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.