A random picture...

This picture was recieved by Dad on his cell phone today. Pretty silly, but fun to get none-the-less. He and his companions were helping a member move some stuff or something and she snapped a picture on her phone and asked what numbers she could send it to. Fun Stuff!!!

Our little Jake is growing up!!!

Jake added this little tidbit of info to his email today. It gave us all a good "chuckle" that's for sure!

"You will probably chuckle at this...i did the dishes today! Tons of them and they were all nasty and dirty, you would have been proud. anyway i just wanted to say that...peace."

Way to go Jake! We are so PROUD!!!

Member Missionaries...

"So our week was great! we had a great turn out at church(the whole zone) which means there are alot of baptism in store for the lakewood zone. I wanted to tell you a little bit about our friends stacy and david scott. they have brought their friend April into the church, it hasn't been the missionaries, it's been them, all we've done is taught a few lessons to her. our work as missionaries is so easy when the investigators have friends to help them. Members are key to missionary work. the cool thing about the scotts is, is now that they have seen the change in Aprils life (who is getting baptised this weekend) they are now wanting to bring more to the happiness that comes with the gospel. they are having new neighbors move in, and they have already invited them to a get together and stuff that we will be too. they are doing all the work for us. they are both just recent converts and they are so excited to see the work progress, thats how we need to be as members. Just by bringing one person into the church, you bring a lot more, if that makes sense."

"pres. pearson came and spoke in our wards this sunday and gave two amazing talks in both the lakewood ward and the bridgeport singles branch. it was awesome. He keeps coming back to a key point in his talks that he gives. it's the fact that all of us have things to worry about in this life and we hardly ever have peace of mind, but through the gift of the holy ghost we are allowed a constant peace of conscience (read Mosiah 4:3-4, i think) when we are in accordance with the things of the lord we can always have peace of conscience which is more important than having peace of mind, because with peace of conscience and that knowledge that God is our loving heavenly father, nothing that the world throws at us will seem as bad and it will seem bearable and we will be able to bear our burdens. I love that thought, i wish you could hear it from him (maybe in october over the pulpit!) because he just says it so much better and so much clearer, but also read the words of king benjamin, cause thats where the idea comes from. We are given such an amazing gift after we become a confirmed member of the church, the gift of the holy ghost."

Stolen items... But an amazing Trip!

"So we just got back from the temple not to long ago, and it was incredible. That place truly is the house of god. President pearson spoke to us for a little while before we went into the session. He talked to us about his experience he's had the last few months, and he again bore detailed testimony of how he knows that the priesthood keys have been returned to the earth and Thomas s. Monson is the man who is able to use them. He then told us about how he is humbled by his new calling but he bore awesome testimony about he will do whatever he is told to do because of his knowledge of the truth. It was one of the most powerfull experiences i've ever had in my life. After the session president welcomed each of us into the celestrial room with a big hug. you all know i'm not much of a hugger but i must say it was one of the better hugs i've given back. it's not very often you get to hug a G.A. ha ha. It was amazing to see a huge group of missionaries in the celestial room all at one time. what an experience."

"As my luck would have it, i had a pretty terrible thing happen after the session. someone broke into our car, by shadering the window, while we were at the temple. they stole my camera and my backpack which had my temple clothes and my bike lock and my scriptures in it. so i'm without a camera, and without my scriptures that i have had for years, and my patriarchal blessing which was in the scriptures. Luckily My camera can be replaced and I can get a new pair of scriptures sometime, and hopefully you can send me another copy of my blessing soon. It was a little bit of a bummer, but i still was so happy about what had happened just hours before in the temple. nothing could have got me down after that experience."

Rough time, but at the same time what a neat temple experience. Jake has grown so much already. We are so proud of him! He ended by saying, "God knows me personally, i know that more now than i ever have. the church is true."

We get to go to the Temple!

Jake emailed today and said, "I'm so excited for the temple this week. This is a rare occasion as you can probably imagine, because we don't have a temple in our mission, so i am definately looking forward to it. President (Elder) Pearson got back from salt lake on wednesday and because my senior companions are zone leaders, we were able to hear a little from him in the weekly conference call that the zone leaders participate in each week (for numbers purposes). anyway he didn't say anything about his new calling the entire phone call, until the end when he mentioned how he was excited about going to the temple with us this week, and he said before we do a session he is going to share with us his experience that he had last week(meeting with the bretheren and all) and he's going to tell us about the change in his life since he heard about the call back in January. He then bore his testimony over the phone, and said that he KNOWS, without a doubt that this church is true, and he knows that the authority, and those priesthood keys that the Bretheren hold, has been restored to the earth, and he knows the men that have them. I wish you all could have heard it, it's one thing hearing a testimony like that over the pulpet at General Conference, but to hear it from someone you know personally in that kind of setting was something else, i wish i could express how it felt in words. I can't wait to be in the temple with that man, and hear about his experience...wow."

He stressed once again what we can do as members to help with the missionary effort "Again Members play a huge role in missionary work. One of the girls we are teaching is the friend of a couple who are both recent converts (the husband is david scott who we baptised last month). The only reason this girl knows about this church is because of the scott family. Us as missionaries have hardly done any work at all, and she is probably going to get baptised in a couple weeks. People are alot less likely to come to church if they don't know anyone."

He added "ps. our new president is president bowen. he's been a proffessor at harvard and M.I.T. if that gives you any indication of what kind of president he will be

Mission Pres. is now a GA!

President Pearson will return to the mission this wednesday and all the missionaries are excited to see their new General Authority mission president.

Jake wrote "I still can't get over how great general conference was! I loved how straight forward everyone was. President Eyering left no room for doubt that this is the only true church on the earth today. And Pres. Packer complimented him nicely by explaining how this is the only church that same authority that Christ's church had, with the same organization."

He ended with "My companions are awesome! And we are still having a lot of fun. The church is true."

Thoughts on Conference

"Wow what a weekend! Conference was honestly beyond words for me. And it sounds like you didn't pick up on one minor detail that i'm excited to tell you about. while President Uchtdorf was anouncing the new members of the seventy, you should have recognized there was the name of a white guy in the middle of all those spanish names, that guys name was Kevin W. Pearson, my current mission president, who is now a member of the first Quorum of the seventy! pretty crazy huh? we all knew he would be a General Authority, but none of us expected they would call him while he was still serving his mission, so we were all very shocked. good news though, he is staying until his mission is over and he will begin his new calling at the beggining of August. It is still so crazy to me. Anyway, that was exciting, and the rest of the conference was even better. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, and it was witnessed to me during each of those conference sessions."

"During Elder Hollands talk saturday afternoon i think i felt the spirit stronger than i remember ever feeling it before...ever! the things that he was saying and the way he was saying it and the things that were going through my mind at the time all just made it possible for the spirit to touch me, and it let me know that those men are truely inspired of god, it was incredible to say the least. I wish i could talk more about conference but i don't have that much time, there is so much to be said. I will say this though, the bretheren are changing the way they aproach General conference, and i think we are going to be seeing A LOT of change in the world concerning the church in the next decade or so. I'm not saying the second coming or anything, but things are happening. these last couple conferences have been directing us and preparing us for something."

"I loved the focus on the family this conference, and also member missionary work. Members are so Important to this work, don't ever be affraid to share your testimony with anyone, and pray for missionary opportunities. Sorry mom for not always helping you as much as i could have. I was never good at helping, especially when i wasn't asked to do something. But i do love you, and appreciate all that you have done, and all that you do for me. I want you to know that, and i will try to be better. I've been spoiled, you spoiled me to much ha ha, but i'm extremely gratefull for it. I'm definately a moma's boy, you're the best."

"Another thing that was so great this weekend is that D'Andre got baptised. He came to 3 sessions of conference and he is such a solid convert (well we make sure they are all pretty solid before baptising them of course, but D'Andre is the best i've seen so far) He loves the book of mormon, and thats what converts. If Investigators have a Testimony of that book than they are ready to take those next steps. We told D'Andre to read Lehi's Dream, and then draw it, and he did and its probably the coolest thing i've ever seen. and the other night he just felt like reading and so he read all the Abenadi story and all the story of Alma baptising the multitudes, and it's amazing cause he understands it perfectly, good enough to teach me some new things about it, and i've been hearing that story for years! he's the man, ill send you a picture of his baptism."

"Tell Amy congratulations, and let Ryan know that i did see him during that last song in the choir, and he looked studly. My bike is great and My companions are amazing. Elder schultz has given us a whole new view on missionary work, and it's really helping, i feel like i'm beginning to progress alot and it feels pretty good."

"General Conference has given me a boost that i hope to carry with me for awhile, and i hope it did for you too."