Book of Mormon Giveaway - June 28, 2021

 Family and Friends,

What is going on my beloveds. This week was such an amazing one. It's crazy to think that I am going to start my last transfer this week, so that just means we have to kick it into high gear!

We were able to go on exchanges with Elder Jensen this past week since he is our district leader so that was fun. I went with his new companion who also happens to be a Spanish missionary. So even though we were in an English area, Elder Torres and I did more Spanish work than English haha. We were hunting out those Hispanics, and we were able to teach some really good lessons. It was so much fun to be serving in Spanish again.

Then we had an in person Mission Leadership Council on Thursday which was so much fun. After not being able to meet up with missionaries for so long, you can definitely feel a difference in the power of numbers. And we didn't have to wear masks which made everything 100 times better!

On Friday I was able to go back down to downtown Bmore for the day and oh how I've missed the city. The people there just simply give you energy. We saw so many cool miracles, like we were walking down the street and a man comes running from the other side of the road and yells, "How much do you know about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young?" (pro tip on the streets of Baltimore, if anyone starts running towards you and yells how much you know about those 2 men, be careful on how you respond, because he may just try to tear you to shreds). So I hit him with a "right back at ya" and said, ``Well how much do you know?" And it turns out this guy was a member that said he got baptized back in the 80s because he wanted to be with some girl. But now they're not together and he hasn't been to church in years, but wants to get back into it and actually study and learn about the church. Big time blessings.

But 2 big miracles from this past weekend here in Clarksville. We don't get much time to work in our area, so last night we decided to go knock doors and we ran into this Buddhist man who immediately told us he wasn't interested. But then the conversation evolved and he gave us bottles of water and by the end of the conversation he took a copy of the Book of Mormon and agreed to read it!

We also have our friend Shirley who loves talking with us about Jesus, but she promised us she would never become a mormon. But we sat down with her and taught the doctrine of Christ and the restoration and she seemed to be open more. We read some Book of Mormon verses and she was absolutely blown away by them, but she still didn't want to read it. But after some talk and some tactful persuasion she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon as well! So hopefully they'll both read it and feel of the power of Christ!

I love you all, and hope you have a happy 4th of Julio!

Elder Jorgensen

Never Have I Ever - June 21, 2021

 Well Friends and Family what a wonderful week it was! I truly do love my mission and I love being on the front lines in the Lord's battalion with the opportunity to see miracles every da1y! Because this was one of those weeks where everyday there was a big miracle!

Wednesday-Hanover:

We went to a little town called Hanover, PA where the stereotype is that everyone is catholic or gay, and it was true. But we still were able to see some big miracles, one of them was right after we taught a lesson. We were walking to our car and I heard some Spanish music playing out of a car, so of course I B-line it over to the car and start talking to this guy. Then another guy pulled up and got out and started talking to us as well, and he tells us that he is talking to one of our friends on Facebook, and it turns out to be he is talking with Elder Bethers. But Elder Bethers is covering an entire Stake for Spanish right now, so he lives like 30 mins away from Hanover. But what was cool is that we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and tell him that Elder Bethers will talk to him more about this! Just placed in our path!

Thursday-Lancaster:

I got to visit my good ole friend Allan! If you remember him, he was the youth that I taught everyday when I served in Lancaster. But we stopped by and oh man it was a good lesson. We taught him the Doctrine of Christ, and told him by not being baptized there was no way for him to make it back to God. Then we talked a little more and he was getting more and more excited, and then he looked down at his phone and said, "How does August 1st sound for a baptism?" We both looked at him and said, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday-Lititz:

This was a fun exchange, because I got to take a missionary who has never worked outside before and teach him how to knock doors/street contact. And it was a blast.... after the first door. We didn't even get to the first door and the lady answered and said, "NOT RIGHT NOW!" And then proceeded to slam the door. I then turned to my companion and said Welcome to the mission! But we didn't let a little rejection get us down and we went and knocked on another door and no one answered, but there was a man working outside across the street so we went and talked to him. Turns out he wasn't interested at all and kind of hates the church, but we still asked him for a referral, and he just pointed at a random door and said, "Have you knocked that one yet?" The answer was no and so we went! And it was literally a miracle! Her name was Tina and she completely opened up and said that she was wanting to grow closer to God, because she didn't know her purpose in life. So we taught her a little and invited her to pray and they are going back soon! Asking for referrals work!!!!

Saturday-Baltimore:

We were able to do a Spanish exchange and oh man, it was so much fun! I have definitely missed the Spanish work, so I enjoyed it all I could for that day! But we got back to the apartment at like 8:58pm due to just a massive rainstorm that came out of nowhere. But I felt like the night wasn't done yet, so we started calling random people on Facebook, (they had accepted our friend request, but we have never talked with them, but we just call them off of messenger, really random and awkward right?) but this lady named Melissa answers, and it was exactly what she needed. We offered to say a prayer with her and she told us how she was going through a custody battle and needed God's comfort. So we prayed and then after, she was like "How did you get my number?" We told her we didn't actually have her number, but instead we just called over messenger, and she told us thank you so much. And then she proceeded to cry and tell us that it was her first weekend without her kids, and how she was so grateful that God reached out and touched her heart through us. She then asked us if we could call in a couple of days and pray again and share some scriptures! Straight miracles from being diligent and not ending the night early!

Now onto the title of the email. For the first time in my life I got pulled over.....

Nothing bad happened. He just told me that my back lights weren't on, which is strange because I haven't touched the lights in a long time, just left them on automatic. But now I can't say Never Have I Ever been pulled over by a cop :(

Keep going strong and remember to stay Christ Centered

Elder Jorgensen

Member Involvement - June 14, 2021

 Dear Family and Friends,

A Special shout out to the new family member, Oliver Green. He's the cutest baby out there and definitely rocks his mullet!

But oh my oh my what an amazing week it was. We may have seen some of the biggest miracles out here in Clarksville yet. They key........ get the members in on the lessons. It's something that has been stressed always in my mission, but that's how miracles happen. 

We had such an amazing lesson with our friends Viviana and Raul this past week with a member couple, and we read out of 3 Nephi 11. We read up until verse 17 and told them to finish the chapter, but the lesson was so cool! The best part was at the end, Raul said, "I like to make a comment about hearing the voice 3 times, When Viviana started meeting with you guys, I was very uncomfortable. But just like these people I didn't hear the voice the first couple of times. But now I am so grateful that you are here teaching us and enlightening us!" We were both blown away! They also went to a ward party and loved it, and then they came to church and loved that! So we are heading in the right direction.

We had met ANN the woman this week! We knocked on this lady's door who has just a massive home (so it was pretty intimidating), but she's like the nicest person ever. She told us that she wants more in her life with Religion. She said that she's always gone to churches out of convenience or practicality, but never went because she was converted/had actual faith. So she really wanted us to stop by again and help her with that, but not just her, she wants us to teach all of her 8 kids as well, who just so happen to be above the age of 8! So big time miracles are in the works.

We also had some fun exchanges this past week. I love love love working in the rain, it keeps you on your toes. We spent most of the week down in Redneck Virginia (my part of town) and talked to a lot of cool people. Only got "shewed" away once!

The work of the Lord moves forward, so jump on and let's get it rolling even more! 

Elder Jorgensen

Pizza for days - June 7, 2021

 Dear Family and Friends,

Have you ever had a dream of eating pizza everyday? 

Well I lived that dream this week, and let's say it's not a pleasant as you would think. After eating pizza for lunch and dinner 5 days in a row, I will definitely be taking a break haha. 

But this week was a fantastic one, it was zone conference week so it went by really fast. Biggest takeaway is God gets his power by being obedient. So as we choose to be obedient and keep the commandments we are becoming more like Him. So choose to obey!

It's also started to heat up here in Maryland with lots of humidity, so the skin it starting to glisten! So we've been out teaching missionaries how to knock doors, and it feels nice to sweat as a missionary, because you feel like you are working. After being inside all last summer, it's going to be a fun one this year!

I was able to go back to Hagerstown to do an exchange over there this past week. We went by and visited Hasey, and it was so good to see her again. She said she still wants to get baptized, and she committed herself to come to church this past week! We also had a person give us some of the best donuts ever! A blessed day!

I was also able to go work in the boonies of West Virginia, and it was so fun over there. Walking around trailer parks with a bunch of fat shirtless men just brings an indescribable joy! It also adds a little plus if they have a bunch of random tattoos, that makes it look like a 3rd grader did it for them!

We were also able to commit all the people we were teaching this past week to read the Book of Mormon everyday as a family! So we are going to be seeing some big times miracles coming up! Stay tuned!

Elder Jorgensen

#freetheface - May 31, 2021

 Family and Friends,

We got some exciting news, say goodbye to the good ole mascarillas, because we are now apart of #freetheface! So now we can have Zone Conferences and District Councils without masks, we don't have to wear masks at church, if the people we teach feel comfortable, we don't have to wear masks in their homes, and we can also eat with members now. So we are super super pumped. We can now go and knock any door we want to (just can't go door to door) and we can "non-aggressively" street contact! So basically we are back to normal!

We also saw some super big miracles this week! I was able to go on 4 different exchanges and we just went and knocked doors the whole time!

Baltimore: So I had heard legends about this one family, but they weren't in the area we were going to go knocking. But we were walking down the street and these people shout out Elders get over here. So over there we went. And it turns out it was the family I wanted to go visit! And they said "Elders we were just talking about God and how we needed to go back to church and boom God sends his messengers our way. God really be listening!" So we sat down and read 3 Nefi 18 with the family and they had some friends over, so we were teaching about 10 people! And then committed them all to go to church on Sunday and they accepted! Big time miracles. We then went and talked to this Lady pastor, and she accepted a Book of Mormon!!

York: We were in an English area. But we taught more in Spanish than in English Haha. We had a super eye opening experience to the power of hybrid missionary work. We knocked a bunch of doors, then came back to the car and had a missionary correlation meeting and a phone call lesson, and then jumped back out and knocked some more doors! 

Gettysburg: it was super fun to go knock doors in that old town! I went knocking with an Elder who had never knocked a door before, and it was a little painful to watch. But he did one all by himself by the end of the day! We also were able to get like 9 people's contact info in the span of about 3 hours!!!! And one of the people we met gave us a CD of his band, called Hollow Creek Walking, and the first song if called The Devil's Den. So best of luck to those Elders!!

Columbia: We were able to meet a lot of cool people, and it one of the lessons we watched that testimony of the Book of Mormon by Calyann (Dwayne Wade's stylist). If you haven't seen it, go watch it! It's super super good. It'll get you hyped up for sure!

I love you all, keep up the good fight! Miracles are in store!

Elder Jorgensen

Door knocking miracles - May 24, 2021

 Family and Friends,

What a crazy packed week it has been. It's been one of those weeks that feels like an eternity which I like! But it was also a super fun week.

Biggest announcement is that I now have a new companion. His name is Elder Morrison and he's from Gilbert, AZ. So we already make that connection haha.

We were able to go on a couple of exchanges this past week, and we saw a bunch of miracles. Slowly but surely we are moving forward with the Covid restrictions, and now we are able to "Street contact" (kind of). The rules are if they approach you, you can talk to them, but you can't approach them or push it. So we are getting pretty creative with getting people to approach us!

So we went to collect some info from people. And in two nights we went with 2 different companionships and found more than 5 people both nights! It was so cool!

We knocked on this one door of a guy because we were asking about his neighbor, and he was a super crazy dude. It turns out that he wasn't a member but he did graduate from BYU with a couple of different degrees. And he showed us all his degrees and his BYU student card. So basically he's a super smart and knows a lot about the church, but just doesn't want to get baptized. (And he even met Gordon B Hinckley!!!) But he said the Elders could come back, so hopefully they'll help him this time.

I was also able to be a witness at a baptism this week for one of the people the Elders in another area were teaching. But the man who was getting baptized was quite large, so they baptized him in a member's pool, which was a crazy experience! But it was a once in a life time experience for sure. 

I love you all,

Elder Jorgensen 

Knocky knocky - May 17, 2021

 Dear Family and Friends,

What a week full of about every emotion imaginable haha. This past Monday I got my second vaccine shot, and it got me pretty good. Tuesday I woke up with no energy, so I went throughout the day just dead and then I got the chills haha. So it was pretty bad all day up until about 4pm and then it went away! Blessings

This week was also a super fun week, because we were able to go and teach some missionaries how to knock doors. It's crazy to think how missionaries have bee out for over a year and have never knocked a door in their life. So we were able to go out with them, and that's what we will br doing almost every single day next transfer! Whoot whoot! But we saw some bit time money miracles!!

I was with this one missionary who has been out on his mission for about 3 months now, and he told me, "I am super happy I started as a quarantine missionary, just so I could start off in an 'easy' mission." So you wanna know what I did, I took him knocking in Baltimore! And it was super funny, I just forget how much they don't know. He led us to the wrong door twice, but hey we got to talk to some interesting people who were Manuel or Juan, haha. 

But the biggest miracle came at night.  We went to this one door,  named Alex. But when we knocked,  Alex had moved and Carlos lived there now. So we talked a bit and Carlos then said to my companion,  "I think I know you from Facebook, come on in. " So he let us in and we met another man Miguel and had a good lesson with them both. As we left my companion looked him up on Facebook, and was blown away. They had Carlos's number first,  but then it stopped working, so they found him on Facebook, and then he stopped responding. So we knocked a random door in Baltimore,  and it happened to be this guy that fell out of contact with the missionaries. We were both shook.

I also found out that I will be getting a new companion this week.  Elder Jensen is going to train on his final transfer.  So my new companion is going to be Elder Morrison. And I am super excited!

Love you all,

Elder Jorgensen

Jamaican Mon - May 10, 2021

 Family and Friends,

What a crazy week it has been! We had 8 zone conferences this week, which were are super amazing and spiritually uplifting! I love these weeks, but they are definitely very exhausting. We put about 750 miles on our car this week, and I can now officially say I have visited every part of my mission! So Woot woot!

But this week we had some pretty cool experiences on exchanges!

1. We gave an instruction on how to properly respond to objections with the Book of Mormon and we were able to put in in practice this week! I worked with one Elder this week and we had a member lesson set up, and all he told me was he is a returning member and had a couple of concerns last time, but we talked about the three kingdoms so I think we are good. But what he didn't tell me was this member had been excommunicated.......

So we jump on the zoom call, and the member sees me and says "it looks like we got fresh meat tonight, how well do you know your bible?" And I told him that I know my bible pretty well, but I know my Book of Mormon really well. So then he started bashing, but in a lowkey kind if way. So I didn't know the answer to every question, but I stood my ground with my testimony of the Book of Mormon! And I felt the power that comes from it. So eventually after a while, I just said it was nice talking to you and ended the call. And I told my companion, That man (referring to the member) is not ready yet

2. We went and did some Jamaican construction this past week. A Jamaican man is redoing his business, and he told us he was going to teach us. And it was a lot of fun. So for most of the time he said that he needed to put tile on the wall but it was too smooth. So gave me a little hatchet and said make the wall rough, swing hard. So for most of the time I was just going ham on a cinder block wall with a Hatchet! So much fun hahaha

3. Definitely grew in faith this week. Just like what Elder Nelson said in his talk, if you don't have the faith. Act like you do. And that really came into play this week with our finding efforts. So there was one exchange were both my companion and I were tired to being left on read by people on messenger. (Basically when they see the message but don't respond). So we just started calling them right off of messenger. And Ohhh my goodness it was so nerve racking, but we did see a lot of success! So be brave and have the faith in Christ 

4. Our friends from Ecuador, left this week. So now it's just back to the normal family Buzaitis, but before the nephew left, he said I will remember you forever and he have me an apple tree. So random, but so kind

I hope everyone has the bestest week ever!

Elder Jorgensen 

1. The Jamaican Construction 

2. Our friend José, with the apple tree

3. Elder Stika

4. Exchanges

5. Professional photographer at one of our zone conferences, so I had to throw it in there haha