This week has been hectic! Monday we went bowling in Kettering with some elders there. That was a ton of fun! We had a good time trying out some new ways to bowl haha. One of the elders in Kettering actually has a blog that I had been reading a bit before my mission! He had been serving in Hyde Park. It was really cool hah because now I'm serving in the same district as him! He's a cool bloke. Very powerful testimony. So on Tuesday we had an appointment with this man the sisters had met and gave to us because his past teaching record (he had been taught a while back by some other missionaries.) said that sisters shouldn't teach him for some reason.. Anyway. So we met with him and tried to teach him but he was super distracted. We set another time we could come back and when we saw him the second time we taught about the restoration and baptism and as I was just about to invite him to be baptized he told us he had already been baptized! In 1994 haha so now we're trying to find his records and get them moved. So now we're jsut trying to get him to come to church. Wednesday was crazy! We had a district meeting that started two hours late because our district leader was late. We ended up starting without him after an hour and a half and he was really proud of us when he finally showed up hah. After district meeting we did some very interesting finding with the sisters.. We set up a table in the middle of town centre and put some BoMs and pamphlets on it. Then we broke out some hymn books and started singing loud and proud! In front of everyone! Haha it was amazing! We had three of us sing while two of us talked to people. It was really cool and we got some interesting looks. We were able to teach a few people and make a few appointments. We'll be doing it again in a week or two because it was so successful! SATURDAY! So Saturday was the best day of the week. First off we got to start it out with sports! We finally got our sports day organized and had a good game of chair football with the members! We even had some investigators and less actives show up! We're going to be doing it every week now. It was really satisfying how many people showed up. THEN after that we went to our flat and got ready to go to our.... Wait for it.... BAPTISMS!! Two of our wonderful investigators (a mother and a daughter) got baptized along with one of the sisters' investigators. It was a wonderful service. Elder Brunstad got to baptize the mother and I was able to baptize the daughter (But I think she just wanted tme to do it because she's got a crush on me... She's nine... haha). It was great to perform the actual ordinance. And their whole family came to watch them be baptized so we're hoping to be able to start teaching them as well. Then on Sunday (yesterday) they were all confirmed members of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was lovely. They were all very excited and us elders got to stand in. Later on Sunday we had a miracle happen. So at church I felt impressed to talk to one of the male members and as I started talking to him I realized why. We had a lesson to go to that evening that we needed a member to go with us because it was a singl;e mother. We asked if the member would come with us and after some serious thought he said sure why not. He was on a tight schedule but he could make it work. So we told him we'd meet him there. After church we went out to go ride our bikes to the flat and get picked up for our early dinner appointment and it turned out that my back tyre was completely flat. Bad luck! So we locked them inside and grabbed the people we were having dinner with and arranged to get a lift from them. Our dinner appointment turned into a 45 minute rush to eat food (I ate so fast the heat from the food gave me a blister in my mouth!) and then they rushed us to the appointment we had with single mother. We showed up and luckily saw the member we talked to earlier. We ended up making it ten minutes late but then we had one of the best lessons ever. It last6ed two and a half hours where we discussed so many aspects of the restoration and she had so many questions. It was a blessing we had invited the member we did because he was able to testify so strongly to many of the points we made and we kept asking her to accept a BoM and read and pray but she was very resilent. We finally convinced her that it wasn't a horrible book by testifying how it's blessed us and she accepted it with a promise to read the whole book of 2 Nephi. She then surprised us as we were leaving and said she might just show up to church some day. It was a great miracle and the member we had with us is so excited to go back again (even though we had a TWO hour lesson.). Great stuff is happening! We're so blessed in everything we do and I'm grateful the Lord is on our side. Now I'm off to go to Kettering again! This time to bowl with our district leader as well hah and the sisters in Kettering. It should be a lot of fun!
This week has been a bit slow! But it's alright- we still had a good week. On Monday we had choir practice (YES; I'm in.) My companion and I are the basses, along with one of the APs. We all practice in the mission presidents flat and it's so fun. There's always so many people practicing different things and different instruments going on. It's good stuff! Practice ended a bit early so we were able to go and see a tiny bit of London after! We went with Elder Green and Elder Dowdle and went to see Big Ben! It was massive! We were right next to it and it was really cool. It's right on the edge of our mission boundaries hah so we're lucky we got to see it. Other than that we had a pretty quiet week.. On Wednesday we met a drunk man and had a long conversation about the purpose of life and we helped him to find happiness. He told us we gave him new meaning to life. We made a follow up appointment the next day! It was a really fantastic feeling to be able to find him and talk to him. We went on Thursday to a less active family and had dinner which was THE BEST. It was some spicy Indian type noodles and veggies and so delicious. We had a lovely indepth conversation with them about what happens when we die and go to the spirit world. Saturday was two of our investigators baptismal interviews! A mother and her 9 year old daughter. They both passed with flying colors and will be baptized this Saturday, the 27th. It will be fantastic. They are so ready. The mother; as soon as she found out about the word of wisdom, quit smoking there and then and hasn't even looked back since. It all started with her fasting with the missionaries and it was such a good experience for her. She is really excited to be baptized. So that's about it.. Last night we had some interesting calls- we were going to be practising with choir today because we had to sing at a fireside this Friday but both got cancelled and then we made plans to go bowling over in Kettering today! It's going to be so much fun, we're going with the sisters that work here and with the Elders over in Kettering. Lot's of stuff happening! Sorry this email isn't long. Enjoy the little things! I am loving Bedford. My comp is Elder Brunstad from Boise Idaho. He is awesome haha we are having a great time working together. Our trainers were both very similar in the way they frustrated us so we bonded over that hah. Our flat is pretty new because Elder B. had opened the area so we've been moving things around and getting new things for it. It's been pretty great! We've also seen tons of miracles! So on Wednesday we woke up at like 5 am and came to London to switch companions. I met Elder Brunstad and we started having fun right away. We travelled back to Bedford and then right away we had to travel to a dinner appointment! It was one of my favourite dinner appointments! The members were hilarious! And the husband is African. It was really cool to talk to them and we had a great lesson with them! They are amazing at member missionary work. Even their 6 year old son told his teacher that we were coming over for dinner ha. Thursday we had a fantastic miracle happen. We had had another dinner appointment and we kept to our time frame and got out a little early. We were lucky enough to catch a train right away and as soon as we got of we ran into a lady who had been searching for peace and was looking for that in religion! We taught her a bit and got her details so we can teach her more later! It was a great experience and showed me that blessings come from obedience. Friday we had a pretty successful day and yet another dinner appointment! (Apparently that's rare... :( We also got a call from the Sister missionaries in our area... They told us they were going to hand over one of their investigators who already had a baptismal date to us.... Then they told us they had to because they had just gotten a call from him and he had PROPOSED to one of them!! It was hilarious!! We were cracking up! It brought a whole new meaning to flirt to convert!! Haha they had only met with him twice and he already wanted to get married! It was a good laugh. We'll be seeing him soon and we'll see if he really does want to get baptized for the right reasons. Sunday we had another miracle! We were tracting this street and we were almost done with it. We felt a bit discouraged so we prayed. About three doors later we met a wonderful Jamaican lady who had been an investigator about two years ago but had lost contact with the missionaries! We had a great talk with her and then set up a later time we could go see her. Yet another miracle!! It was fantastic. And now I'm in London. My comp is in the missionary choir and I'll be trying out today. Hopefully I get in! This week was pretty good! Tons of things we did hah;Monday we had a district P Day! We all went to Ely because my comp had to interview someone there. We got to go to the AMAZING Ely cathedral. It. Is. Massive. It was incredible! And because we are all ministers of the church we got in for free and got to check out everything! It was so beautiful. I'll be sending pictures of it as soon as Elder Tam (our district Chinese man hah) sends me them. I had forgotten my camera in the car :P Then Tuesday we had a good old MIRACLE day! We planned for a ton of things but we hadn't called anybody and confirmed any appointments. So it was all pretty shaky but we went into it with a lot of prayer and had faith it would work out for the best! We started out seeing our recent convert; Kim and then went to try to contact this bloke from Nepal that we met a few days back. We were searching and searching for his flat but we couldn't find it anywhere. So as soon as we started to walk back to our flat we saw him on the street! We talked with him and got his actual address and set up a day when we could stop by. His English isn't very good so we mixed up the address hah. So then we started walking towards the flat again and tried to call another of our investigators (who by the way makes the BEST cookies. Hands down. He loves to talk about them too. Apparently he learned to bake from Al Cappone himself? I don't know if it's true but I'm willing to trust him with how good his cookies are.) ad we couldn't get ahold of him! Finally as we were passing his house, he pulled up in his car! He had just gotten home from work so we got to stop and teach him right there! It was really good and he told us to come back a couple days later for some cookies. BEST COOKIES. Anyway. After that we went and visited one of our favorite families! The Christiansens! They had been sick for church and we wanted to check up on them. Brother Christiansen was having problems with a pinched nerve and when we showed up he took a pain killer and we got to have a good discussion with him about his mission. He had gotten into a head on collision riding his bike going about 30 down a hill and when he got hit by the car he fell and got ran over too! It was a miracle that he lived. He didn't even break a bone. It was really cool and he had a missionary album with pictures to show us hah. We also got to help them move a grill to the church for their BBQ on Friday. After that we finally got to sit and talk with a less active family that we were trying to see for a long time. It was really good! AND THEN. After that. We drove to see our ward mission leader and have coorilation. As we drove we tried to call an investigator we hadn't been able to talk to for a couple days and FINALLY got ahold of her! We set up an appointment for right that second! We didn't have anyone to come with us so we called our ward mission leaders son (who is going on his mission November 5th. To the Denmark, Kopenhagen mission. Thought you'd like that info dad hah.) who we were about to see anyway and told him to get ready to meet our extremely talkative investigator! It was super quick and worked out just perfectly! Then on our way home we saw another of our less actives walking on the sidewalk and did a quick u turn and stopped and had a good chat with him! It was a fantastic day and so full of miracles! On Thursday it was INDEPENDENCE DAY!! BUUUUT we were celebrating that in the country we seceeded from... So we didn't really get to enjoy it much. We had a Zone meeting and got to eat a nice cookie there for it.. And then we went to an American members home and had dinner but we didn't do anything exciting. But then on Friday the ward had a small BBQ and celebrated it there. That was fun and we got to talk to a few members. I actually wheeled Brother Christiansen around on a chair rack for a bit because his leg was hurting haha and then all the kids wanted a turn! It was hilarious. Saturday we did a really good garden service project and completely cleared a sisters back garden. It looked amazing if I don't say so myself. Haha then we got to see an investigator that I haven't seen this whole transfer! She was great and we got to teach her a lot. She already knows a ton because she studied with Jehovahs Witnesses before. On Sunday we met with yet another less active family and they actually invited us over later for a dinner appointment as well! It was great and we got to know them really well! Yesterday wasn't a P Day because we had moves calls in the evening. It was a regular day and because we didn't know if we were moving or not we were sort of anxious for the calls. Then that evening we got calls. Elder Wilcox got the phone first and was told that he is staying. I didn't hear any of it.. So I didn't know what was going on. But he looked surprised... So he handed the phone to me and President Jordan said "Elder Jespersen, I have a unique opportunity for you." He told me I would be moving to Bedford! And I would be with Elder Brunstad who has only been out as long as me! We'd be follow up training each other! In an area I don't know! Hahaha it's going to be a crazy experience! So that's where I'm at now. I packed up this morning and will be moving tomorrow. My new companion and I will be co-senior companions. It'll be an adventure :) I can't wait! I'll send you all my new address when I get there and find it out.
So this week hasn't been very great.. It was slower than the other weeks. But it still flew by! And we had some pretty good things happen. On Tuesday all the new missionaries and trainers travelled into London to talk to President and Sister Jordan. It was really good! We learned a ton about how to set the tone for our whole missions and how to work things out and what's expected of trainers and trainees. One of the things that stuck out to me was when President Jordan talked about being a lion, not a chameleon. We need to be stay ourselves, not just take in what other missionaries do and just blend in. We need to work hard and be the missionary our mothers think we are. Because they think we're the best and that's what we need to be! It was a really good training he gave. And, as always, in every training, we were taught about obedience. That was another really good training because I learned some things I needed to be doing that I wasn't! We actually did a lot of service this week. Friday we helped clean up a members home and back garden and then Saturday we did a huge amount of garden work. Bunches of weeding- so thank you mum for preparing me for that! We weeded a ton of stinging nettle as well which didn't work out too well with short sleeves... But the stinging didn't last long! And Saturday afternoon we had our first baptism! Her name is Kimberly Redman. That morning Elder Wilcox volunteered me to give the Holy Ghost talk during the service because our speaker cancelled last minute and I had to run off of nothing! Luckily I remembered a few scriptures and was able to pull of a nice talk. Even if it only lasted a minute or two hah. Then Elder Wilcox performed the actual baptism and it was so great. Kim was so excited and happy. Then on Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm her a member of the church. It was an amazing experience. I was extremely nervous and as soon as I got up there and layed my hands on her head with all the others in the circle, I closed my eyes and it was like I couldn't even remember there was a congregation and I wasn't nervous anymore. It was fantastic and Kim was super smiley haha. Today we went to Ely and had a district p day! It was really fun. We went and looked through Ely cathedral. I'll send pictures later. It was massive and there was a ton of stained glass windows. In each of the windows it depicted a Bible story and we went through and tried to figure most of them out. It was really cool. We also ate some nice fish and chips and then when everyone else went to the bathroom; Elder Tam and I ran over to an ice cream truck and got some haha. About half way there they all came out of the bathrooms and saw us running and started laughing haha. This week was a tough one. We didn't see a lot of success.. But I know if we buckle down and try our hardest, the Lord will bless us with success. Time to face the new week with renewed vigor. Wish me luck! -Elder Jespersen
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