dear those who exclude the word vernacular for their
vernacular,
After a brief mental review of my many opening to an e-mail
i have concluded that i always either begin with an opening that could be
considered typical or a commentary on how many of my opening are quite typical
which is then followed by a random sentence or phrase that has little to do
with anything that would typically be considered relevant to anything relevant.
juniper trees. today i decided to break the mold by beginning the e-mail
by commenting on both the typicalness of my standard e-mail openings and also
my varied but not infrequent commentaries of typicalness in my e-mails. so
therefore this e-mail has now been began in a way that was not used to begin
before.
so anyways.
we had a REALLY busy week this week it was absolutely
amazing how busy and how many teaching appointments we had this week. i will
give a sample of yesterday to illustrate. we woke up at six thirty went through
the morning routine. studied. started traveling for church at about nine
thirty. Robert came and had an awesome fast Sunday! after church we had a brief
missionary correlation meeting with the ward missionaries then organized the
baptismal service for Robert on Sunday. we then traveled back to redhill and
got there about two. went straight from our flat to teach a Ghanaian lady named
Maxine at two thirty. left that appointment at about 3:15 traveled to an
appointment at 3:30 with a super funny pair named Leroy and Joe. finished that
appointment a 4:30 and walked straight to another appointment at 4:45 with two
new investigators from the Philippines named Victoria and Heidi who are over
here to study. finished that appointment at about 5:45 and then traveled
straight to another appointment at 6:15 with a recent convert from Kenya
named Binky. we finished that appointment at seven and then walked (while
accounting over the phone to our district leader) to an appointment at 7:30
with a recent convert from Brazil named Elian and her friend that she's
referred named rahissa. we finished that appointment a 8:30 and then walked
back to our flat to arrive at 9:00 for planning. we've been blessed SO much in
our work here in redhill and amazingly even though we spent nearly the entire
week teaching we were still blessed with four new investigators through the
week!
it's been really interesting for me to compare this time in
my mission with the time i spent at the beginning of my mission in epsom. while
i was working in epsom we didn't have too many people to teach. we would spend
the majority of our time looking for new people to teach, which is work that is
rewarding and honestly one of my favorite things to do as a missionary. but we
saw next to no outward fruits from our efforts. now I'm back in epsom ward and
it seems like we have to work to stop from drowning in fruit. it's things like
this that make you wonder what the difference could possibly be. why are the
blessings coming now? why weren't the outward blessings coming then? truth is,
i haven't the foggiest. :) the lord will always bless us for doing the right
thing and for working diligently in the calling that we have been assigned. as
President Uchtdorf taught the joy of priesthood service comes whether we are
flying a fighter pilot or a piper cup. although from the outsiders view (and
sometimes we can be outsiders even though we're involved) it is easy to
judge success from outward fruits. i am learning though that true success comes
from our inward commitment to keep commandments, magnify our callings, and
diligently press forward on the path of discipleship. as one of my previous
Zone leaders taught me, "the lord brings forth the harvest, all we do is
everything that he tells us to". or to put it in scriptural language
"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the
salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed" i like to put emphasis
on the word cheerfully here :).
one of the greatest blessings we've seen here continues to
be Robert and all the progress he makes as the spirit continues to work changes
within him. he is completely living the word of wisdom now and is dedicated to
his course of being baptised this Saturday. our bishop announced the baptism at
the close of the sacrament meeting and as he did Robert looked over at me with
a huge grin on his face and gave me a thumbs up. i love this guy!
i'm grateful for your prayers both in my behalf and in
behalf of those that I've been privileged to work with. this means the world to
me.
love you all
sincerely
Elder Jarman
ps. there is a man that looks like a younger version of
Shaun white sitting opposite from me. he's probably getting creeped out that i
keep on looking over at him. . .
pps.what is more american than pizza?
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