Week 82

My email stuffed up. I have to do it from an iPhone, so I'll be short. The keyboard is already making me mad.

I loved talking to you on Christmas. It was cool to see you all again. Church [the iPhone auto-filled "India." I'm not sure what Josh meant to type] this week. Only sixteen people came and one of the speakers didn't show up, so I had to give a talk for half an hour. Then, I had to teach Gospel Doctrine to six people who didn't really want to participate.

Anyway, I love you all,
Elder Jamison

Week 81

Hey Everyone,

This week has gone good. Elder Faagase's last week was a good one and the mission Christmas party wasn't bad.

My new comp is fitting in well here and we should have a great transfer. Rhiann is gone now but we got to meet her parents and they were all right.

I was called as the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency yesterday.  That was a surprise. I'm not sure what to think, but President is going out of town in a bit so I will have to run at least three Sundays.

I'm pretty excited for Christmas. We have a lot set up for it. Man, all the news from dad too... cray cray so much is happening.

A new companion. Haircuts. Teaching Gospel Doctrine.

Congrats to Rebekah! You're gonna do awesome!

Transfers are this week. Faagase is leaving. I'm getting a pommy called Collings, but I don't know anything about him.

We were cutting one of the young men's hair this week, when the other one decided to punch a glass bottle. Smarty, huh? Anyway, he slashed up his hand and I sent him to the hospital to get stitches. He had to get two, so not too bad.

We are teaching Gospel Doctrine now. I go and teach about the Book of Mormon, only to find that in 2015 we are teaching Doctrine & Covenants. Too bad, I guess. The lesson went really well. We talked about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, and how its purpose is to testify that Jesus is the Christ and his Church and Priesthood are alive and on the earth today. It went really well I think, but I'm not too confident about teaching D&C.

I love you all!
Elder Jamison

Week 79

Hey how's it?!

It's been super hot this week - I think it hit 50°C in some places Saturday... cray cray to the max!

I hit 18 months this week! The sister's missions are complete!

The Christmas party was awesome! Lots of people came and we smashed our song. The costumes for the nativity were hilarious. I'll try and send you some pictures, but I have like no time today. Anyway, supes excited for Christmas! I can't wait to talk to you all!

Coming up is Elder Faggase's last week here. I, for one, think he is staying, but he is convinced he is leaving, so we have a lot of stuff to do!

I love you all so much.
Stay awesome!
Elder Jamison

Week 78

This week has been pretty tiring, but cool too. My feet are shot from playing basketball in church clothes and then playing touch a few days later. I can't complain though, because it is all my fault.

Anyway, we have spent good time with the young men this week. Simi is one of them and he is really good at helping us organize stuff. We played touch with like twenty people all because he got some of his mates to come. We took him out for service on Saturday too and then he got to meet a less-active member of the branch that we went to go visit.

Elder Faagase and I will be singing a song for the ward Christmas party coming up... I think we are doing White Christmas.  It's gonna be sick! We have some sexy dance moves planned out for it. He thinks he is gonna be transferred and I just don't know what to think.

I'm super excited to call home... get PUMPED cause it's gonna be awesome.

I love you all!
Elder Jamsion

Week 77

This week has been cray cray. Everyone has had gastro (stomach flu) including me. I puked my guts out on Tuesday.  I guess my no-sick streak is over now. I felt a bit better after sleeping literally all day, but I flared up again Friday and felt worse on Saturday but had to tough it out. I'm still a bit off, but I'm not puking anymore, so all goods. I broke my toe this week too. At first, I thought it wasn't that bad, but it is a nice purple color now and can't be bent or I cry. Ha ha, its funny how bad and good this week has been.

We saw miracles as well. We went to Riann's house to give her a blessing. She had laringitus and gastro as well but she's all goods now.  We gave a talk on Sunday and it was KILLA. In case you don't remember, Riann is a recent convert and this was her first talk ever. Anyways she is super cool. She moves to the UK on the 20th. She will be missed, but her parents will be here just before and we will be able to meet them hopefully. We've been doing heaps with the young men recently; service, sports, less active work. It's been cool. They are good kids and I think they really enjoy being with us. We are getting a huge game of touch ready for Wednesday. Hopefully, all the people we invite will come. Anyway, I love you all so much!

Elder Jamison

Week 76

This week has been pretty good.  We have spent a lot of time with the Young Men lately. We do heaps of service and stuff with them and we are getting along well with them. They are even up for coming out visiting with us.

Leigh's husband proposed to her! She called to tell us and was so excited! This was definitely an answer to many prayers. She is amazing and will be going back home for Christmas where they will suss out the wedding.

We do service at the Catholic Op Shop every Friday. Those ladies are so funny and nice. Anyway, I was in a store room and found an egg, really tiny. I picked it up and it was hatching, so I ended up with a baby lizard in my hand. It ran away though.  I though Rachel would like to hear that.

I have been Harry Potter trunky lately. Whenever we play ping pong I use spells for each hit. I am a little rusty. Man I love this area. I have no idea what will happen at transfers, but I hope it will work out for the best.

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 75

This last week has been exhausting. It's been awesome to do so much service and the week was awesome until Sunday.  A bunch of people got sick, so a lot of our appointments have fallen through. Then, Branch Council was totally a waste of time. Man, people just need to listen more. Everyone was so focused on their own agendas and didn't care at all to help each other out. We had it in our minds to try to fix it all, but this isn't something the missionaries need to solve. All we can do is work hard and bring the spirit all we can.

Anyway, there are some awesome people here. I'm gonna miss them all. Rhiann will be moving to London soon because she got a teaching job there. The YSA are the coolest people ever. This is by far my favourite area. Faagase is the man too - tons of fun and a hard worker.

Love you all!
Elder Jamison

Week 74

Elder Jamison is in a new area this week.  The move involved a lot of travel and there wasn't time left to write home.

Port Hedland

This week has been really cool - but hot. It's been 40°C (104°F) every day at least. Elder Faagase made eggs and toast on a metal table in the back yard.

The members here are so cool. Our Branch Mission Leader, Luke, is handicapped. He was born premature, so he can't walk and has a hard time speaking, but he is the man. He is a convert and has a SOLID testimony. His goal in life is to be sealed to a Tongan honey.

A recent convert, Rhiann, is a school teacher and is so nice. We might be able to email more at her house after school. The 1st Counselor in the branch presidency, Michael, is Tongan and really cool. He drives a taxi and calls me Elder Sampson because he can't say Jamison right.

The Young Single Adults are legit... Charlie and his sister Rhonda are Cook Island Maori and so funny. Joey is Samoan and a little Asian (I think) and he cracks everyone up all the time. They took us out to eat twice already and we will be helping them set up for the Halloween activity on Friday.

Sister Wyllie is funny and she has a son, Jonathan, who has down syndrome, but he is the coolest funniest kid ever. He is between twenty and thirty. It's hard to tell. He loves WWE. Ha ha, man he is cool he has heaps of DVDs and has a funny sense of humor.

Faagase is the man. He is always laughing about something. We always sing too. We are both awful, but any time something we say is a song lyric, we sing it. Lots of Michael Jackson going on in here.

We do lots of service here. I wear normal clothes more than proselyting clothes. We are teaching a few people. This lady, Leigh, walked into church and said, "Hi, I'm an investigator from New South Wales." So we will be seeing her more and more once we get the car. She will be here for six months as a nurse.

Quax is from Zimbabwe and has been learning since Elder Elkington was here almost a year ago. He is so cool though... once we find his concern, we will be able to help him more.  Thirty people came to church Sunday, which was awesome and the Branch President wasn't even there. He has six in his family. Seini is Luke's caregiver and is so nice. Honestly, we have seen her every day. She takes good care of us.

I only have five minutes left and I still have to email the Mission President, so I love you all and hope to email again today.

Love,
Elder Jamison

Week 72

This week has been exciting. The biggest thing was early Sunday morning. Okay, picture this... its 5:00am... I wake up because nature calls... anyways I am too lazy to get up, so I figure I will hold it for as long as I can... I dont know if that was inspired or what, but here's what happened. Around 5:15am we hear shattering glass. I was only half asleep, so I woke up quick and got out of bed to look outside. It sounded like it was at the neighbors house, but I soon discovered that our kitchen window had had a brick thrown through it. Then I heard another shattering of glass and the sliding glass door in the kitchen had a brick hit it as well. I yelled, "OY! GET OUT OF HERE!" as loud as I could... I had a really husky voice from being asleep, so I scared the guy off. I ran back to the room and grabbed my jacket because I was in my underwear and ran after the guy. By now, Elder Ho had fully woken up because of my yelling and was fully dressed too. I called 000 (911) and Elder Ho watched the guy from a distance. We got a description and the cops came. The guy also threw a brick through a car window across the street. Man it was so crazy. I duct taped cardboard to the window and we should get it repaired tomorrow.

I love Broome.

Too bad I am being transferred. There are more than ten missionaries leaving this transfer and not many coming in so there aren't enough missionaries to cover Broome. Elder Ho is going to Southern River and I will be going east to Port Hedland. I'm still up in the country. I will be in a slightly larger branch with a building. Elder Elkington served there. He told me all about it. He is going home in a few days... I will miss him. He is only my second companion to go home... crazy huh? The next one won't go until March. I'm older than a lot of my companions. Anyway, my new companion will be Elder Faagase. I don't know anything about him yet, but I will soon.

We went to go buy pizza the other day because I have been having cravings. It was like eating a hot circle of garbage. I miss America so much. The people here don't like it much because of the government and other dumb things that I don't really care about. I love America because of the good fast food, TV shows, and 24 hour stores. Other than that, Australia is good.

We found a new investigator the other day. She is really nice, but as usual, was so drunk. We will be teaching her tomorrow but we are leaving, so the investigators will have to hold out for at least eight weeks. New missionaries should be soon I hope. The investigator's name is Debbie. She wants to be baptised. She was talking about how there are so many white people religions and none of them know the true God. We shared with her some scriptures and explained that our religion is not a white man's religion, but is the true church of Jesus Christ being lead by a prophet. She asked us, "Do you really believe that? Are you telling the truth?" I was so glad that I could quickly and honestly answer, "Yes. I know that it is true." I told her how. It's because God told me it is through the power of the Holy Spirit. I told her that she could also know. I don't know how much rubbed off on her because she was wasted, but I felt the Spirit and I know she felt something too.

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 71

This week has been a good one... ish. Well, every week is awesome with Elder Ho, but missionary-work-wise it's been rough. No one keeps their appointments. People don't really take us seriously I think.

We did get to see a few conference sessions! They were really good! I love hearing from the apostles and prophets. It really shows how true and amazing this gospel is! To know that the same organization that was in the church Jesus Christ established while on the earth is here today is so amazing to me.

We did get a less active member to come to conference. That was cool. She is a great lady, but she has no support from her children or partner so it is hard for her to come. It is really hard for anyone I guess because the branch is so small. But, the church itself started with only six members and we get more than that... sometimes... so it won't be so bad.

I heard there is a new Weezer album coming out. Enjoy :'-( Ha ha, just kidding. Don't worry about distracting me. I know what I need to do and why I am here. It doesn't matter what I'm missing out on. I'm becoming who God wants me to become.

This transfer is a short one... Only four weeks, so Elder Ho and I will probably say goodbye next week. I will know on Monday for sure. I hope he will stay though. We have big things coming. I can feel it!

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 70

What?! Week 70? Cray cray. Also I feel super sick right now... I bought a 2 litre of chocolate milk but Elder Ho didn't want any and we had no refrigeration by us... so guess what.... I drank it.... all and now I feel sick.  So, yeah.

This week has been a spiritual roller coaster. So, do you remember the drunk lady we walked home? We saw her on Thursday and had a great lesson about the restoration. She committed to be baptised on November 1st and she is so keen! We set an appointment for the next day and she committed to come to church. Sounds good right? So, we go by for the appointment the next day and no answer. No big deal. We came back thirty minutes later... still nothing. We come back at the end of the day and she is home and drunk as a skunk. She confessed that she had been home the whole time but was ashamed she was drunk so she didn't answer the door. We sat with her for a long time talking and comforting her, when her neighbour comes by. It was the husband of the woman she was yelling at the other night. He starts yelling at this lady because hes looking for his wife... he was wasted too. He wouldn't leave for like ten minutes. He hadn't done anything violent yet so we let them be, but she was starting to get really mad and escalating it all, so I had Elder Ho try to calm her down while I tried to get the man to leave. Neither of us were very successful. Elder Ho got an earful of bad words and his bag was thrown onto the lawn. I had a drunk guy put his forehead to mine and ask me if I was gay... his breath stank... I have never been more angry but more calm in my life it was so bizarre. Finally, the guy starts to leave (because we called the police) and it all calms down. We still weren't sure if the woman was still keen to keep seeing us but a miracle happened on the ride here this morning. We rode right up to her on the sidewalk and had a nice chat. She is so nice and calm when she isn't drinking. I am now convinced that alcohol is sent here straight form the pits of Hell and when you drink it, demons enter your body. As extreme as that sounds, I promise that it is accurate. Alcohol makes people do the stupidest things.

We also found a new lady to teach. Her name is Anna. She is a less active Jehovah's Witness and has some issues. She feels like a failure as a mum because she tried to teach her kids right from wrong but they all drink and use drugs now... so she turned to those things as well. She saw us, though, and wanted to change. We came by the next day... (Friday) but she was drunk too, so we said we would come by Sunday (usually a safe day for not being drunk) and we did. We had a pretty good lesson. She has some different beliefs than us, but that comes from being Jehovah's Witness. I think something that really helped her feel better was how we said that Heavenly Father is just like a parent on Earth. He is perfect and He helps us to try to be as well, but sometimes His children rebel and make mistakes. That doesn't make Him a bad parent, it just means that the child didn't choose to use their agency correctly.

That's pretty much the week. Elder Ho is great - so funny. We found out we both like Pokémon so we have been talking about that pretty much all week. It's always fun too when he learns a new English word. When he learns something new we say, "Elder Ho level up!" Ha ha. So funny!

Anyway...
I love you all!
Elder Jamison

  

Broome

This week has been crazy! Broome is insane. It was 40° C in the shade the other day. I can smell alcohol all the time (unless I am smelling the baking trash bins) and my bike is horrible! Snap! My camera broke too - once and for all this time. It won't even turn on right because the lens is stuck open. Time for more camera sharing with Elder Ho! Elder Ho is the best. He is from Hong Kong and is Rebekah's size. His English is good, but so funny too. The way he words things is funny sometimes. I love the way he says "good morning" and "our Dear Heavenly Father" for prayer... perfectly Asian accent.

When I got here, I found the elder before me was not the tidiest. The flat was TRASHED. After I threw out all the junk, all we had for dinner was heaps of spices and some dry soup mix. Elder Ho was so surprised... he though we had straight nothing. I am getting good at eating from nothing. The next morning for breakfast I made oatmeal with sugar, cinnamon, honey, and condensed milk. All goods now though, we got some more food. Lots of chicken and rice for us... I'm getting good at that. Most of the time, I'm either sleeping eating or working here. It's not that I didn't work hard other places. I just have to eat and sleep that much more from the physical toll from the work here.

Recently, people are saying I look like the grandpa from Up as a little kid.... not sure if that is good or bad but at least it's better than the kid from Stuart Little.

Broome is cool because I feel like I've been here before. Crazy deja vu. The smell of the flat, the heat and level of humidity. I don't know what it is, but I feel almost at home here. Ha ha, I have felt so weird here too. Elder Ho is tiny and aboriginal people in general are short, so I have been feeling too big. I keep sitting down to talk to people because I feel weird being higher than everyone. A bunch of people have been surprised to find I'm American as well. People keep thinking I'm Australian from my accent. I don't know what's different, but I guess I'm integrated now.

The other night, we walked this drunk lady home. She was tripping out hard core. She kept yelling stuff out randomly and stopping to cry or kiss our hands. Her and another drunk lady got in a fight on the way and Elder Ho was trying to break it up. Also, this drunk guy asked Elder Ho if he was a good fighter. That was awkward because he is, but the answer "yes" would have been bad.

I found a cool scripture in studies as well this week. 2 Timothy 3:14-15 is Paul talking to Timothy. I often feel bad when we are talking to people because they will say stuff like I can't know the church is true because I have never known anything else and I'm too young to know anything or be a teacher. But, this scripture says that Timothy was blessed to know the scriptures in his youth and it strengthened his faith.

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

I am so grateful to have this gospel.
I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 68

Yo,

Transfers today... I'm going to Broome. It's a small town way up north. I will be flying there on Wednesday. My comp will be Elder Ho from Hong Kong. I know him pretty well. He is cool. Way stoked, but a little nervous. Going into summer its gonna hit like 50°C there some days. I don't know if I can handle it. I might be there forever too. Elder Eti was there for five transfers. I only have six left. But I am mostly excited. It will be nice to be in a branch again. Be prepared for some good news 'cause we are gonna smash it.

This week has been rough. So much work but no success. But still miracles! Three members have bought our food for us this week - nine pizzas and eight ginger beers to feed our district twice! Man, so cool! Elder Nielsen from the First Quorum of the Seventy came to the mission. He gave a good talk about how the mission is to make us into what God wants us to be and he asked if we were letting Him do that. It put it into perspective for me, so I am done complaining and feeling sorry for myself. All these things are for my good and will make me a better son and priesthood holder.

We had a stake culture activity last week - so cool, but so lame too. The first ward was doing Filipino culture but they were pretty lame. The last dance they did was done by their Relief Society and it was legit though. Then, our ward went and did South American... guess how many South Americans are in our ward... a big fat zero. Anyways, it wasn't the worst thing ever. Then Joondalup Ward went and they were legit. They did Polynesian culture and did a ton of cool dances. Then, they taught all the white people a dumb haka and had them do it. I have a video I will try to send. If you don't know what a haka is - it is a dance they would do in New Zealand before going into battle to terrify their enemies. The words are supposed to show bravery and strength. The words in this one, though, just said what they were doing. Slappy, slappy, stompy stompy, throw out your hairy chest, etc. Funny 'cause they were all white people. I was definitely born the wrong color. I think I am brown on the inside... I hope so anyways. ;) Then, they finished off with a sick fire dance.

I hope you are all doing good and are happy. I have never been so tired but so happy in my life. I love being a missionary and I want you all to know that. As much as I want to continue with my life, nothing is better than serving the Lord here and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I love you all,
Elder Jamison

The drought is over!

Elder Poole and I found a new investigator that is so solid! Her name is Tenika. We were tracting and we knocked on her door. We shared a few basic beliefs and asked if she would want to learn more about how she can feel her Father's love in her life and she said, "Yes."  Supes awk though because we did not expect that at all. So, after the initial stunned silence, we taught the first lesson at the door. She said she wanted to learn more and to come back later when her boyfriend would be home. So, we will be seeing them tonight and hopefully will be able to continue teaching them.

I went on exchanges this week... finally. It's the first time in like three transfers. Anyways, I went with Elder Trego. He is the man. We had so much fun! We talked to heaps of people too. This one Asian girl we were talking to was awkward. Anyways, we were talking and I asked if she went to uni. She was all, "No, I'm in year ten." My jaw dropped. She looked like she was our age so I asked and she said she was fifteen. Then, we asked how old she thought we were and she flipped out too when she found out we were both twenty. So funny.

We had stake conference this weekend... so weird to see so many people I know. I have been in this stake too long. I really don't know what's gonna happen to me anymore. I'm good with anything I think. I'm hoping for country again though. I'm not much of a fan of the dramas of ward life... I miss the branch.

I love you all! If I think of more to write I will, but I hit a mind blank...

I love you!
Elder Jamison

P.S.  I thought you might like to see some sweet Michael Jackson dance moves.

A little Down Time

Week 66

Dear Family,

This week has been tough. I have physically worked harder this week than in a long time, but nothing has happened. It has been discouraging, but Elder Poole and I have faith in this coming week. We will be fasting on Friday for miracles. I am not supposed to ask you to fast (see white handbook) so I won't. I'm just letting you know that my faith is not diminished. Expect an awesome miracle filled email next week!

I made some fried rice last night... so good. Man, if all my other career choices fall through I will definitely open that noodle shop... with fried rice... Asian food in general I think.

We are gonna give Hannah and Alex a bit of a break. They haven't been progressing very well. Even though I know they will accept the gospel someday, they need some time. We will still see them at English class and stuff and at all the activities we invite them to. I hope we can help them see that they aren't just potential converts to me but that I sincerely love them.

All that has been happening with crazy people challenging us lately has made me reflect on what I believe. I am so happy to have been so fortunate to be born into the true and restored church of Jesus Christ. I literally know that this is God's church. There is no doubt in my mind and there never could be. If you know of anyone in the ward or area that is struggling with their testimony, use the Book of Mormon. If you read in Preach My Gospel, Chapter 5, it says how to. But honestly, nothing is better than the Book of Mormon in helping people believe in Jesus Christ. For studies now, I'm exclusively the Book of Mormon, New Testament, and Preach My Gospel. Some missionaries like to study the crazy points of doctrine in D&C and stuff, but I have found that nothing makes me happier than learning more about the basic doctrines of the gospel.

So, I freaked out when I realized this but here it comes... I left for the MTC just before Rebekah's graduation. Since then, Michael has graduated and Rachel has entered high school. Three days after I come home, Elizabeth will graduate too. School just started last week and ends when I finish my mission. So, all that's left is one school year and there will be four Jamisons on the prowl and one awesome Jamison tearing up LOHS. Cray cray, huh? In five years, mom and dad will be in Wyoming huh? Ha ha, just kidding, but time really does fly. Don't let any opportunities slip by or you will regret it.

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

P.S.  I found this cute blonde.

You may have given up on Him, but he will never give up on you

This week has been okay. I am so tired! I have been exhausted all transfer and it is really catching up with me now. Lets see... this week we had dinner with Hannah and Alex at the Romney's house. He is the Elders Quorum President and they are from Vancouver. It went well. The Romneys are hippies. We ate cauliflower, chick peas, carrots, and potatoes fried in a peanut sauce... it was good but my body isn't used to a vegetarian diet... don't put that in the blog. I just had to illustrate the food situation.

Earlier that day, we had tracted into this guy who is an atheist. He was so all up in my grill about how religion is all a big lie, and how we are are animals and the dumbest animals too. Then he threw all this anti stuff at us and demanded a response. Super awkward, but we didn't answer his questions... we said we might not know everything about everything but we do know that God is real. You may have given up on Him, but he will never give up on you. I have reflected a lot about that this week. Even though the guy was rude and didn't change... the experience strengthened my faith, which went to show me just how great a mission is. Because of this time I have to serve, I have grown a testimony that cannot be shaken and I hope I can share that with everyone.

"He punched my shark!"

We were riding earlier this week to an appointment and I ran over a broken bottle at a bus stop on accident. It shredded my tire and I had to carry my bike back from the appointment. I am so strong ;) ha ha jk. I was dying! I am gonna need a long sleep in nine months. Ha ha, I love you all so much! I think I had more to write about but I forgot. Anyways...

Have fun!
Elder Jamison

Week 64

Sorry this is gonna be quick. We are running late for heaps of stuff. We had to go downtown to help Elder Poole's brother get a passport for his mission. Blah, blah, blah. Anyways, this week has been awesome! A highlight is that Hannah and Alex finally came to church! We had one of our ward missionaries come to English class on Wednesday, and he then invited them to his house for dinner. The awkward part was he had three sets of missionaries there with all their investigators too, which is a little bit against the rules.  But it was all goods, cause it was really helpful! Hannah and Alex wouldn't have come to church if it hadn't been for the help of this family (the Nicomedis). So, if you want to help do missionary work, don't just have the missionaries over... have them over with either one of your friends or one of their investigators. It really is so helpful.

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Week 63

Cheers mates!

Ha ha. This week has been cray cray. On Wednesday, I got my new comp Elder Poole. He is kinda funny but more about that later...

Anyways, we went to the shops to grab some 2-Minute Noodles and as we were leaving, this guy was yelling at his wife/girlfriend. He was swearing at her and she was crying... we were pretty mad about it but we minded our own business until he started pushing and hitting her. Then he grabbed her hair and started dragging her down the walkway. Honestly, my mission flashed before my eyes and I imagined myself being sent home for beating a guy... but then, as I was about to yell at him, he let go of her then stormed off the train. We stayed with the girl and talked to her for a bit and tried to help her... she was grateful but didn't want our number. We told her she could call us if she needed anything.

So about Elder Poole... he is from Brisbane and does video game programming. He and his brother make their own games he showed one of our investigators one its like you're a fox and you have to shoot all these chickens... its an iPad game. Anyways, he is funny like that. He kinda looks like Zach Levi... kinda, not really though. He is tall too... like 6'7" or something.

On Friday, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant with Wyman. He told us his family is having some troubles right now and he will probably be moving back to Malaysia. I hope he does well there. We will miss him. At the restaurant, I'm pretty sure I ate cow tongue. I ordered a beef soup and it had all kinds of beef from like tail and stuff but there was this one part that didn't have a grain to it. You know when you cut meet and there are sinews and stuff but they all go the same direction? This was just a solid seamless chunk of meat. It was chewy and weird but it tasted good. So, yeah, cow tongue is on my list of foods now.

We had a massive thunder storm last night... kept me up all night. I made burritos this week too! I took pictures, but I forgot my camera cord so I might not be able to send them this week. The burritos were good like Chipotle. Well, not as good. There were some issues, but they made me very happy!

We had an awesome lesson with Hannah and Alex last night. We shared about Aaron teaching King Lamoni's dad and asked if they really wanted to know if God was there. They said, "Yes" and we promised them if they would read the Book of Mormon every day and pray about it, they would receive an answer from God. Then, we shared the story of Elijah in 1 Kings (1 Kings 19:9-18) when he heard the still small voice and we explained how they can recognize their answer when it comes. I have great hopes for them!

I love you all so much!

Elder Jamison

Week 62

Hey family!

This week has been slow but still good. Alex took his mom back to China this week and we got Hannah to go to a Relief Society activity! She loved it and will be coming to more now. We are gonna focus hardcore on them now. Elder Hall is being transferred. I will be with Elder Poole from Queensland. I have met him once on exchanges when I went up from Albany to stake conference. I hope we do well together. So many changes are happening in the mission right now. A bunch of people are moving in and out of the zone. Elder Ropiha will be coming here, so that will be awesome.

So, we went to this lady's house to do service the other day and she had all this STUFF. She gets all this "antique" stuff from people that is apparently really valuable, but I'm not so sure. Anyways, I was petting her cat and the little punk scratched me... not just a little one. He full clawed my hand and I have three long grazes on my hand now. Ha ha, almost kicked it.

Elder May is AP now. Cray cray, huh? I don't know if I ever emailed you about Elder Carrotini in Cali, but we are in the same position now. He was chillin' as an awesome missionary and his comp was AP. Ha ha, so funny he is one of my favourite people I have met too.

I love you all so much! Have a good week and send me pictures of sky!

Love,
Elder Jamison

Week 61

This week has been alright. Our ward is so funny. I love having the auxiliaries. They are so good - especially the Ward Mission Leader.

We finally caught up with Hannah and Alex too. It's been like a week and a half since we've seen them but we are way pumped to keep seeing them. We will be setting them on date for baptism for the 30th of August. We saw Daniel, Cameron, and Parash yesterday (the three kids we met painting). They gave this presentation about the product they are selling called Veema. They are way cool, but we need to find out how to start teaching them. They are pretty interested in the church though, so that is good. They have lots of good questions. We are all pretty amazed at how bad the world is getting as missionaries. We saw a bus the other day with an ad for a new movie coming out based on a popular sketchy book. Some stuff is just wierd. Sin is becoming more and more acceptable to society. It is nice to know though that the church will never change and, no matter what happens, God's law will not bend to society's whims.

Hey, I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Landladies, planting trees, Wyman's baptism, massive wreck

Waz up err body?!

This week has been so cool! We found some boss new investigators. We went one day to follow up with a former investigator and we get there and find out she just moved like the day before. The lady that told us was the landlady and she was painting. I told her my mom was a landlady and I love painting and asked if I could help. She was like, "Uh, okay." and let us in. She didn't have us paint, but told us to teach her sons and their friend. They are catholic, but she wants them to know about other religions. They had tons of great questions and we taught them pretty much the whole restoration and plan of salvation lessons. They were really impressed with our conviction. They were 17, 17, and 21 and they said they had no direction in life but were impressed with ours. They are doing this thing advertising a new health energy drink. I told them what I want to do and they were way excited because it is similar, They are mostly doing advertisement through social media they are really just trying to figure it out right now, but we are gonna be tight. We tried to go to their house last night. So, they said their address was on Cervantes but I wrote Sevantis which isn't a real street, so I went to St. Patricks because it sounded close. It was way off from where they really were, so we didn't get to see them but they were all goods with it and we will see them this week.

We did a cool service project the other day. About half the mission came. We were trying to break the world record with a bunch of conservation groups. We planted like 100,000 trees in an hour. There were so many people there, but the crazy thing was that we saw a lady we had talked to in KFC before. We talked to her and her co-worker about missionary work and stuff for like 40 minutes. So cool! KFC brings miracles.

The baptism for Wyman was so amazing! I am so happy for him! He is going to be a great priesthood holder and father someday. We will be seeing him this Thursday and teaching him more about what we do -priesthood, temple work, family history, etc.

I had a massive crash on my bike this week. It was late and rainy and a car came up behind me way too fast and I had to hop up on the curb but my wheel slid out from underneath me. I have some sick scars I'll send pictures!

Ha ha, the more I get to know Elder Hall, the more he reminds me of Isaac. It's funny.

I love you all so much!
Read the Ensign article about Christ-like perfection in this month's copy! [click here]
Elder Jamison

Mini missionaries

This week has been so cool! On Friday, we got a mini missionary.  He was a seventeen-year-old Priest named Jake Samuels from Merriwa Ward.  He was so cool!  Ha ha. We had so many adventures. I wish we would have had more spiritual stuff happen, but he got a taste of what missionary life is really like. It started out rough because he really didn't want to be a mini missionary. However, once he got to know us, we were tight and had so much fun.

We had a lesson from a recently returned missionary the other day. He went to Ghana and he sounded just like a missionary - the accent and all. Anyways, I was reflecting and I think my English has actually gotten less formal since being a missionary! Ha ha - too many islanders influencing me. You'll see in forty-five weeks.

Wyman is all set to be baptized on Saturday. I'm so excited! He is so good and set for the gospel. He will be a great member. He is thirty, but looks twenty-three so we are gonna lie on his baptismal records so he can serve a mission! Ha ha. Just kidding.

We were teaching Alex the other day... well, Elder Liang was teaching Alex in Chinese the other day - which didn't really work out for a few reasons.
1)  He was teaching in Chinese, so the double testify system for missionaries wasn't available.
2)  Alex loves to argue... ish.  Not really.  He has really good questions and the way Elder Liang and Elder Lowe teach is by saying they will answer the questions overtime as he gains faith, which is fine, but they don't give Alex enough credit.  He is so smart and really understands gospel truths well.  He just wants to be sure the church is true before he is baptized.

As I was thinking about all this, a thought or impression came to my mind.  In my patriarchal blessing, there is a line that says that Heavenly Father will prepare people here for me to teach and I will be the only one who can touch their lives.  I think that my teaching style and testimony are exactly what Alex needs.  It sounds a bit prideful, but I mean it in the most sincere way.  I feel that the spirit brought that line to my remembrance as I listened to the teaching.  I am confident that Alex will be baptized while I am here.

Ha ha, a funny story about the mini missionary... we were closing the mini mission and all the mini missionaries were bearing their testimonies and telling stories about what we did. Ours was talking about personal study and how cool it was, but then he went off on a tangent and said when we came together to discuss what we had studied I said Lehi's dream (which, in missionary language, means I was sleeping).  I was joking, obviously, but he didn't explain that to the parents and leaders that were there, so I had a lot of explaining to do.  Ha ha, all goods though.  I miss that kid.

I love you all.
Love Elder Jamison

The truest happiness comes when we live as Jesus would have us live

This week has been a bit slow, a lot of appointments falling through, but its all good.  I have a new zeal for the work that has come, oddly enough, from studying obedience. Whenever people bring up obedience or diligence I usually shut off, thinking they are the driest things to learn about.  But I was thinking about both the temple and about sacrifice, which was our lesson on Sunday, and how being obedient and diligent is how to get exactly what I want - happiness.  I know that the truest happiness comes when we live as Jesus would have us live. This is because when we keep the commandments we have the Holy Ghost with us so we are always at peace with our lives. Being at peace and having the Holy Ghost guide us will help us achieve the things we want, like happiness in the home, in relationships, success at work, etc.  Anyways, that's my thought for the day.

Elder Hall is the man.  He is so cool!  I hope I will finally keep a companion more than one transfer, but my expectations of this are very low.  Our investigators are doing great!  We should have a few baptisms coming up on the 26th of July.  There are five people set to be baptized then.

I love you all so much!  I am excited to see you all soon-ish.  Ha ha - sooner than it feels like, looking forward.  It is cool to think that this time last year, I was a greenie in Nipomo in Angie's ward.  Weird.

I love you all,
Elder Jamison

Week 57

This week has been pretty cool! I like this new area! Elder Hall is the man too! On Wednesday, we had to go shopping but we don't have a car so we walked. Then, our stomachs were bigger than our arms so we couldn't carry it all back to the flat so we bummed it and brought the cart back with us! Ha ha - first and last time I will ever lose my Albertsons morals. I had a dream I worked there last night. No one was the same though and they hated me. Ha ha.

We teach an English class on Wednesdays too. It's pretty cool and we have five people on date for baptism, three of which go to the class! Ha ha I'm so happy now too!

We were in the shops yesterday and there was this store that is a little like Hot Topic, except all they sell is gauges and crazy contacts. We talked to the girl working there about some Sharingan contacts which are from Naruto and she talked to us for a bit. She is a little crazy, but now she knows that missionaries like normal stuff too. She gave us her card which is for her being a cosplayer... if you don't know what that is look up comic con on google images and look at the people who dress up.

I almost couldn't contain myself in church our ward is SO WIERD! There is one guy who wears crazy ties that we don't even know his name he just rocks up to us every Sunday with a different name for us and him... it is like his joke. There is a family from America (Vancouver) and the mom has long dreadlocks. There is a lady with a P!nk haircut. The Bishop invited a return Mission President to open the meeting with his testimony... but some random lady got up and gave hers. Ha ha so funny.

Elder Hall is cool. He likes anime and is really cool. He reminds me of Isaac a bit - Isaac when he is like three years older and with black hair.  Anyway, I love this area so much! Our investigators are so cool and I love them so much! I love you all and pray for you always!

Love,
Elder Jamison

A new companion and attending the temple

This week has been great! I am being transferred again to Edgewater area - still in North Coast Zone, so good for that. I am with Elder Hall from Queensland. He is pretty cool. He went home for a bit for migraines, but is back now. He saw Spider Man 2 while he was home... this might be difficult... Ha ha!

The temple was great! I really needed that boost. It's been almost a year since I was last there... August.

Thanks so much for all the emails! I loved hearing from you all! *he hem Rachel*. Anyway, I am excited for a new 6th area and an 11th companion. An Elder from Oregon is our new zone leader, so we have three in the zone from Oregon. Just me from Portland. The others are from Baker City and somewhere hecka-far southeast.

I love you all!
Elder Jamison

Week 55

Hey Family!

This week has been so cool! There has been tons of rain here since it's winter and there has been a bit of flooding. So, one night we all went to a park that had a massive pool of almost knee-deep water and played rugby! Ha ha, so fun! I broke my glasses :(  I still have my backup pair though.

We took a future missionary out with us the other day. All our appointments fell through, but it was okay cause we followed the Spirit and went to a less active's house and her son was home. He had no idea who we were! He thought we were from the Anglican church, but he knows some LDS members from school and I can see him as a missionary someday! He is 19. I hope we can start teaching him soon.

Natalie got baptized! It was so weird being at the baptism because all the members remembered me!? Ha ha. I never remembered missionaries and I don't think you guys did either till now. It was nice to see that I made a difference though.

I love you all so much! Transfers in a week and a half, so if I follow pattern I will have a new area and comp! Temple trip Friday, so stuff to look forward to!

Elder Jamison

Week 54

Hey everybody!

This week was cool. We got to celebrate Independence Day for the Philippines. We had a huge feed on. They had a whole pig brought out too. It was weird eating right off a pig, but it was all good.

We will be able to start teaching a lady named Shirley pretty soon. She should be getting back from Scotland any day now. She was going to be baptized once, but it fell through because someone in Scotland said not to until he could come and do it, which he never did... Ugh! I hate it when people are slack.

I love you all so much! Never forget who you are! I started to these last few months and my missionary fire had started to go away, but it is back now! Full throttle!

I love you all!
Elder Jamison

Matt got baptized! What's puha?

Hey everyone!

This week has been great. We have just started teaching some kids in Two Rocks. Mihi is ten. She wants to be baptized and, hopefully, can be soon. Her brother, Jahman, is seven and is so cool. He zooms around the skate park on a scooter. Their dad is less active and they are in foster care, but the dad sees them every other week and is really nice.

Matt got baptized! I was teaching him about six months ago in North Beach. I got to be there too! So cool! And if you remember Natalie from North Beach... she is being baptized in two weeks! I got to see her at Matt's baptism and will be going to hers too. It's nice to see my work pay off in the future.

Elder Tipene in our flat is a cook. We were driving down the road the other day and he goes, "Wow, is that puha?!" I go, "What's puha?" It turns out it is a plant that they use in New Zealand to cook with. It is also know as Dandelion... ha ha. So, we picked a butt ton and he goes to the butcher and asks for a pig head so he can make boil up! Ha ha, they don't sell pig heads though so we got pigs feet.

I love you all so much!
Love Elder Jamison

Hump Day!

Hey everybody!

This week has been great! Elder Battye is so cool! Loving this transfer with him. I cant belive everything is going so fast! Michael is graduating?! Elizabeth is a senior?! Rachel is in high school?! Too much too fast! I'll get back and you'll all be old people! Ha ha.

We went out teaching with our ward mission leader the other day. I was so out of it that day I forgot to bring a map or the ward list with addresses on it... but it all worked out in the end. The Lord works in mysterious ways. The ward mission leader had some people to go see and we taught them and found a few referrals from it! I was being spacey that day for a reason!

We played touch rugby last P day! It was way fun! I was in tons of pain for the first 15 minutes from all the running, but all of a sudden it just went away. I was fired up and raring to go and I did way good. It was cool to be the only American who knew how to play.

Hey, I don't want to sound needy, but I really miss nacho cheese.  If its not too much of a bother, could you send some of the jarred Tostito nacho cheese? Mmm... nachos, yeah!

I love you all so much! Stay strong and have fun always! Have fun with gramps and grams and send tons of pictures of Jared and Danielle's new baby in August!

I love you all!
Elder Jamison

Mealtime adventures

Week 52

Hwow Hwow week 52.

My new comp is the man. Elder Battye is way cool. We are smashing  it up too. We got some Sisters in our ward so they cover Butler now and we cover Two Rocks, which is pretty far from the flat.

We had a mean lesson the other day with a guy named Ray. He is from Columbia, lived in the UK and Singapore as a kid and was on date to be baptized in Singapore. He is so great and the lesson went awesome.His wife listened in too, but she will take some more time.

Our ward mission leader is finally back from America. He was gone all last transfer, so now we can get his help in activities and fellowship for investigators.

Elder Calizo went to Albany... lucky dog... and is loving it so far.

Can you please send a Facebook request to Elijah Rigby? He is the one I told you about who had to have heart surgery. He is the man and I hope he is okay.

Big things are gonna happen in this transfer! I can feel it!

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

I'm eating the Mentos right now

Hey everyone it's transfers again! Elder Calizo is going to Albany. Ha ha, he is gonna kill it there. Everything in the mission is connected somehow. I am staying and getting Elder Battye from Gold Coast. He came to Australia Perth Mission the same time as me. He seems pretty cool.

This week has been a bit better for teaching. We taught a few good lessons but the same problems are still here. Appointments are always falling through. No one is interested, etc.

This crazy guy came up and talked to us today. (YES, it's been too long!) He was talking about the hearts of the children turning to their fathers and was saying that it was talking about African Americans being in slavery for 400 years and becoming spiritually dead. We bore testimony to him and told him about the true meaning of the spirit of Elijah and how America is the new Jerusalem and promised land. That got him too confused but he said he will see us next week, so I guess we have a new investigator.

Do you remember Elder Rigby? He was in my flat in North Beach from Utah. He went home the other day. He had to go and get heart surgery. He called me up to let me know. I'm gonna miss him so much and I pray for him every day. I hope he is all right.

Hey, I love you all so much!
Stay awesome and have fun... joy!
Elder Jamison

Week 50

Wow! That was weird to type "week 50." Ha ha. This week has been alright. This area is really hard for missionary work. We find lots of people who say they want to learn but they never keep their appointments.

Our ward members are great, but many of them are FIFO workers which means they fly into work for a week or two then come back for a week. Its really hard to be consistent with anyone. This is gonna be a short letter because I will be talking to you in a few hours and because I forgot my planner with all my notes in it. Ha ha. Elder Calizo is the man. He is so funny. He always goes, "YEAH YEAH YEAH!" in a Scooby-Doo voice. He is like a mix of Elder Bostrom and Gustavo.

Teaching is a bit slow right now

Hey everybody!

This week has been all right - I guess... Ha ha, just kidding. It's been all goods. Our teaching is a bit slow right now. People are so flaky. Keep this in mind, if you say you will be somewhere at a certain time, show up! Other than that though its all good!

We met a girl this week who is going through some hard times. Her husband is in prison and she is living with her mother right now. Today is her daughter's first day of school! I hope we can help her get a handle on things.

Elder Calizo and I were tracting the other day and we saw a MASSIVE dog. It was a Great Dane. I thought I was gonna die. We knocked on the screen door and the dog walks up growling the lowest, deepest, loudest growl ever. It was just a normal growl for the dog though. Super nice dog. Super nice lady too. She wan't interested, but she is super friendly.

Today is my 11-month mark. Crazy crazy.

I love you all so much!
Talk to you next week!
Elder Jamison

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass

Paul Jamison:  I was preparing material for our ward's Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration program.  We would be using the message of Alma 37:6-7 as a theme.

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

I asked Josh to share an experience of how a seemingly small thing has resulted in a great thing being brought to pass.  Here is Josh's reply:

The other day, Elder Tipene, my District Leader, and I were tracting. We knocked on a lady's door and she said that she wasn't too interested in the gospel but she knew members of the church. She had gone to the Halloween activity in October and missionaries had given her family some service while they were living south of the river in Mandurah. We found out she was moving to another suburb within the same ward boundaries and offered to help them move. She said that would be great and asked us to come back when her husband would be home. When we met him he said that every time he moved, missionaries rocked up to help no matter where he was. Maybe it's a sign he said. They invited us over for dinner and we brought the sister missionaries, whose area they live in. Now they are investigators and will hopefully be baptized someday.

White Broccoli

Dang time flies. Anyway, all is good here. I only have five more minutes on the computer though. The ward here is so cool! They are all so nice and want to help with the work. There is so much potential here!

My comp is so funny! He calls cauliflower white broccoli! Ha ha, he is really funny all the time. A bit quiet, but that is a nice change. In sacrament, the only people to sit in the middle pews were me and my comp... Ha ha, everyone else sat on the sides! It was really awkward but funny too.

Dad, thanks for teaching us about sacrament. I remember being little and you would teach us about sacrament when it was coming around. We had a lesson about it in Elders Quorum, and everyone had different ways of teaching their kids about sacrament.

We had a few stake things and it was cool to see the old Duncraig clique. Aw, dang! Only one minute left. It is beeping at me now. I gotta go but I will try to send more later.

I love you!
Elder Jamison

Okay, I'm back. I got on my companion's remaining time. So, we were at a dinner appointment last night and the oldest kid and the mom's 18 year old brother were into Pokemon and had the new game and were playing it right there. Ha ha. I had the time of my life and I have new favorite members! Ha ha, dang though I miss you all so much! I love you all and pray for you always!

Elder Jamison

Hey, I heard a really funny joke the other day.
     Knock, knock.
     Who's there?
     Daisy.
     Daisy who?
     Daisy me rollin', they hatin'.
Ha ha, a five year old told me that at a dinner appointment.

Time Flies

Hey everybody!

I am doing so great! My new area is really cool. It is in the same stake I was in three months ago, so I get to see some of the same people! We have had a lot of miracles this week too! Elder Calizo and I went tracting and found nine new investigators on Friday! Two families from Africa and a 19 year old boy from there too. They are all so cool, and I can't wait to start teaching all of them. Elder Tipene and I went tracting on Saturday in between conference sessions. We found quite a few people but the best was a family of four. They were so nice to us and we helped them pack some stuff into a trailer because they are moving. They were saying to us, "You know, every time we move, Mormon missionaries show up. It must be a sign, huh?" They were joking, but we got them this time! They live in Clarkson, which is covered by the Sisters in our district. They fed us burgers that night that were really good. The two kids are so nice too! They are four and two.

It is so hot here - not really though - I am just not as used to it as I used to be. Winter is coming up and it should start raining a lot, so I am pretty excited. I can't believe how fast time is going! Michael's graduation is only two months away. That's not even two transfers! And I will be at a year in my mission time then too! Wow, it is too crazy. I am excited for Easter. I love that time of year because of how we get to remember Jesus being resurrected. Conference really was so great! One of the Seventy who was released, Elder Caulister, was the Elder who came to my first area in the mission. I was surprised to see him released, but it helped me remember all he has talked about. There also seemed to be a lot of talks about not doing stupid things - things that waste time and don't mean anything. I will have to think about that since most everything I like to do is just a waste of time. I am more committed than ever to follow the Savior! My roommate, Nick Johnson was in the choir at Priesthood session. That was cool to see.

My favorite part of the mission is meeting people I never would have otherwise - all my companions, etc. It is cool with companions especially. I mean, when would I have ever met three Utahans, one Malaysian, one recent convert, two Maoris, a Hawaiian and a Samoan and lived with them all for a month and a half each? it took a while to explain, but it is sick anyway. Sometimes, while driving, I realize I'm not in America and I freak out like I'm in a totally different world, and I am totally chill about it and that is weird to me.

I love you all so much!
Elder Jamison

Off to a new adventure

I'm being transferred to Butler, in North Coast, with Elder Calizo. I am pretty excited. I like North Coast a lot.  This will make nine companions and five areas - cray cray. This week has been hectic trying to keep track of all the less actives. Out of nowhere, some of them want to do better and others are dropping off like crazy.

There isn't a ton of time to email today so Ill be quick. The teachers here went on strike so kids haven't been in school for a few days. Crazy, but we love talking to all the kids so much. I got gnarly sick from KFC the other day. Why does it have to taste so good?  I am gonna miss Albany more than anywhere. I love it here so much, but I am excited to go to Butler. I served in that zone while in North Coast and I have seen the area, it is so cool, lots of people ready to hear the gospel!

I love you all!
Elder Jamison

Dog-tired

Hey everybody!

This week has been good! I am dog-tired though! I need to figure out how to get my energy back. I'm just gonna start eating healthier and hopefully that will do the trick.

Elder Ropiha and I gave three blessings yesterday. A family in our branch all has pneumonia. We had dinner the other day with a nonmember. We walked up at 6:00 like we needed to. We went in and he was sitting there in nothing but shorts at his computer playing Bejeweled. Ha ha.

We did service at this aboriginal lady's house the other day. Her lawn was crazy! It looked like it hadn't been mowed in years. It took us two trips and like six hours to finish. I have bad allergies so I've been sneezing ever since.

We had a miracle this week too. We were in Denmark, which is like 50 k's out and we were tracting these houses. We get to one house. The lady comes out and we were talking to her and she goes, "Oh yeah, I've been waiting for Him to send someone. We have been going through a hard time lately." We are teaching them now and will see them on Friday - SO EXCITED!

Yup, this week was pretty chill and low-key, but I'm still so tired from running around all the place.

Grateful to have been a part of Melena's baptism

This week has been so exhausting! I am so tired all the time! It is nice to finally have a break.

Melena's baptism was this week. It was so cool! There were so many people there and the spirit was so strong! I am so grateful to have been a part of that!

We are changing tactics teaching the people we already know, finding new investigators, and focusing on part member families and less actives. I am pumped to start but it is gonna be another killer week.

Got home from church this Sunday to find a broken window. I think someone may have thrown a rock at it because there is a fist sized rock all by itself by the window... now we have to get both the wall and the window fixed... grrr. It's all goods though, this week has been too good to complain.

I found a scripture in studies the other day - 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6. It was cool because the gospel isn't all about contending about the bible, but we can know by the power of the Holy Ghost what is true and what is of Christ.

I am so happy to be here in Albany. I think it may be my new favorite area. Oxnard was until now. If anything, it is a close tie. The mission is the best and I can't wait to show you how much it has done for me!

I love you all!
Elder Jamison