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!