Hey family.

This week... This week was like a blur, a tough blur. We are still working really hard on building up a big pool of investigators. I am pretty sure when we have a big huge pool of investigatores i will be gone. seeing as the next change coming up will hit 4 changes here in the area. Which is when president almost always changes the missionaries. And that will be 3 weeks away. But I want to leave the area, in good hands to my comp. We have been contacting like craziesss, and we knocked a lot of doors too.... tecniquly we are only allowed to knock doors according to the spirit. So we went and stood in front of the apartment buildings, and tried feeling the spirit as to which we should knock. We came to a mutual agreement, and knocked the whole building. It went well. It was something different, and fun. We met some nice, and not so nice people :) We also checked all the contacts that we did in the street. We set up appointments with them in the street, they tell us their address and the time we should go by. Well we are convinced that everyone got together, and decided to pull a giant prank on the mormons or something. Because we went by around 25 peoples house this week, and they were all people that gave us a time, and address.... well out of all of those 25, there was 1 that let us in... :) jaja. But what eves. We just tried to keep smilling through it all. And laugh it off. There were a few unexpected new people that we were able to find, and go into their houses to teach. So that was good. 

Miguel is doing really really well. He is an awesome guy. He wants more than anything to be baptized, and has been clean completly from cigaretts and coffee for more than a week, so if everything goes well, he will get baptized this week. :) He says that everything is going a lot better with his family situations, which we are happy about. There are a few guys that always make fun of him, as he walks by now that yell out to him "hey mormon" but he says that he doesnt care. Which is cool. Because he said that before that would have affected him a lot more.

I found out that i have the "opportunity" to give a talk in our stake/zone confrence that we have every 3 months with the members and president hall.... yipee!! I dont know how i have been so blessed, but at least they gave me a little bit of notice ;) It will be on Wednesday this week, for all of you that want to send an extra payer my way. Also, they wanted a recent convert to speak, so we thought of Dolores. She is going to speak, unlike me, that is right up her ally. She was pretty excited to hear that she is going to speak. jaja. 

One of those days, where litterally like every appointment fell through, we were walking past some kids playing soccer in the street, there were like 15 of them. one of the kids said hey mormons come play.. I just looked at my comp, and we put down our bags and played for a few min. Well all the kids were just super shocked, that a white guy from the states could play soccer. It probably wasnt the best use of time, but it helped us relax just a little bit. And its not like we waste very much time at all :) And now every time we see those kids in the neighborhood (which is just about everyday, because the appartment complex is small) they run up to us, or yell out to us "la reta! La reta" which pretty much means lets play a game. jaja. It is way funny. 

Today we took a nap after the meeting :) That felt very good, it was the best nap i have had since i have been on the mission, by far!

That is pretty much it for the week, there are quite a few of investigatores that are progressing well. We are hoping for the best for each of them, who knows if i will get changed or not in 3 weeks, probably going into my last area pretty soon, before my final area.... Alpine utah.... wow weird... I sure do love you all.

There is no doubt in my mind that the gospel is true. I am so thankfull for it in my life. And going on a mission was for sure the greatest decision of my life. I really love it!!! 

Have a great week!

Elder Allison

Brad's email 1-26-15

One of the sister missionaries that are in his Zone area.  

Hello!!

So this week has been a pretty good week for the most part. We did lots of things and tried to find new people to teach. It was Elder Patterson's first week in the mission field and he said that he really likes it, but he is going to have to get used to it.! He is such an awesome Elder. He has the attitude of a new missionary and is keeping me motivated. I still don't have a picture of him, but I will get one today and lots more! This companion likes to take pictures so I am going to follow his example and take pictures as well! haha 

I'm very sorry to hear about Grandpa Clawson... He really was an amazing person, but I guess the Lord really needed him in preparing the kingdom for the second coming. I am really thankful for the example that he set. I will honestly never forget him. I am also thankful that the last time that I saw him he was able to work and enjoy the farm. He taught me alot about cows!  haha He kinda went deeper than he had to when talking about the reproduction of the cow... haha, but I guess you know that he really likes the farm and his family because of the way that he talked about them and his deep love for them. I am glad he is out of his painful state. Make sure the Clawson Family knows that I love them and I am always praying for them. I respect that family and consider them family! 

The weather here has been really nice lately! We have been parking our truck and walking everywhere that we go. I have been rolling up my sleeves and trying to get a sun tan. ;) 

This week we have been focusing on the topic of Freedom To Choose. It has been a solid week of talking about agency and why we have it. I was given the opportunity to teach Elders Quorum and the Gospel Principals class. It is always interesting talking about something that everyone in the class knows quite a bit  about, but it was really nice to teach it. I talked alot about my life before I was a missionary and about my conversion and how it was my choice to serve a mission and not anybody else. It was my choice to decide to participate in church. it is all my choice!  

I talked a lot about being accountable for the choices that you make. I told them some more experiences about my life before my mission and how I had to be accountable for those choices. Some of the consequences are good and some are bad. It is all up to us. I talked about before we all came down to earth and the choice that we all made to follow Christ's plan so we would be free to chose and that we would be accountable for those choices, rather than taking Satan's plan and being able to do whatever we want and be able to return back to him and not have to be accountable. I concluded with my testimony and challenged them all to think a little bit more when it comes to making some decisions and to try and remember the gift that we have been given and how we can use it wisely. 

It seemed to go well and there was quite a bit of participation. I have found out that no matter who you are talking to or who you are teaching to ask a lot of questions. For example: if someone were to bring their car to a mechanic and said it is making a noise and that is all they said, well that doesn't really help me very much. So I have to ask where it is coming from, the front or the back, right side or left. Is there a vibration, does the sound come up when you slow down or speed up or when you apply the brakes? 

All of these questions are going to help me find the answer to the problem of the car and when I can pinpoint where the sound is coming from. It is the same with teaching. If you want to find something out or if you would like someone to talk or to ask a question or answer a question, the best way is to ask LOTS of questions! It works! :)

Well, that is about it for the week.  Have a good one!

Love, Elder Riley

1/19/2015 - Elder Jackman

Dear Family,

Incredible week, one of the best weeks of my mission. We worked so hard, I'm so tired right now. We truly worked our guts out. We had the BAPTISM of BOBLOU!!!! Our Cameroonian investigator! He is amazing! Baptised him in 2 weeks flat!! Such a golden young man, so prepared and so humbled. He was a gift from God to us as missionaries. I think I've told you all this story before, but we did meet Boblou while we were contacting on Christmas Day giving out wrapped up Book of Mormons and 'He is the Gift' cards. He loved it so much and texted us the very next hour and wanted so bad to meet up. He wants to be a missionary so badly. We taught him everything and he soaked it all up like a sponge spiritually. After the baptism, he got up and bore his testimony. He now knows this is where he needs to be. He is currently trying to strudy PMG and submit papers eventually to serve a mission. Perhaps he will be a great leader in Cameroon, where there is oly small units there. He is such a great person, so humble. He was confirmed on Sunday, I did the confirmation, and blessed him that he would one day be a future missionary. It was powerful. Ah, this is what missionary work is ALL about!! Truly the best thing ever. All of our converts here in Peckham are doing so well! We have baptised 4 people in just a couple of months here and even President Millar and Sister Millar came to support and congratulate us. We are doing some great work here. Building up the Church here in London feels so accomplishing. 

This week was very cold and rainy too. I went on a powerful excahnge with the Clapham DL, and we had such fun together. We had a powerful exchange review - I taught about him serving with ALL his heart. And what that really meant.

He ended up having tears rolling down his eyes, and he applied that counsel. Now that counsel made him better and he accounted saying it was one of the best exhanges ever. It changed him! He's only got 2 transfers left, so I helped him the best I could to start now serve the best he could.

London is great. We are doing lots of finding 24/7 - we talk to everyone we can! We have had some crazy times doing it - people running up to us and flipping us off and getting right up to our faces! Scary stuff! But nothing we can't handle!

London is a concrete jungle. I haven't seen grass in ages haha. Always on a bus and tube and train or feet. So much travelling this week. We are so happy to hit the streets again - in fact, me and Elder Stephan (my mission trainer/dad) are going on exchange again in Peckham! Whooo!! 

This week I worked so hard. 

My testimony of the Saviour really increased. I was saying my nightly prayer and then felt inspired to read Alma 7: 11-13. It talks of how Jesus knows literally everything about you - even the deepest of heartaches. I burst into tears as I sat there in my study room late at night. Now the pages in my scriptures are all crinkled from my tears hahaha. But it felt nice and remind myself that Christ is my personal Redeemer. 

I know this with all my heart. I've applied it! It works and it can work for you too. My mission has changed me so much.

(Thanks to everyone for the gifts/letters they sent!!! :))

Love,

Elder Jackman

1/12/2015

Dear Family,

Brilliant week yet again! A lot of zone planning that's for sure - and I mean a lot. Computer work galore, zone goals, MLC, DLC, and other trainings for our mission and Wandsworth Zone. 

London is getting colder and colder, mixed with a lot rain too, which makes missionary work miserable. Soaking and tracting is not fun!! 

Our week was solid. I had so much fun!! Spent the whole thing in Peckham, doing lots of contacting. Went out with a missionary from Lovell, Wyoming named Elder Mayes - man, he lived out there in the boonie didn't he? A town with a couple hundred people!! Wild. He is a strong woker. A lot of the Americans from small towns are solid missionaries - they know how to do missionary work!! 

We have been working a lot with our Cameroon investigator Boblou - he came to Church yesterday again too! Whoo! He needs one more week - but his baptism is right around the corner! Keep praying for him! 

Something I have cherished on my mission is the deep love I develop with each person we baptise, and the people I work with where our spirits just click with one another. For instance, we had a DA at Isata's home (our most recent convert) we had Casava rice and leaves - a great dish! But after spending some time with her, I walked out of the house with a huge smile on my face. Such great happiness filled my heart I couldn't help but smile!! I LOVE the people I have come in contact with - especially when you see them keep coming to Church and staying active! Such joy! 

I have grown a lot this week. The scriptures really strengthened me and showed me the better way. I have a 100% testimony that the scriptures are true and they do show you ' all things that ye must do' They contain the words of Christ. I have loved reading them, especially this past week - I'm a new person I feel! Such renewed strength that I know has only come from God. 

Great week - not too much happened, but still sooooo productive. The Wandsworth Zone is in good hands ;)

I keep having dreams about Jersey island!!! Ahhh, I miss that island sooooo much!!! I honestly almost cried thinking about all the great times I had there - from cycling everywhere, the cows, the ocean, the castles, the sunshine, the members!! Everything! Jersey island is written in my heart!! Just thought I would add that. Maybe we can all take a trip there in the summer after my mission?? :)

I love everything here and my mission. I love the gospel! I love being a missionary so much. I dont want to leave!! 

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Jackman

1/5/2015

Dear Family,

What a great week!! We are seeing SO much success here in Peckham! We had the wonderful chance to baptise our investigator, Isata, from Sierra Leone (West African) She is so special to me and we have a great relationship! She was one of our 'golden investigators' - baptised in less than a month! We were eating in a Sierra Leonian restatrant with a member, Bro. Kamara, (also from Sierra Leone) and he presented to us Isata, who was there - and wanted us to teach her! She was his aunt, they eventually found out! They were able to reunite as family in London. Funny how the Gospel works in that kinda way - This is what gives me complete joy! She was so solid the whole time and she asked me to baptise her :) Standing in the water with her was amazing too.

Many more baptisms to come about this month! 

Whilst contacting in Peckham, we met one of our other investigators! Boblou, from Camaroon (also West Africa) Boblou is such a tender mercy from the Lord. He's our 'Christmas miracle' - I approached him in the streets and gave him a wrapped up Book of Mormon and some candy to him and his friend. They loved it so much. He's on a student visa for a couple years here in England. We taught him the next day and he is SO golden. All he wants is to be baptised as soon as possible!! So we gave him a date for the 17th! Please pray for him!! Boblou only wants to serve God and wants so badly to serve a mission. He wants to do what we do. He's 23 and full of humility. We already love him to death. Again, the Lord continues to bless us continually here. We are working hard and staying 100% obedient and worthy. We are even giving an MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on 'Exact obedience' to all the mission and wrote an article for the mission newspaper thing. I've never been so on fire on my mission!!

Lots of busy work this week. It's the start of a new transfer here. I only have 5 more in total...Crazy how fast time flies. 13 out 17 transfers done with! Can you believe it?? Time needs to slow down! Well anyway, lots of planning for the new transfer ahead - like Zone Training's, DLC's, presentations, and so on. Plus, if I train a new ZL next transfer, I'll have to tackle zone goals and Stake Correlation pretty much by myself until the new one gets the hang of it!

A lot of new missionaries coming in this transfer, so new faces! Always fun to work with. 

So much fun this week - went out on tons of splits with the Kennington Spanish elders, talking in Spanish all the time haha or trying too - I seriously sometimes think I'm serving a Spanish speaking mission... Ate a lot of African food today - one that almost destroyed my throat with spicy and a lot of fufu too. I'm trying to keep my 6 pack but it's getting progressively tougher haha. 

Life is SO good! I love where I am. I have been really ill too this week - coughing up my lungs and sniffling a ton. I caught the flu on Monday last week, so that was hard on my body. The mission can tear you apart physically and make you look like absolute horror, but I'll come back victorious knowing I served the Lord valiantly. 

My testimony is growing so much - Ah, I can't begin to tell you my great experiences with the Atonement, the gospel, everything I have learned. God is good. 

Happy New Year everyone. Make this one dedicated to the Lord. Consecrate your lives to Him. 

:)

Love,

Elder Jackman

Hi All:

(We asked Brad to come up with a word for the year that he will live by)  So before I forget my word for the year is FEARLESS. It is something that I feel a leader needs to be and something that people can look up to.

So this week has been a pretty good week! We did do lots of service again! It has been snowing here as well and today there is supposed to be a big snow storm! Thats always exciting!

It has been a good start to a good new year! On Monday we went to the stake center and played basketball and that was super fun! I really am getting lots better at playing and I have found that I am quite competitive. Then we went home and did lots of laundry and did alot of cleaning. We decided we were going to deep clean our apartment, so we pulled out the oven and the fridge and mopped the floor and cleaned the bathroom and we shampooed our carpets. It was needed! Our apartment was already clean to begin with but we thought we would make it even more clean! There is really nothing better than to come home to a sparkling clean house! (from the mom: Who is this kid?)

Tuesday we had District meeting and I was given the topic of goal setting and accountability. So I talked alot about goals and how they are important in a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly aspect. That we need to always be setting goals that we can 1. attain  2. are reasonable 3. you will progress with. 4. enjoy.  We talked alot about all that good stuff. I really don't like talking about goals for an hour and a half just because there is really not alot you can really say that will make the conversation progress, but we did talk about how our district can receive 81 lessons taught a week. That means all they would have to do is to teach 3 lessons a day for 7 days and we can reach that goal. They are going to be working on it for the rest of the transfer and we will see how that goes. I made sure to really emphasize the word Accountable because I told them that when they set a goal they need to be accountable for reaching that goal or not reaching it. and why they didn't reach it. What was it that was making them not be able to reach a short term goal and if they didn't why? So Elder Stuver and I want to teach at least 20 lessons a week so we set a goal for 3 lessons a day. Monday we were not even close to 3 lessons and on Tuesday Elder Stuver was sick and on Wednesday I was sick so for 2 days didn't get any lessons! We said we are going to have to teach 5 or 6 lessons a day til Sunday night to reach our goal of 2 because I want to be accountable to the district in my part for teaching the correct amount! We did it! It feels so good to be able to reach these simple attainable goals! 

This weekend we went to a part member families house and we had J-Dawgs and they were SUPER good! We put a new grill together for him so he made us dinner and they loved that sauce! It was so good!! This family is awesome. He is just a chill guy and he has an awesome personality and loves to talk cars so that means not only do I get to go over for amazing food but I also get to talk cars!  I really like going over there and this upcoming Thursday we are going to play volleyball with Doug so that will be good and we are eating at their house again on Tuesday and he is making chicken riggies. I guess they are super good! They come from New York! So we will see how that goes!

Oh and there is a family that lets us come over whenever we want to get Italian sodas and when we were driving to their house we saw a snowman that can only be found in the state of Idaho... so you will see what it is! I thought that is was pretty funny! so hope you like it! 

That's about it for the week! love you guys!

Elder Riley

A few excerpts from Brad's last few emails.

This new investigator that we have was from a referral. We were told to stop by her house and offer her some service. We went to her house and as we pulled in she could hear our truck. She came out and she did NOT look happy... so I was a little afraid what was going to end up happening, But it turns we were able to chop some of her wood. So, it has been really cold lately... and I think the coldest it got here was -9 degrees and it was FREEZING! So since it was so cold and EVERYONE in Idaho has a wood burning stove here, they go through quite a bit of wood when it gets that cold especially  this early in the year. So it has been cold and you should probably have quite a bit of wood to get you through the entire winter.  We were doing service for this grump of a lady and we were chopping what little wood that she had and she was almost out and it is only November!!!  We being so service minded lately we got it in our heads that we were going to go find a trailer and not go back to her house till our truck and this long trailer was full of wood.  We finally finished cutting down all the wood and all that fun stuff and showed up at her house with this huge trailer and our small pickup maxed out on weight overflowing with nice pieces of heavy cherry and apple wood and elm trees. We pulled up to her house she once again heard our truck and came out and was looking a little more mad now then the first time I saw her, but we didn't say anything but "SURPRISE!!!"  and her face went from angry to tears pouring down her face. She gave both of us hugs and was so grateful for our good deed. She let us in and told us her story. She said that she doesn't have any family. Her husband is in prison for life for murder and her son died around this time of year when he was 13 years old.  He was in a head on collision with a logging truck and her cat that she had for 20 years had died 2 weeks ago. She was going through a rough time and she said that she was NOT interested in the gospel at all and in any kind of religion. She said it makes things too real. We told her we weren't going to say anything about the gospel and we do but she doesn't really notice because we just threw it into the conversation. She is really enjoying our company and she said this is really what she needed. She actually said she considers us her grandkids. She doesn't have any kids so she likes to think that we are her grandkids. 

Service is such an amazing thing in this life. As my family knows I have always been one to do service and the reason I love it so much is because it's a chance to help anyone who needs it and it makes you feel so good! You have no idea how much people love little things like shoveling their walk or taking the newspaper to their door or randomly raking someones lawn and you don't get to see what their reaction is or hear about it all you know is you just served one of your brothers and sisters. I STRONGLY feel like service is the way to someone's heart. It is a sign of love and compassion for them. We need to help our brothers and sisters in this mortal journey. and if they don't want it respect that, but it never hurts to ask. just saying...

Christmas

We spent the first half of our Christmas opening presents and we were able to have a good time calling home and reading Luke 2 with them! It is one of my favorite traditions, but we spent the second half of our Christmas at a member's home! It was fun to spend Christmas with them and be able to eat with them! They made us menudo and I didn't really like it. The texture was the worst but it cost a lot of money to make and so I made myself eat it. Just to be kind. Elder Stuver had 1 bite and didn't like or eat the rest of what he took! I'm lucky I have such a strong stomach! It is something that I will never want to eat again... but it was a good experience. We just watched a bunch of church movies with them!! 

 

They are an awesome family and have been out of jail for 3 months and they have stayed marijuana free for 145 days! I'm super proud of them! I am Doug's Sponsor and I council with him on addiction recovery so I go over the 12 step program and talk about his addiction and how he can overcome his addiction and not want to crave it. They are an awesome family and we love doing work with them! We eat at their house every Saturday! She is a pretty good cook when it isn't cow stomach... haha but they are progressing so much!! Right now we are trying to get them to quite smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. We really want Doug to advance in the priesthood so we are really focusing on them right now. They want to be sealed in the Salt Lake temple so we are trying to find a temple picture of the Salt Lake temple so they can have a picture of their long term goal!

 

Well that is really all that happened this past week! I love this area so much! I'm so thankful for everyone's support and prayers! Try to always remember that we should always remember through the year the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. and always keep him in our thoughts.

 Love, Elder Riley