the only real problem with phone booths comes after flossing but long before your afternoon nap

dear anyone who is not currently writing what it is that you are currently reading,

curazy changes have happened this last week. first and foremost is probably the fact that i now officially have a new mission president whose name is president millar. i actually got to meet him the first day he was here which was really cool. he is from idaho originally but lived and worked in st. george. he is a heart surgeon (worked under elder nelson btw) and has a pretty big medical practice back in the states. one of the coolest things about him, that i know of so far, is that he was an assistance to  president Bruce R. McConkie on his mission! He seems to be a really really amazing guy and i'm super exited to be working with him for the rest of my mission.

 in other news (i'm not sure if i've mentioned this yet) i'm staying in staines for at least the next six weeks (i'm hoping to pull an Elder Folkerson and stay for a year). and i'll be staying with elder pond as well. it's really great as well because everyone from my district is staying as well and most of the zone is staying the same too. it's really nice because in my last area the entire zone was basically changes every single transfer so it's nice to know that i'm going to be around these people for longer. we had a great week this week as far as teaching and finding are concerned probably the most notable miracle of the week would happen to be the fact that yolanda now has a baptismal date !!!! (insert a reasonable amount of confetti throwing at this point, it doesn't have to be crazy multicolored confetti if you don't have the resources you could just use some cut up bits of packing peanuts or maybe the stuff that’s left in the bottom of a paper hole puncher. you know just be creative) we had a bit of a scare when she wasn't able to come to church on sunday but we stopped by after to see how she was doing and she was a little bit ill but very excited about what she had read in the book of mormon since the last time we had met, she had actually started marking her scriptures as well (whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaT!) she's really excited to make this step and i'm really really excited as well. unfortunately we weren't able to meet with henry or sundi this week because they're both been really busy but we should be seeing them again soon. the work here in staines is going really really well :)

i've been studying about what we need to do to have really effective study a lot lately and i've noticed a really interesting connection in both preach my gospel and in the scriptures. preach my gospel says that "studying is an act of faith and requires the use of our personal agency" and the scriptures say "seek learning even by study and also by faith" so i've spent a lot of time thinking about what we need to do to learn by study and by faith. the way i see it we have to have faith when we study because we need to believe that we can learn by the power and gift of the holy ghost when we study otherwise we won't be expecting to learn anything and therefore won't learn anything. it's much the same way that i'm not going to get up and press a light switch if i don't believe that it is going to turn on the light. so in this way i have to have faith in the revelatory power of the holy ghost when i study so that i can rely more on that power when i seek learning. we also need to seek learning by study which is where we exercise our personal agency. we need to do all that we can to make connections, pay attention, and seek to understand the gospel as we study if we are going to use our personal agency. the lord told oliver cowdery that he needed to "study it out in his mind" instead of just ask. in this way we can the process of learning is in respect to how we use our agency. so instead of having information forced into our brains without any effort on our part instead the lord gives us the opportunity to truly learn. and it is when we "diligently seeketh" that "and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost"(1nephi 10:19) it's become a habit in my study and in my church attendance that when i do not feel that i am learning anything new i ask myself "what more can i be doing to learn" and i've found that in this way i'm able to be more aware of the many things that i am not doing. you see, there is always more that we can be doing. and as i've applied this principle of seeking learning by study and by faith i've been greatly blessed with more understanding of the precious doctrines and principles of the gospel.

have i ever mentioned that i really really love the gospel :)



with love

Elder Jarman



Ps. okay i've now received at least two letters where the post scripts are at the beginning of the letter. . . . i'm not sure if i'm really comfortable with this. . . .



pps.thumbs are meant to be fun, if you don't believe me look at the monkeys



ppps. no i mean i like really really really like the gospel!!! just so you know :)