California Roseville Mission

California Roseville Mission
Sister Jazzie Hood

My Missionary Scripture D&C 68:6

Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the Living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.
D&C 68:6

Friday, February 3, 2017

I'M STOKED!!

Hey peeps!! 😁

This week has been good! Neither of us were sick this week so that's good! we have tried to work hard and be diligent! I have a renewed sense of motivation!! It has been good!! Haha.. 😬

Something cool though, we had the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. So how they did it was the missionary department of the church basically had a "fish bowl" council session, I guess you could call it. They talked about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. That has been the theme of SO many of our meetings. They are really trying to get us to focus on the Atonement and helping people gain a testimony of the Savior and get them to the point where they are converted. Of course conversion is a life-long process, but they need to get to the point where they are doing things like reading their scriptures daily and praying on their own. Once they get there, they're golden! 😊 But it was a really good meeting. 

In that meeting, they also announced a couple pretty huge changes. First was the missionary schedule. Ya know how they had that set schedule how we study at a specific time and stuff like that. Well, now that have it where they give us a specific time frame and we kind of figure out our day however it works best for us. Another big thing with that is we don't plan when we get home at night anymore. They just have us plan sometime during the day. That's super nice because I love doing my thing before bed and now I have an extra half hour! Yaaay!! 😁 It also switched things up for P-Day too. Instead of it starting at 10, it starts at 8 now! 😁 2 extra hours to play!! Woo woo!! 😂 So that was pretty cool. I'll attach a picture of it so it makes more sense. Haha. But the other big change was the key indicators. Key indicators are how are keep track of our numbers and stuff. So things like the number of member present lessons, new investigators, investigators attending Sacrament that week, etc. Well, we used to have 9 but they cut it down to four. So now, when we report our numbers we just report 'gators baptized and confirmed that week, those on date for baptism, those who attended Sacrament, and new investigators. We will still keep track of other things but that's just what they have seen the focus needs to be on for now. 😊 kinda interesting! 

So exciting news... I have my area book back on my iPad.. haha. I couldn't put in lessons, look up people or anything on it because it thought I was still in Corning... haha. Silly Area book! That was forever ago! Haha. They have been trying to fix it since I got to Colusa. I had sent in like a billion "report a problem" emails, but they couldn't figure it out. Finally, they had the mission office look at it and they came to find that it was pulling up an old transfer board for when I was in Corning.. haha. So!! Now I can feel like a missionary again and use Area book instead of just using it for email and taking pictures.. oh.. and gospel library.. 😉😁 Haha. 

The work this week has been a little slower than normal... It was transfer week so that always throws everything off. I have been trying to be better at doing the little things that are super important and trying to be a better example.. so!! That's always interesting.. ☺️ Transfers are so sad... It's so sad to see my friends leave.. 😩 BUT!! I'm stoked about our new missionaries. We got some fun new elders and a greenie!! Yaaay!!!! 😁 so it should still be a awesome in C-Heights!! 😉

As for the work this week! Now that I am writing it out, I see that we were able to be more productive than I realized! So that makes me feel better! ☺️ 

We met with a less active from Young Single Adults. His name is Nathan. We have been trying to meet with him since I got here. We would set up times and he would just not answer the door... ☹️ But finally we got in. He was super nice. We talked about the Book Of Mormon and invited him to read it in 60 days! He said he would try so we will see how that goes! We also invited him to Book Of Mormon class that night and he said it was too short of notice, even though our Ward Mission Leader had invited him like an hour or two before we got there and he said he would.. people have their agency.. But he said he will try to make it next week. We hopefully we will see him their because he needs that in his life. 😊 

Oh!! Something SUPER fun!! So every week the Elders in the Spanish Ward coordinate a soccer game and invited 'gators and less actives and whoever! So we went there and played soccer with a bunch of Latinos!! I have never felt so white in my life... 😳 There was one girl.. oh my heck.. she could have taken your head off in one kick if ya didn't get outta the way quick enough!! Man!!! Haha... it was SO fun though. They're so kind and they love to have fun and soccer is their thing!! They're all SUPER good at it! And I am not.... haha. 😂 I'm sure you can imagine my squawks.. There's one point in the game when the ball was coming straight at my face and I did a matrix move and basically bent in half backwards.. 😂😂 that was pretty painful... but it was awesome! 

Thursday was a super productive day!! Even though no one answered their door... love it when that happens. Haha. #MissionaryLife.. We did catch one girl from the YSA. Her name is Sabrina. It took us forever to find her house because our app was being dumb and I'm a terrible navigator and Baum is stubborn... 😂😂 it made for an interesting time, lemme tell ya. Haha! But we found it, nonetheless!! We talked with her about scripture study. I love it when we teach in English because I can testify and say what I want!!! Ah! It's the best! And I think Baum likes it too because she doesn't have to teach the whole time. 😂 She's a trooper! 

We had a SUPER cool lesson with Maria on Friday. I know that because it was in English.. 😂 it was awesome though. So we had fasted on Thursday for her to receive answers to her prayers. She is so sincere and searching so hard. So on Friday we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was super cool because we talked about the priesthood authority and how without it nothing is valid in the eyes of Heavenly Father. And she was like "That is so true! That makes so much sense!" It was super cool. Then when we were talking about repentance and the Atonement the Spirit was there and it was just great. She said she is just working on the basics and understanding those things first. So we are just continuing to work with her. She is coming along. She is SO close right now!! It was awesome to be able to testify hard core!!! Ahh!! I've missed that.. ☺️ #TenderMercy! Haha. It's always super motivating to see the Spirit work like that in someone as you're speaking to them.. it's so incredible! 😊 unfortunately, she didn't come to church this week... 😫😫😫 

We also met with another less active kid from the YSA. We think he may have been slightly intoxicated... BUT!! We showed him Because of Him and he said he felt happiness and something warm in his heart. We asked him what he believed about Jesus Christ and he said he wasn't a huge believer... 😔 these are always interesting situations.. haha. So while Baum was writing our number on a card, I just bore my testimony of Jesus Christ and that He is a Son of God and God knows him personally. The Spirit was there. So hopefully he felt it again. It's always so amazing to testify! It's my favorite past time! 😁 but I have to say, it kinda breaks my heart.. There are SO many of these YSA kids who are so lost... they just don't feel like they need this or they think other things are far more appealing. WHY!!!! Ahhh!!!! I want them to open their eyes and see what a miraculous gift it is to be a member of THE true church... It's so easy to just slip. Once Satan gets his foot in the door he will do everything he can to keep it open and welcome himself right in... 

But yeah! So pretty much that! For my spiritual thought this week I would like to share with something from my studies yesterday! I studied in D&C 27:15-18. It's where they talk about The Armor of God. It was sooo cool!! Ah! I went through each thing and studied it out with the institute manual. The Spirit is so awesome. He's my favorite study buddy! 😁 He helped me understand this so much better. My favorite part is the sword of the spirit! Let me tell you why! So Heavenly Father has given us all of these things to protect the most vital parts of our lives. Loins girt with Truth (Virtue and Chastity) , Breastplate of Righteousness (our conduct and our hearts should be righteous), feet shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace (our goals and objectives in life should be based on the gospel), Helmet of Salvation (good thoughts lead to good actions which lead us to salvation) and the Shield of Faith (faith deflects Satan's fiery darts). We have quite the armor here. Every part of us is covered and protected against anything the adversary can throw at us. But then they talk about the Sword of the Spirit. 

First, we know why we use a sword. We use it for defense. But my question was what exactly does it symbolize in this context. In the institute manual, I don't remember who talked about it but they clarified that the Sword of Faith symbolizes the Word of God. So as we read our scriptures and partake of the word of God, in whatever form it may be in, we take up that sword and we are armed to fight back with Satan and defend ourselves and keep ourselves safe from his grasp. I just love that!! We can throw down on Satan and win every time when we fight with the many pieces of battle gear that Heavenly Father has given us! But I know that this is not just a "one and done" thing. It is a daily thing. Maybe even more frequently, if necessary. The word of God, especially the Book of Mormon, protect us from Satan. We can combat his temptations and everything else that he uses against us to lead us away from God. 

So I want to invite each of you who read this to analyze where you are with your daily study of the word of God and adjust it to make it more beneficial for you. Whether that be tweaking it to make it more spiritual or more personal, or just starting with a couple verses a day! Just start where you're at! 😁 I invite you to take up that Whole Armor of God, especially that Sword of the Spirit, so you can stay close to your Father in Heaven and your Savior and not be "led away captive". ☺️ I know you will see TREMENDOUS blessings enter your lives. You will see an increase of the spirit. You feel closer to Heavenly Father and the Savior. You will feel so much more love in your heart for all those you come in contact with. There are so many other blessings that will come with this. I know that to be true!! 😁 The gospel so SO TRUE! It is what keeps me going and hope that you, if you aren't already, get to that point that you feel that you NEED the Gospel and the word of God more abundantly in your lives. There is power in dependence on our Father, our Savior and Their words. Let's not take it for granted! 😊

I love you guys!! Thanks for much for all you do!! I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love, 
Sister Hood

Ps... here's some gems from last PDay and from this week! Enjoy! 😏😊😉


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