July 29, 2013

It's been a crazy few weeks as you can tell as I haven't had time to write a blog post.  Last week was interviews and so we got to spend some time with President Jensen and his wife and get to know them a little better so that was great.  We had transfers but both my companion and  I stayed.  The work here is creeping along and struggles as we don't have much for member missionary work.  They are amazing at fellow shipping people as we bring them in but they refuse to help us find any new people to teach.  There are a few people in the branch that do really well and are trying their hardest to help us so that is great.  This zone is really picking up and the district leaders are really changing and striving to help in any way possible.  Elder Firth, our district leader has changed SO much.  It's been great to watch as he opens up and gets excited about the work and about helping the district.  We have one family who has recently started coming back to church and is SO awesome!   They are working with their neighbors across the street and invited us and them to the circus as a fun activity to break the ice so that should be fun.  Their neighbors are a really nice family and would fit right in the branch.  We have been looking for opportunities to serve them and help in any way they need so we mowed their lawn and gave them our number for anything else they need.  Things are going here just wish it was a little faster! =)

As we strive for excellence the battle is hard but once we are there and look back we can live with no regrets and full of gratitude for what that journey taught us!

Love Elder Jach-Goates

July 9, 2013

As for the mission it was another busy hectic week with the 4th of July and zone conference! We had a ward talent show and picnic on the 3rd Elder Tall and I and the senior couple in the branch did 2 skits, ha ha they were pretty funny!  I'm trying to get the video from a member to show everyone.  On the 4th we visited a few members and got to help with a 10k run that a member puts on as well.   It was a lot of fun!   The elder in the zone who was in a car accident is rapidly improving.  He is now able to talk and feed himself.  His memory is slowing coming back.  He remembers his dad and is able to walk around.  He is still in missionary mode and responds better to elder and not his first name.  He talks about the Iowa Des Moines Mission but still isn't quite sure where he is.   He gets better everyday.  We are SO thankful to the Lord in protecting him and helping him to heal.  His companion walked out with a couple of bruises after get hit at 60.  Miraculous how much we are watched over.  I'm so grateful to be a missionary at this day and age where there is so much evil around.  So much that is trying to drag us down and make us miserable.  What a blessing it is to be teaching something that literally changes people lives and gives them the chance to be happier.  We found a man named James who is in his 60s and is home bound because of his back.   We were looking for a referral that we received and he and his wife Geneva invited us in and allowed us to share a message.  We did and invited them to read and pray.  We went back a few days later. Geneva had a migraine so wasn't able to sit in on the lesson but we talked with James and he had read chapters 1 and 2 of 1 Nephi.  We asked if he had prayed to know it was true and he said that he already believed it was true just like the bible.  We were pleased but talked about how it is essential to gain a spiritual conviction from the Holy Ghost.  We read chapter 3 and then Moroni 10 3-5 and he sat there in tears and said over and over "that is a powerful verse!"   The spirit was so strong!   We invited him to continue reading and praying and talked to him about baptism.  He said he really wanted to be baptized but wasn't sure how he would be able to since he was home bound and would lose his assistance if he left his house too often.   We invited him to pray and left after closing with prayer.  On our way out we looked in the window to watch him pick back up the Book of Mormon and start reading again.  We have another lesson with him tomorrow.  SO excited to see how the spirit works with people.  He had talked to missionaries 20+ years ago and just now he was ready to accept.  We never would have found him unless that member had given us the referral to go see someone completely different, (he lives in a town where there is literally 5 houses, so we never would've gone there).   Follow the promptings and you could change some ones life FOREVER!!!   This gospel is true and this work is amazing!

Love Elder Jach-Goates

July, 2, 2013

It was a pretty rough week!  The work went great we found 6 new investigators and got 12 referrals, so that was awesome, but it was a pretty stress filled week.  We got a new mission president on Saturday and that night an elder in this zone got in a car accident.  He was hit by a dodge truck going 60 mph, was life flighted to Des Moines and is in critical condition in the hospital.  He only has a few broken ribs and some big cuts on his head but he hit his head pretty hard and isn't functioning fully yet.   He responds and is excelling rapidly but there is some possible brain damage.  He gets better everyday and we were able to go and see him yesterday as he opened his eye (one is too swollen to open still) for the first time and was looking at us.  He still doesn't talk but can give you a thumbs up and nod his head.  He is doing good though.  Yesterday we had zone conference and got to meet President Jensen for the first time so that was fun!  He's definitely different than Pres Jergensen.  A lot more soft spoken and unsure about what he's doing but he still carries the spirit with him and I'm sure will be a great leader.  Not sure if everyone was able to watch the new mission presidents broadcast seminar but its online and was filled with some cool things that are happening. Check it out!   I was able to talk to President Jensen on the phone last week before he got here and he told us a lot of things that might be changing soon.  We will get I-pads in the near future to help us with teaching and keeping track of everything in the area.  That will be a great tool to be able to show people different videos of General Authorities and Mormon messages as well as talks from conferences and ensigns.  The work is changing and we need more and more help from the members.  This is a GREAT work and an amazing time to be a part of it.

Love Elder Jach-Goates

June 24, 2013

It was an astounding week!  We picked up 3 new investigators on of which is from Rwanda Africa and is here on a soccer scholarship.  He's a super cool kid and came to church with us on Sunday.  We play soccer with him most Mondays so that's how we found him and he's super excited to learn.  The work here is moving so fast and we are seeing such great success. We went on exchanges in Osceola last week and I went out to a town called Lamoni where a lot of RLDS people live and they have a college called Graceland that use to be owned by the RLDS church.  They are generally nice people just a little confused about a few things,  Ha Ha! If you get some spare time I would love to hear from some of you, I miss you all, and am so thankful for all your support.

Love Elder Jach-Goates

June 17, 2013

As for the mission it was a crazy week! SUPER busy!  We had a meeting in Iowa city and than another meeting with the whole zone on Thursday and we have a meeting tomorrow and exchanges this week.  We had a lot happen this last week with investigators.  We got a new one and set a date and dropped her all within like 5 days, ha pretty nuts!   She's a teenager and is struggling with word of wisdom problems which is pretty common here in the Midwest, at least more noticeable.  We have a black investigator named Quashawn he's super awesome and has come to church now for like 4 weeks in a row and really likes meeting with us.  There's a private Quaker college here and we play soccer there on pdays.  We found a potential investigator last week from rhonda.  He's pretty cool!   He's here on a soccer scholarship. There are also some great members here.  It was elder Talls birthday yesterday so some members had us over with another member family to celebrate.  It was a good time!   This zone won a temple trip too, so now next Tuesday  I get to go to the temple.  SOO excited!!!  It's been too long since I've been.   Love you all so much and am so thankful for all your support.  "There are no big problems just a lot of little problems all put together." Henry Ford.

Love Elder Jach-Goates

June 10, 2013

It's been a pretty crazy and really busy week!  I am now in Oskaloosa with Elder Tall, he was in Keokuk for half a transfer when I was in Burlington so we already knew each other and we get along great!  He's a hard worker and follows the spirit so it makes life a little bit easier.  We're in a branch here but like most branches there are some great members here to support.  I've already gotten to know a few of them and they are super nice.  Quite a lot has happened since I've been here.  We went finding a few times and found 3 possibly 5 new investigators.  One of them is a really nice family who invited us in for dinner the other night and we were able to have a great spiritual discussion.  On Sunday we had a great surprise when 2 investigators that we thought we would have to drop because they wouldn't return our calls or anything just showed up at church.  We had a lesson with them after and the mom,  Candy decided to quit smoking and broke her cigarettes right there and threw them away.  The son charley is a little slow but is a super awesome really funny kid and is really excited about getting baptized. They'll be baptized at the end of the month.  Today we went to Penn college because there is a soccer pick-up game there every Monday and we got talking to Eric a guy from Africa who has been here for 6 months and he said he wants to learn about our church so we have a lesson with him on Wednesday.   This area is amazing and there is SO much more potential here!  It's so great to be here and be a part of it!

Love Elder Jach-Goates

June 3, 2013

It's transfer week and I'm getting transferred already! Ha, but its ok I didn't expect to be here for long anyway.   I'm excited to be in a new area!  We had a pretty good week last week we set up a bunch of appointments with different members and investigators and potentials for this week so we would have plenty to do.  We went to a baptism where 5 people were being baptized and President Jergensen got to perform one of the baptisms so it was a super cool experience for me to see him baptize someone and he said it was the first time he had since college.  What a great experience to have right before he leaves.  Pretty crazy that we get a new mission president this month.  Hopefully it all goes well.  My companion Elder Witham who's going to Brazil is here for another transfer which means that he might have 4 different mission presidents on his mission,  ha pretty crazy.  Well I miss you all and hope everything is going great!

Love Elder Jach-Goates