May 6th

What a great week! I had the best experience of my mission on Saturday. Sister Zwang and I had tracting planned for a good chunck of the day and Emily and Matt wanted to come with us. So we walk to our chosen street and split ways. Two of us did one side, while the other two did the other side. As sister Z and I were doing doors together I just watched Emily and Matt (who are not even missionaries yet) knocking on peoples doors and trying to talk to them about the gospel. The were so up beat and positive about it. Matt and Emily walked by while we were at a door and he says "Sister JJ, guess what?!! I got my first door slammed in my face." Cute kid, it was the greatest thing to hear. He was so excited to get that door slammed in his face. Then I had the opportunity to do a few doors with Emily and she was more then willing to talk and do the door approach. She was so nervous but did SO GREAT!! I tell you what, the YSA's out here are so fantastic! I can't even express it enough. They are going to be the best missinonaries. Bobby Kuhn is so smart and just has the funniest personality, Emily is a firecracker and just wants to go get em all, Matt has the sweetest heart and love for the gospel, Will loves everyone no matter what, Josh is so eager to learn and the list goes on and on. They all have such great Christlike characteristics! They will be leaving this week to go home for the summer! I'm freaking out a little... ok I'm freaking out A LOT! I love them all so much and will miss them terribly. Sad to say, but Matt is gone for good. He graduates on Saturday! Sad Day!!! But I don't wanna talk about that anymore, it gets me all emotional. I LOVE THE YSA'S!!!We set Scott for baptism last night and his date will be May 30th. He's so solid and excited to enter into the gate on to the straight and narrow path. He just loves the scriptures and thinks Nephi is the top dog! It's so great to see his excitment when he talks about the words of the prophets and God's love for all of us. He read 3 chapters out of Psalms yesterday to us and just expressed the power that those words held. It was such a neat experience. And of course Emily was more then will to come with us and Bobby showed up a little bit later.We had a Zone Conference yesterday which was pretty cool. My mission president had called me a few days ago and asked me to come earlier so him and I could have a "talk." That's usually not a good thing, or so I take it to be that way. So I showed up early and we had a GREAT visit. In one of my President Letters I had asked him to pray about giving us both of our wards back and letting us be the only missionaries out here again. I miss the first ward so much but don't wanna give up the 2nd ward either. So we discussed if it would be a good idea or not and I hope he grants me my wish. I also brought up the thougth of keeping me in Harrisonburg for the rest of my mission. The goal right now is to keep missionaries in areas for longer anyway, so I told him I had NO problem staying in H-Burg seeing as how I only have about 9 months left. He seemed to be good with that idea. We'll see...The Zone Conference was really amazing! It was a lot better then the last one we had. It really helped give me that boost and modivation I needed. Our mission president is so amazing! I know that he is called of God and receives revelation for this mission. I have witnessed many occasions to where I've seen miracles happen because of the promptings he gets. I'm so grateful to have him as my leader for my enire mission. We received a lot of counsel about being bold and being excellent at the basics. Its the same stuff we've been counseled on before but we're obviously not doing it if he keeps talking about it. But I came up with many things I'm going to be working on to try and improve my missionary efforts. I really feel that I can be so much better of a missionary and am going to strive my hardest to fulfill the potential that my Heavenly Father sees in me. I don't see it for myself, but I know HE does, and with His help I will accomplish that which He has asked me to do.We met with the Demastus' last night. I love that family so much. They are less active still and I'm still determined to help them in anyway that I can. Bobby and Emily came with us to that as well. Thank heavens they did! I was having a hard time... Some of the things they were saying really hurt me and Bobby and Emily were there to talk to them while I gathered myself together. Sometimes as a missionary you put your ALL into someone to help them become happy, and when you see it's not going anywhere after a long period of time, it really tends to get to you. They feel like they are having charity work done to them, while as a missionary you consider them to be great friends and love them so much and don't think that way at all! Because you love them so much and consider them you're close friends, you want more then anything for them to be happy. Its just hard when they start giving up and not taking any action. They've been wronged, I know it's hard, but it's just one of those pit falls that we have to live and learn from... I hope and pray whole heartedly that I can make a difference in someones life... That's why I came...Today for P-Day we're getting together with a bunch of the YSA's to play some Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee!! I'm super stocked about it and can't wait! I love having that opportunity to just play! Especially with all of them. They're my best friends!! (Besides my Becki of course) It's their last Wednesday here so I'm glad we get to spend it with them. So I'm sorry in advance for not writing any letters to anyone this week, I'm gonna go do some playin :)Well I'm excited to call home on Sunday for Mothers Day and talk to my family. I'll only be talking to them one more time after this before I come home! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!This Gospel IS TRUE!!
-Sister J.J.

April 29th 2009

Well, this past week has been pretty interesting. After we went hiking last Wednesday, we went to I HOP with the YSA's and had two non members there. There was about 11 of us there sitting around the table talking about the Bible and Book of Mormon. It drew a lot of attention... Not in a bad way. We actually had people that started to talk to us and ask questions. Picture it... 11 people that are the ages of 19-23 talking about God... You don't see that everyday. It was sweet. Good finding activity :) It was so great. There's a guy named Richard that was there that we are currently teaching. He's fantastic. He likes to test my knowledge I think. He asks amazing questions that honestly, I didn't really think too much about. We taught him yesterday at Bobby Kuhns apartment with Matt Himelright and Josh McConchie. Richard really seemed to enjoy the discussion and have everyone there. He wants to do it again SOON. We have also been teaching a guy named David. We taught him 4 times last week! Ya don't find a person like that everyday who wants to meet with you that frequently. We just found out on Saturday that he is BARELY out of our area so we had to pass him off to the Elders. Stupid Elders :) David called us yesterday announcing that he wants to be baptized! So that was great news. I'm just sad we had to pass him off. We're all in the work together though.The YSA's will be done with the semester this next week and moving back home. I am so NOT happy about that! They are the ones who support us the most and help us get by day to day. Emily will come with us for like 6 hours a day or however long she can. Bobby, Matt, and Josh are always willing to help us out as well. I'm so sad to see them go. It's totally not going to be the same. NOw we'll have to start bugging the old farts in the ward to help us out. :) Totally kidding. They're a great ward! I just like people my own age too.Other then that, nothing else really comes to mind on what else is going on.My testimony of this gospel is so strong. I love it all so much! For those of you who have served missions, you can understand that this time in life is the most rewarding, yet the most difficult thing you have faced yet. You have your sad days and your cloud 9 days. THe only thing that really makes me sad is loving the people so much and then seeing them make wrong choices in life that keep them from progressing. But like my Dad has told me, they still have their agency. Alls I can do is continue to love them, support them, and bare testimony frequently. I love my mission so much!

April 22nd 2009

Man, what a day! We went and hiked the Appilation Mountain today. It was an 8 mile hike! We went with the Waynesboro Elders, Simmons and Mcentire, and a member from their ward. It was a blasty blast! We hiked up to this AMAZING waterfall. It was GORGEOUS. And of course I'm clumsy and totally fell in the water trying to jump over part of the river. I got soaked! It wasn't the warmest day ever. Then Elder Mcentire stayed close by because I scared the crap out of him when I fell so he made sure I was kept safe. We left at 830 and got back at about 230. I though sister zwang was gonna die LOL She got really tired but did good!OH as far as transfers go, we are both staying in the area another transfer. To be honest, I'm SO grateful I am staying! I did NOT want to leave the YSA'S! They are so fantastic! I love them all so much. We did take some fun pictures last night just incase we got transfered, but thank heavens I am not. Sister Zwang wanted to go, but I think she's ok to stay anther transfer. She says she's ok with it because she didn't want to get another companion :)Currently we're teaching a guy name David Wadford. On Monday we had a 2 hour discussion with him and then yesterday a 3 hour. Bobby and Emily came with us both times. They were intense conversations. He has A LOT of great questions. He's just really lost and confused. But is very opened minded and LOVES the things we share with him. I hope and pray he continues to progress. I know that he would give it his all when he joins the church. He really likes having us teach him and actually wrote our mission president and begged him not to transfer us. It was pretty sweet! We have another appointment with him tomorrow as well, so it'll be interesting. He's good and keepping all of his commitments we leave with him and is just doing so well. I love it. It's nice to FINALLY be teaching someone. The work has seem to be going pretty slow, but I love it out here. It'll be interesting to see how long I will stay. I think I'll be with Sister Zwang until she dies. She goes home in July, so at least till then if not longer. It seems that once you get called to harrisonburg, you stay in harrisonburg. GREAT AREA THOUGH> I'm just going to be sad when all the YSA's graduate and leave in 3 weeks. Totally lame. But at least I get another 3 weeks with them. They keep me in line and modivate me :)We'll be doing some hard core tracting this transfer I think to find us some more gators. I determined to find MANY. I love the work so much! Talking to people is a blast! They probably think I'm crazy, but that's ok. I just speak the truth ;)Other then that, not much going on. I'm really sad to see the changes that will be made in our zone and district, but i'm sure it'll all work out great. I'll miss the Elders that are leaving but they are excited for some changes.Well I love you all! The Church IS TRUE!
-JJ

April 15th

Well, I am finally writing a bulk. Sorry it has been so long. Last Wednesday was a lot of fun. We went to the college campus JMU and played Beach Volleyball with the Elder in our district. I totally won of course :) And Will Davis (one of our YSA's who's leaving on a mission soon) came and played with us for awhile as well. He's a great kid and is going to make a fantastic missionary. He's getting really excited to go. Funny story though... So after we get done playing volleyball, we all decided to go get something to eat on campus. We were still in our PDay clothes and I didn't have any pockets to put my keys in. But Elder Mcentire did so I asked him to hold my keys for me until we got done eathing so I wouldn't lose them. Well, the Elders got done before us and left. About 5 minutes after they left, it hit me. ELDER MCENTIRE STILL HAS MY KEYS!!! Our phone was locked in our car and we knew no ones number by heart. The Elders live all the way in Waynesboro so we wanted to get a hold of them as soon as possible so they didn't make it all the way back. My first and only thought was to call my Mom to get the mission offices number so they can get me the Elders number. Well my Mom didn't answer! CRAP! So we had to hike awhile to Will's home, he was the closest member to where we were. So we finally got a hold of the Spanish Elders who gave us the Zone Leaders number who then gave us our District leaders number. Well by the time we got a hold of them they were already back in waynesboro and had just discovered they had our keys! Well to make a long story short, they had to bring our keys back and we had to walk to our appointments in our P Day clothes because our missionary clothes were in the car. Fun times! Well we had Allie's baptism on the 11th and her confirmation! It was the best baptism I have been to yet. It was so fantastic! She asked me to speak and I spoke on Eternal Life and tied it in to Enduring to the End and Christ of course. It was the most spiritual baptism. Her boyfriends family came from Fredricksburg to support her which was great. And of course a few of the YSA's made it. They are soooo good to support people we are teaching. Only 3 members from the ward showed up though. That was disappointing... For Easter we went to the Reed's home and taught her non member cousin. We shared a really spiritual thought about Christ and the Atonement and Resurrection of course :) They fed us dinner as well. Yesterday was an interesting day. I got Sister Zwang out of her comfort zone big time. :) She'll thank me later. She really struggles talking to people and tracting. So whenever we go and I see her struggling I just automatically jump in and talk. But she needs to learn. So 2 YSA's Emily and Josh came tracting with us and Emily went with Sister Zwang and Josh and I stayed back and listened to them do it all. I wanted her to learn how to have confidence in herself and not rely on me so much. She got pretty frustrated but the last door they knocked on they got a return appointment and she was on cloud 9. She was so proud of herself as was I. It was great. We're hoping to set 2 for baptism soon. The work is a little slow right now but we're staying strong and doing all we can do. Thanks for all your love and support.I love you allThe Church Is True!!

Sisters

Sister Orawiec & Sister Sowards

Sister Cox & Sister Orawiec

The Sister Missionaries

The things you see along the way

JJ's amazing driving skills:)

March 25th 2009

We had a pretty great couple of weeks. Hard but good. We have two set for baptism, Allie and Scott. Allie will be baptized on April 11th and confirmed Easter Sunday the 12th. She's ready! I love the change that I see in people when the accept the gospel. We'll be working with Scott for awhile though, he has some things he needs to overcome but he's doing GREAT and progressing really well. He announced in church on Sunday that he was ready to be baptized. Unfortunately he wont be able to be baptized as soon as he wanted to, but we'll get him there as quick as we can. He's starting to rely more on the Lord for help to overcome challenges... As all of us should...We had to get our car fixed Monday and Tuesday from the wreck that we were in awhile back so we were out a car for 2 days which was not a fun thing. We live in NO MANS LAND now and its a good 8 miles to just get into town. So we did some walkin! It was a waist of time but there wasn't much we could do about it. I know the Lord blesses us for our efforts.The new place we are living in is nice though. I don't like how far away it is from things for miles sake, but the members we live with are so great and willing to have us in their home. Members out here really like the missionaries living with them.We are getting more ward support little by little. I just have to do a little rebuking now and then and cry people unto repentance :) Fun stuff. But I'm getting to REALLY love this area. I'm getting attached to a lot of members, ESPECIALLY the YSA group. They are all fantastic. Miracles are happening and we plan to see many many more.I love my mission so much.SO MUCH!!I love you all
-Sister Fluffy