nerf guns may be used for object lessons on the conditon that you have both the creativity and a box big enough to sneak them past the bishop

dear long summer breakers,

did you know that the summer break is only six weeks in England! it's alright though because they have tons of bigger small breaks thoughout the year.

so i will start this letter by relating some news relevant to my last area. i just got the news that yolanda has been confirmed a member now (by elder pond) and is fully working her way into the work of the kingdom. elder pond told me that she's been referring more of her friends and that her niece has been progressing well since yolanda's baptism. as well yolanda went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for the first time last Saturday. yes seeing someone enter the gate of baptism is amazing. but it is just as rewarding, if not more so, to see them travel down the path of discipleship in the lord’s kingdom.

the work in farnborough as well is taking off. we started teaching a man from ghana named justice this week. he knew members of the church back in ghana and has always wanted to know more about what the church believes and "what exactly is the book of Mormon". he found us quite willing to answer his request. as well we taught a very interesting elderly man named todd. todd is a historian who works in a local museum and as a past time repairs and creates vintage furniture. when we started teaching him he wasn't very open to the ideas of god and the gospel as an influence but as he asked us more about ourselves he became quite fixated on the sacrifice that missionaries make, he wanted to know why we do this service. missionary service is the most worthwhile thing i have ever done. ever. i have never been more Happy more fulfilled or more sure of myself as i have been on my mission. i have a clear idea of what the lord expects of me and even more incredibly i can know that what I'm doing is what the lord wants me to do. when i meet people on the street and i tell them about how much god loves them, about how powerful the atonement is, and the blessings they can have i am filled with an inexpressible joy. the Holy Ghost testifies of truth, and as i teach the doctrines of the kingdom the Holy Ghost often testifies to me, as well as those i am speaking to, the truthfulness of what is being said.

i have thought a lot this week about the connection between agency and the inspiration we receive. we are all familiar with the subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost. we all know what it feels like when you receive an impression to do something good, or not to do something bad. these impressions often come when we are seeking guidance, but we will also often receive these kind of promptings when we are minding our own business and doing things as we usually do. every time we receive an impression we are immediately faced with a choice. The Lord makes it clear that there is something that we should do, probably something we are not going to be entirely comfortable with, and then we have the choice whether to act on the impression or to ignore it. the lord will not force any person to do the good things, the better things, or the best things. it is our choice if we will do what he wants us to, if we will submit to his will. many times each day we will receive impressions and promptings, many different occasions where the lord will provide us with an opportunity to exercise our agency for good, for better, or for best. our responsibility as disciples of christ is to live worthily, pray fervently, and learn to recognize and follow courageously the Spirit’s guidance.

love you all sincerely

Elder Jarman

ps. never ever try and cut a swede's hair. ever.

pps.all packages will arrive at their intended destinations. no need to worry :)

ppps. i've (sort of) learned to juggle a foot(soccer)ball ! and i just wanted to tell everyone so that you could all spend a lot of daytime hours being proud of my accomplishment :-D

"three words elder, Jump. Ready. You?"

dear anyone who had the foresight to open this e-mail before attempting to
read it,
so i am now residing in the pleasant town of farnborough (pronounced
farn-burra) with my new Swedish companion Elder Linde`n (pronounced lindian
by those who can and linden by those who can't) so far I've been really
gratefull to be here in farborough and really grateful to be able to work
with elder linden (I'm one of those that can't :)  )  ranborough is a much
more residential area than staines and has a lot more houses as opposed to
the flats that make up the majority of my last area. so everyone is a
Little bit more spread out. it's a beautiful are with lots of trees and
pleasant hills and knolls (we have knolls in England. whaaaaaaaaaat)  so
lets talk a little bit about the people. we're currently teaching a twenty
three year old named lucy who is the daughter of a returning less active
named mkaylia. mkayla works as a translator of ancient records at the local
museum. basically she goes and digs up old papyrus scrolls and such and
translates them from latin and ancient egyptian into english. i told her
that i basically consider her to have the coollest job of anyone that i've
ever met. lucy has a lot of interest in religion and her mkayla is strong
in her testimony so we're very hopeful for her progression. we've spent a
lot of time this week working with the amazing people in this ward. a lot
of the members here have great previous experiance in sharing the gospel
with their friends and are eager to do more for the missionary work. this
ward is amazing and i'm very grateful that i have this opportunity to work
with them. i have a good feeling that a lot of great things are going to be
happening in this area very soon :)

well i don't have much time today but i'm grateful for the support all of
you have given me and i just gotta tell you how much i love this work. A
lot!

i'm happy. are you happy? good. stay that way :)

with love
Elder Jarman

ps. my companion has the lion kind soundtrack in swedish. it's basically
the coolest thing ever.

pps. i found a place wher i can buy and 8th wheel of brie for a pound!

ppps. no annie, spaghetti is still just as good if you leave the meercats
out it. remember that

when the phone rings and your mouth is to busy with biscuits

dear mi familiars,
so quick update on the life and times of me in england. we had transfers
yersterday and my time in staines has ended. i was realy sad to leave
staines so soon after i had gotten there and also so soon after i was able
to see yolanda be baptised but fortunantly i happen to know that the lord
is directing this work. so i have been moved to another nearby area called
farnborough in hampshire. my new companion is Elder Linden from sweden. it
seems like a realy good area and were having some success already in the
short time i've been here. i'm exited for this transfer!

my new address is:
70 brand house
coombe way
farnborough, hampshire
gu14 7gd

for all those that feeel like sending paper or nick nacks or maybe some ink
in the shape of words, not neccessarily in that order. (graphite is
acceptable too if you so desire)

love you guys and can't wait to tell you about my first week in this area
on monday
with love
Elder Jarman

ps. i have yet to meet a lasso i haven't liked

pps. i have a balcony now! it's crazy!

what do you get when you mix scissors, old white trousers, and an english Macguiver

dear those who read written words,

gueeeeeeeeees what i saw yesterday!? the smallest apple tree ever!!!! that was only kinda cool though. what was really cool is when i saw yolanda get baptised! ( ahem . . . WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!)

so i would kinda say that that was kinda the highlight of my week. it was an incredible blessing to be here to witness this amazing woman find the gospel. i just feel blessed to be able to even know such a strong dedicated soul like yolanda. nothing could deter her from the gospel once she had learned of its truthfulness and now she's pressing forward with the same amount of dedication to spread the gospel to the rest of her family and to continue on the path towards the rest of eternity. we had the baptism about a half an hour after church yesterday, so it was kinda a crazy experience to get everything transitioned from church set up to we’re about to have a baptism set up. it all worked out in the end though, and even though me and elder pond were, and i quote "running around like two chickens with their head cut off", yolanda was perfectly calm and happy despite the hecticnessocitly of the situation. she also invited pretty much every other person that she knows to her baptism and bore an amazing testimony to all those present and then went around talking to everyone that came and set up appointments with them for a time when they could start meeting with us! ya she's pretty much the best.

i've been blessed amazingly so on my mission and i learn a little more each day about just how much god loves each of his children. it's amazing to see just how much each of us depend upon the atonement. and how much we receive each day despite each of us not really deserving any of it. baptism is the gate by which we enter the path that then leads to eternal life. it is a narrow gate and a long path but we can be sure that it does lead where god says it leads because god will not ever lie to us.

i love this church and i love this gospel i may have said this before but i love being a missionary!!

love you all and i'm grateful for your support

i feel and need your prayers

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. have i mentioned that i really really like being a missionary

pps. never mind who let the dogs out, Who's dogs were they anyway?

ppps. i'll send a picture story :)

then we took a picture in the rain

then we took a better picture and then we had a baptism 

then we had a celabratory feast

then we made and epic exit into the sunset

Monday, July 30th "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand STOP. i talk, you listen!"

dear those who ride summer merry go rounds,

let me tell you a story about summer olympics and why you probably should not try and stand in the way of a bike race. this last week the olympics started!!!!!! as usual it had a lot of fireworks and shouting and all sorts of people saying things in different languages. unfortunately i was not able to be in attendance at the opening ceremony but the feeling of it is everywhere here in london. one of the main differences is that instead of there just being a lot of people from basically everywhere all come together in one place to live in london, we now have people from basically everywhere that have all come together to london to live here for a short amount of time. so population has gone up but the diversity couldn't really get any more diverse to begin with. by the way i really like diversity and london for that matter :) in all honesty the work hasn't really changed that much we but it's still really exciting. we did have the first event pass through our area on saturday morning though. it was the men’s cycling. it passed through, at a high rate of speed, the lower corner of our area in a town called twickenham. so in preparation we went there and set up a booth near the race course where we then proceeded to give out as much church material as we possibly could to as many people as we possibly could. it was a lot different to the work that i'm used to doing here but hey it's always nice to try new things.

a funny thing about working during the olympics is that we don't really have to watch them to know what’s going on. if we want to follow an advent all we have to do is go knocking. because in at least every other door the people inside will be watching the olympics and will more than happily inform us what events are on and who is winning and how the medal count is going (often times without our asking).

and now to business

8) -a man with glasses who feels happy.......

so in other news yolanda is all set for baptism! she's being baptised in six days from now and is very excited about it as well. while we were waiting to meet her one day an elderly woman came up to us and started asking us about the church. while we were talking yolanda showed up and patiently waited until this lady was finished when the lady did finish asking about the church and was satisfied she turned and asked yolanda if she was a mormon as well and yolanda firmly and enthusiastically answered in the affirmative! me and elder pond about died. were so happy that we are blessed to be the missionaries who helped yolanda into the church and were very happy and excited for her baptism!

this week we also have started teaching a bunch of different youth investigators. i love this because i have felt on my mission that one of the best things i can do for this mission and for the wards that i've been serving in is to teach and serve the youth. i love the youth here in england and i love helping them find the meaning that most of them have been searching for and haven't been able to find in anything the wordly societies have to offer. the more i read the book of mormon and the more i learn about the gospel the more i understand just how important this message is and the more i really really want to let everyone i know about just how much the gospel and atonement of jesus christ has changed my life and changed who i am and hope to be. i love this work and i love being a missionary. i love england and the english people and all the other people that also live in england that are from basically everywhere else. but most of all i love my savior and my father that have made this all possible.

love is kinda a big deal :)

with love

Elder Jarman

ps. did you know that marmalade had bits of orange peel in it!

pps. did you know that marmalade is actually quite good.

ppps. did you know that paddington really likes marmalade

pppps. did you even know who paddington was!?