I Know That God Loves His Children - January 25, 2021

 Hi Family and Friends,

What another blessed week it has been! The Lord has really been blessing us with a lot of miracles these past couple of days and it is really awesome! We are finding a lot of success working with returning members and are having a lot of success with that which is super awesome, because that just builds up a strong relationship with the ward! But let me tell you about some of the miracles!

1. So I went and did work at a food bank this past week and there was this service group there named Americorps and in this group there are a lot of recently graduated high school kids! So many things just happened to fall into place (which is really just a way to say it was the hand of the Lord) but I was placed in the line next to this girl named Rachel. And Rachel started talking and she said she was from ALABAMA!!! Which caught my attention, so I asked her what part and she said BIRMINGHAM!! I then asked what part and she said from Helena!! And right then I knew the Lord had caused something to happen, so I asked if she knew some of the members that went to that school and it turns out that she knows all of the "Mormon Kids" and was actually best friends with one of them! We talked about the church a little bit and there was some interest! So I am super excited to see where this is going to go, but just think, two random kids from Alabama happen to meet at a random food bank in York Pennsylvania, and know each other's friends! Tell me God doesn't know His children! You can't!

2. Saturday night we decided to send a mass text to all the numbers we had and invite them to church! And a couple of minutes later we got a call from a man named Mike! And it was one of those Life Changing calls! Mike told us that it was interesting that we called, because the last time the missionaries had contacted him it was right after an attempted suicide, and he was contemplating trying again that night. So he proceeded to tell us a whole long story of all the stuff he's been going through and it was tough. And in the end he told us that he thinks that God keeps sending people like us to him in these moments because God is trying to tell him something! So we testified of God's love for him and shared with him the quote from President Nelson in the Come Follow Me lesson from two weeks ago! The one where he invites us to pray and ask what God sees in us and our potential, and that really hit him hard! So tell me God doesn't know his Children and places other people in their lives when they need it! You can't!

3. We called this returning member this past week and he didn't pick up. We then talked with the other Elders in the ward and they had said they had tried multiple times and nothing. But then...... the next day the member called us back and we set up a time to call with him! And Boom, he told us how he had been working on things personally and had goals he wanted to reach and he wanted to reach those before talking to the missionaries! But then he realized that he wouldn't be able to soon and just decided to talk to us, and so that's why he called us back, and so we had a good chat and we were just getting to know him and then just out the blue without even inviting or nothing, he told us that by just talking to us he felt compelled to go to church and he committed himself to going right there on the spot!!!!!! (The spirit and influence you carry as a missionary is unlike any other) And so he came to church this past week and the Ward was going insane because apparently they have been trying to help him come back for yearsssssss!!!! And just one call from us in the right time and now he's back! He also said that he has a friend and they read the scriptures together, and they have already read the entire Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price together and now they are doing to Come Follow me! And she her next step is to talk to the missionaries!!!

So my dearly beloveds know that exact obedience and diligent work brings forth grand blessings!

Remember that God loves you and knows exactly what you are going through!

Also we found this lady from Egypt and she has a little restaurant type thing that sells Egyptian food and it actually wasn't too bad! But she is really interested in learning more and we found a member that was an Arabic linguist in the army for like 20 years so we are super excited for her!

Elder Jorgensen

Get you that Bama connection - January 18, 2021

 Family and Friends,

Howdy from York Pennsylvania!!! It's be a super fun week up here!! But the biggest miracle of the week, we made some bama connections!!

There is this returning member that the ward was talking about, and they had made the comment that he had lived in Georgia so I thought I could make the southern connection... I stalked him on Facebook and found him and it said that he was from Alabama and cha ching!!!

I sent him a message and said you from Alabama? And he video chatted me and we had a great discussion, we talked about Bama football a bit, Jim 'n Nick's, and he told me he had dreamland sauce!!! So the connections there, hopefully we can really help him!!!!

We also had a super cool miracle this past week! We felt prompted to call a member one night who wasn't in our schedule, but somethings fell through so we had a little bit of time! And it turns out that it was one of those perfect timing calls! He answered the phone and told us how much respect he had for us and told us that he would've normally rejected the call but he felt like he needed to talk to us! So we started talking and then he just opened up! He was sharing with us how he has this friend at work that he has started to share the gospel with but doesn't know what to do next and has a lot of fear about how to help her. And so we said we would study and pray for her by name everyday for the next week, and he said he wants us having contact with him every day to keep him accountable! So that's what we've been doing! And then we were about to close with a prayer and he shared even more about how his family is struggling with some very big and sad things and he asked for us to pray for him. And we offered a prayer and then after he said thank you thank you thank you, I love you both so very much.... we were all crying!

So there is work here to be done in York, my mission President promised me that if I work extremely hard and stay worthy of the blessings the Lord will reveal the reason I am here! So it's grind time!!

NO REGRETS!

Elder Jorgensen 

1 and 4. Pics with our English class friends 

2. Since I'm serving in a English area I got permission to videochat and practice my Spanish with any native Spanish speaker, so I get to call Rocker almost every single day which is so awesome!

You Can't Help But SMILE - January 11, 2021

 Dear Friends and Family, 

What a week it has been! So I found out this past Saturday that I will be getting transferred this Wednesday to York, Pennsylvania! The thing is that I will be assigned to do English work, which I am a little sad about but that's ok! The Lord has something big instore for me! And it won't be that bad, I have a spanish speaking companion and my new District Leader is Dominican so it will be all good! 

But this past week we definitely went out with a bang!!!!!!!

So for my whole time here in Hagerstown we have been working with this returning member! He has been off and on and has been super super depressed at times! And I don't know what happen, because about a year ago he was an absolute legend here in Hagerstown. But for this whole week we started having contact with him and for the first time in 5 months I saw that light in his eyes. I could literally see a difference in his countance, he was like a completely different person! The little things do make a difference!

Also our dearly beloved Rocker!!! I can't say enough about him! So about 2 weeks ago, he left to work in Deleware and we lost contact with him, but this week we came back and he called him up and he looked really really bad. He has covid now and is just looking really sad and dark! But we called him a couple of days and then members bought groceries for him and the light was back in his eyes! It was absolutely amazing to see!!! And this past week we had a lesson with a member and rocker and the members laid down the law and Rocker said that as soon as he leaves the quarantine, he will meet in the church and choose a date!!!

And to end the week we had a beautiful baptism! Our friend Miriam was able to be baptized and her brother was able to baptize her! He received the preisthood right before and then was able to baptize his sister! What a beautiful day it was and a great way to end my time in this area!!

I love you and, and don't forget to obey the commandments, you'll have the LIGHT!

Elder Jorge

The Law of the Fast - January 4, 2021

 Family and Friends,

Testimony builder of the week: a Fast truly does work

So if you remember back to April our beloved prophet, invited us to do a fast for those affected by Covid, and for me at least after the fast I didn't see a whole lot of improvement. And then with our Friend Hasey here in Hagerstown we have fasted with her 2 separate times and nothing improved. She didn't get a job and still had to work on Sundays and still can't get baptized... so I have always known fasting was good and that it was a commandment from God, but I didn't have a super strong testimony of that and so the Lord thought it was expedient to teach me the importance of Fasting.

So to start my week I was studying in the Book of Alma and a scripture caught my attention in a way that it never had before. Alma 30:2 says,

"also after the DAYS of fasting, and mourning, and prayer... there began to be continual peace throughout all the land."

It says that after DAYS of fasting they were able to find the peace that they were searching for! At times the Lord will answer the fast after one time, but sometimes it takes days of fasting to receive the blessing we need!

So this week we were blessed with the wonderful opportunity to fast 3 different times, for three separate reasons. 

1. Last Sunday we were invited by our mission President to join in a special fast for a sister who was in the hospital for a week!

2. Hasey needed some direction in her life so she said she was going to fast this past Wednesday and so we told her we would join her and so we did!

3. Yesterday we had the monthly fast!

And oh my goodness, my beloveds, the Lord answers prayers! We were able to see 10 of our friends we are teaching come to church yesterday!! 10!!!!!! And Hasey her husband and their whole family were some of them!!!!! What a glorious sight it was!!

Also Miriam and her family came yesterday and then they had a interview after church with the Branch President and then the Branch President interviewed the 17 year old son and next Sunday he will get ordained to be a priest and then baptize his sister immediately after!!! What a glorious day it will be!!! 

And to just think that 5 weeks ago was the first time that this family came to church in a couple of years. And to see the change they have made is truly inspiring!!! I love this gospel!!!!!!!!!!

Remeber, Fasting works, may take a couple of times, but the blessings will always come! Never count God out!!!

Elder Jorge

1. Our friend Angel 

The Gospel of Change - December 28, 2020

 Family and Friends,

Próspero año y felicidad!!!

We've got some good news!!!! We talked with the mom of Marian and we chose a date for the 10th of January!!! We are soooooo happy for her and for the step that she is going to take!

But we has quite the miracle with her this week! The Branch President's son was baptized this past week and so we invited her to watch the baptism to prepare for hers! And she did!!! But it was a close one....

She saw all the talks and everything, but right as they were entering the font, it said that they left the chat... and so we started scrambling sending them messages saying "hey what happened? Are you going to tune back in?" And they texted us back saying their mom had called and that they were going to join back soon.

But then the prayer was said that the kid was baptized and right as he came up out of the water, they joined back. They had missed the baptism...

But Because God is Good, the child didn't go under all the way, so they had to do the ordinance again and this time Marian saw it all!!! And she thought it was so cool and is getting really excited!

Dios realmente es Grande!

As we were talking to The mom of Mirian last night, she was telling us how much her daughter has changed. Like before she starting talking to us, her daughter never wanted to leave the room and was very depressed! But now because she has the Gospel and the light of Christ in her life, she is a completely different person night and day! She said that her daughter even baked cookies with the rest of the family, something she would've never done like 2 months ago!!! Whooooooo

We have also seen the gospel change our friend Rocker. The first time we met him, he came to our English class and he told us about all he was going through and it was a lot. But know in these days, he's praying multiple times a day, ge taught his brother in law to pray (and in the right way), and he even helped us explain what the Book of Mormon is in our English class! It was so cool, and last night he told us he was going to ask his very first question to God!!! We are so excited!!

So the moral of this story is, if you don't want your kid to be depressed or want more happiness in your life, come to church! 

Elder Jorge 

Gravata de Natal - December 21, 2020

 Family and Friends,

Welp I got to experience my first Nor'Easter this week and oh man, was it a blast!!! We got a whopping 8in of snow, which is the most I have ever seen in my life. I think if it snowed that much in Alabama, the whole state would be shut down for 2 months ha!

But we had a super duper good week this week. It was a little bit of an adjustment going back down to a normal companionship, but we are going!!! Our friend Miriam accepted a baptismal date this past week and if all goes well she will get baptized in 2 weeks!!!!

The Hermanas in our branch were able to see their friends get baptized this last week! And we were invited along with our friend Rocker! And he came!! And he was asking so many questions and is really interested and has the goal to be baptized as well!! He loves to lesson with us everyday and he likes to do them at the church because he feels relaxed there! We love our friend Rocker!!

We had interviews with our Mission President a couple of days ago and we were counciling with him about what we could do to help our friend Hasey. Because she has a testimony of everything, but has to work so much just to survive. And we had done everything, we looked for jobs, fasted twice, and she's reading and praying everyday! So we were a little lost, but our Mission President read 1 Nefi 3:7 and promised us that the Lord will provide a way and so we are excited for the miracle that is coming!!!!

I love you all and have a merry Christmas!!!

Elder Jorge

La Fe no es Pasiva - December 14, 2020

 Family and Friends,

It's snowing!!!! Well at least it's trying to :)

But what a week it has been, it was the last full week for Elder Sellers as he will finish his mission this Thursday! It's crazy to think that in a couple of days we won't be together anymore! We've been together in this area since August 12, so we hit 4 months just a couple of days ago! 

This week has been full of miracles, and again the biggest ones come on Sunday! So since it was Elder Sellers last sunday he was asked to give a talk, so we milked that and tried to get as many people as we could at church! We were shooting for over 20, and we got 7! So we were pretty blessed! 

But the coolest part is that we have a English Class and we have been teaching about 4 people regularly cada semana, y all four of them came! And I was able to sit next to one of them and while they were giving talks, they were looking up the scripture references in the Book of Mormon and bible! So we're pretty excited! 

Also, one a youth gave a talk this past week and he's the only member in his family! So his mom came to support him yesterday, and the son just blew us all away! He basically told his mom to get baptized from the pulpit, he said that he feels lonely at church and said that he wished and wants his mom to be apart of the church and have the same blessings he's received! It was so powerful!

I read something this past week that blew me away! It said, Faith in Jesus Christ is much more than just having a PASSIVE belief in him!

Faith truly is a principle of action, it's a get out there and get your hands dirty kind of principle! And that got me thinking about my life and if I truly have an active Faith in Jesus Christ where I am searching to repent every single day, or do I have a passive faith and not eagerly searching to grow!

So remember, Faith is not passive, it's active!

I love you all,

Elder Jorge

Bringing The Family Back - December 7, 2020

 Family and Friends,

How are you doing? This week has been quite the miracle of a week!

The Key: Part Member Families 

So here in Hagerstown there's a branch and then about 30 minutes away there's a Spanish group in an English ward. And so the members in this stake are divided between the two.

So one of my first weeks in this area we called this one member and she picked up and told us that she has a 9 year old daughter who wasn't baptized and wanted to come back to church. But we saw that she was part of the Group instead of the branch, so we told the other missionaries about her and then didn't contact her for a little bit.

But this past week her name was in my mind a lot, so we decided to call her about and it turns out that she is going to move here to Hagerstown and so she was going to come to the Branch. And so this past Sunday she came to church with her Husband and 4 children!! And then we had a lesson with them right after church and oh my goodness. They are such beasts! The mom shared this crazy story about how her house burned down and the only thing that was saved was her Bible and Book of Mormon, because a piece of insulation fell from her roof and covered it. Like big time miracles! 

And to finish the lesson off, we asked if anyone had any questions and the 17 year old son asked what he needed to do to be a missionary! Whoot whoot!

And so we left them with 3 Nefi 11 to read as a family. And we sent them a text last night, and they said that they had read almost all of it! Legends!

So we are súper excited for them to see how everything turns out! 

Elder Jorge

The Abuelos are back - November 30, 2020

 Dear family and Friends,

I hope that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving! It was super good here! Elder Mecham really likes Thanksgiving and so he made a full dinner and then a member made us dinner and so we have basically had Thanksgiving this whole weekend!

We also had a really big miracle yesterday! Javier didn't respond to us about coming to church and Hasey couldn't make it either, so we were thinking no one was going to come! But............

There was this couple who are the "abuelos" of the branch! And they have been trapped in Colombia since the outbreak and they just made it back to Hagerstown and they came to chruch on Sunday! And in their first week they brought someone to church who had been going for a super long time and has a ton of interest! And he is also a temple sealer, so Hagerstown just got some big guns!!!!

And then a returning member family that we have been working with so much, finally came to church and they are also part members

Also the Hermanas had a family came to church as well, so in the branch we had 10 non members there and then a total of about 75 people! And I have forgot how much I have missed large church meetings! It was so much fun!


I hope that you are all doing super well and that everything goes well this week! I love you!

Elder Jorgensen

 

You gotta step up - November 23, 2020

 Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving to all! As President Nelson said there truly is a healing power from Gratitud! I have truly seen it work miracles, like it did this week! 

I'm telling you, the most stressful day of the week as a missionary is Sunday. The day you try and help all of your friends come to chruch. The whole time you are trying to work everything to help then come and make sure they have friends, and yeah, lots of things. And so yesterday instead of having in person church we had a regional Broadcast with Elder Soares and Presidente Eyring! 

And we had it all planned out so that Hasey was going to go to a members house to watch it and it was all good! (Also little side miracle, Hasey send us a text on Tuesday saying, "I have no idea how this happened but I don't have to work this Sunday and I'm coming to church!!!")

So it was all planned out, and then we sent a text Sunday morning to confirm it all and we didn't hear anything. The devotional started at 11am, and 10:30am we still hadn't heard anything and so we called her and no answer. Then the stress started to kick in, because Hasey literally believes in everything and has a testimony but just can't come to church. But at 10:45, we get a text and she said that she got off work at 6:30am and just woke up and had to get ready. And then she said that her daughter cut her foot open on the glass table and it was pretty bad. So we sent her the link and told her that she could watch it from her house.

But she sent a text back and said no, I'm going to the members house because I made a promise. So she went, and we said send us a text when you get there. And she never sent us a text....

So we were stressing out the entire time wondering if she had made it or not, because we had no idea! And let's just say it was quite the stressful time, but during Presidente Eyring's talk she sent us a text and said I got here like 10 minutes ago...... 

So she left her crying daughter with a sliced open foot with the dad and went to church on like 2 hours of sleep because she made a promise and she knew how important it is!

And that caused me to think, if she's willing to make that sacrifice for God, what am I willing to give up. And I pose that question to you too, what are you willing to sacrifice to let God prevail and recieve the blessings that God has in store for you?

Milagros come in the very last moment. The mission can be very stressful, but it is oh so rewarding and I wouldn't give it up for anything. These truly are the best two years!

I love you all!

Elder Jorge

Right Place, Right Time - November 16, 2020

 Hello Family and Friends,

How are you? Not going to lie time is starting to pick up even faster! It is quite crazy, this past week literally flew by!! It's starting to get a little scary, but we keep going!

We had another crazy miracle of being in the right place at the right time! We had exchanges with some English elders this past week, and one of the English Elders has never tried pupusas, so we took him to a place that makes pupusas. And by the way they were super good! But we were waiting outside for our food, and this random lady comes up and asks us if we have a card from our chruch! We didn't have any on us, but we did get her phone number and she told us she would be home in 10 minutes and she wanted us to call her! 

So 10 minutes later we called her and it turns out that she has been a member who hasn't gone to church in years!!! She has 2 older daughters who live out of the house, but she has a 4 yeard old son who live with her and she wants him to be raised in the church! She told us that she knew exactly where the chruch was, but she didn't feel comfortable because she didn't know what time we met and she didn't have any friends. So we added her to the branch's group message in whatsapp and she now has a bunch of friends and she's coming to church next week! WHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

We also had a super amazing lesson with Hasey this past week, and she really wants to get baptized, and she wants to do it with her daughter! So we talked with the daughter and she told us that she has read the entire picture of the Book of Mormon in 2 months and she believes it's true and so we basically did a baptismal interview with her and she passed! So honestly the only thing we are waiting on now is for her to get Sundays off. We are right now looking on Facebook and working our connections to try and get her a new job! So we will see if we can work some magic this week!!

I love you all and hope you have blessed week mis queridos!

Elder Jorge

Javier Came to Church!!! - November 9, 2020

 Hello Family and Friends,

It was bounce back week and it was nice! First of all as a zone we had 20 people come to church yesterday, and with the quarantine and everything and people still super scared to meet in person, it was quite the miracle! And of those 20, 5 of them were people we are teaching! It was so cool!

So Javier and his Family finally came to church this week and it was so cool! But it was a down to the line decision for him! We saw him on Saturday and they said they were coming and we were super excited. And then we got a text Sunday morning and he said that he had a lot of chest pain and said that he probably won't make it to church...... again..... for like the 3rd or 4th week in a row🤦🏽‍♂️

But we sent out a text to a bunch of missionaries and the branch saying pray for Javier, and like 30 minutes before church he sent us a text and said he felt better and he was going to come! We about lost our minds!!!!!!!!!

So he came with his wife and 2 sons, and then after the meeting the whole branch swarmed him with love!! It was so so cool, and it turns out that one of the members used to be their next door neighbor and they are super good friends!!! (So what do we learn, share the gospel with your neighbors, they may be more receptive than you think!

We also have zone conference this week and a bunch of other things happening and we are super excited to see what the Lord has for us!

After All We Can Do - November 2, 2020

 Dear Family and Friends,

How has everyone's week been! This week was a tad bit rocky, but we keep going. The phrase that has been on my mind the most this week has been, "after all we can do!" Because that is one thing that I have learned in my time as a missionary is at times we literally have to do all we can and exhaust ourselves to the end and then the Lord steps in and takes care of the rest. And at times this is super frustrating, but I have also seen the growth and progress I have made because my Father in Heaven loves me enough to not give me everything I need when I want it, but he still answers me. In times when he knows I Need it.

This past week contact with Javier has been a little frustrating, we messaged him every single day and he would text back occasionally, but we could never set a lesson with him. And we felt like we were bothering him, but we had a goal of daily contact. But as Sunday rolled around we were very little on faith, but decided to send him a text and because we did he tuned into online church!!! And then today we sent him another text and finally have a lesson set up for tonight!

We finally had a in person lesson in the house of a memeber this past week! After 7 months it was super weird, but it went super well! We had lesson with Hasey and we talked about church, because she works on Sundays. And she expressed her frustration with us, she has being doing everything she could and nothing has happened. She reads in the Book of Mormon, prays everyday, asked her boss 10 times for Sundays off, and even fasted with us! So she literally did everyting in her power, and nothing was happening. So we came home that night and got a random text from a returning member that we've talked to maybe 2 or 3 times, and she said she had a job open and it was perfect for Hasey and she was going to be able to come to church! So she got an interview all lined up and ready to go, and on her way to the interview she got in a car accident and couldn't go to the interview.... yeah, we were pretty frustrated

But it turns out that they had another day of interviews this morning, and we haven't heard how it went but we are hoping for the best! But it all is going well and trusting in God that he knows best!

I love you all and hope it is a great week for everyone 

Love,

Elder Jorge

Hey Halloween - October 26, 2020

 Friends and Family, 

How is everyone doing! This week was super super blessed, and I may have seen one of the biggest miralces in my mission!

So last week we went to a Latino Store, because we are best friends with the owner! And we had also placed an English class ad in the store so we wanted to check up on that. So we started talking to one of the workers in the back and he was really intersted in English classes so he gave us his number and I wrote down 10 numbers....

And then we got back to the house and I put the number in my contacts and then later that night, we tried to contact him and there were only 9 numbers.... But we remembered that the last 2 numbers were 7 and something, so we were missing the very last number. And so we sent texts out to every number ending in 71-79, in Spanish. And the worker from the store had a phone number from Omaha, Nebraska. So we ending up getting the response from number 74 and it was the worker so it ended the search. But then like 3 minutes later, we get a text from number 72, and she texted back in Spanish. 

So we get to talking about English classes and she said she's not interested, so we say goodbye and delete the message. And then 3 minutes later she texted back and said, are you mormones. So we said we are from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints! And then she said, I'm sorry I know that's the correct name of the church. I am a member who has fallen, but I want to come back. So we put her in contact with the missionaries in Omaha and now she gonna go back to church. So if you try to tell me that God doesn't know every single one of his Children, sorry, you're argument will not be valid!

Our Friend Javier accepted a baptismal date and he wants us to help his whole family be baptized too! So hopefully we can help the whole family and we are super super excited!! 

But I love you all y Hey Halloween!!

Love,

Elder Jorgensen