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

Miracles

Hello it's Elder Jeppson here,

So this week has been very interesting.  First we had transfers on Tuesday! We got two new elders, Elder Woodmansee and Davis. And let me tell you they are some neat guys. But it's pretty fun with them. We played rugby for morning workouts with them so that was fun. But other then that This week has been very very slow with the work. We didn't teach many lessons but oh well that's how the mission goes sometimes.

But we did have a couple miracles this week! 

First we went over to visit the Millers (the couple I talked about last week) and oh boy that was quite the experience. We were talking to them outside and then out of now where this 70 year old lady came and started cussing out our investigator. She was calling her some very rude names and also started hitting on Elder Olmstead and I. She told me that I was a fine piece of meat so that made me laugh.  But it got to the point were the lady wouldn't stop yelling and swearing that we had to walk to the other side of the motel complex. Then some guy heard her yelling and came out of his room wondering what was going on. Then he saw our name tags and asked us who we were. So we explained and then he told us that he is looking for a church. He said that he had made some bad mistakes in past and he told Us that is was actually that day he turned his whole life to God. So it definitely was not a coincidence we met him. So the next day he showed up to church and he told us that he really enjoyed it. And now we are meeting with him regularly. So that was amazing.

Also we met with Henry the Broadway dancer yesterday. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and once again he told us that he believed everything that we said. We asked him if he had been reading from the Book of Mormon and he told us he read a little bit. And we asked him what a little bit was and he has already read 15 chapters in two weeks so that was amazing. He told us he really likes the principles the book teaches and he told us he will be attending church regularly. And he is still on board to be baptized!

Even know it was a hard week I still had he opportunity to meet these amazing people and to be apart of the lords work. Just remember if you are ever struggling Heavenly Father is only one prayer away.  

Have a great week all!

With love,

Elder Jeppson

Anything is Possible through Christ

Hello family and friends,

This has been one interesting week! First of all we got our transfer calls today and I will be staying in Huntington for another transfer. So I still haven't experienced city missionary work but that's okay because Huntington is finally progressing after many years so I'm happy.

So Mary got baptized on Saturday and I had the opportunity to baptize her so that was a special day for me. After the baptism she was walking around giving everybody hugs and she had the biggest smile on her face. She told us that this was the best thing that has ever happened to her and that she has never been this happy in her life.

 Also we have four other people on baptismal date. One of them is Henry, the guy I talked about last week. And Henry is a very flamboyant Broadway dancer. And we found out that he is famous. He was a guest on Donald trumps yacht, he was in a tv series called Miami vice. He played the role as a pimp in the show, and he was a speedo model! He showed us some pictures and it was the funniest thing ever. So it really pumped me up when I found out we were teaching a celebrity.

Anyway We met with him a few days ago and we taught him the plan of salvation. Once again he told us that he believed everything and that is all made sense. He said that he has been looking for this happiness for a long time.  So he is progressing towards baptism and that makes me pretty happy.

And then this week we got a call from our bishop saying this couple called him and that they wanted to be baptized. So we went over to where they are living and as we were talking to them, we found out that they have been through a lot! 

We found out they were taking lessons from missionaries a few years ago but then stopped. But now they want to be baptized. They realize that the gospel is the only way that they can be helped in their case and know that this is the only way they will feel true happiness. 

Our last visit we gave them both blessings and after the blessings they were both relaxed and so peaceful. They told us that they can really feel Gods love through us. I honestly feel like a therapist every time we go over there but it's all the spirit. They are amazing people and are so pure in heart. But they are dealing with a lot right now so hopefully everything will work out soon. But if there is one thing that I have learned out here is that anything is possible through Christ and his atonement.

So yeah it's been quite the week.

Love you all! 

Have a blessed week

I just felt like we needed to go there

So this week has been super busy! We did service 5 days this week with a grand total of 20 hours. It was good though because it is always nice to see the smile on people faces when you serve them.  Also we had zone training meeting that lasted four hours and we also had president interviews this week. So it was very busy but very rewarding. My Mission  President is amazing! He really does care about everyone and he has a really strong spirit with him. He told me that
he sees me as a strong leader in this mission so that made me feel good about myself. Also he was very impressed with The growth in Huntington because this area used to be dead. So he ask elder Olmstead and I if we would be okay staying in Huntington for another Transfer. So yeah I should be here for one more and I'm okay with that.

We also had a really amazing experience this week! It was Saturday night and Elder Olmstead and I were not having any success. All of our lessons were falling through and we were getting rejected left and right. So we were about to just call it a night but then I started looking through the list of former investigators. And I saw this and I just felt like we needed to go there. So we knocked on the door and we found out that the person we were looking for had moved three months
ago. But we started talking to the guy that moved in. We explained whowe were and he let us in immediately. We started talking and we found out that he used to be a Broadway dancer and got invited to be on dancing with the stars next year. But then we started talking about the church and we asked him if he was religious, and he told us he was raised Catholic but doesn't really follow it. So then we taught him the restoration and he was agreeing with everything we were saying. Then he said "I don't think it was a coincidence that you guys showed up tonight." And we explained that it wasn't and that we had a prompting to come over here. After, we invited him to be baptized and he said he would!! He committed to be baptized on January 10th. It was so amazing. He also told is that this would be great for his brother, so next time we will be teaching both of them. So there is our little miracle of the week.

Also Mary will be getting baptized on Saturday so we are very excited about that. And she is really excited also. She told us she never thought she would be a Mormon but she knows that it is the truth now.

So the work in Huntington is really progressing.

Have a good week all

Love Elder Jeppson