Can you believe it? This transfer is over! I swear it was just last week this transfer started. It's kind of scary how fast time is flying. Training will be over as of Wednesday and I will be going into my 3rd Transfer!! Lots of changes are occurring. I will share it all with you later on!
My Family:
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| Catherine Meshkin (family friend) saw Sister Skaggs! |
I hope you know just how much I love each of you! I'm so PROUD of everything you guys are doing. I just LOVE getting your letters each week and getting to hear of the AMAZING things you are each accomplishing. Michael, I'm so excited for you! You're going to Winter Formal! It looks like you will have a lot of fun with your date! Don't forget to be respectful, be yourself and to have fun! I'm so proud of you baby bro. It sounds like things are going really well at home and at school! Brandon, haha I love you so much stinker! Mom and Dad told me about your grades. Boy am I one proud sister! Keep it up Broski! Here is a little secret... good grades come in handy later on, especially for college applications. Love you! Mom and Dad, I love you so much and am constantly AMAZED at everything you guys are doing. Haha I definitely don't know if i would be able to do a 50 mile bike ride [Don and I are in a 50 mile bike ride/race Nov 1st]. I have such amazing people in my life! I love you four more than words can describe. I feel so blessed to call you family!!
.... TRANSFERS...:
Transfers here on Temple Square are just crazy. Because of everything, you rarely will stay with the same companion. So can you guess what that means? I'm getting a NEW COMPANION, NEW ASSIGNMENT, NEW PDAY, NEW ROOMMATES, NEW APARTMENT, ETC. So let me tell you about all of these changes. First off, I'm SOOO EXCITED! After they announced my new companion I was like "Wait. What???" And then we saw each other and she is so excited for next transfer as well!
You're probably wondering "who is your new companion already?"!! Well, she is from RUSSIA!!! Her name is Sister BRUZGYNIA (I may have spelled it wrong). She is going into her 5th transfer! Which means she is only 2 transfers in front of me. Oh, and get this, she is a DISTRICT LEADER. President is mixing things up, it doesn't matter how old you are in the mission. He said any sister is capable of doing any assignment here. With her being District Leader next transfer that means I'm her side kick which means LOTS of exchanges next transfer. Oh and guess what I found out??.... She was a body builder before she came out. Haha, it's funny because I was really hoping for a companion who would get me into a good work out routine. HAHA, well I guess I may have prayed too hard... because Heavenly Father gave me a body builder as a companion!! She is so sweet though. I'm beyond excited to have her as my companion even if that means Russian tours next transfer. Oh, and I forgot to mention but I'm at the BEEHIVE HOUSE next transfer. The Beehive House is Brigham Young's first home here in the Salt Lake Valley. So I will pretty much ALWAYS be there next transfer. I'm kind of sad that I'm leaving the Humanitarian Center but I know that it's all for the right reasons. There is a time and place for all things and my time is up there and for some reason the Lord needs me at the Beehive House.
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| The Beehive House |
My NEW P-DAY will be on WEDNESDAY. The one thing that is different about this mission is our Preparation day almost ALWAYS changes each transfer because if every sister had Monday P-day like the rest of the world then we would have NO SISTERS on Temple Square. And well that would mean Temple Square would be closed every Monday. So depending on what zone you're in each transfer will depend on what P-day you have. So yes I have P-DAY AGAIN this week. I have no idea what I'm going to write in my letter on Wednesday.
In the end, I'm really excited for this transfer! It really helps to know that my new companion is really excited to be with me as well. I can't wait to see what Heavenly Father has in store for me. I know so much is going to change and I'm so excited!
RAYMOND got BAPTIZED:
Raymond, the person I met on chat several weeks ago, got baptized on Saturday! Unfortunately we were unable to Skype his baptism because we weren't able to get things figured out. But that doesn't matter at all! Raymond emailed us Saturday night and was telling us all about his baptism. He was just beyond excited that he was FINALLY a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that he was on that path back home to his Father in Heaven. The thing that really stood out to me in his e-mail was his excitement to get his membership #. I couldn't figure out why he was so excited to get his membership number, but then it dawned on me -- to him that meant that he was officially a part of the church. Before coming on a mission I always took for granted being a member of the Church and for always having these standards in my life. But since being out I have come to appreciate it so much more. Because here I grew up with it my whole life it was just a part of me, but then there are people in the world who don't have this privilege and would love to have it a part of their life. Here is Raymond, for example, who didn't grow up with this, but he found it, he learned about it, found it to be true and took action on it. He e-mailed me the other day and said he was so jealous of me because I grew up in the church, that I have known about all of this my whole life and he didn't. We were chatting yesterday through Mormon.org and he said that he will more than likely receive the Priesthood next Sunday and will prepare himself to go to the temple. This is my favorite part about missionary work, being able to see these individuals have this change of heart. For being able to witness the change and happiness that comes to their life through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Be Patient - Miracles Do Come!
Julio is doing SO MUCH BETTER! Last week he kept pretty much all of his commitments. I don't know if I ever mentioned but I felt several weeks ago that we needed to start fresh with Julio. That we would extend to him commitments, etc and re-teach all the lessons. We just wouldn't have him get re-baptized. We were hearing from him that we were the only people in regards to the church that is being able to get through to him or in other words in contact with him. We hadn't been seeing alot of progress and so I felt we needed to start fresh. We re-taught the restoration and invited him to allow the missionaries into his house because we had been hearing from him that they had been texting him every so often and he had just been putting them off. So last Tuesday, I believe, we invited him to give the missionaries a chance again. Last Thursday when we called he said, "Well, the missionaries came over yesterday." I about flew out of my chair! We had several AMAZING miracles last week with him alone. It literally is a battle to have him say a prayer with us. For the past month every time
I ask him if he will say the opening or closing prayer there is ALWAYS an excuse as to why he can't say it. Last week I was like, "Julio, will you say the opening prayer if I say the closing?" He replied with, "Yah, sure." I was like "Really, you're going to say the prayer?" He is like, "Yah are you ready?" It was such an amazing MIRACLE. Then on Saturday we called him to encourage him to start going to church again. We always have this battle of him calling for a ride. He strongly dislikes asking for help. I was afraid to bring the topic up again because we have had moments where the spirit just wasn't there and I didn't want to create that atmosphere again. I re-explained to him the importance of attending church and why it is vital then invited him to humble himself and to call someone for a ride. Then he said to me, "Well bro. 'so in so' offered to take me. I will call around and see what I can do." At that point I almost cried. I have been praying for weeks that Julio would have that change of heart and that things would, in a nutshell, change. Of course EVERYTHING is according to our Father in Heaven's will and so I knew I just needed to be patient with him and his timing. The number one lesson I learned is to just be patient and to not push. There were times when I definitely left the phone call discouraged and saddened because things just didn't progress. I was frustrated because nothing worked out. But that's when I learned that 1 - I NEED to listen, that I need to be patient with them and with the Lord's timing, and 2 - we just need to show them we love them and to not push them. I have learned a lot from Julio this transfer alone. I have learned patience and how to sincerely love others!
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| A family we took on a tour |
Adopted Recent Convert - Saige:
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| Sister Skaggs & Ferguson |
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| Saige and Sister Skaggs at the Nauvoo Cafe |
So I adopted this recent convert as one of mine. It's complicated. Someone came on chat earlier this year pretending to be her and when Sister Ferguson followed up, the girl on the other end, Saige, was like "I never went on Mormon.org. I have no idea what you're talking about." They continued to talk and stay in contact. Saige had only been a member for a couple of months and so Sister Ferguson adopted her as her recent convert. Then Saige moved out here to come to school at the U of U. Saige comes to the square every once in a while and we get to meet with her. She is AMAZING. I love her so much. I have seen her several times this transfer. On Friday when she came to the square it was like 7 pm. Due to our schedule we hadn't had dinner yet, neither had she and so we went to the Nauvoo Cafe and had dinner together. Saige and I made a deal that every time she came to the square and I was free and we were both hungry that we would go the Nauvoo Cafe together!
Organ Tours:
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| The organ in the Tabernacle |
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| The organ! |
One thing they do here on Temple Square is about once a year all of the sisters who haven't been to see the Organ in the Conference Center and the Organ in the Tabernacle get to go and see the Organ up close and personal and learn more about each of them since the organs here are such a huge piece of Temple Square. We actually got sit at each of the Organs and pretend to play. So I can now say I sat and "played" the organ in the Conference Center and the Tabernacle. Sister Sughroue took those pictures on her camera, since I forgot mine, so I will have to send those pictures later. Now when someone says "Are there really 11,623 pipes in the Tabernacle Organ?" I can say "Yes. There really is." They took us inside to where all the pipes were. And yes, there are 11,623 pipes. I have never seen sooo many in my life. They have pipes as tall as my thumb, no joke!
Letters:
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| Sister Skaggs (graduation 2013) and her two grandmas - Grandma Susan and Grandma Skaggs |
Time to Reflect:
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| "Well done, my child, well done" |
I can't express to you enough just how much I LOVE THE ATONEMENT! Before I came out I was like, "Yah, I know what the Atonement is." When reality was I had no clue how it truly applied to me. I have learned most of all, this transfer, that the Atonement is real, it really does work. There have been MANY moments this transfer when I was just so weak. I just had no physical strength to continue on and there were moments that, because of that lack of energy, I just had no desire to work. But I wanted to have that desire and I can remember on MANY occasions just saying that quite prayer pleading to my Heavenly Father for that added strength I needed to get through my day, for my body to gain that energy it needed to work, to be happy and to have that desire to work in the first place. It works. I can promise you the Atonement is real. I know it is. There were moments this transfer when I wanted to just sleep and sit in the sick loft but I knew that I could receive that strength if I asked for it and then of course did my part. Everyday I thank my Father in Heaven for his Son and his sacrifice for me. It breaks my heart that my Savior, Jesus Christ, had to suffer for me that He had to go through all the pain and heartache I experience both emotionally, physically and mentally each day. But at the same time its a tremendous blessing because I know that I can't get through each given moment of my life without His help and without that sacrifice. I love them both so much! I hope that I'm living each day of my life to the extent that would make them pleased and proud of me. It's my deepest desire that when my time here is over, that my Father in Heaven will be able to look me in the eye and say, "Jennifer, my daughter, I am pleased with the work you have done." This Gospel is true!! What an AMAZING blessing it is to have the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth today! We watched the movie "Joseph Smith - A Prophet of the Restoration" this morning for companion media study and it just broke my heart to see all the things the early members had to suffer through. What an amazing legacy they left and the faith that they had. It's because of that faith that we still have what we have today. I hope we are all striving each day to continue that legacy.
I love you all! I hope you have an amazing week this week!! Be safe! Good Luck this week!!
Sister Jennifer Skaggs
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