why the fact that people take pictures of a bus is so funny

dear anyone who enjoys crepes, dinosaurs, or miscellaneous nature noises played at nighttime,

i would just like to start this letter with a really positive sounding statement such as GOOD !!! in capital letters followed by exclamation points and maybe something else fun like a winking emoticon with his tongue sticking out ;-p. anywhays we had a fantastic slash hectic week this last week as the mission and the area that i'm serving in undergoes some changes. side note i just noticed that the period of the sentence two sentences ago looks like a mole. . . . sort of. so let’s start by talking about the investigators we have currently in our area. the man who asked for the book of mormon last week, who's name is henry, is doing fantastic. we were able to teach him for the last time a few days ago and it was pretty much astounding. for example we started the lesson, as we usually do, by asking him what his expectations were for meeting with us. his response was that he really wanted to become a member of our church and he wanted to know what he could do to join. (at this point my companion actually imploded in on himself and became a miniature black hole which was a little bit weird but it turned out to be a temporary condition) needless to say were very happy to be working with henry. he's a little bit busy with schooling right now but he's still really excited to learn and wants to become a member as soon as possible. we also picked up a new investigator named sundi this last week as well. it's kind of an interesting situation with sundi because he works full time at a laundry mat that is usually empty so we've been teaching him there, in between customers. he loves learning about the gospel though and really looks forward to our visits. now we also had a pretty cool experience with yolanda yesterday. yolanda has been wanting to come to church since we met her but she lives about an hour’s travel (by bus) away from the chapel so we've been trying to organize a ride for her. the last two weeks things never worked out and by a series of different circumstances she wasn't able to come. so this week we set up what we thought was a fool proof plan to get her to church only to find out, about a half an hour into sacrament meeting, that the member who was getting her there wasn't able to come to church. we were devastated. and then ten minutes later we were surprised to see yolanda walk into sacrament meeting and take a seat near the front. she explained to us afterward that when her ride didn't show up she decided that she was going to get herself there and so figured out the multiple bus transfers and took the hour travel, got lost twice and still somehow made it into church!!!! and she loved the service and loved the people and she can't wait to come back! she loved relief society so much that she's actually already made plans to start coming to the relief society activities during the week!!! (insert a WHOOOOOOOT!!!! about right here)

i also would like to share a brief(ish) experience i had this week about the power of the temple. we don't get to go to the temple often as missionaries so when we do it's always a treasured experience. this last wednesday we had the last conference with president shamo as he is flying out at the end of this week so he invited all the missionaries to do one last session with him. so in order to get the most out of our temple experience my district all decided to go to the temple with a specific question that we wanted an answer to. i had a hard time deciding on one question (i didn't finalize it until i was actual inside the temple) but i got the answer in an incredibly powerful way before the session even began. it was just a testimony building experience to me that god hears and answers our prayers and if we need help or if we need a question answered he's given us ways we can find answers. through prayer, scripture study, and church attendance we can grow in our understanding and can draw closer to god. he loves us very much and wants each of us to do well.

i love you guys and i'm grateful for all of your support. i love being a missionary and this gospel more than i could ever describe with a bunch of squiggly lines on a computer screen. but i try anyways :)

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. the best way to deal with awkward situations such as a surprise discovery of a chinese family in your bathroom is just to state things clearly and communicate effectively, in this way most crisis’s can be averted.

pps. is it possible to cook pot stickers in a pan?. . . would they then be called pan stickers? who even thought of microwaving them anyways?

ppps. in case anyone is still confused the use of the expression "ps." is an abbreviated version of the term "post script" thus the use of "pps" would mean post-post script. in this way the use of the expression "pss." would mean post script script which would make no sense. . . just a thought

Me gustaría anunciar que mi padre nunca le ha dado un mono de una ducha

{note from his family... if you translate the title line of this week's email from spanish it says i would like to announce that my father never gave a monkey a shower}

dear children of anyone of the fatherly variety,

i will begin this letter with a word of wisdom. . . . .

now for the rest of this publication i will describe the happenings of my previous week. our week was a topsy turvey of all sorts of missionary activities mixed in with sunshine, rain, and a fair amount of pasta. i've learned quite a bit on my mission about the importance of patience. the scriptures are full of accounts of people progressing in the gospel and while they do highlight some instances of immediate and extraordinary changes of heart, there is still the message of slow and steady progression building line upon line and precept upon precept. i've learned that as we increase and exercise faith in jesus christ we grow in our understanding and our hope increases over time. and then as we continue to do all that we can we may face opposition but we will continue in the power of the grace of jesus christ. i've seen this happen many different times with people we teach and many different times in my own life and in the life of missionaries i've served with. the great news of this week is that yolanda is progression very much in the gospel at this point. we weren't able to see her for a pretty long time because of some health issues but when we did we were surprised to find out that she had read more than half of the book of mormon in-between visits. the funny thing was that she just kept on apologizing that she hadn't yet been able to read the whole thing. her desire to follow jesus christ and learn of him is an attribute that i admire and wish that i had been able to find much earlier in my life.

i've also had many different experiences that reconfirmed my faith in the power of revelation. as we work through the week one of the biggest questions missionaries face is where can i go and what can i do to best fulfill my purpose. and as we seek to find answers to this question we are often guided without even realizing that we’re being guided. we had an experience where we were looking for an address where a former investigator lived and we were having trouble finding it so we decided to go street contacting in the surrounding area instead. and about three minutes later we stopped a lady who was actually being currently taught by missionaries in the london north mission. and while we were talking to her another man came up to us and started talking and then, when seeing we were engaged he apologized and said he would wait till we were finished. we finished talking to that lady and turned to see what is was that this man wanted. he apologized for bothering us and then pointed at the book of mormon in my hand and asked if it would be possible for him to get a copy of that book. we happily obliged. he then asked us if there was a local church nearby and when we answered in the affirmative he asked if he could attend as soon as possible. we once again were pleased to say yes. then he asked us if it would be possible to meet at some time later and talk more about our church, jesus christ, and the book of mormon. and then, after taking a moment to resuscitate my companion, we said yes and scheduled a return appointment. my point is that as long as we’re trying to do what the lord wants us to do, and following the gospel of jesus christ, and seeking for his help in our lives, we will be guided and strengthened in our efforts even if we do not recognize the guidance and the promptings and the progress we are making.

the gospel is really kinda cool that way :)

i love you guys and i'm grateful for your support and your prayers.

always remember, if you give a man a fish you feed him for a meal, but if you give a man a magic fish you feed him for a lifetime

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. for all those who seek to make others lie about love of fist bumping, consider yourself reprimanded.

pps. i think it's really kind of fun how you can add post scripts to anything and it doesn't actually have to make any sense or have anything to do with what you've been writing about.

ppps. the olympics are coming and it's getting kinda crazy!

pppps. tomatoes are not a fruit because they would not and cannot ever feel at home in a fruit salad. . . .think about it

in all honesty you probably would look a lot less like a baboon if you didn't eat so much orange chicken

Dear those of you who eat breakfast regularly,

what a week what a week. the rain has returned and the brolleys are loose, and a long with it a whole shower of miracles and blessing and amazing experiences have been poured out from heaven much like custard over a nice after dinner pudding (side note: pudding doesn't actually have to mean pudding. . . . think about it) one might even compare it to a strawberry avalanche.

i can honestly say that this time of my life has easily been the most fun and most rewarding time that i have ever experienced. i really think i'm starting to annoy my companion with how many times i will randomly vocalize just how much fun i'm having.

one of the most remarkable miracles we've experienced this last week happened when we met with an investigator named yolanda for the first time. she told us some of her story about her history with the church. apparently she met missionaries for the first time in columbia when she was sixteen and she really enjoyed meeting with them and had a lot of questions. but because of a series of circumstances she was not able to continue with the discussions at that time but ever since then she has always wanted to read the book of mormon and learn more about the church. lo and behold about forty years later we meet her on the street with a book of mormon in hand. (when she told us about this i basically was excited and happy in multiple ways that cannot be described in my language so instead i resorted to reformed egyptian. . . . ) she's super exited to learn more about the church and has enthusiastically started reading the book of mormon (although in her case it's el libro de mormon) and has marked up the words and phrases that she feel are particularly interesting to her. (i actually don't have a point to this parenthetical statement but i decided to insert it here anyways because i realized that i've had an unusual amount so far in this weekly epistle).

another experience that i want to relate was during the zone training that we had yesterday. i had my last interview with president shamo due to the fact that he will be finishing his mission in just a few weeks. we spoke a lot about how he's enjoyed his mission and about the changes he's seen while he's been here. what we actually said during the interview was immaterial though. president shamo is a person that will make you feel better about yourself just by being in his presence. it's an attribute i have only found in maybe one or two people that i've met in my life. i don't know how he does it but every single person who spends time around him is instantly lifted and blessed by the spirit that he brings. i thought about it a lot and about how much this man has helped me in the short time that i know him and i realized something. i want to be that kind of person as well. the kind of person who lifts those around him. i want to be the kind of person that helps others see the good in themselves and helps them find more strength and faith. now that i think about it more i realize that this is an attribute that the savior exemplified in his earthly ministry (as he did with basically any good attribute ever), he lifted those around him. every person that he came into contact with was lifted in some way. some people rejected the help he brought it is true but all those that were willing to be helped received help from him. his gospel is a gospel of love and service, as followers of christ we are to diligently try to follow his example, especially those of us who have taken his name upon us. he has lifted us all and blessed us all with his selfless example of service and love and especially with his incredible gift of the atonement. i love him and i'm so so so grateful for all that he has done for me. this is why i'm here in england. this is why i'm on a mission. because i love my savior. if i can do anything to help anyone draw even slightly closer to the love of the savior i will do everything within my power to help them along that path.

i know i've said this a thousand times before but the church is true and this gospel is the answer to all the questions that we and those we love face in life. we have the gospel and we have the gift to be able to, with the savior help, lift those around us.

love you all and i'm grateful for the support i have and still receive from each of you.

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. for all whom it concerns: summer turns you upside down, summer summer summer is like a merry go round. . . think about that.

pps. i may or may not have been able to fit the word swagger in this e-mail but i think that it's kind of a weird word anyways so you can be the judge . .

June 4th, 2012 {if you feed a liger tomatoes, you may need to move to zimbabwe}

dear anyone that continued reading despite previous subject lines,

let’s talk about life,

life is a two things really. one, life is a board game that i have never really enjoyed playing because it seems that someone always just happens to pick the doctor card and then basically has an automatic win because that doctor is going to be making 100,000 dollars every three squares for the rest of the game! i can't compete with that! especially since i always seem to end up with something weird like "computer designer" or " "accountant", who for some reason has a less successful life because the said occupant doesn’t make a s much money as the doctor! like how much money you get is any sort of indicator of how successful your life is. whoever made that game needs the gospel . . . . .  anyways.

two, life is also the funnest thing that we get to do basically ever. if you aren’t enjoying life, you probably aren't doing it right. think about it. . . . no YOU think about it.

so the work here in staines is going really well. it's a lot busier than my last area and there is also a lot more diversity so i get to meet people from basically anywhere all the time. its great! we (meaning me and elder pond) have made it a personal goal of ours to make the book of mormon the focus of all our finding efforts here in stains. so with everyone we meet we bring their attention to the little blue book in our hands as soon as we possibly can. (if they don't ask first which they do quite often) and i've seen some amazing things happen because of it. we've met some people who have heard all sorts of things about "dem dern mormons!" and don't want to hear anything about it, yet soften up immediately when we bring their attention to the book of mormon and then bear testimony of it. we had a pretty cool experience just a few days ago where we stopped a guy and as soon as he saw our badges he went off on a tirade about all the things that mormons supposedly do (which we don't) and just how wrong we were. he at one point said that he would never read the book of mormon because he didn't believe that what it taught is the same thing christ would teach (which is funny) we just sat there and let him have his fun then when he was about finished we bore our testimonies about the book of mormon and how much it has helped each of us draw closer to christ in our lives. the man stopped talking and then looked down at the book of mormon in my hands. then he looked back up at me and asked if we could possibly give him a copy. (insert moment of silence for appreciation of just how awesome an experience this is) we saw this guy turn a complete 180 in a matter of about thirty seconds! it was awesome!

(complete change of direction begins here) training has been a very humbling experience for me so far. elder pond has the most incredible desire to serve god continually and is often times pushing me forward when i'm tired or for whatever reason not preforming as well as i am capable. and as i seek to teach him and help him understand the basics of missionary work i am continually learning myself and often times learn new truths even as i teach them to him. i know that the lord is guiding this work and it's incredibly humbling for me to think that he has trusted me with so much to do here in this "sceptered isle" as elder holland put it. i feel that i am continually standing on the shoulders of giants and following in the footsteps of great men and great missionaries that have come before me. for example in this area every person i've met knows and loves Elder Folkerson. he set a great example and did a lot of great work here. and now i'm here from the same place and working for the same cause i'm just striving constantly to live up to the example he left behind. i love this work and love this gospel. the more i learn the more i love everything about it. the more deep i go the more i realize just how simple and pure everything in the gospel is and how everything will always tie back to the incredible sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for each of us. i'm here to do his work. i love you all and am always grateful for the support you give me.

with love

elder jarman

ps. in a crowded stake center it is always quite possible for a words to sound similar to other words. for example juniper and jupiter could easily get confused for one another.

pps. i firmly believe that bananas are the breakfast of champions, hence the reason monkeys don't need to hibernate

ppps. what would YOU do for a klondike bar?

May 28th, 2012 {of all the fred's i've known, stan was the only one we called charlie}

dear anyone that either writes left handed or has wished for a popsicle on a hot day in the past,

so ya i'm kinda in a different country than i was the time before the last time i wrote you guys.  my letter last week was written really soon after i got to my new area so i didn't really know just how different the difference was yet. basically i live probably about twenty miles away from where i used to live but i might as well have moved to a completely different mission! this is so cool. i have been told before in the past that this mission is incredibly diverse and that each area is like working in a new mission but until recently (as in last week) i had not yet experienced the kablamowhoosh effect as i call it. so epsom was more of a quite kind of suburban area where a lot of the english people that worked in london would live, staines is like greater london where basically anyone that came from anywhere lives! it's so cool! and i'm absolutely loving working here and working with elder pond as well we've had some great experiences with the ward and with investigators so far.

the very first thing that we covered was i had to introduce elder pond to the concept of crumpets. then when we had covered all other incredibly necessary material we hit the streets and went contacting. this kid is a natural1 he has a great love and desire to serve every single person we meet or see or speak to that has ever existed and that ever will exist. i mean like really this kid is the dictionary definition of hardworking service. in all basicallity he is the one who is training me. . . . for the second time.

so a few things about the people i've met out here so far and the things we've been doing. we have an investigator named andre who was investigating with the missionaries who were here before us. he's a thirty something year old english guy who works as a barrister (english terminology for lawyer) and is very intelligent. he's really interested in learning about the church and has been looking for a new church for a while now. and when i say looking i mean like really looking. as in he's investigated nearly every church you could think of.  we also are teaching a lady named doris who is really really cool. she is from bolivia and was raised in the catholic church. she has told us though that she's never really felt at home there and never really liked to go. she asked us about how we felt when we went to church. we told that it's something that we look forward to every week, she said that that’s something she has never had but really wants for herself. she also told us that she wants to go to a church where she can feel the same peace that she does while she is reading the book of mormon. we were more than happy to explain to her what exactly that peaceful feeling is and what she can do to have it more often :)  she told us that she would love to be baptized but that she just wants to see if that feeling is at our church before she does it soooooo things are going pretty darn good! (side note: i picked up the use of the word darn from my new companion. . . .  he's from nebraska)

now on to business! google is still the most used search engine in the world and the stock market is full of lines and graphs.

in other news we've had some amazing miracles this week as we've really started to focus all of our finding efforts on the book of mormon. we've set a goal to introduce and use the book of mormon with every person we meet on the street each day (which is a lot) and i am continually amazed at just the amount of power that this book has. something that i've taken to doing lately is i've been seeking to be able to show people just how much the book of mormon can apply to their own lives. so with every person we talk to we always find a book of mormon passage that applies to them (which is easy because all of it applies pretty much all the time always) then we read with them from the book of mormon. i can tell you that there is really power in the words of the book of mormon. anytime we read with someone you can see a change come over them. they feel the spirit and then desire to have this great book for themselves. and the more i read it myself the more i'm amazed at just how personal and specific the book of mormon is to all the challenges and problems that we will face in our lives. i love this book and i love sharing it!

with love

Elder Jarman

 ps. how come soy bean is so good yet tofu is not so good as soy bean is good so?

pps. from where i am sitting i can see no less than three books describing how to improve your psychic power. . . . . . .

ppps. i'm not sure if i've mentioned this but missionary work is basically the funnest thing i have ever ever ever done :)

May 21st, 2012 {no one needs to worry. fan's knows how to give birth}

Dear people who i used to write to from a different place than then place that i'm a writing from now,

so i have some news. "oh what’s your news michael? did you do anything exciting this week?" oh no perfectly orchestrated imaginary voice i din't do anything too exiting. you know just the usual like eating breakfast, made some jokes about bubbles and elephants that blow and them, oh and what else. I'M WHITEWASH DISTRICT LEADER TRAINING. sewaderplaegadleshnia!!!!!!! (this is how i shout in surprise and excitement when i am imitating an ewok that eats way to many protein shakes)

yes yes it is true i have left yonder fair land of epsom after spending an amazing six months with them even more amazing people that reside there and have moved to yonder province (see i can say that because it actually is a province) of staines. my new companion is absolutely amazing. i'm going to have to tell you guys a brief story about when i we were assigned together. see how they do assignments in this mission is in a process called the sorting hat. (because were in england it's pretty clever) where all the trainers and all the new missionaries all go together into a big room. where the new missionaries then stand up and introduce themselves to the trainers. so during this process when we were all standing there nervously trying to receive revelation about which missionary we would be assigned to train elder pond (who is my new companion btw) and said for what his hobbies are that he enjoys serving others. at which point i leaned over to another missionary and said "well he's going to do well". then much to my surprise President Shamo called my name to train the missionary that i had just been complimentarily been predicting the future in behalf of. i was all like WaHO! and he was all like HEY! and i was like WhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaT! and then we went on to travel to the new area of assignment that we are now currently residing in>? the new area seems to be fantastic the ward even more so. it's been kinda crazy so far because the last missionaries had a lot of appointments already set up so we've been trying to figure out how to get around so that we won't miss anyone but so far we have been able to avoid (mostly) all harm or incident. i don't have much time now but i will be sure to inform you guys of all the misadventure me and my new companion have and will be getting up to in this land of staines. until then take care, (or in jonathan's case take car), keep being alive, and brush your teeth at least twice a day.

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. this is a shout out to all those that enjoy to shout!

pps. my new address is

12 viridian court

Ashford Road

Fetham, Middlesex

TW13 4SD

for all those that are interested

ppps. the secret is breathing :)

her are pictures from that camera that i took them with!

number 1 a picture of me with my President and Sister Shamo an my new companion!!!!

dos a picture of my call home

three the classic walk away

dontaclioshamanda (welch) from left to right (my brother, my father, me, and my son!

May 16th, 2012 {jessops doesn't sell baguettes! they sell camera's!}

dear reader,

for whom it may concern i have decided to inform that as of yesterday i am no longer residing in the area in and around the city of epsom. i have been henceforth called to travel to yonder province of staines. therefore i will whitewash the area and commence training a new missionary whom i will meet later this eve. i will also continue in the calling i have henceforth been fulfilling of district leader. mine heart sorrows to leave the area of mine green but i look forward with brightness of hope in the commencement of future serve. i will most likely give further correspondence tomorrow morn while mine posterity is writing to his home to inform them of his safe arrival. if possible i will include with mine epistle a photo of said posterity.

i now close with mine love and the promise of future correspondence.

with sincerity and completely wax free,

Elder Jarman

ps. i can see a really really really old church from where i'm writing. . .  if that explains anything

pps. i'm not sure if anyone knew this or remembered this but i really love kit kat's. also the kit kat's here are in some mysterious way better than the ones at home. no one really knows why

May 14th, 2012 {two reds six blues and nineteen that need to find a new hobby}

dear people that use this($) instead of this(£), so i'm going to have to
apologize in advance about the brevity of this letter. (look i used a cool
word that basically just means shortness). we don't have much time to e-mail
today because it is moves week. so i guess i'll give you a brief
re-capulation of mine activities thus hence. this last week we had a Great
time teaching.
i'm not sure i mentioned them in my last letter but over the weekend we
found two new investigators named Tom and Ed. they're art students at a
local art university. Tom has an uncle who recently became a member a few
years ago and tom has been really curious about what could make his uncle
want to change his life completely from the person he used to be to the
person he is now. so we explained to them about what it means to have a
change of heart and we also taught them the restoration. it was a really
good teach and they both were very interested and even took notes about
things they really liked. we saw them again on thursday and found that they
had not only read the chapter we left for them (alma 32) but that they had
also made an art project about it. full of flashing lights and musical
colors and all sort of artsy inspired hooliganery that was really quite
enjoyable.
unfortunately they are going to be really busy with the end of term so were
not going to be able to see them for two weeks :( but they were really
excited to learn more and accepted the invitation to be taught via e-mail
until they have enough time to meet with us again.

oh and a little something else as well. THE WHITES CAME TO CHOOOORURCH (say
with a whoop in tonality) they had a great time there as well and their very
excited to continue coming and partaking of the sacrament and keeping
covenants and all that jazz that new orleans is so famous for (the above
statement actually really has nothing to do with new orleans or jazz and
would probably be best if just completely ignored) we taught them today
about the priesthood, especially about the blessing that it is to have the
priesthood in their home. they were very excited about it and Dom just kept
on talking about how amazing that would be for them. we also taught them
about the temple.
specifically the opportunity we have to be sealed to our family for
eternity. they want to go to the temple so bad i'm so excited for
them!!!!!!! oh ya i kinda like doing this whole missionary thing.

well that's all i have time to write about currently buuuuuuut i do promise
that if anything else comes up (like what kind of shennenegains is going
down this wednesday with moves) i will let you guys know. probably on
wednesday for that matter.

well as one of my personal heroes would say  ta ta for now T-T-F-N with
sincerity (seriously) elder jarman

ps. yes the subject is subjective i'm sure someone can figure it out ;)


pps. in other news everything is green

ppps. Exclamation point !

May 8th, 2012 {those who do not juggle tofu must always avoid staw mannequins}

dear people i usually e-mail on mondays,

yes yes i know it's tuesday and my e-mail is one day late calm down (that means you mom) i'm not dead! see what happened is that every once in a while here banks go on holidays. don't ask me why it happens or even how it can be physically possible. i don't understand. but unfortunately while the banks are busy dusting off their grass skirts all the public libraries seem to want to join in as well so long story short i now have a strange but undeniable affinity for pineapple. we had an amazing week last week! like i know i usually say that but we had a really amazing week. we just had miracle after miracle after miracle after crumpet after miracle. we met so many new people that are interested in learning about the gospel it's unreal! one of my favorites (except for i don't have favorites) is a family we met. Lee and Nicky who just had a daughter 5 months ago named Zoe. we met with them last monday and Lee especially has been so prepared! he's been a lifelong atheist and never really had an interest in anything religious but because of some crazy circumstances and spiritual experiences he's been having lately (i'm guessing surrounding the birth of his new daugher) he has started to feel like there must be a god. i really just can't wait to go see them again and see them progress! also we met an art student named Ed who lives really close to our flat the other day. we had a great conversation with him on the street and left him with a book of mormon and he told us he was going to read from it soon. apparently as soon as he got home he set it on his desk and his roommate, Tom, came into the room and was super surprised to see the book of mormon there. he told  Tom that his uncle recently became a member and that he himself has had a lot of questions because of it. so he had Ed call us and say that he really wanted to learn more. when we met with him later tom told us that his uncle used to be a hooligan of sorts (not exact wording) but that after he found the church he completely changed his life stopped his shenenegenizing (paraphrase), found an amazing wife, and started a just as amazing family. so tom's basic question was what about your church could make someone like his uncle want to completely change his life. we were more than happy to answer his question. we also had a great slash hectic week with the whites. becky had a severe allergic reaction to some of the medication that she's been given to help her overcome her addictions so she had to go to the hospital for most of the weekend. the plus side of it though is that now the doctors were able to medically detox her so that she won't be dependent at all anymore! she still has some pills she needs to take for the next two weeks that make her quite drowsy but she's rapidly improving. great things are happening :)

i think at a previous time i might have mentioned that i really really really like being a missionary and that a mission is basically the best thing that i have ever done ever and that everyone that can needs to try this because it is the best thing ever. but just in case i haven’t i just want you all to know that i really really really like being a missionary and that a mission is basically the best thing that i have ever done ever and that everyone that can needs to try this because it is the best thing ever.

i think that about sums it up:)

love you all

Elder Jarman

ps. if you think about it tulips should be called like six lips or something because they don't look anything like lips.

pps. alma 26 is rapidly becoming one of my favorite chapter in the book of mormon i especially love the part in verse 16 when ammon says "Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord?" the rest of the verse is amazing as well but you guys will have to look it up for yourselves ;)

ppps. post the post the posted script!

April 30th, 2012 {if you wanted a viola then why did you ask for vinegar shaped chicken nuggets?}

terita mita orro!

how is everyone doing? what’s that? your all doing great all the time! that’s good news! so am i!. in other news the gospel is true and the book is blue.

we had a really interesting week filled with talking and walking and teaching and testifying with just a smidgeon of death defying (do not worry death was, in all cases, defied) i think i will share a few different cool (slang word for awesome) experiences that i've had this week because that is what i usually do when i e-mail on mondays.

so first off we visited a recently reactivated member named alan this week. i don't think i've told you about him before. he had been coming around for the last three months to church and as far as i could tell has been really enjoying it. he wasn't there last week though so we dropped by his place to see if anything had happened. when we got there he excitedly let us in and told us that he had only not come to church this week because he had been at his parents home up north for the weekend. what's more he told us that he had been really sorry that he had missed church all week and was really looking forward to being able to go this week. he told us that since he had been coming around to church he had noticed that everything in his life had improved. his relationship with his wife was better he was having a better time at work and he had begun to read the scriptures in his own time and actually had begun to understand them. it was really cool to see just how much just attending church has influenced his life. when he first started coming back it was just because his wife was making him and he didn't really participate much but as he kept on coming around the spirit started working on him and he has made a complete turnaround in just a few months. it really just cemented for me just how important church attendance is and just how much of an influence it has on every aspect of our lives.

we also had a pretty cool experience this week as we were following up on a potential investigator named valeria. her husband answered the door and after a little talk on the doorstep he let us in. he told us that he is deeply religious and is actually a preacher for a local pentacostal church. he currently has over 5,000 "disciples" that he meets with each week! he invited us in so that he could share with us as "fellow men of god” some things he had recently learned from the bible. he had come up with a lot of different theories from reading genesis about why god created adam and what purpose the fall served. after he explained his theories we were quite happy to show him second nephi chapter two which agreed with most of the theories that he had come up with. he was very interested and invited us to come back sometime this next week to talk more about the book of mormon. and (being brazilian) he would not let us leave his house without feeding us something. (side note missionaries in brazil probably don't have to set aside time for meals during the day, they probably just go knocking and then get fed by everyone they meet).

for my third and final experience that i feel like sharing this week i will talk about a story that i will explain after i finish this quite long and mostly pointless introductory sentence that serves no purpose whatsoever at all. when we went contacting yesterday it was raining (it does that sometimes in engalnd) and we weren't having a lot of success so i said a prayer where i basically said that i would do anything to find a contact where we were. immediately after i finished i noticed a group of teenagers at the edge of a park. we don't usually talk to teenagers in groups just because well. . . they're teenagers. . .  in groups. . . and as such they usually act how you would expect a bunch of teenagers to act (side note sometimes i forget i'm still a teenager). so i was a little bit hesitant about acting on the prompting. but after some deliberate deliberation i resolved to try it out because you really never know. we walked up to them and explained that we were missionaries talking about god. first off they all just sort of laughed and told us that they were all atheists and such and didn't really care but as we continued to talk to them i noticed something interesting. first off that teenagers in england really aren’t' that different from the ones that i'm used to from back home, and secondly they all had some questions. some trivial but also some very serious. we talked to all of them for nearly twenty minutes about god and about the purpose of our lives and by the end of it we had gotten to know nearly all of them and had answered some serious questions of the soul. we were able to hand out some different church materials and many of them said they would continue looking into it.  as long as we are sincerely seeking revelation with the real intent to act on the promptings we receive so that we can do heavenly father's will and bring about good he will guide us. it may not be in the way that we expect and it most definitely won’t be the path of least resistance, but he will guide us nonetheless. i've learned this on my mission more times and in more ways than i could possibly try to explain by e-mail. i know this church is true and i know that god loves every one of us because he is our father and we our his children. and that is pretty cool! (understatement alert!)

i love you guys and i'm incredibly grateful for your advice and your continued support.

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. i popped a balloon by throwing a pass along card! so everyone should be kinda proud of me

pps. i'm not sure if anyone has tried this but vinegar and salt on chips (large french fries) is ridiculously good!

April 23rd, 2012 {keep your companion close but your nerf gun closer}

dear Utahnites of moriancum,

well as it turns out it happens to be a p-day again so i happen to be writing to all those people i knew before i began to write e-mails weekly to people i that i write to weekly.

so in other words here is a weekly e-mail (YAY) so we've had an amazing week this week in both areas of my district. being a district leader is hard and does require a lot more than being a not a district leader missionary but it is so rewarding. i love being able to hear about the miracles that are just simply poured upon the members of my district each day. it's also really cool because everyone in my district is in the same ward as well so i get to see the people they teach on sundays as well! so we had a very rewarding week with the white family again. they've been having some trouble with their scripture study because they’re not really used to the way things are phrased in the book of mormon. (quick example: whithersoever which means simply wherever) so we spent some time with them this week reading the book of mormon with them and helping them to understand the things that the different verses teach. it was amazing to see how quickly they progressed in their ability to understand. at first when i asked them what they thought a verse meant they would always immediately respond with "keep the commandments!" or "read your scriptures!" because that was what we had been teaching them previously. but as we continued to read with them and define the more book-of-mormon-ish words for them they really started to be able to pick things up on their own. and the more amazing effect is that they would then understand how the scripture would apply to their own lives and their own circumstances. they weren't able to come to church this week because of  frequently occurring family emergencies :(  but we’re going to go see them on tuesday to really teach them about just how important the sacrament is in keeping the spirit with us. we also had a cool experience finding this week. there is a town at the very edge of our area call bookham that i have never ever been to before. mostly because it was in the boonies of the boonies behind the last town anyone even knows about. but as i was looking at our area map last saturday i noticed bookham, it did not have any streets highlighted (what we do after we knock them) on it and i realized that there was in fact a town that i had never been to. this was quite a shock because for a while now i've felt like i know every street and half the people in the epsom area. so we decided to go down there for a day and try the water. (somewhat of a literal expression due to the fact that in light of recent weather conditions i have redefined my definition of what it means to be "raining") after a bit of contacting we met a girl named rosie who told us she knew a mormon. we were exited and asked her if it was someone from the area. she responded yes. she was good friends with a certain paul leppard who just so happens to be our elders quorom president whose house we had been at just an hour before! then after we taught her a little bit about the book of mormon we invited her to be taught and she told us that she was interested in learning more but that if she was going to start learning she would like to have paul and his wife be there as well. (i can honestly say that that was the first time a street contact has asked ME if I would be willing to have a member present lesson) we agreed to her condition quite readily.

i think i might have just mentioned this beforehand but i really really kinda like being a missionary and the gospel is pretty great too. WOOOOOOOT

oh and the church is true!

with love

elder jarman

ps. have i ever not placed any script post of my letter?

pps. there has been a small dodo bird following me around lately.  he seems to respond to the name sheldon and to 1920 show tunes. if anyone has any information regarding the owner please let me know before my companion decided to eat him.

ppps.alma thirty might just be the funniest chapter of the book of mormon

April 16th, 2012 {"you know speaking of contact lenses i accidentally once kicked someone in the face while playing leapfrog"..."what?"}

dear all those who occasionally take time to gaze at stars, i have had quite
an interesting week this last week of my mission. in one fell swoop the
entire mission pretty much got turned on its head.
we had sixteen new missionaries coming in this last transfer and we have 24
coming in next transfer. along with that most of the older more "seasoned"
missionaries are dropping faster than crumbs at a biscuit eating contest. so
long story short, change has come and the work goes on. (yay modern day
revelation!)  so my new companion is named elder atkinson and he is also
from yorkshire (me got da nudder yorkie). he's been out only one transfer
more than me so were both pretty young which is kinda a new experience
because i didn't meet any missionaries that had been out even less than a
year for my first three transfers.
in other news we met with the whites again this week. they've been going
through a lot of struggles in trying to come back to the church and face
opposition on all sides. dom and bobby especially though are really
dedicated to changing their lives. they've been reading the book of mormon
as a family (even when they didn't understand it) and they also committed to
start saying prayers as a family both in the morning and at night. WHOOOOT!
this family has a long road back to the church but they have their feet
pointed in the right direction and i am so grateful that i'm able to be here
to witness the miraculous change that has been coming forth in this family
as i would say back home odalalli odalalli odalalli day (i did say that
occasionally i promise) it's amazing to see people make changes in their
life even when constantly confronted with a whole hippopotamus of problems.
i've learned more and more as i've worked with less actives, that any
problem people have in life that draws them away rather than toward the
church stems from an incomplete understanding of the doctrine. if people
really understood the doctrine of the plan of salvation, and understood it
to be a reality we wouldn't be overwhelmed when we are called to face
trials. we would understand that what we face is a necessary part of our
development. if we completely understood the doctrine that god is our
heavenly father and that we are all children of him and brothers and sisters
to each other in fact and not just as a pleasant metaphor we would have an
easier time respecting and loving those we meet each day. every question we
have about this life or the next has an answer and it is always in the
doctrine. if a principle of the gospel does not seem to be working in our
life it is not because the principle is not true it is because we are not
applying the principle into our lives correctly. god doesn't change. we do.
i love this gospel because it is just so simple and it has the answers to
all of our questions. i love the book of mormon and i'm so grateful that i
have had the opportunity to learn from it for my entire life. i know that we
have prophets and apostles on the earth today and i am so grateful that we
have this blessing in our lives. and that's why i love being on a mission so
much because i'm able to share the happiness and peace that the gospel
brings me with my fellow sons and daughters of god with all my time and
attention.
everybody i have good news!
the church is true :)

with love
Elder Jarman

ps. have i ever mentioned how much i love pineapple

pps. i really really love pineapple






pictures aranged according to smell
1.sometimes our zone makes pyramids
2.we did one for them to cuz they got cut out of the big one. . . .
3. my companion may or may not be wearing a duck on his head
4.a wizard man sighting!!!!

1. we got a gift from one of the irish sisters. . . . no more explanation
required
2.hey look i met elder casey again!!!!
3.i met hedwig!!! and she's angry!
4. a picture of a completely normal post conference chat.