Oct 29...my mission changes forever

So.... I'm leaving winnipeg... Im actually doing it and making the jump! I have been called to serve is saskatoon which apparently is a lot prettier than winnipeg, thats all people have been able to tell me. I cant spell my companions name, or the ward i will be serving with, and im nervous beyond belief to be NINE HOURS away from the city.... it will feel like a whole new mission out there. But it will all be okay... Elder Mohlman (my zone leader) will be going out with me to be in my ward! Elder Judkins (my professors son) will be my other zone leader and Elder Wiltse (from my MTC district) will be my district leader so i know things will all be okay.

Even with the nerves of all these changes we still had an incredible week.... We taught six member present lessons. that's the most i have EVER taught in one week on my mission! We had two new investigators, two baptismal dates and two investigators who attended church and they are all incredible. It was a good week!

Henry, the guy we street contacted, has decided to get baptized we are working on getting him ready for Janurary if not early and we are SUPER excited about it! He is already sharing the gospel and going to invite on of his neighbors to join us! its so good!

We had a relief soceity activity and we had three non-members there which is just inspiring, the people here are really stepping it up and helping where needed!

Silvia the twelve year old we are teaching is getting baptized too in December and that is SOOOO exciting!

I think the hardest part about this week was the good byes i have already had to say. I really really love this ward, they mean a lot to me and i could stay here for a while longer! We had a family have us and elder hatch and elder sorenson (elder hatch is going to thompson) over for a good bye dinner and made us sushi. It was so good. But i think the best part is what they told us at the end. They thanked  us for our service and told us that even if we go home feeling like we have done nothing that we have made a difference to their family and they are grateful we came out. it was so nice. I also got a thank you card from llewellyn and silvia thanking me for being here. Silvia even p.s.ed me that i was her new best friend. I have really loved this ward and i have felt their love for me. I am excited for the lasting friendships i have gained here and im trying to look forward to the friendships i will gain in saskatoon! Here we go change!!!!!

oh ps...

at pday activity today we won a blender! YAY for foosball champions!!!!!!!!

 

Oct 21...the bullet version

Okay.... i think this week is just bullets for me because im kind of confused about what i have done.... sometimes that happens weeks just FLY BY I swear... i cannot believe it has been seven months already. But each day is an adventure each week is crazy and each month i love so much!

-On tuesday we had dinner with Ed and Sheryl, two of our members. It was so great! We had ribs and later played croquet and had a fire with marshmellows and roasted starbursts.... it was a great time!

-We also got in a car accident... it was a little bump from behind, not a huge deal. and it wasnt my fault so thats always good! I swear the paperwork to fill out takes soooooo much time but im just glad everyone is okay and it wasnt too much damage.

-We had ward coordination where we came up with the idea to give away cds with talks on them from conference to both our members, investigators, and less actives. We as sisters are in charge of the cases because apparently we can get away with being cutsie but we are excited for the things that is going to bring.

-We had dinner with a 97 year old lady... She has so much information in her head i dont know how she remembers it all. She is truly a saint and so cute!

-We had exchanges this week. I got to go on another exchange with sister bennette. She is so great! on this exchange we got to celeberate a birthday with a family in our ward and had some incredible cherry cupcakes, we also raked leaves with the elders and i got to fill out more paperwork.

-Friday we had an incredible tracting experience where we knocked around the area of a former we were stopping by and someone not only let us in but let us do a short thought and invited us back to teach her and her husband next week. It was incredible!!!!!!! We are so excited and when we gave her a book of mormon she got the biggest smile on her face and told us she didnt have a bible of her own and that it was a really sweet gift.... man does the book of mormon touch peoples hearts or what?!

-We also got to attend one of londons baptisms because sister fellows had taught the kids being baptized... sister hutchinson and sister bronson had three baptisms this weekend and it was an incredible experience.

-Stake conference was this weekend too and it was all about the hastening of the work. That is being pushed here so much and i think the time i realized the most the gravity of it all is when he had all the full time missionaries stand up.... there was a lot of us in that room and its only increasing the work is hastening and its time we joined it.

-oh and we found a second new investigator this week. She is incredible. She has been taught before and when we knocked on the door she opened it and said oh im so excited to see those badges come in, told us she wanted to come back and everyone was telling her to come back, and invited us back twice this next week to teach her and husband... so excited!

-we also street contacted a drunk guy... we said hi to him and i think two girls saying hi to him made him wonder what was going on... he asked if he could walk with us, i said sure as long as we could share our message with him as we walked. We commited him to church (if he remembers) and we also got him to pray with us on the street. I was going to offer the prayer but he just went and said it... sister fellows thought i was crazy, we both thought he was going to follow us home but in the end we just had a really neat experince.

It was a fantastic week!!!! I'm nervous for transfer calls but i have all week to be nervous for that! Im excited for the changing the lord has prepared for me and i love being a missionary so much!!!!!

 

 

I (jessalyn's mom) also asked her to answer some questions and I think her answers give me a pretty good idea of how life is besides the work. Here are her answers:

 

For my pday we played dodgeball this morning with our zone. It was really fun but the sisters are kinda being lame and not playing and our numbers on the court get smaller and smaller even though our numbers in the field get bigger and bigger. Now I'm emailing you with the slight hope that you are just sitting by your computer with anticipation for our life that seems to be flying right by! it was our 7 month mark yesterday.... CRAZY! then we might get lunch, go shopping both for groceries and a winter coat... that kind of needs to get done it is getting cold fast then i will probably go home and try to be a better friend and missionary and actually write letters to people. then dinner and we are off to a less active lesson and trying to find one of our investigators that went MIA!!!!!!

 

For breakfast most days i eat a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of fake milk. not very healthy i know... i use to eat cherrios with blueberries but i kind of had the same problem as you... they are TOOOO EXPENSIVE!

 

Im trying to show my companion love in little ways like making lunch or dinner, cleaning the kitchen because i know she hates it, asking one thing i dont know about her each day, and trying to be nice.... i seem to be having a difficult time showing love to people right now but its something im working on :) \

 

I gave myself a gold star this morning actually...i had a really effective personal study and it was SOOO nice... im getting ready to present a portion or talk at the sister conference that is coming up at the end of the month.... super nervous and not quite sure what they were thinking asking me but we will see.

 

The last time i literally gave someone a gold star was probably sister christensen but... i really love my district and i try to give at least one of them a gold star every day... i try at least!

 

My favorite members to visit are probably sheryl and ed... they are fantastic and they truly love us all... i feel like they have just adopted me in and its nice to feel safe and cared about for a little bit.... plus we always seem to get to play with fire.... the elders are pyros... ALL OF THEM! I will definately be calling ed and sheryl when i get home!

 

We are raking the leaves of our members which is SUPER FUN to do! I am also going to buy a winter coat today.. im wearning nylons and tights again and we have the heater on..... its getting cold really really fast here!

 

diet coke... wait does that count as candy.... ;) no my favorite candy right now is probably oh henrys... I LOVE OH HENRYS!!!!!!!!!!! im not eating a whole lot of candy because we bake a lot for our district and members.... so we eat the left over stragglers. i still havent gained any weight..i checked this morning!

 

The closest store is safeway... its right across the street we see it every day we get into the car... and then two blocks down (maybe) is the mall which is pretty big so really we have TONS of stores right next to us.. i do live in the city you know!

 

a package with something from home in it... i could use a new black skirt, and my black shoes are kind of rotten... and probably some new nylons so those too! lots of letters, printed out pictures, and hugs sent through this lovely christmas season! that would be nice! also.... skype date would be preferable... we will see... transfer calls come this week so maybe i wont even be in the city anymore.

 

I love you mom... your the best! thank you for believing in me no matter what! love you!

Jessalyn

 

Oct 15...once upon a time

Once upon a time there were these two missionaries and they were serving in canada....

I start my letter this week that way because i truly feel like im in a dream! We have been blessed so much and I cannot even show my gratitude for all the things the lord has provided this week! We have spent most of the days this week raking leaves with our elders for investigators, members, and less actives in our area! It has brought us a lot closer together and helped with the unity we were searching for! Not only that but the members have started to trust us more and invite us into their homes which is so great! We also had an incredible zone conference on thursday where we learned more about having faith in the lord to find. I cannot tell you how inspiring that was and how much i really needed to hear what president and sister thomas had to tell us! But then came weekly planning and as we talked about what we had accomplished this week according to the standards set by the mission we were both getting a little discouraged. We were feeling like we were working so hard but all we had been able to report on so far was one less active lesson in the week. We had met with lots of members and done tons of different finding things but none of that seemed to show and results that ended in numbers. I remember one night i was trying hard not to be discouraged and so me and sister fellows had a talk. We decided it didnt matter what our numbers were we both had prayed and felt good about our week and if god thinks we are good missionaries then thats all we need to worry about. Well apparently thats what was needed because then we were blessed with miracle after miracle. E*** is one of my favorite people in the st james ward. Him and his wife S*** and j** and l*** V*** are like my adopted aunts and uncles out here! they take such good care of me and they really care about me. They even pick on me.... ALL THE TIME.... but E*** is what you call an enternigator.... he has been investigating for close to three years and was determined he wasnt getting baptized when i first got into this area. S*** his wife got baptized a couple years ago and was just patiently waiting for him! Well this week he got baptized! He finally decided to take the plunge and he is now a member of the church. One year from now he and his wife will get to be sealed and it was SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!! that was our first miracle for the weekend. One of the investigators we had been trying to meet with again, she is twelve, finally got back to us last minute on friday night and told us to come at 9 o clock the next morning. so we did! and We talked about baptism... we were nervous to ask if that was something she still wanted and she said maybe. We left it at that and kept working hard! She came to church with us the next day and after sacrament meeting came up to me and said ive decided yes. I was confused on what she had decided so i asked for more of an explanation and she said I'm going to be baptized!!!!!!!! i was so excited i almost screamed! We are setting a date with her on saturday and then we just keep going strong from there! But our fairytale didn't end there. The guy i told you about that we street contacted last week... his name is H***... well we had been trying to find him all week with no luck when we got a phone call saying he would be joining us at church... We prayed and prayed all week that we would see him at church and as ten rolled closer and closer we were getting nervous we werent going to be seeing him but low and behold there he come walking through the door! He even had the book of mormon we had given him the night we met him. I sat by him in sacrament while sister fellows sat by S*** and so i got to explain some of what we were doing to him and help him through scrpitures and other stuff to understand. He cried during the opening hymn saying that it was written just for him! Not only that but he loved all the talks and when i asked him how he felt at the end he just said i needed that you girls saved me that day you talked to me. We were able to set up a time that we could visit him this next week and he recommited himself to church saying next time i will be better dressed. He is so incredible and im so excited to be able to start teaching him! And it doesnt even stop there. We decided to go and see some formers before our dinner appointment with the Menloves (one of the senior couples in our mission) We went to this apartment complex we have tried a couple of times and buzzed, with no success.... Then we started talking to the neighbors that were hanging out outside. They said they knew our formers and that they had just went in... one of them let us into the building and lead us right to them. Their names are E*** and E***. We started introducing ourselves and offering our services, we werent even half way through when we were asked if they could have an appointment with us. We of course readily agreed and set up a time for this next week and asked if they had time there where we could share a short message. We had a thanksgiving message prepared for people we stop by and were able to share about gratitude! They were so excited for us to come back and we just felt blessed to be missionaries. Even though on friday we were determined that we weren't going to be able to report much we were able to find three new people who wanted to learn the gospel, two of our investigators showed up to church and one of them decided to be baptized! It was a dream come true for everyone and because its thanksgiving we even got some pumpkin with it too!

 

So in the pictures is me and sister fellows my companion! There is also a picture of my adopted st james family.... .... im so excited to have met them all!!!!!

 

 

Oct 7...general conference

This week was a great week! We seem to be struggling with cancelations and no shows still but its not due to lack of effort on our part. We make lots of phone calls and when we don't hear from them we stop by anyway and we love it! well trying to anyways we would love to teach way more! It will get there!

We were able to find two new investigators this week and we were really excited! Its from a part member family we have been trying to get into forever and they want the daughter to be baptized but the mom is sitting in on lessons... We see their potential and know that even if it isn't us who gets them there they will accept the gospel at some point! That's how a lot of the people we have been working with has felt like... that even though it may not be us they will get there... the spirit has testified to them now its just all up to gods timing!

We had the most incredible experience street contacting this week. I was stressed and so i just pulled over and said okay lets go were are going street contacting. Its not the most effective way but its a good way to get stress out and that's what i needed right then. We hadn't even walked five minutes when we passed the first person on the street (for this city being HUGE there isnt a lot of people on the streets) We stopped him and gave him a mormon.org card and instead of moving on like we usually do we decided to ask more questions. We asked him if he had heard of mormons... you would be surprised how many people up here have heard of mormons because of salt lake. Then he started off by telling us he was christian and he really appreciated people who knew christ and i got discouraged because thats the excuse we get when people don't want to listen to us... well sister fellows dislikes that excuse a lot and so she reminded me of what i'm doing by saying that's great your christian in fact we go around and show others how they can increase their faith in christ... do you think your faith in christ can be increased. He said yes. we told him the message we go around and share brings peace and hope to our lives and we wanted to share it with him. He was really excited by the fact that we were willing to stand out in the cold to teach him and was open to what we had to hear. We talked a little bit more about healing and peace and got his name and phone number. He really needs the gospel in his life we are excited to help him come closer to christ. Before he left i asked if i could give him a gift.... that morning i thought it was strange i had a book of mormon in my bag but not strange enough to take it out until this point. Now he was tearing up as i handed him the book of mormon and told him that this is where i have found my peace. He said he would cherish the book and was really excited to meet with us. We both knew at that point we could stop street contacting because god had shown us a miracle!

We also attended all the sessions of conference (except priesthood) in our stake building! Conference was so great... i wrote down some of the quotes that really stuck out to me and wanted to share them with you.

'doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith' Uchtdorf

'i gave him to you because i knew you could and would love him' Erying

'no one can be converted for you and no one can force you to be converted' Oscarson

'dont forget to look up' Ochoa

'your body is a temple of god, remember that when you look in the mirror' Nelson

I know that i am a daughter of a loving heavenly father! I know that Jesus Christ lives and is my savior and friend. I know that i was sent to be a Harrison because they would, could and have loved me and i am so happy i get to be with them forever! I have learned to look up and i hope to never change my view and i have become converted to the gospel more than ever before due to me serving my god! Its so great to be a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints but its even better to be me while doing it! I love you all!!!!!

Sept 30...my hands

So this week was a week of trials and errors thats for sure!
We tried really hard to find even though we were so low on kilometers we had to do alot of walking (bad planning i guess) but everything works out for a reason. We were able to place two books of mormon and that was a good positive side to this week. One of them was with a guy who tried to convert us and the other was with a guy who wanted to date us..... urch! We got to walk around a lot and we talked to many people but it just didnt seem like it was time for them to accept the gospel. We called our week an act of faith... although it is easy to get discouraged and down when things dont go the way as planned or when everyone seems to not want to talk to you its how you react to that that shows what kind of missionary you are. How easy would it be to give up, to go home and take a nap or eat your pains away.... but how much would that be letting satan win... IT WOULD 110% be letting satan win. He doesnt want this work to continue, he doesnt want people to come to know Jesus Christ for themselves because then he doesnt have to work that much harder to pull them away for himself. Satans goal in life is to make the children of men miserable like unto himself so when we let him do that he wins. Thats when the relief soceity broadcast and the canada winnipeg mission fireside came in handy. I learned that by keeping my baptismal and temple covenants i will be blessed, and by helping others come to make and keep theirs I am fullfilling mine. I was also reminded that through christ i can be healed of anything! His hands did many works and miracles while he was here and now he asks that we use ours to help while he is away. What do you use your hands for? Do you help uplift and encourage others? Do you wipe away tears for a friend? Do you hold those who are dear to you close and never let go? Do you build up the church through service and love? This week i had to remember what my hands were being used for as i serve here in the canada winnipeg mission! My hands are shaking the hands of strangers who may just need a friend. My hand is showing fellowship to a ward I have come to love and hold so dear. My hands are being used to hold the word of god as i proclaim it to all those who want to listen. My hands are trying to mirror the saviors as I tell others that his are extended in mercy for all those who need it. My hands and heart are here to do the work of the lord and I am so proud to be a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I will continue to use my hands in this work until the lord needs me to do something else.... and I am so grateful for all the support and love i have been shown! You are all incredible thank you for all you do!

PS.

I got to see the Jacks this week... I was with them for my first tranfer and got to do lots of splits with them... they got permission from president so i could join them for dinner and that was SOOOO GREAT! I attached a picture of us! They are from new mexico and served a six month mission and so they are going home! its crazy six months have come and gone!!!!! It goes by so fast and weeks are starting to feel like days... how does time work for you all? does it seem like we have been out hardly at all or forever?

I really did get asked out on a date... to the pub in fact... second time on my mission... apparently i just need to wear a skirt to get dates (good tip for when i'm home ;) ) We also had a crazy dinner where the less active wasn't home and so her family (husband we aren't sure if he is baptized or not and some non member cousins) was who we got to eat dinner with... it was weird.... but they were respectful enough to remember we were religious people who liked to pray... ummm YA WE ARE!

got to help with a stake service project and see a lot of the people in my old wards... that was SOOO much fun!

Sister fellows is fantastic... she is sarcastic and funny which is making me loosen up a little... i've kind of become a tight wad.... (well i call it really spiritual and trust me its crazy the spirituality change i have gone through) I feel like a different person and being with a lot of people who have just come out i feel even more like i've changed to a point of unrecognizable... is that true? do you still know me?

It rained this week and its starting to cool off.... not sure how i feel about that but i'm excited my boots might get some use again! But my poor pepper plants had to move inside... they are still growing for the moment being but they will die from frost soon enough and I am not letting three months of hard work go to waste! oh how do you know a pepper is fully ready or grown!?

I got a blister on the bottom of my foot from walking for 7 miles one day.... have to say i wasn't even sure that was possible but sure enough it is!

I got to see sister hutchinson TWICE this week... its like a gift from above.

The st james ward really loves and takes care of me... they make me feel welcomed and needed and i love serving here!

People from gateway and london ward still remember who I am and miss me... that's always nice to hear!

all in all i'm doing good... i have more hope now then i've had for a long time and i am finally set in why i'm here and what my purpose is.... yes i've changed, but i've changed for the better and there is always a little of jessalyn EVERYWHERE!!!! love you all... !!!!!

Sept 23...street contacts, drinks and dunkings.

So this week was transfers and it makes things a little crazy but some many mighty miracles happened this week!

A couple of weeks ago we street contacted into this lady and commited her to come to church with us! We never saw her at church which made us a little sad but last monday we got a media referral, and the name seemed really familiar. We went to drop the bible off to the media referral and low and behold it was the lady we had street contacted into! She recognized us and invited us in and we were able to teach her more about the characteristics of God! She is from china and knows nothing of God and when we told her we believe we are children of a loving heavenly father she got excited and her face lit up and she said the sweetest prayer where she begged a God she barely knew to please help her become his daughter. It was a great experience thats for sure! We get to go back and teach her and we are SUPER excited. Unfortunately we also found out she did try to find the church but wasnt able to locate it so she went to a local church instead and feels like she shouldn't leave them right away.... thats okay we will change that soon enough!

We also got asked out for a beer... again... me and Sister Fellows were walking in our area when we started talking to a guy who was out by his truck. We talked for a good ten minutes about the gospel and why we are out here inviting him to learn more... when we told him we would call him to see how his book of mormon reading is going he asked us if we ever went to the pub.... i mean SERIOUSLY! Part of me was tempted to say yes only if you let us pray with you and teach you... but then reality set back in and we had to respectfully decline.... hopefully he still chooses to look into the book of mormon and we will still be following up on how that is going by calling him sometime this week.

E***...(he is one of the elders investigators that like everybody works with) has decided to get baptized... After two long painful years of investigation (painful for the elders due to his enormous amount of questions and objections, and long because it is overdue) he has decided to be baptized oct 12 at 7:00!!!! we are so excited and proud of him and are rejoicing with his wife who joined a couple years ago!

Now about my new companion! Her name is Juli Fellows and she is from utah! She is incredible and I like her a lot! We are very similar in a lot of things so we know this is going to be a fun transfer. She also is very sarcastic and stubborn so thats always a hoot too! I have a feeling she is going to work me hard and we are going to get things done this transfer. We have a transfer goal of 2 baptismal dates so if you can remember to keep that in your prayers i know that will help us!

Things are going fantastic here! I love the weather, the people and (i know i cant even believe im saying this but) the city... I really am learning a lot on my mission and i know this is where i need to be right now... I wish everyone the best week ever!

Sept 16...more miracles.

Looking back on my week and trying to remember what I did was hard! It has been such a quick transfer that all my weeks are blending together!

I do know that this week was a week of trials when it came to our appointments. We have never had so many cancellations and no shows on our entire mission and this week was full of them! It allowed us to really look into our back up plans and hope we followed the spirit and not just the natural man and 9:30 seems like midnight. We worked hard and never gave up and as much as we didn't see a random baptism or we didn't have 20 new investigators we both felt like we worked our hardest and the lord is pleased with what we did. Sometimes it is hard to not base success off of numbers or what others are doing but I have come to know this transfer that God doesn't work that way. I may be obedient and even though I am not perfect I am working my hardest to get better each and every day and yes I am being blessed for it. I may not have felt like all those cancellations and no shows are blessings but I know God has something big in store for me and my work here or I wouldn't be here. I cannot see the miracles as missionaries we expect all the time, because then they wouldn't be miracles... so I have found little miracles throughout each day and I want to tell you about them.

I as a St. James missionary do not go hungry... My ward has been my miracle as I have a meal appointment every single day with members and get to be in their homes and feel the spirit as well as practice my skills.... that is a miracle!

I got to sleep in a bed that is warm as it starts to cool off outside. We have a homeless guy who walks on our street a lot and every time I see him I consider my accommodations a miracle!

I have leaders who honor their priesthood and take care of us... that is a MIRACLE!

I get to go door to door in Winnipeg, a city I never expected to be in, and share what i know to be true! That is a miracle

I am finally seeing how I can best help the less actives I am working with and the direction I need to go there and that is a miracle!

I can still wake up every morning at six thirty and be studying by eight.... that is a MIRACLE!

So although i didn't see someone get baptized this week and we weren't able to find any new investigators I know the lord is blessing me and my efforts through the little things... the lord is in charge of my mission and if he didn't want me here I would be home! That is a MIRACLE! I will keep him in charge of my mission from here on out because i know he knows better than me!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week... You are all in my thoughts and prayers!

 

PS

So....

Here is what is going on with transfers....

I will be staying in the St James area and finish the training of sister Fellows who is currently being trained by my great friend and old companion sister Hutchinson! Sister

Christensen is going to my old ward Gateway to be in a tripanionship....

We are both excited and surprised by these calls... we were so sure I was leaving that I started packing my bags but it looks like the lord has something else in store for me! I'm excited!