Tucson Week 3!

This week we had the opportunity to go to Mount Lemon and have dinner with a member in the Bear Canyon ward. Mount Lemon is a 45 min. drive from our area and we went with the Bear Canyon sisters, Sister Mizell and Moe- Tufanga. On the way up we stopped at an overlook and looked at Tucson. It was Beautiful! 

We realized that we had forgotten to fill the car up with gas before we had left and it was on empty... then we got to the members house and one of the sisters had left her bag at the overlook. We drove back down to see if it was still there and it wasn't. Someone had stolen her bag and we were out of gas. We drove back up to the members house and after we ate they put some gas in for us. It was a fun adventure.

Our zone has a goal to do more street contacting so we decided that we would try an hour of it. The first guy we went up to seemed interested and we told him about the Book of Mormon and he accepted one. After we were done he was like "Can I get to know you?" We were both so so confused and he said "Can I get to know you better? Can I take you out sometime? Are you roommates?" It was seriously so weird and a little creepy. We explained to him that we were missionaries and we didn't date. He walked away... but hey at least he has a Book of Mormon now! That was our fist experience being hit on.

We had a big miracle this week. I was on exchanges with the sister training leader and we decided to go contact a former investigator. We learned that he didn't live at that location anymore so instead we decided that we were there for a reason. We walked to the neighbors house and a girl came and unlocked the gate for us. We started talking with her about the gospel. We talked about church, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. She said everything made so much sense and it was all so simple. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to Church on Sunday which she accepted. I know that God put her in our path to find. We didn't have luck with the former, but we were able to meet this girl.

God is good to us! I love you all!

 Love, Sister Jarnagin 

Tucson week 2! (3)

This week was so busy! We have so many service opportunities! We spent our valentines day doing service which was so wonderful! And we gave valentine rice-crispy treats to a homeless man :) We do a lot of weed pulling here because it rains and the weeds grow in between the rocks. Nobody has grass here. Just rock, cactus, and palm trees. 

 

We got a new investigator and he is amazing! We are excited to teach him more and he has a baptismal date set for March!

We had interview with our mission president which were amazing because president Passey is awesome and we love visiting with him!

I have seen the effects of prayer in my life, but also the effects of it in our less active members and investigators. It is amazing who God has prepared.

Sorry I have no more time to write about my week but I love you all and thank you for your emails!

 

Love, Sister Jarnagin

P.S. it is Sister Jones birthday on the 4th of March and she loves Hi-chews :) 

 

 

 

 

 

Tucson Week 1 (4)

I LOVE SISTER JONES!!!! She's pretty much the best.

 This week we did so much! Our ward was doing a temple trip down to the Gilbert temple which is 2 hours away from Tucson. We asked President if us and the elders were allowed to go and he said YES! We met at the church and took the 2 hour drive down to Gilbert. The temple is HUGE and absolutely gorgeous! It was so special to be able to do a session and spend the day at the temple. After, the ward took us to Café Rio... we were all dying. Ahhh it was so good. All the other missionaries were jealous of our temple/Café Rio filled day. It was so awesome. 

We are in the East Tucson zone and we have a really large area because of all the YSA members that are spread out. The Zone leaders, Elder Call and Elder Alston, are also in the YSA ward with us as well, so we see them a lot and we all eat together a lot when members have us over for dinner. The Zone leaders rock at being leaders! They bring our zone together and are always lifting us up.

 

I love this area and I absolutely love the members. We are able to visit a couple of the less- active members of the ward and it always is amazing. One of the sisters we visited had a scorpion she was pet- sitting for her friend and she let us hold it.... it was pretty freaky.

 

We have so much study time each day and extra for my language study. I love being able to sit down and have my personal time with the Lord and study his gospel. Sister Jones had the idea of going to a park for language study so we went and studied in the park and it was wonderful! It is so nice out right now.

Another cool thing we get the opportunity to do is attend the American Sign Language Class. They have the missionaries go so that we can learn how to speak to people if needed. It was amazing to see how personal the signs were. We learned how to introduce ourselves and ask if they want to know more. I think I remember how to say "cool beans" the best haha.

 

Being in the Young Single Adult ward we get to do a lot of activities with the members and every week we get to go play Frisbee in the park. I got to know a few of the members and their friends they brought. There are so many opportunities to work with members and their friends.

I love Arizona and they have the bomb.com sunsets! Always so beautiful! The cactus and palm trees are pretty rad as well. We also have this amazing neighbor, Erin who takes good care of us. She is so sweet. Her Grandson lives with her and we love seeing them!

Well I have nothing more to say... but I love you all!

Love, Sister Jarnagin

I made it! To Arizona!

Well I really did make it. I braved the goodbyes at the MTC and tears were shed. I also met some people headed to AZ so I wasn't alone. We got to the airport and I couldn't even get my phone card to work! I only got to talk to my family for about a min. and it was really hard. But I will get to write them lots of letters so that's nice too! 

 After we got off the airplane and got our luggage, President Passey, his wife, and the assistants to the President came and greeted us. Our plane got in a little bit early so they didn't meet us at the gate. They then took us to downtown Tucson, and the AP's started running up this hill to the Mormon Battalion Monument. And we had to follow! I'm sure we looked pretty silly running in skirts and Books of Mormon in our hand up this big hill. When we got to the monument we were able to hand out our Books of Mormon. Sister Tracy (one of the sisters headed to Tucson) and I walked over to a gentleman sitting on a park bench. We got to talking to him and he was amazing. He was so nice and we had a really good conversation. We asked if he would want to read the Book of Mormon and he accepted! It's amazing how many people God has prepared! He was so open to our message and we were so excited!

 The mission president then took us to eat some lunch. First meal out of the MTC! Ahhh it was so good! Spaghetti and meatballs and it was warm!!! We all got interviewed by President and then he took us to the mission home where we spent the night.

 

We all got up and went to the transfer meeting. My companion is sister Jones! She is amazing and from what I have heard I am lucky to get her! We are serving in the YSA ward which she says is the best! We are in a car which is nice because it has AC haha. We are serving in the area just close around Tucson, but not on campus. 

 

Guess who I saw at the transfer meeting?! Elder Wyman! He was our student body president and we graduated together. Small world and it was good to see a familiar face.

I hope you are all doing good! I am excited to Serve the people of Arizona because so far they are wonderful!!

 

Eu amo Voces! 

 Love, Sister Jarnagin

 

Week (not quite) #7

So I know that it has only been 4 days since my last p-day, but p-day falls on a Saturday because of something new that has happened in my life!

  We were walking out the door to head to lunch and we see the other district that is in our zone, and they all have this "my dog just died" face. And then we see the colored papers that are in their hands which at the MTC colored papers mean re-assignments. All of the Elders that are going to Portugal had been re-assigned due to no visas. We all ran to our mailbox to see if we had also received our re-assignments and there was nothing. Our District leader went after lunch to see if they had got there yet and they had so he brought them to us and we were of course all freaking out a little bit. Nobody was expecting to get re-assigned so we were anxious to see where we were headed. I have been re-assigned to... TUCSON, ARIZONA!  Sister Hillam and I were the only companionship who were assigned to the same place so we were pretty excited.

 

 Sister Savage is headed to California and Sister Cahill is headed to Louisiana. None of the people who were headed to Portugal had gotten their visas (which was 28 of us) so we were all staying in the states. 

 

The next day, some of the Elders went to the travel office to check if the visas had been approved. Come to find out that all of the visas had been approved but 5 which they were still waiting on. And guess what... I was one of the 5 who didn't get their visas. So I head out bright and early Monday morning for Tucson. I am the only one going that i know of. It was really hard at first to realize that I had been at the MTC for 7 weeks trying to learn Portuguese, and now realizing that I would teach in English in the states. I finally got excited to be able to serve in English in the states and later in Portuguese in Portugal.

 

I never thought I would be so close to so many people in just 6 weeks! I love my district,zone, companion and teachers. Sister Hillam has been a blessing in my life as well as my district. They are all so wonderful and I can't wait to serve with some of them in Portugal.  

 Today was the last day with Irmao Staples as our teacher. He was an amazing teacher and example for all of us and he gave me confidence when i was down about learning the Language. He talked to us about our MTC experience as a whole and said "Where ever you teach, the language of the spirit is still the same." I am excited to go to Portugal, but  am also excited to be able to serve the Lord and the people of Tucson. 

I have learned so much here at the MTC and I know that the Lord has helped me grow. I know that Christ lives and that he loves each of us so much and wants us to be happy. I know that the spirit can always be present in our lives if we are striving to live our lives worthily. I know that through prayer we can always always talk to our Heavenly Father and that he will always answer. I know that the gift of tongues is real and I know that by relying on the spirit I can be guided. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of god and that He endured because he knew this gospel was true. I know this gospel is true and I know that we are lucky to have prophets and revelation from God. I know this Gospel is true with all of my Heart! 

 

Eu amo voces!!!! 

 Love, Sister Jarnagin