October 19, 2020

 Family and Friends,

WHAT A WEEK OF MILARGOS it has been! First off transfers happened, and Elder Sellers and I are staying but we are receiving a new companion named Elder Mecham and he served in Puebla Mexico and so we are súper stoked for that!

This week we also have a lot of things in the works that we are really excited for! We had such a huge miracle this week!

So we have been working with our friend named Javier for about 8 weeks, but it has been touch and go for the whole time! The first call we had we talked about baptism and he said he was interested and then we went to the hospital and then it has been super tough to put ourselves in contact with him. So we have been super busy and relentless with him, and it paid off! So last week we had 2 or 3 lessons with him and then he said he was going to come to church last week and then Saturday Night he sent us a text and said that he was in the hospital again... so we were super sad. But then he didn't respond at all this week, until Friday night and we had a super lesson with him and he said he was going to come this last and bring his wife!!

We also explained the Book of Mormon and then after the lesson he sends us a text with a screen shot of his Amazon order and he's ordering a Book of Mormon because he wants to read one!! We told him that we could get him one for free and he was down for that!

 So we were super excited. And then on Saturday he sent us a text and said he was in the hospital again. And so we were super sad again. And so we sent him a text of hope Sunday morning and nothing. And then like 15 minutes before church started, he sent us a text and said I'm on my way to the church!!! 

We lost our minds!!!

So he came to church and he brought his wife and they absolutely loved it and then said we are coming back next week!

And then we get home and we see a text and he asked if we collect tithing!!!! So then we called him last night and explained tithing and more about the Book of Mormon and Javier asked when we could get him one! So we were with our Branch Mission Leader and we gave him one and before the lesson ended the Branch Mission Leader booked it out of the church to take the Book of Mormon to Javier! 

And the biggest miracle of all, Javier is literally the neighbor of our church building!!! We have walked by his house every single day because that's where we take our walks! Super duper extra crazy!!!!

So we have a lesson with him tonight and are going to extend a baptismal invitation and we'll see what happens!

Also he's got 3 kids!

DIOS ES GRANDE!

Love you all,

Elder Jorgensen

Let God Prevail - October 12, 2020

 Hola Family y Amigoooooos,

What a wonderful sabbath is was yesterday! For the first time in about 7 months the entire rama was allowed to go back and meet together! It was such a wonderful experience. Obviously not every went, because there is still a fear, but there was a good chunk of people which was really awesome! And to be able to hear the testimonies of all the members, oh man I just love the people here in Hagerstown! And our friend Ricardo was able to tune in and hear the testimonies too!!!!

But this week was another good one! We had our first in person zone conference with more than 25 people and I also had my first in person interview in 9 months!!!! My last in person interview was with Presidente Mutombo on January 7th, super loco no!!!

But we are getting things hopping on track again which is super nice to see! The biggest problem we have had in the contact with people, but this week we really made a effort to help people let God prevail in their lives and to put him first and we are really seeing a blessing because of that! Our starting 5 Ricardo, Denilson, Junior, Hasey, and Haisleen have all agreed to have lessons with us everyday this week and they all want to come to church next week so we are super pumped!!!

I have definitely been so grateful for a prophet on the Earth this past week and know that he is an inspired man of God! And when we follow the councils of God we are going to be blessed!

So this week REMEMBER to put God first in your life and to let Him prevail! Your Father in Heaven loves you and I do too!!

Elder Jorge

Amen - October 5, 2020

 Hello Family y Amigos,

CONFERENCE!!!!! Oh my goodness, what a spiritual overload, it was so so very good! I truly feel it everytime we sing "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet" because I am truly thankful for his words! What a blessing it is to be guided and led by God! 

This past week has been a little difficult because it is really hard to get into contact with the people we are teaching. They literally are working themselves to death every single day, like there is this one returning member we are talking to who works 7 days a week, 7pm-6am! Loco! But we were talking with one Latino and he said that this is Latino Style, living the american dream! 

But something that my President shared with me was, when we pray, We should Pray like everything depends on the Lord and then get up and work like everything depends on you!

So that's been the game plan so far and it's been going good! We got into touch with Hasey this weekend and she is still super excited to get baptized and she said she wants to talk to us every day this week! And then we got back into contact wit someone else we are teaching named Denilson and we have a call with him every day too!!! Super super bendecido!

We also had a super cool miracle! I was able to go on exchanges this past week with Elder Hiserman and we went back to my old area in Frederick! And when we made the plans to go there, there was this one lady who was on my mind. She is a member but her 10 year old son is not. So I felt like we needed to call her and so we did! And she picked up and we taught her a little something and then asked if we could set up a lesson in her house later in the week! And then I just got a report from the Elders that they went and she has another son who is 8 and a husband who isn't a member either and they all want to get baptized!!!! So I definitely know that that was an impression from God and I am super excited for them in the future!

WE ALSO GOT THE NEWS THAT WE CAN GO BACK TO CHURCH AS A FULL BRANCH THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! VAMOS!!!!!!!

Love you all,

Elder Jorge

The Lord Answers Prayers in Weird Ways

 Hola Hola,

Conference is this week!!!!!! That is insane, it is crazy how wack this past 6 months have been in quarantine! The time has gone by so fast, but super slow at the same time!

But this week has been another week full of miracles, we truly do feel blessed to be here in Hagerstown! The first big miracle we had this week was with Hasey and Haisleen! 

So we had a member drop of a Book of Mormon in English, Spanish, and the kids version with the pictures! And so they were dropped off at 5 and then we called at 7, and Haisleen the 9 year old daughter started going off! She was like look at this story and this story, she was telling us about Joseph Smith and Nephi and how Jesus came and blessed the niños  and how he commanded them to pray and they prayed without stopping in their hearts!!!! THIS WAS ALL AFTER RECEIVING THE BOOKS JUST 2 HOURS BEFORE!!!! So we read together a little bit and then we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and talked about the Kingdom of God on Earth is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and then we invited them to be baptized and they said yes!!!! So that was so cool!

Our other friend Ricardo had a pretty big miracle too! So the Lord has been showing us that he answers prayers in his way! The thing with Ricardo is he is very hard to contact, so we have been pleading in our prayers that Ricardo would just have a little bit of extra time to talk to us a couple of days a week, and then the Lord answered the prayer. Ricardo texted and said the wanted to talk, and he told us that he was parted ways with his Job............ (coincidence)........ but yeah, so we've been going really strong with him too! He has a little bit of a hard time recognizing his answers from Heavenly Father, so we are helping him with that. But he wanted us to give him a goal, so he's on date to be baptized too!!!

My companion and I have both made a pact with each other that we are not going to take one second off, because we both don't want our missions to end. And so it's been really working and we are seeing the fruits of our labors!

I love you all and I am soooooo excited for Conference, I hope you are too!!!

Elder Jorge

Miracles From The Book of Mormon - September 21, 2020

 Hola Familia!!!!

It's crazy to think that conference is less than 2 weeks away!!!! What are the rumors this time, hahahah, just kidding.🤣

But this week has been super good, another week rocking and rolling! We are super excited about this family we have named Jumior y Hasey! (Hasey is the lady who literally read the entire Book of Mormon before) and so this last week we had a lesson with them and it was so awesome! We were planning on teaching about the restoration, but they made a question about baptism! And I have defintely learned that if some asks about baptism, you take it and run with it. So we talked about Baptism and Hasey realized that she needs to get baptized again. And she is super willing to learn more and read from the Book of Mormon. They also want their 9 year old daughter to get baptized too!!! And then at the end of the lesson we all knelt in prayer over a video chat and prayed together! It was so cool! And this Friday a member is gonna take them copies of the Book of Mormon to read together! Whooooooooo!

Our other friend named Denilson has been working non stop this past two weeks so we haven't been able to set up a time to.mert with him. But we made a group text on messenger and our branch President has been sending him messages throughout the week and Denilson responds to them! We also got his real phone number so hopefully we will have more contact with him this next week!

We also went to a little hispanic tienda this past week and put up a flyer for English classes and we got to know the owner of the store and he's super cool! We also got a call this past week and we were able to have a lesson in the church with 2 people, and it was so cool!!!! 

I love you all, keep pressing forward in the faith!

Elder Jorgensen 

Better than Gold - September 15, 2020

 Hola Hola,

How's everyone doing!!!! We had another rocking week out here in good ole Hagerstown!!!!! We said by this past week to our querido Elder Rodriguez, he got moved to a different area.... So right now it's just me and Elder Sellers, and we are ready to just get down to work!

We were able to have a lesson with This one family we found last week! And so we were going talking about our purpose on Earth and then we brought up the Book of Mormon and the wife was like ohh yeah, I've read that Book before. She then went on to tell us about Nefi, Alma, and Mormon and we were shook! She said that a friend in Panama gave it to her and she loved it. And she wanted another copy because she had left her other one behind. So we are to give her one this week!!!!!!! The husband is super super cool too!

This other cool guy that we found has been having health problems ever since we met him, like we are super excited for him, but Satan is working pretty hard right now! But we have a lesson with him tonight, so hopefully all goes well.

Best part of this week:

We taught an in person lesson this past week! And the man left after the lesson, but then called and said he forgot to give us something! So we ran outside wondering what it could be, and he gave us a bag and said it was from his wife!!!!

Opened the bag, 4 rolls of toilet paper! Literal gold!

Love you all 

Elder Jorge

Catching Fire - September 1, 2020

 Hello Family and Friends,

This week was absolutamente amazing! I love this area, the people, and especially the memebers here! The work is absolutely booming right now! We were able to find 2 families of 5 this last week whom we are really excited about! We are also working really well the members right now! 

A push that has been put out in the Maryland Baltimore Mission is to work with the members and teach them how to do missionary work! So instead of just asking for referrals at the end of a lesson, we ask them who they think they could reach out to and share a scripture or video! And there are so many members who are doing missionary work! One lady we are working with is handicapped and under normal situations she wouldn't be able to meet new people and share the gospel, but because we are in quarantine she is able to reach out and share videos we make with her friends from all over! She shared one of the videos we made with one of her friends in El Salvador! Her friend in El Salvador was so touched and wanted to meet and talk with us! So we set up a  video chat lesson with her and the memeber and taught her a little bit, and she accepted the restoration and is starting to read in the Book of Mormon!!!!!

We are also working with the Branch President right now, and he all by himself found a family of 4 who actually took the missionaries discussions in the past and were super close to baptism, but they moved! But out Branch President found them and we set up a lesson yesterday with all of them in the Branch President's house!

We are also getting really really good at this thing we call Facebook tracting (basically stalking), but it has been super helpful! We are finding and having conversations with a lot of people every day, and one guy we found this week accepted a baptismal date for September 26 and tuned into online church yesterday! So we are super excited for him too!

I love all of you, and go find someone you can share your testimony with! People need you!

Love,

Elder Jorge

God is Good - August 31, 2020

 Family and Friends,

What a blessed week it has been! If I were to say the most important thing I learned on my mission, it would be that God is Always Good. And He has shown me that time after time this week.

The beginning of week was a little tough, we had a lot of thing fall through and so that was hard. But you know, no matter how tough life is and no matter how many times it beats you down, GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD! 

1. So something we have been approved to do is dropping off pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon on people's doorstep. And so this week one of our friends wanted to read the pamphlets, so we went to his house and dropped them off. But as we were getting out of the car, we saw his neighbor who was sitting outside on his patio, smoking, and looking like he was contemplating life. And so we waved to him and kept walking and saying to ourselves how much we wanted to go and contact that guy! But we dropped off the pamphlets and started walking back to the car, and the neighbor called out to us and started walking towards us. He asked if we were from the church and if we could pray to for his momma. We talked to him a little more and then he said something that just blew me away, he said that he was sitting there and when he saw us, something told him that he needed to talk to us! GOD TOLD HIM THAT HE NEEDED TO TALK TO US! And he talked for a little more and then when we felt like we needed to leave (because we still aren't allowed to street contact) the Lord sent the rains, that literally came out of nowhere! So we were able to stay obedient and find this super elect person! When we returned to the apartment, we called him and he was blown away that we actually took time out of our day to call him, and he simply asked us teach me how to pray. So we taught him and then we did a prayer circle, where each one of us prayed and then he prayed at the end and ohh my goodness! Spiritual level through the roof! It was amazing!

2. So a couple of days ago we finished a lesson at like 8:50pm and we usually end the days at 9, and so a big push that my mission president has put out is how many people can we find in the last 10 minutes of the day. When some people would kind of slack in those last 10 minutes we are doing everything in our power to find someone! And this week was amazing with that! We called this random dot in area book and after talking for maybe 2 minutes he already asked us if we could come to his house and teach his wife and 3 kids!!!!!! Though we can't do that we set up a time to meet in the church, and then we kept talking and we brought up baptism and he said that he was already baptized as a baby, but we told him in a very nice way that he didn't need to be baptized as a child, but that he needed to be baptized again! It all connected for him in his head and he asked if we could help him get baptized! So we are super excited for that!

Also, facebook tracting has been really really successful, we are finding and having conversations with a bunch of people and also finding a bunch of references for other missionaries! It's been really awesome!

I love you all,

Elder Jorge

Pics:

1. We went on exchanges and I was able to go back to my old area in Frederick with my old companions!

2. Also ASU forks up

Family Pictures - August 24, 2020

 Dear Friends and Family,

How is everyone doing? This week has been another great week here in Hagerstown! I absolutely love the branch here, every member is super strong in their testimonies and are always willing to help. And I am pretty sure every single member is a convert to the church, or at least 95% of them, and so they know the importance of the missionaries and they love them, because the missionaries changed their lives! So it's been really rocking and rolling with the member missionary work here!

So quick little miracle, we have been teaching this lady named Nell who really knows her bible, like real well, and she's really involved in her church. So before I got here my companions taught her about her 2 sticks found in Ezekiel 37, and that through her for a little loop. So the next call after that lesson was my first lesson here. And she started telling us about all the research she has been doing to try to find evidence to our claim, and she did a lot of stuff. 

But we told her that the only evidence she needs is in her hands, which was the Book of Mormon. She then said that she needed to study Egyptian history to learn more about the tribe of Joseph and all this stuff, but we told her again that the only evidence you need is the Book of Mormon. So we told her to dive into it and put it to the test, and she said she would. 

So then the next call we had with her, we ahed how her reading was and she told us that she had read from 1 Nefi 1 to 1 Nefi 13! And that was just in 3 days!!!!! We were blown away! She had some questions, but she said that she is going to keep reading and putting it ot the test!

We also taught another in person lesson this week!!!!!!! That's 3 lessons for me in person in 5 months! Whoot whoot, we're moving forward and so that makes us super excited!

We've been doing service in a cemetery recently! We talked pictures of headstones and upload them to billion graves! It's been fun to get out of the apartment as well! Hahahaha

Also made a trip out to Martinsburg, WV this week to go on an exchange! So now I have covered 3 of the 4 states that my mission covers, trying to make it 4/4 by the end of my mission! Just missing Virginia!

I love you and I hope you know that hope is key!

Elder Jorge

August 17, 2020

 Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been quite a fast one. This week definitely felt like the days went by slow, but the days went by really fast! Weird how time goes right? But also this week I got transfered to an area called Hagerstown, Maryland. And it's been really fun here! And the best part is I am serving again with my trainer Elder Rodgriguez. And it has been a super fun time!

Here are some other highlights that have come down this week:

1. Two people I was helping teach in Frederick got put on date this past week!

2. When I got here, my companions told me that they were teaching this guy who was agnostic, but you know when God has a plan and wants it to happen, it happens. Because we called him this past saturday and he said that he wants to get baptized. But he wants to know the true church, so we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and come to church! And then he joined in the church call this past Sunday! 

3. We hit 5 months in quarantine yesterday, and what better way to celebrate it than going back to church! Yes you heard that right, we went back to church! And it was so fun!

4. There is this recent convert that is in this branch here and he is so cool! We were able to contact some missionaries on Temple Square and took him on a virtual tour of Temple Square! It was really fun!

I love all of you!

Elder Jorgensen 

Not Today Satan - August 10, 2020

 Hello Hello!

How has everyone's week been? It's been absolutely rocking here in Frederick this past week! After a long long hard struggle, we found a whole bunch of people who are super excited and want to progress!

We were able to talk to 2 part member families this past week, and the ones who are not members have sincere desires to be baptized! We have also been teaching a lady who is a member of another church but more or less active in it. But she is super interested and wants to learn more about our beliefs and the book of Mormon. So that was super exciting! 

We also went and got haircuts today by this guy we found on Facebook named Magico Barber and Elder Hiserman went first and he didn't ask much. Then I went and got my haircut and he started asking me about the DC temple and a little bit about our religion. And then Elder Haskell went and he pretty much taught the first lesson. And we ended up giving him a book of mormon before we left. Just trying to contact anyway possible Hahahaha

We also had our first in person lesson yesterday with Isael! It was really awesome but awkward. We went to a park and he sat on one side of the bench and we sat on the other side 6 feet away and with masks on. So it felt really weird, but it was nice to get out! 

The best part was that we got so excited we put on our shoulder bags and it felt like I was a really proselyting missionary again! It was so fun!

But it was really funny, because Satan knew that the missionaries are on the loose again! Because while we were walking and teaching there were some people who rolled down their windows and poked fun at us and other things! But that just goes to show, Satan knows how powerful we are! 

NOT TODAY SATAN!

Love, 

Elder Jorgensen

Phase one - August 3, 2020

 What is good mi gente,

How has everyone's week been? We have some exciting news, on Wednesday we will be moving into phase 1! We aren't exactly sure what that means, but anything is better than having to stay inside the whole time! 

We also had a pretty big miracle this past week! Our friend Isael, who is just waiting on the permission from his dad to be baptized, reached out to us and was asking about the thing people do when they don't eat food because they want something. And so we were pretty surprised, and so we were able to teach him about fasting and he wanted to fast with us! So this past Sunday we fasted with Isael so his dad's heart could be softened, and it was super powerful! And the best part about it all is we were able to open and close our fast with him through a video chat.

We were also able to find this really cool lady this past week! She is a member of another church but she is not 100% active, so we reached out to her and it turns out that she and her son had been contacted by missionaries in the past, and her son actually has a copy of the Book of Mormon. And she wants to learn more about our church and the Book of Mormon! So we are pretty excited for that!

I hope you all have a blessed week!

Elder Jorgensen 

Miracle Preppers - July 27, 2020

 Dear Family and Friends, 

How are you doing? I hope that everyone has had a bopping week! This week has been pretty good, and I found out that Elder Hiserman, Haskell, and I are staying together another transfer. Or at least 2 more weeks together, because with all of these reassigned missionaries, we have transfers every two weeks. But we heard that we aren't going to get a lot of missionaries in August, but we are getting a bunch in September. Crazy stuff!

But this week I was given the opportunity to speak in our branch zoom call on the topic of ministering. And so this week I was studying about the miracles of Jesus, and so I decided to tie that in. 

As I was reading this week one miracle, or one story, really caught my attention. The story is found in Mark 6. And in this story, Jesus is teaching in a synagogue, and there are a lot of people in this synagogue who know Jesus and his family pretty well. It could have been that these people lived close to Jesus while he was growing up or just really close friends with his family, but they were pretty blown away when they saw Jesus teaching and preforming miracles. I am pretty sure they were even skeptical too.  It shows us that in verses 2 and 3, where the people pretty much say, We know this Jesus, where did he receive his power. Isn't he just a basic carpenter. He is not anything special. 

And we see what goes on to happen when people doubt the power of Jesus Christ. In verses 5-6 where it says Christ could only perform a few miracles. 

And as I was thinking about this story. Ether 12 came to mind and the many verses it has which says that without faith, there can be no miracles. Because God doesn't show himself until after their Faith! 

As I was thinking about this story, I thought how well it applies to our life right now. And especially how we are waiting for a miracle to free us from this virus, but we know that before any miracle can happen people need to have faith. And that is why I love the first line of the missionary purpose which say, "Invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement..." and there's a little more after that.

But the first thing we do as missionaries is we help people first, strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ. We basically prep them for miracles, which I really love to think about. 

And honestly that is what every member of the church has the opportunity to do! To help people build their faith in Christ, so they can receive miracles.

We truly are miracle preppers!

So this week, how will you help someone strengthen their faith, so they can receive a miracle?

Elder Jorgensen

Alma 36:21 - July 20, 2020

 Dear Friends and Family,

How is everything going? I hope that everyone has been staying safe and all is well! 

This past week was a little rough for us at the beginning of the week! Satan was working quite hard! 

Our main man Julio texted us this past week and said that he had some really major doubts about some of the teachings of our church. And so we tried to ask him what they were and what we could do to help and he didn't respond to any of our texts. So that was really sad.

Then we started teaching Isael's sister Issannet who is also an amazing person, and they both want to be baptized for such amazing reasons. So we asked for permission from the Mom and she said yes, and then we talked to the dad and he started bashing our church and said there was no way he was letting his kids be baptized into our church. Because we don't follow Jesus, we follow Mormon and Joseph Smith. So we tried to explain how that WE DO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST, we showed him our nametages and a whole bunch of other things. But he just would not listen to us. It was pretty frustrating. So that was really sad as well.

And then our also other amazing person named Aaron, who read 1 Nephi 1-8 in one week, didn't pick up this past Monday, and we can only have lessons with him on Monday's so hopefully he will pick up this week!

So the beginning of this week was pretty rough, but one thing that I learned this week is that there are always elect people who are wanting to learn more about the gospel. We were able to find 3 super awesome people this past week, two through our English class and then one who was priorly taught. And then sometime we haven't had contact with in about two weeks called us up out of the blue and said she wanted to hear a message! So we taught her real quick and were able to set up a video chat with her for this week!

So I definitely know that at times life is super rough, but there always will be an opposition of all things! If you are going through a hard time, just wait for it.... It's coming!!!!!!!!

The Quarantine Missionary,

Elder Jorgénsen

Don't put boundaries on God - July 6, 2020

 Hello to All,

How has it been going? Did everyone have a good fourth? It was actually super awesome for us! The complex right next to us and apprently they do fireworks real big, so we had quite the show! It went from about 9:00-10:15ish which was perfect for us! Happy Birthday America!

We actually had quite the miracle with Isael this past week! So we have been teaching him and he said that he felt like he still hasn't received an answer yet. So we asked him how he thinks he's gonna get an answer and he said like in a dream or something. So we then explained God usually doesn't work like that and he will probably get his answer from the feelings of the Holy Ghost. And so he said he was going to try and listen, and then the next morning he texts us and all he said was, "Hey, I got something to tell you guys." Which could be really good or really bad. So then we asked him what happend and he went on to tell us that he had a dream the previous night and he felt like God talked to him and told him that he needed to be baptized. So were running with that! If God tells you to be baptized, you better get baptized! JAJAJA! All we are waiting on right now is permission from his parents!

But this week has been super fun! Trio life is the best, keeps things entertaining for sure! My new companion is from Texas, so we keep that southern twang going strong!!!

But one of the highlights from this past week was we were able to go golfing. And just for starters, I am a terrible golfer. But we found this one golf course that had free clubs to rent and it only costed $10 to hit as many balls as you want on the golf course! It was super fun! The only thing was that there was a dress code, no denim and collared shirts. But since we didn't have collared shirts, we went and played in our white shirts! Pretty funny and we definitely got a lot of weird looks! But hey, I think I am ready for the masters. Sign me up!

Elder Jorgensen