you know that phone call smelled a lot like the ocean

Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 4:35 AM
Subject: you know that phone call smelled a lot like the ocean

 

Dear anyone who has ever wanted to stand on the front of a ship and yell I’m king of the world like they do in titanic (that is in titanic isn't it?)

 

So let’s start this e-mail with the most scenery changing announcement I’ve received in the last week. Just a few hours after I sent my e-mail to you last week, I received a call to move to Southampton and become the new zone leader of the Portsmouth zone. This call changed our plans for the next few days quite a bit. The next day we received a call telling us that Elder Keller would be moving as well to serve in Welling with a certain Elder Pond that you may or may not remember from about a year ago. This made for a very hectic Tuesday.

 

Luckily we already had an appointment to visit Robert that day. The very first thing that he said when we came into his flat was, "I heard you guys are moving!" so much for the surprise.  Binky, another recent convert, apparently told him shortly before we got there. We decided to have our last lesson with him on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we talked we focused on the last step, enduring to the end. Robert told us that he saw that the way he saw it he only had one big step left for him in the gospel, which was for him to endure to the end living the first four steps for the rest of his life. We asked him about how he felt about the gospel of Jesus Christ. His response was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had on my mission. He told us that before he met us he was often sad and struggled along and that his parents had been worried about him. He told us that his parents haven't really been supportive about his decision to start coming to church and become a member. But then he bore to us a powerful testimony about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed his life, changed him as an individual, and made him into a happy person. He feels like the Gospel fulfilled all that his parents want for him and he can't understand how they don't see that.

 

So far on my mission I haven't really had the opportunity to work with a recent convert much after their baptism, due to my tendency to be moved immediately after the baptism. I feel that I have been so blessed as I’ve worked with Robert to see how the gospel and the church has made changes in his life. It never ceases to amaze me the changes that occur in a person as they are exposed to the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. These changes are subtle and hardly recognizable day by day, especially in ourselves, but the effect over time is a deep, powerful, and undeniable to those that experience it.

 

Recently we had training by one of the key people that worked on the organization of Preach My Gospel. One thing he taught that I’ve found to be profound was about the restoration. He asked why the restoration was important and we all gave many different answers with the kind of things you would expect--that we needed prophets, or the priesthood authority, or the people (both collectively and individually) needed God’s direction in their lives more. He answered that all these answers were part of it, but the whole answer was still missing. He then taught us that the restoration was important because the Gospel of Jesus Christ needed to be restored. The Gospel of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by proper priesthood authority, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end had been lost and changed, split and distorted over the years. This Gospel is the only way for God’s children to be successful in this life and to eventually return to live to be with our Heavenly Father again. This is our unique message, and the only one that has the power to heal individuals, families, and eventually the world. it's kinda a big deal.

 

My new companion is named Elder Manga and he's from Melbourne Australia. He’s an awesome missionary and super funny. He also wears ugg boots. . . apparently in Australia even the guys wear ugg boots. Southampton is a super great area and we're going to be using a car for the first time on my mission soon--not yet though :)

 

Love you guys and as always I’m super grateful for all your support.

 

With love,

Elder Jarman

 

p.s. we watched a certain leadership training video in ward council yesterday. I recognized a certain joseph fielding smith, his little sister, and a random backside of someone straightening a bed.

 

the only real difference in appearance corresponds directly to the luminosity of the book

Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 4:13 AM
Subject: the only real difference in appearance corresponds directly to the luminosity of the book

 

Dear those who have ever regretted drinking orange juice shortly after brushing your teeth,

 

Today I want to talk about miracles :)

A few weeks ago we had a guest speaker in Epsom ward who is currently serving as temple worker in the London Temple, named Sister Knight. Sister Knight bore her testimony on the power of prayer and shared an experience she had recently in the hospital. She was going in for an operation and was really nervous about the procedure and anxious about the pain she would be going through.  As she was lying on the hospital bed before the surgery began, she prayed for comfort. Shortly afterwards one of the doctors who was preparing her for the surgery came up to her and quietly told her not to worry because he was a high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood.  She was surprised and amazed that he had realized both that she was a Latter Day Saint and that she needed exactly that kind of comfort at this time. She did not get the opportunity to speak to this man after the surgery and she had no idea who he was or where he came from. (no he was not one of the three Nephites, just keep reading)

 

About a week and a half ago me and Elder Keller were contacting around the Redhill town centre after we had stopped by a few potential investigators in the morning. As we were going about contacting a woman came up to us and asked us if we were Mormon.  We said yes and asked her how she knew us. She told us that her husband was a member of our church and used to serve in a bishopric back in Ghana but hadn't been to church for some time now.  She asked us if we could visit her husband and help him back to church. She also told us that she was not a member. As we visited her husband, Albert, a few days later we realized that his name was not on the records of the Epsom ward, but that he had been living here without anyone from the church knowing.  He told us about how he worked at the local hospital as a heart specialist. After asking some more questions we learned that it was him who comforted Sister Knight in the hospital a few weeks ago! 

 

I can testify that god knows each of his children and is mindful of all of our needs. He answered the prayer of one of his faithful daughter by giving an opportunity for one of his less active sons to serve and then also provided a way for him to reconnect to the strength and support of the lord’s church. And on top of that Albert told us that he would like us to begin teaching his wife as soon as possible, and that they both will be coming to church this next Sunday!

 

Ammon sums up my feeling pretty well when he said "Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." :)

The work in England and throughout the world is increasing, expanding, and hastening and I feel blessed to be able to witness miracles like this one every day in this work.  Miracles are not always this obvious, but they are always there.

 

I love you all and I wish I could tell you more about everything I’ve experienced as a missionary.   Time and my typing-strength-endurance-limit-thingy doesn't quite allow it.

Thanks for all your support and for sharing your stories with me each week. I feel and rely on your prayers

 

With love

Elder Jarman

 

p.s. recently me and Elder Keller have begun eating quite regularly something called the egg noodle sandwich. It’s exactly what it sounds like.

 

pps. it's finally starting to get warm here! I went outside without my coat on for the first time this year yesterday

 

ppps. I have some pictures I need to send to you guys soon as well!

this kind of general conference usually involves a lot less guns, and the color green isn't nearly as pervading.

Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 6:17 AM
Subject: this kind of general conference usually involves a lot less guns, and the color green isn't nearly as pervading.

 

Dear anyone who has every questioned the reason behind calling a certain type of winter hat "a beanie",

 

I’ve been told that I should write weekly and not weakly.  . . . fortunately I did not take offence, mostly due to my attachment to the cows contained therein.

We’ve been blessed mightily this last week in our finding efforts and have begun teaching many new investigators and found many more interested people for our message. We had a really cool experience teaching one of the new investigators, a Portuguese lady named edna. she didn't speak english overly well but this didn't faze us, bout half the people we teach don't really speak english :) We were having a really difficult time understanding a concern she was expressing because Eu não falo português muito bem!  so while elder keller was teaching i said a prayer and just basically asked that we would be able to understand her and help her to understand us. after i finished the prayer i aked her a question about what she was trying to express, and she answered it. things still weren't clear so i asked another clarifying question. she responded bringing a little more light onto the subject (still working through the language barrier). So we asked another question to make sure we were undertanding, she told us we were getting closer but still just a little bit off but in her answer we learned just a bit more about what she was trying to express. Finally we asked one more clarifying question and she responded in a way that we were able to nail down to a T what her concern was and then adress and resolve it. In answer to my prayer we were able to learn, and discern, "by study and also by faith"

 

I had a very special learning experience about the atonement this last week as well that i want to share briefly. we began teaching a less active this last week who loves the church but has decided not to attend because his choice of lifestyle flagrently disagrees with the teachings of the church. i've taught people like him before and i've always found it difficult to disregard the natural man tendacy to want to abandon those that seem to be trying to forsake God and become confortable with sin instead of the other way around.  Recently one of our leaders shared an analogy that has stuck with me. He described missionary work as being like an ambulance driver--in that we cannot heal people ourselves but that we can help them best by connecting them to the only one who can, our Saviour and our Redeemer.

 

In this way he compared sin to physical wounds and Christ to the doctor who can treat those physical wounds. (this analogy was talked about during conference as well). when i viewed this person in this light, it was a lot easier to see him for who he truly was a son of God and my brother. it made it easier to not define him by the injuries that he was suffering from but who he truly is behind the scars and who he is meant to become.  it is natural to feel compassion to those who are suffering physically, it should be just as natural to feel the same, if not a greater, compassion for those who are suffering spiritually--even when those injuries are self inflicted. i know and i have learned repeatedly from experience that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal and cleanse anyone who will let him. no one has a hopeless case, in fact when we take stock of the infinite nature and power of the Atonement we can have an infinite hope for the progress of any of our brothers and sisters. to put it simply, if we look to christ hope abounds and overflows into every aspect of our lives and our future.

when conference finnished Elder Keller looked to me and simply said, the gospel's pretty freakin cool. i definantly agree :)

 

with love

Elder Jarman

 

ps. has anyone ever snickered at a snickers?

when lines are on the decrease the titles of subject are sure to parallel

Subject: when lines are on the decrease the titles of subject are sure to parallel

Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 9:03 AM

 

Dear anyone who immediately stops liking hair the moment it is detached from one’s head,

 

I’m going to have to apologize in advance on the length of this week’s e-mail. Those that live close to the temple had the opportunity to attend today (we don't get this opportunity often) and so the time that I would usually be spent in composing and reading e-mails was given over almost entirely to previous mentioned activity. So I’ll just give a few great highlights from this last week. 

 

Robert was given the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and was ordained to the office of priest! i was fortunate enough to be asked to be part of the circle. all day before the actual ordination Robert was so excited for it to take place. he kept on asking us through the entire church service when it was going to happen. As well another recent convert, of about four months, named Binky who was involved in Robert’s teaching process was able to participate. It’s always so rewarding to see new members of the church already involved in church work and service.

 

We gave a presentation on ways to share the gospel with friends, and the upcoming London media initiative during Sunday school in church this week. the members of the ward were all very excited about the upcoming opportunities to share their faith with others. Usually when missionary work is brought up, most people approach it with a very dry attitude, as in they're used to getting the same message over and over again. But with the new publicity of the church and all the media work the church is doing in London, soon there was a buzz in the air. We also had the opportunity to have some role plays with members of the ward so they could practice teaching basic doctrine and extending invitations. I got paired with Robert :) he's already doing great on the missionary front.

 

There is a recent convert in the ward that is still involved in the choir of her previous church. We attended an Easter service in that church yesterday to watch her performance.  After the meeting the vicar came up to me and began asking me questions about the church. We had a great conversation about the restoration and about how truth can be found in all churches. We also had a great conversation about the recent convert, named Susan, and about the work she does for both of the local congregations. Susan is a true Christian in my eyes in that she seeks to serve and love everyone she comes into contact with and is able to easily bridge denominational gaps in order to do so. The vicar declined my invitations to learn more about the Restored Gospel but he did accept an invitation for us to do service for St. Matthews church where he presides :)

 

I love you all and I wish you a happy Easter!

 

With love

Elder Jarman

 

ps. I have literally eaten more chocolate in the last three days than you can shake a stick at. Because after I finished I couldn’t even move to pick up the stick!

pps. no seriously though it was a lot.

ppps. who came up with the word baboon?

the barbary of declining crumpets the right to joust

Subject: the barbary of declining crumpets the right to joust

Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 7:14 AM

 

dear anyone that has ever either eaten green eggs and ham or ever sincerely wished to do so,

We are experiencing some exciting times here in the London south mission. I’m not sure if you guys have been informed on yonder side of the pond but a certain musical was released in London this last week who's title includes the words book, of, musical, mormon, the. not necessarily in that order. So as such we have been seeing many new and exciting advertisements around our area. (i'll send some photos as well) in my opinion, the church may not agree with the content of that musical but there has never been such great free advertising for the church or the book of mormon. Yesterday as we were contacting a guy we stopped told us he knew who we were and after a short chat he closed with saying that he had not yet had the opportunity to see the new musical. We replied by telling him that "the book is always better" :)

 

In response to the book of mormon musical and all the interest this has peaked in the book of Mormon, the church will be starting a four week media campaign for mormon.org.uk in london  where the church has bought out several of the largest train, tube, and bus stations around london and will cover all such locations with advertisements for mormon.org.uk (i'll probably send some picture of this as well.)

We've already began to see the effects that these events are causing and the increase of people referring themselves to receive a copy of the book of mormon or to receive missionary visits.  Baptisms have already occurred because of the musical :)

 

We’ve had many great opportunities for finding this week which has been some of my favorite experiences.  I seriously cannot tell you guys how much I love doing finding work as a missionary.  I mean think about it, every day we leave our front door with the intention to talk to and make friends with as many people as we possibly can that day.  And then we act on that by talking to everyone that we come in contact with.  We talk with them about themselves, their families, their beliefs, and overall who they are. And then we share with them who we are, what we believe and we invite them to learn more. It is so much fun! I literally can't even begin to tell you (and that’s a literal use of the word literal) about all the amazing and unique people that I have met and befriended on my mission.  And that's just one of the things that wakes me up every morning excited for the day.  I mean it every day when I thank Heavenly Father for the day that he has given me. (side note: anyone that has not yet seen the new mormon message Earthly Father, Heavenly Father, needs to go do that right now)

 

Robert is still doing fantastic; he's preparing to receive the priesthood now and progresses so much each week. I’ve loved working with the recent converts here in Red Hill because it's amazing to see how much having the Gift of the Holy Ghost changes and supports people.  Watching those changes is incredibly rewarding. With every meeting we have with these people it seems that we teach them less and they teach us more.

 

I have to go now but I’m excited each week to tell you guys more about the miracles we see each week

 

Love you guys ton's

 

Sincerely 

Elder Jarman

 

 

the last heist of the hamburgler resulted in a decrease of plastic.

Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 5:22 AM
Subject: the last heist of the hamburgler resulted in a decrease of plastic.

 

dear anyone whose name does not include john, jacob, schmidt, and jingleheimer,

 

In writing this letter i will strive to avoid repetition of previous statements, themes and discourses, especially in matters that have been heretofore included and expounded upon. this will in fact be difficult because many of the previously mentioned people in previously mentioned letters have in fact been previously mentioned. In other words repetitive redundancy is in and of itself both repetitive in its redundancy, and redundant in its repetitive qualities.  and this is the reason why this e-mail was began in the most redundant of previously mentioned beginnings of previous e-mails. so just where did the word kapeesh come from?

 

Two highlights of this past week were both in the work i've been able to do with the recent converts of this ward. in my previous areas, i never had too much opportunity to work with recent converts but the work i've been able to do with them in this area has been some of the best experiences of my mission. the first one was as we began teaching Robert the new member lessons. Elain and Susan, both of which have been members of the ward for under six months have both been asigned as ward missionaries. they were assigned to be the ones to teach Robert the new missionary lessons. Elder Keller and I came along for the first teach just to make the transition and to help out where we were needed. it was so cool to sit in a room with three people who could all be considered quite new to the gospel and listen to them teach each other about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and share with each other how the gospel has been a strength in their lives. powerful testimonies were bourne and the spirit was strong as they all strengthened each other. as we finished the lesson Robert thanked both of them profusely and said an amazing prayer of gratitude for the lessons he has learned.

 

The next day in sacrament meeting all of the adult recent converts in the ward (with the exception of robert) gave talks. and they were amazing!  All of them were super nervous before they got up there but were so strong in their declarations. in most cases i would not have even been able to tell that they were new to what they were doing. Susan talked about how after she has joined the church she has felt that she has grown and that she has more time to do what she loves and has more time to care for and support people. as i've been thinking about this experience i've thought a lot about serving in the church in general. you would think it's amazing that people who are so new and so relatively inexperienced could rise to and accomplish what these individuals have accomplished, that they could work and see miracles as i've witnessed them do.

 

but when you think about church service and callings in general it's miraculous that anyone is able to do what they do. who can honestly say that they have been adequate of themselves for any calling that they have received. it's always seemed to me that we don't do anything in the church that were really fully prepared and capable of doing. the church and the Gospel is always asking us to do more than it would seem that we can do. President Shamo once told me that the lord does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. this is how each of us grow and become more who Heavenly Father knows that we can become. he makes up the enormous difference between where we are and what is required of us and helps us to become the kind of person that can give even more. i've seen this in my own service in the church, however small that may be.

 

i'm super exited to be serving here in redhill with Elder Keller for another transfer. he's such a help to me and i'm glad to have his support for at least another five weeks.

 

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

 

with love

Elder Jarman

 

ps. as i can so far tell only one of you has a mormon.org profile. this person shall remain nameless. but the name may or may not begin with an R and rhymes with ebekah Jarman.  As for the rest of you, this is me calling all of you to repentance :)