June 11, 2013 if you give a tom-tom a name she'll be sure to want some fufu

Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 5:01 AM
Subject: if you give a tom-tom a name she'll be sure to want some fufu

 
Dear anyone who is most likely severely under living their scrapbooking potential,
 
So first off I must apologize again for not e-mailing on my normal weekly time that seems lately to not really be as weekly or as normal as it has been in the past. We had a great first week in Welling this last week and it was also a great week for the zone. We picked up a new baptismal date this week named Joe. He’s from the Philippines and is living with his daughter’s family in this ward. Literally every member of Joe’s extended family is a member of the church. All of his children have joined and all of his grandchildren and all of their wives, but for some reason he has never had the opportunity. His granddaughter Breanne Serrano was baptized Saturday before last and he was attending. We met him at the service and spoke to him about the message and starting teaching him on Tuesday and he also agreed to be baptized on the 3rd of July in that same teach. He is absolutely solid and amazing he keeps all the commitments we give him and has a great ability to recognize and act on truth when he hears it. He is only in the UK temporarily though and will be moving back to the Philippines in a couple months. So the plan is to help him be baptized before he goes so he can go back to his family in the Philippines as a member of the church. He has some struggles and some pretty serious physical disabilities but despite all of those he works hard to do what he knows he should do. I already have a great love for him, and that’s' not just because he's from the Philippines (I love the Philippinos btw).  And I’m excited for his baptism.

So now to the meaty stuff:  ELDER BALLARD CAME TO OUR MISSION YESTERDAY!!!! We had a surprise conference yesterday. It was a pretty crazy day trying to organize the entire zone enough to get them all up to Hyde Park chapel on a moment’s notice but all went well and everyone arrived safely. Apparently it was a surprise because Elder Ballard was visiting Sweden with the area president and had a choice of where he was going to travel and teach for yesterday before an appointment he had in France tomorrow. He prayed and decided to visit the missionaries in London. The London mission met with him first but we came in for the end of their conference and had about twenty minutes where Elder Ballard addressed both the London and the London south missionaries at the same time. This was a powerful experience as he expressed to have all the missionaries serving in London and the surrounding areas together at once with an Apostle. He spoke to us about the simplicity of our message and the privilege it is to testify. He expressed how much he loves testifying to people about the incidents and the doctrine of the restoration, about the mission and call of Joseph Smith and about the truths of the plan of salvation. He told us that as an apostle he has many times where it seems that he does not have the strength to do what he needs to do. This was especially touching at this moment because since he arrived in Europe a few days ago he hasn't had much opportunity to rest, not to mention the jet lag, and you could see that he was fatigued even as he addressed us. He told us that when he has moments like that, he takes out a picture of the Savior and just looks at His face. Somehow while doing this he always finds the strength to do what he is required to do. He then challenged us to do the same and remember this counsel anytime our duty seems too much to bear. He challenged us to always keep Gethsemane and Golgotha in the back of our minds no matter what we are doing. He taught us many more things but these are the things that stood out to me the most through his address.

Side note: I had no idea that David Jordan was the mission president for the London north mission! I had about a triple take when I saw him on the stand coming into the conference. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to speak to him due to the incredible rush and multitude of people there. I’m pretty sure he didn't see that I was there, but it was still a completely unexpected and cool experience to have a run in with my old high school lacrosse coach!

We've had a lot of miracles this last week and even today in the time I’ve been e-mailing you guys and I wish I had more time to express more to you guys but hey this is kinda how things have been my entire mission :)

Love you guys tons and I love hearing about the many great experiences you guys are having.

 
With love

Elder Jarman

 
p.s. have I mentioned that I occasionally go running along the Thames where I’m living now :)
 
p.p.s. I recently started exploring my Asian roots and started cooking with a wok. I’m happy to report that no one has yet suffered any fatal injuries.
 
p.p.p.s. it is not yet uncommon for me to occasionally eat peanut stew, just throwing that out there.

 

Elder Keller, me and loads of other missionaries in London on our way to see Elder Ballard