Temple Trip

Good afternoon all,

This week for me wasn't too busy but it was still good. Let's see, well on Tuesday Elder Shirts and I had to go to the mission home in Queens to get a new phone because Elder Shirts climbed through the church window with the phone in his pocket and broke the screen. So after we went to the mission office and got the new phone we started our way back to Lynbrook and we accidentally missed our exit and almost ended up on the bridge to Manhattan. Luckily there was an exit right before the bridge otherwise we would've been stuck there. But instead we ended up stuck in Brooklyn in New York traffic for about 4 hours. We finally got home but it was too late to do anything so we didn't do much work that day.

Then on Thursday we had a mission leadership training by Lee Donaldson and Tracy Watson who are the head of the mission department at church head quarters. And this meeting lasted about 7 hours! It was very long, but very helpful. They were just sharing ideas with us on how we could better use our devices to hasten the work. So soon we will be able to do Facebook proselyting! They also came out with this new app where we can have a four way Skype! So now we can skype our investigators and skype the members into the lessons. It's going to help quite a bit. But the best thing about it is they made it so spiritually centered it on the doctrine of Christ some how. I can't explain how they did it but it was beautiful! We will be having a world wide mission conference on Wednesday so we will probably learn more of what we can do.

We also met with one of our recent converts and his name is Jimmy. We watched meet the Mormons with him. And this was the first time I actually paid attention while watching it and it is amazing! All of the stories are great and I felt the spirit very strong that day. On Sunday I had the opportunity to pass the sacrament with Jimmy and it was his first time. It is such a little experience but it was amazing to have the opportunity. He was so happy and he said he truly felt like he had Christ's authority. We will be taking Jimmy to the temple in the next few weeks to do baptisms for the died. He's really excited and so am I.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with John our investigator. And let me tell you, John is solid. He had a really rough year last year. His mom and his son both died, his wife left him and took all of his things, and his car got stolen! Very hard but he told us he wasn't sorry at all. He told us he was thankful that he even had a mom and he was thankful to know his son for the short time he did. He said he was grateful for the opportunity he had to experience love even though his wife left. And he told us it was a good thing his car got stolen because now he can walk every where and be in better shape. And he said that God has been so good to him and now he's just looking for God's true church. I wish my faith was as strong as John's! He is happy even with all that stuff  happening to him and was still thankful for what he had. Now that is a Christ-like man. His sister is a member and she's going to be present next time we teach him so I'll let you know how it goes.

And my last experience was I had the opportunity to have my annual Temple trip Today and let me tell you it was Amazing!!! The spirit is so strong in the Temple! It is so good to get off the busy streets of
New York and enjoy the peaceful spirit of the Temple. And I went to the temple with a question in my heart. At first I wasn't sure if my prayer would get answered right then so I was thinking I would just have to be patient and wait awhile. But as I was sitting in the Celestial room I felt the spirit so strong and the answer to my prayer came through right then and the answer was so clear! It was a cool experience. So If any of you are having a rough time go to the temple with a prayer in your heart and I can promise you the Lord will answer it.

So yeah, that was my week! I can't complain but sometimes I still do haha. Have a great week all! 

Much love,

Elder Jeppson

New Area, New Companion

Good morning all! 

I hope that all of you had a great week because I sure did! My new area is so sweet! It's called lynbrook and I love it.I'm still on the island but it's good. Long beach is in our area so that's pretty sweet. It's only like 15 minutes away from our apartment so sometimes we will go running on the beach for morning workouts. Also The members are great, they are very involved in missionary work. They are all so accepting as well. The bishop has us over every Sunday night for dinner too! And my new companions name is Elder Shirts and he is a stud! He's really funny and is a hard worker. He's shorter then me so we get made fun of a lot but hey all we can do is keep our heads up about it.

So the work here is a little different from Huntington. We do a lot of less active and reactivation work here. We teach between like 10 and 20 less actives a week so it's pretty cool. When we visit them we usually read the Book of Mormon and listen to general conference with them. We actually watched a general conference with this one guy and the talk we watched was perfect from him. It pretty much talked about how we never should wait to come back to church and hold back from the blessings that comes from Church. So after he told us he knew it was time for him to come back. You could see a total change in his attitude after that talk. So that was my cool little experience for
the week.

We don't knock much here because I found out that it is illegal to knock in like three towns in our area. Elder Shirts told me they always had people yelling at them and always had cops following them around when they knocked. The cops said the next time they see us around in those areas there are going to be big fines. So yeah not much knocking.  But on the bright side we do a lot of service! We did like 10 hours of service this week so that was great. Service is really the best part of the mission. I love helping others.

Oh also yesterday in church there was a talk given about finding happiness now and living in the moment. And it made me think because sometimes it can be hard to be away from my family and sometimes I just count down the days until I go home. But I took a step back today and realized that the experiences I am having are making me the happiest that I have ever been. I've only been out 6 months and my life has changed so much because of this experience. So my new goal is to enjoy the time I am given to serve the lord and live in the moment. Because after my mission I know I am going to miss it so much! And I want to look back on this time with no regrets. So I challenge all of you to enjoy your lives. Don't hold yourself back from being happy today. And spend as much time as possible with your family. Now that I look back on it, those are my most cherished memories when I was with my family.

So yeah that was my week. Not to much happened but it was a great one. I hope that all of you have a good day and may this week a great one!

Love,

Elder Jeppson

My New Comp, Elder Shirts

Long Beach is in my Area!

I'm Getting Transferred!

Hello All--

This week wasn't very eventful so I don't have as much as usual to report. But it was still a great week!! This week we found 5 new investigators but one of them really stuck out to me. We were teaching her at the door but then she told us she was cooking, so we thought that she was just going to say to come back another time but instead she invited us in and offered us dinner! We got talking and found out that she doesn't go to church but believes in God and she wants to start going to church. So we taught her about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and explained that the fullness of the gospel is back on the earth and that it could bless her and her family so much. She committed to read the Book of Mormon and told us to come back once a week to discuss it! So that was amazing.

We also had the opportunity to meet with Henry a couple times this week. He has had a really rough week. We found out some guy followed him home a couple nights ago and threatened him with a knife. But Henry stayed calm and just gave the guy his money and the guy finally left after two hours. So Henry has been low on money and he is struggling emotionally. So yesterday we went over and showed him a Mormon message called "good things to come". If you haven't seen it you should check it out it's really good. But basically it talks about how everything will workout in the end. And after we showed him this He told us that he got the reassurance from God that everything will work out and that he felt at peace. It was so amazing to see the spirit work on him like that. He's still excited to be baptized! And that's going to be at the end of February.

And my final experience happened at church yesterday. I felt like this was going to be my last Sunday in Huntington so I felt like I needed to bare my testimony. But I was kinda scared because I had know idea what I was going to say if I went up there. But then I got this overwhelming feeling of peace and a thought came to my mind that said "just trust me". I knew that was Heavenly Father there to guide me. So I got up and bore my testimony and I don't even remember much of what I said. All I know is that I opened my mouth and the spirit did the rest. It's always the best feeling after you bare your testimony. I just felt the spirit so strong and I got the reassurance that I was in the right place.

But I also found out today that I will be leaving Huntington. I don't know where I'll be going until tomorrow. It's bittersweet though because I really loved Huntington, but I'm excited to see where I'll go next. I'll let you all know next week! Have a great week all!

With love and trust,

Elder Jeppson

This Cat

The Millers

Mary's Mother

What we do on New Year's Eve

Henry and Me

The mission isn't meant to be easy, it's meant to be worth it.

Hello my family and friends,

This week was once again amazing!! I felt the true meaning of Christmas for the first Time in my life this year! Being able to share that video this whole month has really helped with that! But the best thing for me was our mission Christmas devotional. It lasted for about 8 hours! 

First it started out with each zone coming up with a little song and they were all pretty funny but ours was definitely the best! I'll try to send the video. But after all the fun and laughs the meeting turned very spiritual. Sister Reynolds shared a story about a little boy and his sick mom. Long story short she was on her death bed and the little boy went to buy her a pair of shoes for Christmas. He went to buy them but he didn't have enough Money. So he turned to the guy that was behind him in line and said "Sir I'm buying these shoes for my mom so she can look beautiful when she meets Jesus, could you help me?" The man had an overwhelming feeling that he needed to help this boy out so he paid the rest of the cost. After the boy bought the shoes he thanked the man and The man said that he felt a little piece of heaven that day. The little boy then went home and gave his mom the shoes and told her that he got the prettiest ones they had. 

And she just broke down and started crying and hugged her son. A couple days later She ended up passing away and he was by her side the whole time. It is a very sad story but it was so great to see how Christlike these people were. Just like the boy was to his mother, the savior is always by our side. And with the man he gave and served others even when he didn't have much. This is a really good example for us to follow this season and also through out our whole lives. Christmas is all about being like the savior and all about  family. Listening to this story made me think so much about how blessed I am to have my family! I have such a strong testimony that families can be together forever and this is were we will find true happiness and peace. So that was Christmas Eve and the next day I got to Skype my family. It was so great to talk with all of them! I really felt all of their love for me as we were talking. I am so grateful for them.

Also we had Christmas dinner with our investigator Henry the Broadway dancer. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. Anyways he invited one of his friends over for dinner. And his friend has MS and is struggling with hardcore depression. We got talking with him about how the gospel is the only place that he could find true happiness and peace in his life. He really took an interest in what we were saying and started asking so many questions. He wants to meet with us every week and he will be coming to church next week also. The best part about it was that Henry was being a really great missionary to him even though Henry isn't a member yet. Henry told his friend that he  is going to become a member of our church. He was the one that invited his friend to church and told him that he will feel at peace there. Henrt is amazing! He is now down from 2 packs of cigarettes a day to only two cigarettes a day. It's been amazing to see his progress. So he will be able to be baptized by the middle of February.

And my last experience of the week involved the Millers. They are living in a motel right now on welfare and are really struggling. They only get 180 dollars a month and they ran out of money a few days ago. So they told us that they will not be able to meet with us anymore until they were able to have food and be focused again. So I started thinking on how we could help and then I remembered right before my mission my dads friend gave me 50 dollars and told me to give it to somebody who was in need. So I prayed and felt like I should give it to them.  When we gave it to them they were so grateful and they stayed tearing up.  It is a great feeling to serve others. They will be getting baptized this Saturday so we are very excited about that.

So that was my week. Very spiritually uplifting! I am thankful for my Savior and for his sacrifice for me, I am thankful for my family for all the love and support they are to me, I am thankful for all of you as well. I am thankful for my mission for the opportunity I have to strengthen my testimony each and everyday and also serve others. Even though it can be hard I love it. The mission isn't meant to be easy, it's meant to be worth it. I've really seen that out here. 

I love you all and I hope that you had an amazing Christmas! And thank you so much for everybody that wrote me this week.

With love,

Elder Jeppson

Thanks mom for the PJ's

Mission Christmas Party

My Zone

My zone.... again

My zone, yet again

Look at their Suits!

Remember the reason for the season!

Hello family and friends,

This week was really great! We didn't teach as much as last week but we worked just as hard so it was very fulfilling. We met with Henry twice this week. We brought a member over and we talked about the word of wisdom because right now smoking is the only thing that is holding him back from being baptized. Our member has a lot of experience with helping people recover from addiction so it went very well. He committed to stop smoking by February 3rd so if he stays strong his baptism will be a week after. He invited us over for Christmas dinner
also, so that should be a real fun time. Also the Millers are still on track for baptism. We met with them a few times last week and they are still free from alcohol. They are really excited for their baptism.

Also yesterday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with my zone leader Elder Voorhees, and this went really well.  I learned so much from him. We taught 6 lessons in less then two hours and found 4 new investigators! Elder Voorhees does not take no for an answer! Anytime somebody tried to shut us down he just kept talking until he got a return appointment with them. Their was this one lady that tried to shut the door on us but he stuck is foot in the door and she was finally willing to watch the video. The spirit from the video touched her heart. She was just so calm and told us how great the video was. Then we transitioned into talking about the Book of Mormon and she told us that she would read it and we could come back anytime. It was Amazing. Also the other people we found were very solid as well.

After our lessons we went over to talk to this lady and her husband that we gave a blessing to last week. She has cancer in her lungs and has really been struggling for the last couple weeks and they also told her she had cancer coming from the pancreas. She is not a member but she strongly believes in the priesthood. Her sister is a member and tells them a lot about the church and they really like it but don't have any intentions on leaving the Catholic Church. But we gave her a blessing and in the blessing it was said that she would be healed from the cancer if it was God's will and also that her and her family would feel at peace in their lives no matter what happens. We got a call from them This week and they told us the day after the blessing they found out that there wasn't any cancer coming from the pancreas or anywhere else. And she will be able to have good treatment
for the lung cancer! It was a miracle because the doctors were positive that she had pancreatic cancer a couple weeks ago. But one day after the blessing it wasn't there! That was such a testimony builder for me!

But after our exchange Elder Voorhees gave me some really great advice! He said "be The best missionary you can right now, if you do that you won't have any regrets after you get off he plane." And this really hit me. I only have a short time to be a missionary. I really need to give my all and do the best I can. But this also applies to our lives. We always need to be the best we can, even when times get hard. We will be blessed more then We could imagine if we do this.


Our mission is getting together on Christmas Eve to have a devotional! We all had to come up with a funny song so I'll try to get a video of it and send it to you guys. But anyways it is supposed to be between 60 and 70 degrees that day! It's really weird but I'm not going to complain!

I hope that you all have a great Christmas! Remember the reason for the season! And I can promise you as you do this you will see an increase of spirit in your homes and you will also see and increased love and understanding in your family. I love you all and have a blessed Christmas!

P.S I've only received two emails today and I'm pretty bummed about that! So I would really like to hear from all of you! So please email me if you love me. If not pretend that you do love me and just do it.

Elder Jeppson❤️

"Don't Procrastinate the Day of Your Repentance"

Friends and Family -- 

This week was amazing! We had so much more success and were able to talk to a lot more people. The first part of the week was very slow but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday picked up really quick. Within those 3 days we taught 16 lessons and got 9 new investigators. The Lord blessed us so much with these people to teach. 

We taught the Millers a couple times this week and they are finally keeping the word of wisdom. They had the hardest time giving up alcohol but they are seeing the blessings and feeling the spirit a lot more ever since they stopped. They have been sober for about 2 1/2 weeks so if they keep it up they will be able to get baptized next month! They showed up to church again and the ward was so welcoming to them. They really enjoy it and they already feel like they are apart of the church. And they are the first investigators that I have had that read from the Book of Mormon and pray every night. It has been so great to see them progress.

Also we had the opportunity to meet with our investigator Henry The Broadway dancer. He is coming along very well! We have a great conversation with him every week and he tells us that he knows this is what he needs in his life. He was finally able to come to church and that was amazing! He told us after that this was the best church that he has ever been to. He said he felt at peace the whole time. And the ward was so great to him too. They were super excited to see him there and he committed to some members that he would come next week also. He likes it a lot. He is also having us over for Christmas dinner so that's going to be a blast!

Last week I talked about the new Christmas video "A Savior is Born" and let me tell you this video gets better and better each time we share it with others. We were able to show the video 44 times this week and I can feel the spirit working on each and everyone of those people that we showed. This video was the reason we were able to find all of those investigators. Many people don't realize that we believe in Christ and after showing this to them it changed their views about us Mormons. "They said they really like how we are trying to keep Christ alive". 

We had a great experience one night with an amazing Hispanic family. We knocked on their door and the husband answers the door and we talked about how we were sharing a quick Christmas video about Jesus Christ and he told us that his family would be back in like 20 minutes and told us he wanted us to come back to show it to all of them. So that was like at 9:30 at night which isn't the best time to be out in Huntington station. But anyways we went back and we showed them the video and we bore testimony about Christ. And then the man says "in my honest opinion I think that you guys are the best Church out their. He told us that his daughter is 12 and she hasn't been to church yet and told us that he would like her to go to our. And she was there and was so excited that she would finally go to church. She asked how she could become a member of our church, it was amazing. So they will be at church on Sunday and we will be meeting
with them on Friday. It was a miracle.

This has been an amazing week and I have truly seen the blessing of "Obedience" we need to be obedient to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. And with the Christmas season coming up this is a perfect time
to realign your life to Christ. We always have second chances because of him he is always there for us. So if your struggling just take a step back and look at all the things the Christ had done for you. I know he has done so much for me and that's why I'm out here. And I want to leave you with one of the greatest quotes I have ever heard. "Don't procrastinate the day of your repentance" this little quote has changed my mission around and I know that it can help you in your lives. Have a great week y'all.

With love,

Elder Jeppson

We have a new flame to go out and work

Hello family and friends,

Sorry I'm emailing so late. I have just been thinking of things to say but nothing really happened this week. But we did have zone conference and we got to hear from President and Sister Reynolds so that was great! They are some amazing people. Also at zone conference they put a monitor in our cars that checks our speed and how aggressive we are driving. So this week has been very annoying with that thing because every five seconds while I'm driving it yells at me to "check my speed". But hey at least It'll keep me from getting a ticket.

We taught that same couple the Millers 4 times this week. They have been very good on keeping the word of wisdom this week so that made me very happy. And they are also not fighting as much so they are truly progressing. They showed up to church on Sunday and they said they had a great experience so that was cool too. 

And we also taught a lady who has been meeting with missionaries for like 3 years now. Before she was doing it just to have company and so they could do service for her. But on Thursday we had the best lesson with her. After the lesson she told us that she was going to start taking this seriously and actually do the things we tell her to do! So that was our little miracle for the week.

For the month of December we were given a video to go around and share to people called "A savior is born" at first I didn't really like the video but now I love it because it Brings the spirit every time we
share it with somebody. When we share the video we knock on the persons door and don't even give them a chance to talk. We just press play and the spirit just touches them as they watch the video. It is truly amazing. It really reminds us about the true spirit of Christmas. The gifts and toys are all fun but when we focus on Christ during christmas we can feel peace and true happiness and true love for our families. And I was really reminded of this on Sunday during sacrament meeting. 

I was having the hardest time this week with the desire to work and I had a hard heart about it. But then during sacrament meeting a lady got up and bore her testimony about Christ. And I don't know what it was but I just felt the spirit so strong and I just felt at peace. After, all I wanted to do was go out and share
my testimony of Christ. 

So this week Elder Olmstead and I have a new flame to go out and work and to not give up until the work is done. Because if Christ can give his life to us we can give our full dedication to him. So I was very humbled this week. It was a great feeling.

So my challenge to you is just go out a share your testimony about Christ with just one person. I promise you it'll make a huge difference in them and also in yourself. Have a great week all.

With love,

Elder Jeppson