Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Rescue

February 3, 2010

Hey Dad,

I am so happy right now. For my last transfer I will be staying in Deer Park but I have been assigned a new companion, Elder Salisbury of Sandy Utah! He and I go wayyyy back to my Jasper days. He was one of the six that spent our hurricaine Ike experience together. Needless to say I am very excited to be his companion. He has always been one of those missionaries that I've felt a solid connection with, he's almost like the little brother I never had. We have a lot of work to do and goals to accomplish. The investigators that we have right now are looking promising but they always do. We are focusing on finding the searchers, so I pray we will be led to them. Raul is a good guy we tracted into that we will going over and teaching on Sundays. He is a really humble genuinely nice man who wants what is best for his family. The Smith's are back on the radar but still so so busy with work and school that fitting us into their already hectic lives will be quite a sacrifice but as we know sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. Glenn Hasty is an older gentleman that again we tracted into. He and his wife have had to see many of their relatives pass away as they are in their mid 70's. Recently his wife, who we haven't met yet, lost a brother and is struggling with her own health concerns. Elder Salisbury and I are doing a lot of tracting and will be blessed for diligent effort in one way or another. He is a great ball player so for our morning workouts we are starting to go play basketball, it's been nice. I can't express how great it is to be his companion haha. The Pasadena 2nd ward continues to make leaps and bounds! This past week we as missionaries were able to address the congregation and also sing a special musical number. I spoke on obedience and how we are an obedient people, every Sunday we promise to be obedient. We had a combined meeting for the third hour and Bishop Turner unveiled his plan to the ward on how we are going to split this ward in 36 months. It's being called the Rescue. There are 520 members in this ward, 120 on average show up each Sunday- that leaves 400 members that need rescuing! I am so blessed to have seen this great transformation in the ward and will do all I can to help out. We as missionaries are not the main rescue party though, we are mere aids- the rescue aid society (just like in The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under haha). We are here to help or aid the ward in making sure this rescue takes place. You are so lucky to be speaking on agency! That is my favorite thing to talk about. It's something that Satan cannot take from us, but rather, only we can give it up- it's our choice. Agency is the ability to choose happiness or sadness, faith or fear. It is the essence of and engine behind our Father's great plan of happiness. I would use D. Todd Christofferson's talks for reference, they are always full of great comments on agency. 2 Nephi 2, the latter part, is one of my favorite chapters when teaching agency and also 2 Nephi 10:23. I love those two because in chapter 2 Lehi is teaching Jacob and then in 2 Nephi 10 Jacob shows his love for Lehi by teaching the same principle, it's beautiful. In life we use the gift of moral agency every day. We can either make celestial, terrestrial, or telestial preparations or corrections- it is all dependent on what we choose. Jesus wants me and all of mankind for a sunbeam, to dwell in the Celestial Kingdom, but even as badly as the Son of God wants that for all of us we still have to make that choice for ourselves- what a powerful thing. I am grateful for the Atonement, without it we would all be lost and fallen forever but because of it we can be found and risen forever. I love being a full time missionary Dad, it's the most fulfilling thing I have ever done in my life. I love you!

Elder Jarman

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