I'm Training

Hello family,

So this week has been crazy! Elder Voorhees (an Elder In my district) has been called to be an assistant! So the this last week Elder Garcia, Hunt, and I have been in a trio! It's been so fun but so busy at the same time. It's hard because we have to work in two different teaching pools with only us 3! There was one day where we had like 10 appointments set up between the 3 of us so there was no time to even eat that day. But it has been so good! Elder Garcia is a really cool, down to earth, funny, Hawaiian guy. He actually went to Herriman High School and played football and rugby! Small world huh?

Also on Friday night I got a call from President Reynolds saying that I'll be training a new missionary next transfer! I'm pretty excited but nervous about it at the same time! I'm excited because my trainer had such a big impact on my mission and I want to help this missionary as much as Elder Barola helped me. But I'm nervous because the way you start your mission pretty much sets the course for the rest of the two years. So I'm hoping it can be a good experience for him. But I won't find out who he is till tomorrow so I'll send pictures of us next week!

But let's get into the investigator side of the week! So we met with Eve and Pete Twice this week! We taught the law of Chastity and the Word of wisdom! Usually these two topics make it or brake it. But it went really well!! The spirit was super strong in both lessons and they understood that it was a commandment from God and it was just there to protect them. It's always so nice when people take it like that! But when we taught the word of wisdom we found out Pete was smoking 3 cigarettes and day so we committed him to go down one each week. But when we talked to him last he is already only smoking one a day! He is such a stud! We had to push back their baptism to July 31st because of it, but they'll be completely ready for that day!

While we were at church yesterday we had two random people walk into sacrament meeting! One of the guys was named Adam, and he is a guy from Nigeria! His whole family are members except him. His brother even served a mission! So he showed up to Church and really enjoyed it and he already has like 5 friends in the ward now!! We will be meeting him with him this week so I'll let you know how it goes, but I see a lot of potential in him!

Our other walk-in was a lady named Marianne that we talked to on the street like 4 days ago! We invited her to church and she said she would come. At first I didn't think much of it because so many people say they will come but don't show up, but she did!!! She really enjoyed sacrament  and she said that this is the first church where she felt the spirit of God! We had a lesson with her after and we talked about the restoration and we related the story of Joseph smith to her on how they were both looking for the truth! She was so engaged the whole time and agreed to all the things we talked about it. She even excepted a baptismal date for August 10th! She said she truly thinks this is God's church Because of what she felt today! These kind of experiences make all the rejection we have worth it! She is such a blessing!

So that was my week! Super busy but so amazing!! I love my Trio, I love the people I'm working with, I love this area, and I love the lord for blessing us with all of it! I'm sure gonna miss Elder Hunt, but I'm excited for this next chapter of my mission! I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Jeppson

I'm Really Happy About the Work

Hey friends happy day to all,


First of all shout out to Kolby and Hannah for being parents to little Emma! You two move quick, I'm happy for you!

So we had another good week over here in the slope! The work is cruising! We met with Consuela again! The member that she met in Utah actually skyped into the lesson that we had and it went really good! The member was baring her testimony and crying the whole time. She even said that she will fly out for Consuela's baptism! Consuela already knows that the church is true so now all that we have to do is teach her the rest of the content and she'll be ready for July 17th for baptism! She comes to church every week so all is well.

Eve is coming along well! We had a good lesson with her and Pete this week! We committed them to meet with us 3 times a week to get ready for their baptism! It'll probably be on July 10th! But she came to church again on Sunday and she really loved it and said she wants to be apart of the church. Also we have been FaceTiming with Pete every night reading the Book of Mormon  and he is just loving it! It helps having this technology in missionary work! But they are definitely gonna be ready to be baptized by the 10th.

So we also have a lady named Pam, who is progressing just fine. We had a solid lesson with her this week and we asked her to come to church and at first she said she wasn't ready to come but we were persistent and promised a lot of blessings of she would come. So she said that she would "think about it". We got a call from her Saturday night saying that the thought that she needed to go to church kept coming to her mind, so she decided to come!! We had a member walk with her to church and she explained everything to her and Pam ended up really enjoying church. She also has a baptismal date for July 17th!

I'm really happy about the work in this area right now!

So funny story now. We were walking down the street and there are these guys that always yell at us telling us that we are false. But this time I was walking by and one of them called me a "White faggot boy". Sorry for the language but I just thought it was the funniest thing! I turned around and said "thanks for that", and just walked away. If you're not gonna laugh out here, you're gonna cry! Nothing like New York haha.

It's crazy how fast the transfer went by! This is the last week already! I found out Elder Hunt is going to Bermuda next transfer so I'm gonna be getting a new comp next week! It's sad cause Elder Hunt is1 probably my favorite companion but it's all good! My guess is that I'll be training next transfer but we'll see. So that was my week!

Happy late Father's Day to all you papas out there! Especially my boy Bradley! I love you all, have a good week!


Elder Jeppson

Diligence is the Key to Missionary Work and Life

Good morning everyone,

I hope that you all have a had a good week. I sure did! Things are heating up here in downtown Brooklyn, both in temperature and with the work! It's like 90 everyday but it sucks because of the humidity! Sweating like a pig our here. But we are also running 3 miles in the morning then lifting weights at the other Elders apartment, so I'm down 10 pounds since I've been in this area! My beach bod is well on its way. ;) But anyways like I said earlier the work is heating up here as well so let's get into that!

So this week we weren't able to meet with Pete, but we were able to meet with his mom Eve! We have a member that just moved in that came up to us last Sunday and said that he won't be working for the next two weeks, so anytime we need him to go teaching, he'll be there. Wow, what a blessing that is. So we took him with us to Eve's house and we had the best lesson with her about the Book of Mormon! Brother Smith, the member, bore his powerful testimony on how the Book or Mormon has blessed his life! He also shared his wife's conversion story and what she needed to go through to get her answers! The spirit was so strong, and you could tell Eve was feeling it. She committed to reading a chapter a day! Yay. She also came to Church yesterday! She wasn't gonna come because she really hurt her foot, but she just had a strong feeling that she needed to come so she did! She loved it and all the members just took her like she was family. Her baptism is in two weeks so that's exciting!

We also met with this lady named Consuela! She was in Utah a few weeks ago for some conference, and she met a lady and they got talking about our religion. She was really drawn to it because all of the Mormons she met were super nice to her! She said that we are just "beautiful people". But she had us over and we brought brother Smith with us again, and had a lesson on the restoration. It was crazy because she just totally understood the whole thing. She knows why a restoration needed to happen. She committed to be baptized on July 17th, so we're really excited about that! She also came to church and said she "loved how I felt through the meeting". The spirit does wonders. We will be meeting again with her Wednesday, I'll let you know how it goes.

So the work is great right now! We have 6 people and baptismal date, and 5 investigators show up to church on Sunday! The bishop said it was the most he has seen since his time in this ward. For the last 4 years this area has just been dead, nobody wanted to go to Park Slope. But just in these last couple weeks the  Lord has put solid, prepared people in our path. We are just busting our butts here! Diligence is key to missionary work, or key to anything in life! It's so cool to see the lord give us these great people and the strength we need when we are so tired and just feel like we want to give up! I'm really happy with this area right now.

I have just been thinking lately and the 3 things that have helped me most on my mission is gaining charity, sincere prayer, and sincere scripture study. I think those 3 things would be the advice I would give to you future missionaries, or just anybody in their own lives. Learn how to have charity towards others and learn how to study the scriptures, and you will feel the spirit so much more in your life I can promise you that! I never thought in my life that I would desire to read! Well the Book of Mormon proved me wrong.

I'll end with a funny story! So yesterday we were in the hood, of course, and I started talking to some guy, and we were actually having a really good conversation, then out of no where this group of 5 guys came over and started talking to the guy I was with and told him that he didn't like us white boys, and that we need to leave his hood! He told us black people only. But then some other guys were defending us and told us we could stay. This didn't go to well and these two guys started getting in a fight over it so we just had to leave before it got worse. Haha it was so cool that two white guys started a fight because we were just chilling in the hood. Oh how I love the hood!

So it was a good week! Things are really picking up and I'm just having the time of my life. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Have a great week all


Elder Jeppson

You're Happiest When You Forget Yourself and Serve

Hello all,

It was another good week here in the hood! We didn't teach to much but we had fun! We met with Pete again though! He invited his mom and his friend to sit in on the lesson! We had a great discussion about the plan of salvation and they both excepted a baptismal date for June 26th! We now have four people on baptismal date for that day!! So they are doing great right now!

We also met with a guy named Sebastian who actually stopped and talked to us and wanted us to come over to his house! He is really struggling in his life and just wants the best for his family! So we went over and just talked about how the gospel will bless, strengthen, and unify our family relationships! He was so pumped about that, he excepted a baptismal date for the end of June as well.

Other then that we just did a lot of service this week! We do 4 hours of service for this park each week and this week we put up a fence! Other days this week we helped some lady who is a hoarder clean up her house a bit! You do the weirdest service on a mission! I have gained so much random experience it's crazy! But the best thing about it is that service pleases others and softens people hearts. When you forget about yourself and just serve others that's when you are the happiest.

We also had exchanges this week with Elder Voorhees and Garcia! We went over to their place for the night. We went up on their roof and they have a perfect view of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, and all of Manhattan! It was so cool. We had like a super deep talk about life and what we think our lives would be like if we didn't serve missions! We all know that we wouldn't be as happy as we are if we didn't serve! It was a good night. Then in the morning Elder Garcia and I were together and I learned a lot from him. He is the most charitable guy I know and truly knows how to love people! Such a stud! He's from Hawaii so it makes sense.

Today we played some basketball again!! It's so funny because we show up and we're just white boy's from Utah and all the homies there think they are just gonna ball on us! But today we beat 3 different teams and went undefeated! I never pictured myself balling up the homies at their own game in downtown Brooklyn haha.

So not much happened this week but it was a good learning week! There is always new ways that we can improve as missionaries and people in general. Have a great week all! 

Much love!

Elder Jeppson