NyQuil is like the Atonement, I wouldn't be here without it!

Howdy. Last night at our devotional Neal L. Anderson came and spoke to us! Boy do I love that man. One of my favorite points that he made was that Christ will never be in debt with us. Sometimes we have to give something in order to gain something more. But no matter what our sacrifice is, no matter how small or how big the Lord will ALWAYS bless us for our efforts. The savior never receives a sacrifice that he doesn't return. He will never leave us comfortless. We may not see the other side of our sacrifices as soon as we would like but we are on the Lords time and I can promise ya, he knows what he's doing and we will be blessed for our efforts! Everyday on of my teachers asks our district to write down how we have seen God's hand in our life that day and it has helped me so much to realize that God is always there when we allow him to be!

Well, this week was a bit rough to be honest hahaha. I have just felt so so so so so alone and I have had so many sad thoughts running through my mind. So I have just been praying and praying and praying to feel comfort. And one night I just hit rock bottom and I don't know if I have ever prayed harder in my life. Then the next day I felt a little bit better, I can't even describe the feeling because it was just like blehhhh, but it was better than the night before so I just tried to let it go and be happy. Then a thought came to my mind, and it was a poem that one of the elders in my district read, called "He's Been There Before" by Elder Whittle. I won't put the whole thing in here but this is a part that really stood out to me:

My attention's towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you"

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds"

"I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev'ry pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"

"It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"

"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

I don't think it is possible to truly understand the Atonement in this life. But in that moment it was so clear to me that our Savior has truly felt it all. WE ARE NOT ALONE. I know it for a fact. Jesus Christ has felt every pain, every sorrow, every heartbreak. He knows what you are going through. And I am so honored to have this knowledge of my Savior and be able to make this sacrifice for him. He has been there before. He knows you.

Another super duper sweet thing I came across week was D&C 8:2-3

2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.

We are exercising the same faith that Moses had as he parted the Red Sea and brought people through on dry ground. Now, not to burst your bubble but you might not be able to part the Red Sea. But I do know that when we are exercising our faith MIRACLES are possible.

Something that our First Counselor said this week was "You control your own weather" and that hit me hard. We have control over our thoughts and our actions. SO CREATE SUNSHINE. God will always reward the positive intentions of your heart and if you're not truly happy, then use the Atonement and truly become happy.

So Halloween is this week and my cutie companion shared this quote with our district:

"Coming unto Christ is much like being a pumpkin... God picks us from the patch, brings you in and washes all the dirt off of you then he cuts the top off and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate and greed. Then he carves you a new face with a new smile and puts his light inside of you to shine for all the world to see!"

Okay now to not be so serious, the missionary world is such a different world hahahha. Like imagine the heartache you feel when you commit a horrible sin, I feel that when I sing a High School Musical song or when I wake up at 6:31 or when I don't open the door for someone or when I waste food. THE MISSION CHANGES YA. hahahhaa. We also had Christmas this week for some odd reason and sang Christmas songs and everyone wore red and green so that was weird hahahha. Also on Halloween Hermana Bower, Marilyn and I have fishing wire so we are going to tie the spider onto fishing wire and pull it across the walk way when it gets dark. PLUS we are staying up until 10:35 and we are going to dress up as each other by switching name tags. So if those are not the most exhilarating Halloween plans you've ever heard of I don't know what are!

Oh p.s. I have been so sick this week hahaha NyQuil is literally my best friend. I have been coughing like a man and it is a little bit scary hahahaha.

This is my last week at the MTC! I am so sad but so excited to serve the people of Argentina! And I am PRAYING that Aubrey Herrera will be my trainer. I love the MTC with all of my heart. I am going to miss it so so so so much. It's so crazy that I used to drive past this building everyday with no second thought and now it's my favorite place ever. I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing work! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL AND I LOVE YOU. Remember who you are and remember to create sunshine! And remember to not do drugs or think bad thoughts or gossip. And if ya scared, go to church.

XOXOXO

With Love,

Hermana J Sizzle

Love my cute district!

​I love elder Ortiz! We went to junior high together, so preshhhh

Asian Power at the -_-

Love these fellas with my whole heart!

 My faves! This is Elder Moore, he gave me all of his medicine because im sick hahaha

 

The good goods from papa J

MTC can't handle dis

HI hi HI hi

This week was......................... just like last week! hahahha. But I love it! I only have 2 weeks left and it's the saddest thing. The MTC is a dream. I am so ding dong dang grateful to be here. I cry thinking about leaving my district and my fake investigators everyday. I love the food, I love waking up at 6:30am(no joke), I love my companion, I LOVE my roommates and I love the spirit here. Something that I have really tried to implement in my life in the last couple of years but mainly the last couple of days is CHERISH EVERY MOMENT. Even though times are so tough, there is good in everything! It is truly all about your attitude. And we will NEVER get these moments back. Stop waiting for tomorrow, stop waiting for friday, stop waiting for happiness and go create it! hahahha I sound like a little BeeHive or something hahaha. but really be grateful and just smile at anyone and everyone. Replace your bad thoughts with good thoughts and good acts.

 

Count your blessings not your challenges and I promise you will change your life! I am so excited for anyone who is serving a mission, like get PUMPED because the MTC is my favorite place in the world. It is another world here I swear. I just want everyone to experience it! It's just like everything comes to life. Like every song we sing that I have been singing all of my life suddenly has so much meaning. One of my favorite lately is "savior may I love my brother as thou lovest me?" Because being stuck in the same classroom with the same people for 10 hours a day can get pretty rough sometimes. But I have realized that we all just need a little Charity in our life. We need to have the pure love of Christ. That is what this life is all about. We all have insecurities and we have all been through something. But that gives us no excuse to be negative. So I am trying to just GET OVER myself and love like Christ would love. So this week was really good and really funny.

 

 I saw Erica Valimaki at the temple and what the what she is engaged! Someone send me pics of the wedding please. I know it will be so fab.

 

So one of the elders in my district, (Elder Hall the funny one) has a record of sleepwalking and last week he slept walked outside in his garments without his badge and couldn't get back into his room hahahhaha at 3:30 in the morning and he was banging on everyone's windows but no one woke up and then he woke up under a tree and a security guard had to help him get back in hahahahha all while just in his garments. hahahah I am still laughing.

 

Also this week Hermana Hulme(Marilyn) and I decided to go running in the rain and we ran up and down 900 E for a whole hour hoping to see someone from home that we knew and we didn't see anyone we knew so that was sad.(ps we have lost 5 pounds so H to the YA)

 

Also another funny thing, I never have time to write letters so I finally set aside time to write one to my dad and I went to the gym and I had my letter and when I was leaving I looked at it and an Elder had stood over it and his sweat dripped all over it and ruined it hahaha so that's my life. I guess I am not meant to write letters home.

 

There is this "better than sex" cake here but we call it "better than salvation" cake hahahaha. Also I am a Sister Training Leader now! Don't worry i'm not super special or anything it's just because I am the oldest now haha.

 

BUT I got a FLIP PHONE hahahaha sickest thing ever. I can't even read my own text messages because you have to have a code to get into it. So that's awesome. Call me beep me if ya wanna reach me.

 

I get to see Kathy Chamberlain every week and it's so nice to have a little bit of home here at the MTC. Also, Cade Young bore his testimony in front of the whole MTC and I got a pic. He was literally glowing! Or I really just don't know how to use a camera hahaha.

 

Sorry this email is all over the place. I just want you all to know how grateful I am for this gospel and for my Savior's love.

 

Kool thought: have you ever thought about how big of an impact the scripture James 1:5 has had? If my main man José Smith didn't read and act on that I would not be able to experience the level joy I have in this life. I would not be here on a mission. I would not have the relationships I do. I am so grateful for the light the gospel has brought into my life and the light I get to bring into others lives! I know that is my time to give back to the Lord and I am so grateful for the opportunity.

 

I want to one day look my Heavenly Father in the eyes and say I truly gave it my all. And that's why I am here. I love you all! Remember who you are and to count your many blessings not your challenges.

 

P.S. Hermana Hulme and I are making a rap. SO STAY TUNED

 

XOXOXOXOXO 

 

Hermana J to the Diddy 

 

 

 

loco en la cabeza

Hermanas Calel, Jarvis, Connolly, Clyd???, Bower, Hulme

 

Hello, it's weird emailing every week here because it's pretty much all the same. Wake up, eat, study, eat, study, workout, eat, study, sleep, REPEAT. hahaha legit though. That is MY LIFE. But I love it so much. The highlight of my week was that I got a fake spider in a package and  And so in the middle of class I threw it out onto the floor in the middle of the room and turns out one of the elders in my district (the funniest one) is terrified of spiders and he started crying. Wow that sounds so mean. But it was really funny because its a 19 year old boy crying about a spider. And don't worry it was a short cry. And I gave him some cookies cause I felt so bad. It's obviously hard to keep yourself entertained here hahaha. Our next plan with the fake spider is to slide it down the floor under the showers in the morning and freak everybody out hahahhaa. But I see so many familiar faces everyday! I love it. And I love seeing the new missionaries coming in. They are just GLOWING. It's so nice to let go of the world for a whole 18 months. You quickly realize what is truly important. I am trying to make the most of my time here and there is so so much to do. So if you have written me a letter just know that I am working on replying. One of the girls in my room went home this week! She was the cutest Hermana but she really wanted to get married so ya know. I'm actually a little jealous sometimes, especially when my investigators never laugh at my jokes or keep commitments hahaha but it's okay. We had Richard I. Heaton come and talk to us this past week for our Tuesday devotional and he was so inspiring! The best part about the MTC is the devotionals. He talked about how important it is to just rely on the Lord. Because all good come from the Lord. We are only the tools he uses to get the job done. I want to dedicate everything I have to helping people come unto Christ and know that they are not alone. I want to dedicate not only 18 months, but the rest of my life. One of my favorite favorite things ever is that when Jesus Christ was dying on the cross his last words were "Forgive these people for they know not what they do". While preaching to the people that he will help them. LIKE HOLY WOW. That just gives me the chills. He dedicated his entire life to serving others. I wish I would have put more thought into this gospel when I was home and not thought so much about my self because the more and more I study the more I appreciate this gospel and realize how life changing it truly is. And how lucky I am to have grown up in it! Don't take it for granted peeps.

I GAVE A TALK IN CHURCH and we are supposed to write a talk before every Sunday because they choose randomly and of course I didn't write one thinking they would never call on me. Then all the sudden in sacrament meeting they say and then our next speaker will be Hermana Jarvis. I was like okay time to go home hahaha. But I got up there and the spirit filled my soul and I just said what came to mind and it turned out okay! I just talked about the Atonement and the role its played in my life. And then of course I quoted my favorite book, "The Continuous Atonement" and bore my testimony and sat down. I never ever ever ever thought I would be able to do that. I barely looked at my notes! It was cray.

side note: Marilyn Hulme is one of my roommates and we are best friends now. It's the best thing ever. We workout together everyday, so we won't gain thirty pounds like everyone told me I would in the MTC. We don't have any weights in our dorms and sometimes they make you stay in your dorm to workout. So we use our scriptures for weights and the couches for high knees and people think we are crazy hahaha.

This week I will think of more things to say in my emails because this one is a little rough. Another side note: Everyone says that our room is so cute because of all the cute decorations Whitney and Courtney send me. So shout out to them!

I love you all so much. You are all in my prayers and I would love to hear from you. Read "The Continuous Atonement" by Brad Wilcox. It will change the way you think. Remember who you are. Enjoy hugging the opposite sex, listening to good music, working out in clothes that don't make you look like a boy, waking up later than 6:30 and eating dinner later than 4:00 hahahha. 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Holla for a Dolllllla

(Herman Jarvis and Hermana Prestwich)

Wusss up wuss up in the real world?????

This week was the bomb digity because of Conference of course! I loved it. I have never actually stayed awake through a session until being at the MTC hahahaha. Don't follow my example. But on the real, I am so grateful for our prophet. I never really thought much about prophets before the MTC and when Thomas S Monson was up there about to fall over it broke my heart. I really have taken our loved prophet of God for granted! That is the saddest thing! So just take a minute to realize how blessed we are to have him and his apostles! Such a blessing. Anyways, if you don't know, now you know that I have always had very weird feelings about the way some people act towards people with same sex attraction and when I heard Jeffery R Hollands talk I LOST IT. I was just crying and crying. It was so powerful. For those who didn't have the opportunity to here it, (other than all the amazing things he said about moms) it was about this guy who had been serving a mission and came home due to same sex attraction and he started having so many doubts and feeling so alone.

But his family loved him so much and they kept pushing him to be better and feel the love of God. And eventually after 5 years he felt that love and decided to go back to church, become a seminary teacher and eventually return to his mission. His same sex attraction didn't just magically disappear but he just pushes through it and is still just as equally loved as you and I. Anyways, I love how his family never ever gave up on him. Because that is how God acts towards all of his children. He never gives up on you. You can only give up on him. I feel like we are often so quick to judge another when someone admits their sins. When we are too prideful to admit our own! If only if only our sins made us smell or showed on up our skin, boy would this world be a lot different. "who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly?" I feel that when we notice someone struggling with same sex attraction, struggling with drugs, struggling with the law of Chasity, struggling with beliefs in the church, the list goes on and on. We tend to distances ourselves. Because we don't want to get involved in that. We don't want to get dragged down to that "level". But we can not go into these situations thinking that they will drag us down. We need to go into these situations with the mind set of how can I lift this person up? Don't give up on these wonderful people. Never. Give. Up. Just as  God has not given up on you. Love as the God would loves them. All these people want is to be loved. All anyone want's is to be loved. So love as God loves.

Sorry that is literally a mile long.

This Sunday my district is starting a 40 day fast and I am beyond excited. We aren't giving up food, THANK GOODNESS. But we are giving up some of our bad habits. I am picking ten things that I think are holding me back from being the person God wants me to be. And I am going to strive to not do them for 40 days and then hopefully the rest of eternity. I know that this will help me so much and I encourage you to do it too! It might be rough at times but it will all in all make us such better people. I hope you are all doing well and not doing drugs! I miss home a lot. Especially when my comp is sick and I just sit in our room as she sleeps for 5 hours. But then I remember why I am here and how many lives I get to bless as the Lord works through my hands!

My scripture that I am ponderizing this week is 1 Nephi 7:12

12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him?Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

So good. Just makes my heart happy knowing we can pray to our loving heavenly father about anything, ANYTHING we are struggling with. Something else I though was kool that I learned this week was that we need to not just endure to the end, we need to love, help, and create happiness until the end! K I love you all so much. Remember to look at the potential in everyone. I pray for you all everyday. I hope that if you ever are feeling sad FIRST you pray and if you still need a pick me up you can email me and I will tell you a joke. hahahaha k bye

PEACE AND BLESSINGS <3 <3 <3
Sorry this email is all over the place hahaha

Also I peed my pants this week while I was in a jumping jacks competition hahahahahaha

(Twinning with my Companion on accident hahaha)

Elder Hall - Funniest elder ever