Hope they feel the spirit when they read it. :P Anyway, in this area there was a lady who was getting out of her car and I took the opportune moment to ask if she needed help and she said she was fine, but she wanted to know what we were all about. We briefly taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and she said," my mom is native american and I've always wondered where they started and how they started." Also, she's from Northern California! And we got her number and have been keeping in touch with her so that we can teach her this week. Let's hope it goes well. 

In another area where we were tracting this wonderful lady answered and seemed weary at first, but then she felt our spirit and let us talk to her about Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. At the end she said she wanted us to come talk to her daughter. She said that her daughter has been going through some rough things and she needs God in her life. I think she knew we had something that her daughter doesn't have yet, and that we could help her. So she was an awesome contact. 

A few days ago we taught these two Christians that only really met with us so that they could prove us wrong. That was both really awesome and caused me a lot of anxiety. It was great because we taught them the first lesson the best we've ever taught it before. I felt the spirit the entire time! And then they were kind of dumbfounded when we finished and they just sat there like they didn't know what to say. Eventually their demeanors changed and they began bashing us. That was not fun. However, I bore my testimony with the most strength I think I've ever born it and they got quiet again. It was quite awesome to watch to be honest. But again, I really do not like bible bashing, neither party is going to change and the only thing I can hope to do is to bear my testimony and hope they feel the spirit. People aren't converted by facts, they're converted by the Spirit. 

Last night we taught this man who is getting divorced today. It was hectic. His son was running around and his dog was going crazy, I felt so much stress and yet somehow the spirit was present. I had such a mix of  emotions last night that I didn't really know how to respond to the whole lesson when we came home. 

I can't think of anything else to report. Anyway, I know my favorite scripture now: Jacob 6:12 "O be wise, what can I say more?" Nothing hits the core quite like a simple question that is still yet profound. 

Much love!

Jocelyn

Email from a girl in the branch who adores Jocelyn;  I mean who doesn't right?

Hi Brother and Sister Smith, 

My name is Lauren Hutchinson and I am a member of the YSA branch where your daughter is currently serving. I wanted to let you know how much I absolutely love her! She has such a strong testimony of Christ and His gospel, and that shines through in everything she does. Teaching with our three sisters over the last few weeks has been helping me to build a testimony of missionary work, and Sister Smith has especially been a key part of that because of how much she and I have in common. Seeing her diligence and passion for her service to the Lord has given me a lot of insight into how I can more fully live the gospel of Christ myself. I know that most of the time when we hear about and talk to missionaries we get stories of the investigators and converts they are helping teach, but I want y'all to know that the members of our branch benefit just as much from your daughter's and her companions' service, if not more. 

I hope you are having a lovely day! God bless, 

Lauren

Email from Jocelyn 10/14/13

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving;

I'm so jealous of the delicious food you'll be eating tonight! I can just imagine mom's yam casseroles. Mmmmm.

 

WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM! Wooohooo! He cried after he got out of the water and he cried when he was confirmed on Sunday. Also, his parents did not approve of his baptism before, but his dad apologized to him on Saturday after he was baptized! The Lord is already blessing him! Seriously, he was met with so much opposition before that I can't believe he went through with it. He totally gets it though, so I'm proud of him and excited for the next.

 

Our ward mission leader is 19 and has a friend that's been going through some really hard struggles, so our mission leader, Trevor, brought him to church. Andrew (the investigator) said that he felt peace as soon as he walked into the branch building. We taught him about prayer a week ago. We didn't have the chance to teach the first lesson because Satan is working so so so hard on him! He's also been having some really crazy trials happen lately so we just told him to pray for the Lord's strength, it took us an hour to tell him how to do it effectively I guess. He's so wonderful though, he's a music major and when he feels the spirit he hears music. When we finished praying he ran up to the piano and started playing this beautiful beautiful song and said that that was what he heard when we finished praying! He says that he's terrible at reading music, but as soon as he hears something in his head, or just anything, he can play it! He's so wonderfully gifted. I had this vision of him becoming the next Paul Cardell or John Schmidt or something. Seriously, he was so good! Anyway, I asked if he and I could figure out and make a musical number to do in sacrament and he said he'd love to, hopefully that all goes through because he's really talented! Member referrals are the best.

 

So we have this new rule to go tracting for 2 hours everyday and I actually surprisingly like it. One of the best blessings that has come of it came from a referred contact. These other sisters referred us to this guy they contacted and we went by his house and he wasn't home but his roommate was so we handed him our card and told him to have his roommate call us. It was a shot in the dark, but an attempt nonetheless. The next day guess who called us? The referral! We never ever get anyone actually calling us first! We call them, and typically they don't answer or they tell us they're not interested, but not this guy! His name is Ben, and we went over the next day to teach him the first lesson. Well, we show up and he says he's already read all of 1 Nephi and if he had had time he'd be halfway through! And we committed him to a baptismal date! We tried to get him to talk about his feelings while we taught the first lesson, but he wouldn't really dive into it, but he said he felt something. I know he felt the spirit! I know he did! I sincerely hope he's baptized on November 16th, the Lord prepared him.

 

We have two others on date, but they're softly on date... This is where faith and miracles comes in, but doubt is a very real, very present emotion that comes frequently into my mind. However, we're told to expect miracles, so guess what, I'm expecting miracles. If nothing, I know for a fact that Ben and Andrew are prepared to recieve this gospel so at least they'll be baptized.

 

Oh and we were totally bible bashed this week. Actually we were doctrine bashed, bible bashed and we talked to an atheist feminist about the priesthood. Wow. So the bible bashing was stupid because the guy goes to KSU and he's really too far ahead of himself. He doesn't truly know what he believes in and how he sees God, really the only thing he wanted to do was to prove us wrong, which didn't work out. He uses way to big of words for his simple intellegence and tries way too hard! Anyway. It's hard to explain over email, but his guy honestly had no idea what he was talking about, so it wasn't that good of a bible bash. And the doctrine bash was with a muslim dude. He tried to get us to question our faith. I mean, he understands that we all, Muslim and Christian churches, are based on the same values, but he doesn't understand that we do legitmately believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He tried asking us how Mary concieved Jesus. Easy. First off, we only know what's in the scriptures and second off, who cares? What's really important here? Getting back to live with God and our families someday, or figuring out how Mary was concieved. And the atheist feminist was my personal favorite. She was very classy and spoke very poignantly and elegantly, I just liked her. She really understands values and being a good person, her only hiccup is the fact that she doesn't believe in God. Our conversation revolved around the priesthood and stuff, which again was surprisingly easy. She was the best to talk to because she was calm, cool and collected. She respected our beliefs while we respected hers. It was cool. My companions think I'm the secret weapon because I don't talk as much as they do during lessons, but as soon as someone wants to "bash" us, I step in and start talking about the important things. I thought I would hate it, but those are when I'm the most calm and in control of what we're discussing. Honestly, this is the only church that fully and completely follow God's ordinances from the Old Testament. The more I know about the bible, the definition of the word religion, and when I reflect on the teachings of the temple, the more I realize how logical this church is despite how illogical people seem to think it is.

 

 

Anyway, that's all for today. Love you and miss you all.

 

Jocelyn

This is an actual piece of the Berlin wall! It's on KSU campus and it was probably the coolest thing to see. I'll send more pictures next week. I haven't quite figured out how to do it hahah This is just a forward from somone in the branch.

Email from Jocelyn 10/7/13

This week went by so quickly! It was crazy! This week was also really really awesome though. We had a ton of meetings because Wednesday was our follow up meeting where everyone that came in at the same time as me all go back to Lilburn and learn more from our President. It was so nice seeing my MTC "family" again. Seeing them again made me realize how blessed we were as a district to be put together in the MTC. They're all such amazing people. Anyway, so my first week here we baptized this girl that Sister Beck taught and our mission mets its quota for baptisms, and President rewarded us with the priveledge to go to the temple! First off, since it's not in our mission, typically the only time I'm supposed to go to the temple is my last day here. And second off, the day we found out I lost my reccomend! But, since we would be seeing President on Wednesday he interviewed me and activated one on Friday so it was all good.

Anyway, we got to go on Friday and it was seriously so fantastic. I gained tons of insight and a new appreciation for the temple. I've always loved the temple since I went through, but this time around just seemed profoundly real. I cannot wait to go as often as I can when I'm back from my mission. Plus, it was much needed.  And since then I've been studying temple stuff in the scriptures and it's driving me wild. I just love the temple so much. Honestly, it just shows that there is so much more to this life than people really think.

 

Every first and third Thursday and Saturady of the month we go help at this Methodist food pantry and I think it's one of my favorite things about serving in this area. On Thursdays we pack all this food in bags, and there's this really nice tetris-like method to it, and I think that's my favorite thing to do because it's so organized. And on Saturday there's a long line of people who need food and we help carry their bags to their cars and it's so rewarding. There are some really wonderful people that work at the food pantry and wonderful people who come to the food pantry. It's just an amazing experience overall.

 

Will also recieved revaltion that he should serve a mission! He is seriously the craziest investigator. He said that on Monday he went to FHE with the branch, came home and prayed and asked God what he should be doing. He said that without even really thinking, the thought to do what we are doing popped into his head and he freaked out! He was terrified of the idea. He asked if we missed our families a lot. The idea of actually going on a mission freaked him out, but he knows that that's what God wants him to do because he's prayed about it three times this week and he gets the same answer. He's not even baptized yet! His baptism this Saturday. So stoked for him. We have another investigator on date, but he's quite hesitant. He's going through this rough divorce and stuff. Sister Beck received revaltion in the temple that he should be baptized on the 26th, and he's willing to pray about it. The hard thing about him is that he knows it's all true. He knows it! He just doesn't want to try. I asked him why he thinks that coming unto God seems to make it harder for him because "take [Christ's] yoke upon you, and [he] shall give you rest." I mean duh! what else is supposed to help you through all this heartache? Nothing. That's when God and Christ needs to enter into one's life. He said he knows that, but that's what almost makes it hard. I'm surprised by the disappoint I feel from people who know the truth and are not willing to just live it. I know he will be baptized one day; however, I hope it's not after he's completely hit rock bottom because that would be heartbreaking.

We also have another girl on date, and I have faith that someday she will be baptized too, but I don't think it's going to be while we're here.

 

Conference was amazing. I receieved so much inspiration from the Saturday Morning Session, everything just hit me and was exactly what I needed to hear. I thought of multiple investigators or people that need to listen to Uchtdorf's talk.

 

Real quick, yesterday there was this dog at the house we ate at that literally should be a cartoon character. It's a long, skinny greyhound that has a massive overbite! It's seriously the silliest looking dog in the world! And he doesn't turn around, he backs up! It's so funny, he looks like a car when he does it. I wish you could see this dog, he's just so funny. Also, the wife of the people that fed us is from New Zealand, but she's from the south island which is not Wellington. Sadly I couldn't see if she knew Jonty or Zac.

 

Love you all. Hugs and kisses

Jocelyn

Email from Jocelyn 9/30/13

Hello all!

 

This week was a wonderful and blurred week. It went by really really fast! Our investigator, Will is moving along so nicely. He just wants to get baptized! It's so cool. He told us a little more about his life this week and I just feel so bad for him. He has had countless trials since he was two years old. It's so sad and I just want to help him, but that's what this gospel is doing, it's helping him. On Tuesday, we taught him the Word of Wisdom and he brought a roommate with him. Since his roommate doesn't understand the nature of God at all, it was hard for him to understand the Word of Wisdom. However, since he did not see the point, Will did! Will bore testimony of the word of wisdom, and he's never even lived it before! He's just so golden of an investigator it's really quite crazy. And he says that everything we teach him and when we do it falls right into place with what he's dealing with outside of our lessons. A couple days before we taught him the word of wisdom he got really drunk because of family problems, and this is the second time he's gotten hammered, and he absolutely hated the experience. It was a terrible night for him, so now he's so unbelievably willing to live the word of wisdom and it's the coolest thing ever. And he feels like the scriptures that we randomly text are exactly what he needs at that moment. He truly feels the Spirit so strongly.

 

Our tripanionship is doing loads better!  All of our strengths are so different that in a lesson, they all work together to make one awesome lesson. Not to boast, but I think the people in the branch really like us. This week and our interactions with people, testified that we were put together for a reason. We're put together to strengthen the branch with our differences we can use the Spirit in different ways to speak to specific people. Will told us yesterday that our personalities blend really well together to just create the perfect atmosphere. He said that sister Madsen was whaky, which opens people up, that I'm motherly and that Sister Beck is stern. First off, wow, no one has ever called me motherly! And second off, so cool that even he could see that we all work like a yin and yang with three pieces and I've been thinking that all week. I think he thinks I'm motherly because he brings out this side of me that just wants to hug him and tell him everything will be okay. He has some physical limitations and he had some pretty unloving parents and relationships and he was bullied through junior high to high school. He's just so strong and so kind, by now, most of us would be bitter toward the world, but he sees that God has blessed him with the ability to love even after experiencing all that hatred. AH, he's a life-changer.

 

Our other investigators are quite hesitant. This one girl just needs a nice dose of motivation, and I don't know how to make that. Hopefully we figure out how to do that. The other investigator we have is going through a divorce and all that fun stuff, so we have to work with him really slowly. He has this undeniable faith in God and he knows what he has to do. He also knows that God's church is on the earth and that it's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he just doesn't want to completely commit to the lifestyle. However, he let us take his chew, coffee and whiskey last week and throw it away. He said he will not have any coffee (which is the hardest one for him to quit). He's also afraid to lose friends if he were to baptize. We'll see how he comes along.

 

On Wednesday or Thursday (I can't totally remember) it rained so much and I loved it! The rain here is beautiful. The gray contrast to the all the green is just wonderful and I just wanted to soak it all in. It made tracting really enjoyable and it made me want to go to Oregon or something. I wish it was like that more often here. I'm so stoked for the fall weather here though. The adorable Halloween decorations that the people have on their doors already just kill me, Mom, you would die they're so cute. 

 

Mom, your package this week was manna from Heaven! Seriously, that stationary is to die for and to see Trader Joe's brand stuff on my shelf is stupidly comforting. Who knew I would miss Trader Joe's so much. I'm going to make your life-changing bread today :) Thank you for sending all those ingredients! I can't wait to eat it.

 

Mom and dad, you are both wonderful, amazing parents. I promise I'm not just saying this because I'm on my mission. My feelings are obviously intensified since I'm out here, but I love you both so much. I think of  you both everday and I know that it was because you are my parents that I have made the right choices to be out here on my mission. I think of your teachings and examples and how they have made me who I am today. Your examples and covenant keeping has greatly influenced my life and our family for the better. I thank God for you and Ashley, Tegan, Davis and Jared (and my family in general, so including the nieces and nephew, soon to be nephews!) every day and night.

 

Love you all to the moon and back,

Jocelyn

Email from Jocelyn 9/23/13

I have been looking forward to emailing all week. All of your emails have just lightened my day! 

This week was amazing! 

On Tuesday we taught Will, that guy that came up to us at the tables, and he felt the Spirit throughout his entire body! He said that the warm fuzzy feeling he feels is usually only in his chest, but that at that moment it was all over his body! And we're like, "it's the Holy Ghost!" Ahhhhhh. He's so amazing. He has this really rough family life and he is just so loving and just so inspiring. So we asked him to be baptized on October 12th and he wants to be baptized now! But he can't because he needs to go to church twice hahaha. And yesterday, he wasn't planning on coming to church because he was going to visit his mom and tell her he was getting baptized, but she ended up telling him that if he did he would no longer be  his son. And so he got really drunk (we haven't taught word of wisdom yet, though he did say he won't do it again) and his roommate was being really aggressive with this girl and he stood up for her and his roommate punched him and beat him up. He was up on Saturday considering committing suicide and he remembered the feeling of love that he felt in the branch building. So he slept on a couch in some friend's house and came to church. We had to sit outside with him for a while while he cried and told us the story. I started tearing up I felt so bad for him! He is so amazing for coming to the place where most people would say caused his pain, but he realizes that he feels the Lord's love when he's here. So so cool. 

Also, that inactive kid that came to our table. He agreed to have a lesson with us and he just opened up his whole story.  It was so crazy and so beautiful and he just cried. It's so amazing to see people just open themselves and hand their hearts to you and they're like, "this is me, it's ugly." and we're like,"no, you're loved and you're beautiful." AHHHHHH People are just so fantastic, I can't handle it. Honestly, if it weren't for these crazy spiritual experiences and connections into these people's lives, I would really miss home. 

We went to this sandwich place where a member works and I swear I walked into a fancy Secret Spot that embodied Jared. I freaking miss Jared! First off, there's this HUGE collage of pictures of the Beatles, Bruce Lee, Jimi Hendrix, Buddah, Bob Marley, Mohammad Ali, and others. Seriously, it was Jared in one collage. Oh and Kurt Cobain and just craziness. Plus, guess who was playing when we walked in? Explosions in the Sky! What?! I cannot believe that they were playing. I was going nuts! And behind the sandwich stuff was a picture of a beach, it looked almost exactly like Crystal Cove. Needless to say, it was hard not to miss home when I walked in. Plus Jared just gets me.

Today we got to go hiking. Finally! But we went with people in the branch,  the view was beautiful and we got to walk through this quick museum in the visitor center. It's the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park. So there was a battle there! So cool. And we got to see uniforms and cannons. I would love to take Jared there too. There's all these old rifles and just cool stuff. 

 I love serving in a YSA branch, the members are so enthusiastic and so willing to help us. We have had some amazing help and experiences with the members, it's awesome. 

I don't know what else to report on. Hopefully I can email my friends :P 

love you all so much, hugs and kisses

Jocelyn