Finally an update. Been Working Hard!!

We have been really busy the past couple of months. My first companion Elder Lutes was transferred in October to a small island in our mission and is doing great there.  I was moved to a new area at that time and given a new companion, (Elder Jorgenson) he came in to the mission at the same time I did so we were both still pretty new missionaries (2 months).  We had the opportunity to work together through the rest of October and November. We had some great experiences teaching and working together.  I have really felt the Lord's hand in my life as I have served in this area.  I love the people in New Zealand and especially in the area I am working in.  We have been blessed with many opportunities to teach and baptize.
I attended a fireside in November and had a really awesome surprise there.  One of the sisters who was asked to speak and share her testimony was a sister that we were teaching in my first area when I got transferred.  I did not know she had been baptized and she was so excited to see me there and expressed her thanks to Elder Lutes and I for teaching her.  It is so amazing to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes peoples lives.  I am so priveleged to be a part of this great work.
At transfers in November I was called to train a new missionary (Elder Thorpe) and it has been an awesome experiecnce.  We are working hard and the Lord has blessed us with more success.  I know this is the Lord's work and I am blessed to be serving Him in this mission.
I hope everyone at home is doing well.  I apologize for not writing more.  I will try to share more in the future. 

Elder Jarnagin

                               WOW!!!!! This has been an amazing week!

This week was just crammed full of miracle after miracle. It started out great and just got better and better. First of all we had a 24 hour Trade off with one of the other companionship in the district so my companion for the day was Elder Walker and we had a great day the highlight of that day was when we went over to a former investigators home named Teresa. We hadn't even planned to go over to her house but she expressed to us that she was ready for a change in her life and we were able to set a date for baptism on the 26th of this month. She really has had a change of heart and is ready for this in her life.

The next day my companion and I were going up a hill on our bikes when we got a wonderful phone call from the zone leaders. We told them where we were and they came over and picked us up and said that we were getting our car back. Well when we got to where the car was we realized that it wasn't the same car we had before in fact no one had ever used this car before it was brand new and straight off the lot. When we picked it up it had only 11 KM/S (6.8 miles) on it. I was the very first missionary to get to drive it though because my companion forgot his license and wallet back at the flat so I drove it all the way from the mission home out to our flat and it was the most amazing feeling getting to drive again, and the week just gets better and better!

Later on in the week we had a dinner appointment with a part member family. The sister is a member but her husband is a non practicing Muslim and I will not talk about that in this letter. However, I will send it to my dad and he can write it in his own words and let you all know on the blog but I don't feel like I should share it in this letter. 

I think it’s crazy to think about how many people we talk with throughout the week we talk to over 200 people a week and we are on a stinking Island I cant imagine how many people that the missionaries talk to back home or in areas like New York! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving my Savior by striving to bring all unto him. I have really grown to see just some of the love that God does have for all of his children and I really do feel like these people that we teach are my brothers and sisters and that this is where I am meant to be at this point in my life.

Sincerely

Elder Jarnagin




From letter to Mom and Dad:

We went over to this part member families house the sister is a member and her husband is the muslim man I spoke about in my weekly letter. She is a KIWI or a native to New Zealand and she is also an active member along with her girls and he is not practicing or even following his religion. If he was we would have to have president go with us to the lessons to assess the situation but we have permission to be teaching him. For the longest time the missionaries would just go over every month for dinner with their family and that was fine with them but just before I came into the mission Charlie the husband told my companion Elder Lutes that he wanted to take the lessons and find out about our church. So, we called and got permission from president. Saturday was the first day we were able to go and have an actual lesson with him and have some dinner with him and his wife! All morning long we had been trying to decide what we were going to teach him and we had decided to teach him about God and how he is our loving Heavenly Father. While we were finishing dinner we asked him a few questions and we were able to talk about a lot of the similarities between the church and the Muslim faith! Then we felt that we should share with him about the plan of salvation because we had already been talking about the life after this and as we taught the lesson he really seemed to understand the plan and how we all lived with God and how it was to all play out. It was evident that we were not the ones doing the teaching but that the spirit was because when we went into teaching about the atonement and how Jesus Christ fits into the plan he began to tear up a little bit and get a little emotional and it was obvious that he really did feel that what we were sharing was true. He told us after that he wants his brother to come and hear what we teach as well but his bother is a full on practicing Muslim. We will probably have to take President with us if his brother is included at this point but it was just amazing to see the hand of the Lord in the life of the people we teach and specifically in Charlie’s life.

Oh yea I almost forgot to share the experience we had with the sister missionaries on Friday! Sister Rochow who is one of the sister missionaries was having a lot of trouble with her asthma acting up and couldn't get it to stop and Elder Lutes and I were able to go over to their flat and I was able to give her a blessing. When we talked to her that night she said that was the first day in weeks that she didn't have an asthma attack. So yea, that was a really cool experience!

I have been able to give several blessings so far on my mission and it is just really neat. I can’t even explain the feeling when you giving a blessing and how close you are to the spirit, it’s like He is literally standing there telling you what to say to that person in the blessing!

The Lord is preparing hearts we just have to do our part!!


The very first day in the mission and the very first door that I knocked on was a lady named Maree and when we met her the first time she really didn't seem interested but she said that we could come back sometime. We went back about two weeks later and she actually opened the door and talked with us that day and we were able to invite her to come to a fireside and she seemed a little apprehensive at first but later that week on Sunday we sent her a text inviting her to come and then we found out that she had a member friend who also invited her as well. So, she came to the fireside and we are currently teaching her and all seems to be going well but that is not even the craziest part. This week when we went with the sisters to a young lady that they are currently teaching to give her a blessing we found out that she is Maree's daughter and is already set to be baptized later in the month. I really know that the lord has been preparing the hearts of these two and I am excited to see how the rest of this plays out and am even more excited that I get to be apart of this wonderful experience.


Elder Jarnagin

"The good Lord giveth and the good Lord taketh away"

Dear friends and family


All is going well here it’s been a really long week so I will just start from the beginning.

It started out as a great week we were able to get a lot done and all seemed to be going well. Then, that's when it happened (dun, dun, dun). My companion and I lost the car. The mission had a mid- transfer intake and one of the sister companionships needed to have a car. So I guess the good Lord giveth and the good Lord taketh away. For now we are stuck riding bikes and trying to get rides from other missionaries or members. The rest of the day was really crazy there wasn't much to it but trying to get used to riding a bike on hills is a pain. The next day there really wasn't much and the entire week was just really busy had some really neat experiences this week but I won’t write them in this letter I will tell my parents and have them put them on the blog. I hope all is well with everyone I apologize to those of you that I haven't gotten back to yet but I don't have much time at the computers. I promise that I will get back to you, have a wonderful week


Sincerely

Elder Jarnagin



From his letter to MOM and DAD


Well on Saturday we had a lady walk up to us and tell us that she wanted to be baptized. We found out she lives in the zone leaders ward and unfortunately had to turn her over to them I was a little frustrated at first cause our teaching pool is small but thrilled for her desire to be baptized and that she came to us.


So the first P day I was here we went and had some KFC and right outside of the KFC there was a crazy guy yelling at people and swinging at people looking like he wanted to hurt someone and the police were called over to talk to him but I really didn't think much of it at the time. Then the day after we lost the car I was on my bike going up a hill when I see a man at the top walking down and I had already made up my mind to stop and talk to him but then I realized it was him. He dropped his shoes and got into a position where he was gonna swing at me and I felt something tell me to stop right in front of him and as soon as I stopped he froze mid swing and then just stood there like he wanted to hit me but like he was being constrained by someone or something. After a few seconds I felt that it was ok to keep going but that was the first really cool experience that I had this week. I really felt like I was being watched over and protected in that instance!



“riding a bike has been tough, especially on my slacks. There is one pair that will never see the light of day again”

Feeling better and back to work.



Short update this week with a picture from Zone Conference.


Hello everyone Elder Jarnagin here just wanted to let you know how my week has been. I spent the first half of the week extremely sick I picked up a virus when I got here and it got to the point where it was affecting my breathing, but I am all good now and am feeling great. Some of the highlights for this week are that I got to drive on the left side of the road it was a little strange but I learned that its not much different than driving back home , its just all turned around. I have really grown to love my companion he’s a great missionary and he’s really hard working, I feel bad though I think I got him sick but he won’t say anything even if he is sick. It’s kind of surprising but he and I are a lot alike in many different ways. It’s been a long week I am so excited its P day and that I can just take a step back for a few hours because I feel like if we didn't have those days out here on the mission I think I would go insane. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary and a tool in the Lords hands in helping with the spreading of His gospel to all the earth I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is His church and that He stands at the head of this church.

A lot of missionaries that I have gotten to know that have been here for a while seem like robots if that makes sense (in other words they are so drilled into a certain routine or a set schedule that they just don't have fun with what they are doing) I think that part of the reason they lowered the mission age is so that elders can learn to have fun while they are going about the work. The work here is great I am serving in the greatest mission on earth what more could I ask for.


Elder Jarnagin


Elder Jarnagin also added in family email that they are working hard and seeing some daily success. His companion has been informed that he will be transferred probably next transfer to the islands. While he is excited for his companion and the new experience for him he wishes they had more time to work together. 

On a side note he hates the metric system!!

Not a real surprise since he does not like numbers or math much anyway.

  

WOW!  This has been a crazy week. I finally am out in the mission field and its been really interesting. My companions name is Elder Lutes he's a great missionary. He's the district leader for our area so he's a very busy person and really enjoys training. He is from Utah. He really likes to sing I don't think there is a quiet moment in our flat because either he is singing or I am. For the first few days here it was really rainy which made me extremely grateful to have a car in our companionship. Tomorrow I might even get to drive, because we are going on trade offs with the zone leaders and that is when they certify the drivers is on those trade offs so I am a little scared to do that but I will be grateful if I can start driving because I don't like the passenger seat. On the other hand I am a little freaked out about driving on the opposite side of the road. The schedule is just the normal schedule that a missionary follows we wake up at 6:30 in the morning and we exercise and then we get ready for the day. By 8:00 we are having our personal study and then after an hour we have our companionship study and then we are stuck in the flat doing the 12 week program until 11:00. I wish we had more time in the morning to work though because I can't stand being cooped up in the flat.  I would much rather be out doing missionary work. They say that the more that you bear your testimony to people that the stronger it gets and I have definitely felt that as I have been able to testify to people that the gospel has been restored to the earth. The people here are very nice even though most of them aren't ready to receive the gospel they are still nice about it and even will offer us food.  We have to turn it down most of the time but one thing is for sure here in New Zealand I will never go hungry. I hope all is well, hope to hear from you all again my P day is on Mondays which is your Sunday and I will be sending out an email like this one every Monday. 

 Anyway the fist day was really slow we got straight to work after I met my companion we went and knocked on doors and the day soon came to an end but the next day we arose and  had a lot of stuff to do in the morning because friday is our weekly planing meeting.  After that we went and met with an investigator name Teresa and taught her about the restoration and we were able to set a date for her to be baptized.  Then we went and picked up a young man who I don't think has considered serving a mission before I  met him.  We went to a family's house and while there we taught them about the restoration and I invited them to be baptized.  He said maybe but she said yes so the next time we go over we are gong to help them through any issues that they are having and get them into the waters of baptism. The rest of the day went by really fast.  The next day we got a few peoples numbers from knocking on the doors but not to successfull of a day until late at night just before we were heading back to the flat we met a young man who was interested. The following day was pretty much the same and the same experience happened so it really goes to show and helps me to better understand my purpose and that this is not my work but its the Lords work and he will lead us to those who are ready. I will talk to you all later.

                                                                                                                       

Sincerely 

Elder Jarnagin