Thursday, June 23, 2016

Milagroso! (Miraculous!) June 13-21

   This week has been super amazing!  We have seen a lot of cool miracles!  
   One, we have been able to get in a lot more houses than usual!  Even when we have just met them they are kind and let us in!  We had one experience where we went to knock on a door, it was already open and they told us to come in.  We weren't really sure what to say, but we had an authentic conversation with them and it turned out a family member had recently passed.  From that we were able to teach and testify about the plan of salvation, which seemed to touch their hearts! 

   Another cool experience we had was teaching a kid named Marshall.  It was such a powerful lesson, he was really looking for change in his life and we were able to follow the promptings of the spirit to testify that the Book of Mormon and baptism can help him change!  He was YSA (Young Single Adult), but it was so cool to be able to participate in a lesson with him!  

   We have had so many experiences this week with people who really seemed interested!  One of those was, yesterday we went over to a house to try to talk to the people there.  They were having a party, but still they invited us in and gave us a taco.  We tried to talk with the people there, but none of them seemed interested.  As we were leaving, a lady asked if we did marriage counseling and we told her the church did.  From that she was interested in us coming over and sharing a message with her and her family!  

   








I could keep going, we have seen so many miracles this week!  My companions are both so amazing, they are both great examples of obedience, they are easy to get along with and are overall great missionaries!  I have learned so much from them already!
















PS- From Mom (Tynel)... My Dad, Kent Smith, knows a man at church who lived many years in the Reno area.  When my Dad told him that Elder Jarnagin was serving in Sun Valley, the man said he would share what the locals call that area.... SLUM Valley.  He said that there are more Chihuahua's in Sun Valley than there are humans.  I asked Elder Jarnagin about that in my email this week.  His response was this...
TRUE
Some kind soul in Nevada texted us these photos and said Happy Father's Day!  It's always a gift to get extra pictures of his happy face!









Milagroso! (Miraculous!) June 13-21

   This week has been super amazing!  We have seen a lot of cool miracles!  
   One, we have been able to get in a lot more houses than usual!  Even when we have just met them they are kind and let us in!  We had one experience where we went to knock on a door, it was already open and they told us to come in.  We weren't really sure what to say, but we had an authentic conversation with them and it turned out a family member had recently passed.  From that we were able to teach and testify about the plan of salvation, which seemed to touch their hearts! 

   Another cool experience we had was teaching a kid named Marshall.  It was such a powerful lesson, he was really looking for change in his life and we were able to follow the promptings of the spirit to testify that the Book of Mormon and baptism can help him change!  He was YSA (Young Single Adult), but it was so cool to be able to participate in a lesson with him!  

   We have had so many experiences this week with people who really seemed interested!  One of those was, yesterday we went over to a house to try to talk to the people there.  They were having a party, but still they invited us in and gave us a taco.  We tried to talk with the people there, but none of them seemed interested.  As we were leaving, a lady asked if we did marriage counseling and we told her the church did.  From that she was interested in us coming over and sharing a message with her and her family!  

   








I could keep going, we have seen so many miracles this week!  My companions are both so amazing, they are both great examples of obedience, they are easy to get along with and are overall great missionaries!  I have learned so much from them already!
















PS- From Mom (Tynel)... My Dad, Kent Smith, knows a man at church who lived many years in the Reno area.  When my Dad told him that Elder Jarnagin was serving in Sun Valley, the man said he would share what the locals call that area.... SLUM Valley.  He said that there are more Chihuahua's in Sun Valley than there are humans.  I asked Elder Jarnagin about that in my email this week.  His response was this...
TRUE
Some kind soul in Nevada texted us these photos and said Happy Father's Day!  It's always a gift to get extra pictures of his happy face!









Slow Week- June 6-13

  Going to the temple this week was such an amazing experience.  I feel I have gone enough that I am beginning to understand even more.  From my studies I was able to understand more of the temple.  I love that everything in the gospel edifies the other aspects of it. 
   It was a slow week, we had a lot of lessons fall through and there weren't many people that wanted to talk.  It seemed like the work was slowing down here.  We had our stake split this Sunday and our group was dissolved and put into the Rama Vista, the branch here in Sparks.  We were a bit confused with the stake split because we were told our area would stay the same (the ward boundaries all changed and three new wards were created).  It was confusing and we were worried that we wouldn't be accepted in the new branch.  
   We also got our transfer calls last night.  Elder Pusey is going to Carson City and I am combining my area with other Elders in Vista.  I will be in a trio for the next transfer!  I am super excited to be part of the Vista Branch and to be with Elders Johnson and Choi! I have heard great things about them!  I know Elder Pusey will do great down in Carson!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

More Planning!

This week has been cool!  We had the opportunity last Monday to talk to one of the recent converts here about family history.  We were not planning on it, but we followed the promptings of the Spirit when we read in the Book of Mormon!  We have had a few appointments fall through, but that is OK I guess.  We have been biking and talking with everyone and that has been fun!  I am not riding on my broken bike. Miraculously, this little chaparrarito bike was here when I got here, so I have been riding that around.  

We had a really cool lesson with Veronica this week!  We brought one of the members of the group and they were able to connect really well!  Veronica had a lot of questions that the member had the perfect answer to.  It was awesome to be a part of that lesson!  Another cool experience this week was with a less active family that has problems with a lot of people in the group.  We didn't really know how to help them, what to say or anything, but with one inspired question they opened up and we were able to understand their situation more!  

When Mom and Dad are always checking in to see if he is making healthy choices...
My Exchange with the Zone Leaders was great as well!  It was great to go to their area and see how they work! Both Elder Pusey and I learned a lot about planning and it has been amazing to see that as we follow the Spirit and the council of the brethren we can have an effective planning session in a shorter time than before!  Elder Pusey and I are getting along great!  We have talked more about our interests and I have seen that we know where we are coming from, so we have more unity!


The King of all mailboxes!

This Pocket dictionary is very 'pocket' sized ;)



The gift of dinner, left at the car wash.
Hardly a Harley...



Thursday, June 2, 2016

Bike Fall



This week has been pretty interesting.  We have really been trying our best to focus on the better form of planning and we have seen some cool miracles come out of it!  We have been making sure we are calling people and helping them progress every day!  We worked super hard to get people to come to church.  No one that we invited came, but a friend of one of our recent converts did!  We had a lesson with them after church and the friend seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon! 
We have been trying to conserve our miles this week, so we have been out biking, talking with everyone, which is always super fun!  I fell and cut up my hands on Thursday, but they have been healing fast!  
One of the coolest miracles we saw this week was in one of our lessons with a lady named Veronica.  I had not met her before, but Elder Pusey and Leon met with her once before.  We were teaching the Restoration, she had a lot of off topic questions for us.  Elder Pusey felt inspired to share the first vision with her and after that she lit up, she understood what we taught!  We committed her to read and to pray and to come to church.  She wasn't able to come to church because she had to suddenly get her appendix removed and got diagnosed with diabetes. Hopefully we can meet with her soon and help her progress even more!
We made donuts