Merry Christmas!!!‏

Hi everyone!!! Christmas is coming woohooo!!! It will be a great Christmas season. I've got a couple things that I want to say!!

The Plan: So next week I'm allowed to skype with my family. I will see there faces though a TV screen for 40 minutes. Yea we only have 40 minutes but it is worth it. I will probably be skyping them on Tuesday or Wednesday! That will be a great day. The time difference is like three hours I think so we will see what happens.

Peanut Butter: My parents sent me Peanut Butter!!! Two jars of Skippy. They sent me other stuff too. I already ate all of the Reese's Pieces, but Ive got enough peanut butter for three months!! I'm happy.

Merry Christmas too everyone: The transfers are this week, so I will find out who is my new companion and I'm thinking that I will probably stay here because I just got here in Paraguarí, but ya never know!! Christmas here is really different I've heard but the Christmas here has ALOT of food. It is like thanksgiving in the states and the Paraguayans know how to cook. I'm looking forward to eating on Christmas. Ill walk around to appointments on Christmas and I will knock on a house and they will tell me Come In and eat with us!! At least that is what they might say.

I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! JoJoJo. 

Elder Jessop

HUBO BAUTISMO ESTA SEMANA!

Hello Everyone!!! 

It's almost Christmas! In a few short weeks I will be skyping my family in the States for Christmas. I'm thinking that that's a pretty good Christmas present. I've got a lot of good news this week!

Baptism: There were two baptisms this week!!!! YAY!!!!! 
A women named Luz Maria and her daughter Maria Soledad were baptized this Friday. It was awesome! It was really a great sight to see. We had been teaching them the gospel & then a change came & they felt the spirit and the work helped a lot because they got baptized! 

Watermelon: I also had a watermelon. I cut it open for lunch and ate half of it. It was awesome and it was all I had to eat for lunch so I ate it. It was really good but not as good as the watermelons my grandma picks! ( Love you GMA). Here the watermelon is really popular they just have truckloads full of them and they sell them on the street! I buy one every week now because they are only here in the summer!

HACE CALOR: It is starting to get really hot here. For those of you who have cell phones just check the weather report here in Paraguay. In January it gets up to 110 or 120 degrees. It is terrible. Gotta drink a lot of water but it's OK. I'll just eat a bunch of watermelons. That will save me.

I love being a missionary there is nothing else like it. I hope you all have a great week and that you enjoy the pictures that I sent. The changes are next Wednesday so I'll find out if I'm staying or if I'm moving next Wednesday. I love you all. Especially my mom. Love you mom. 

Con cariño

Elder Jessop

• Cows in a School, Photos of Baptism, WATERMELON!

It´s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas‏

HEY EVERYBODY. Elder Jessop has just hit the 5 month mark here in Paraguay and I've been away from home for a while too. Like 6 months or something like that. All the days kinda blur together sometimes. 

Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving here in Paraguay was awesome. I gave a lot of thanks to people who I talked too. They said some things in Guaraní too. I'm guessing they were giving thanks to me too. I love the Paraguayos. They are my heart and soul. Not going to lie, there actually was not a Thanksgiving here in Paraguay because it is an American Holiday, but in all it was an awesome day. 

Cerro Porteno: Here in Paraguay there are two soccer teams, ones named Olympia and the other is Cerro Porteno. They play almost every Sunday and the teams are arch rivals and the way the missionaries can tell when they are playing is by watching the people. Everyone has soccer jerseys, beer, and a radio or TV to listen to the game. The other night there was a parade because Cerro won. It was cool to watch from the balcony of my house. My companion has stickers on one of his book of Mormon carrying cases and he shows it to everyone because he likes Olympia. It is pretty cool.

December 8, 2013: OK I know that this date has not past yet, but this date is a very special date for all of Paraguay. On December 8th, THE WHOLE COUNTRY literally walks from where they live in Paraguay to a city called Cacupee. They all walked for days to this city to go celebrate. This day is a Holiday where the people go. Some people go to give thanks to the virgin Maria, some people go to party, some people go to sale stuff. I will let you know a little more of what will happen on that day as it comes.

Luz Maria: We have 3 investigators name Luz Maria, Maria Nancy and Maria Soledad. They are a family and they came to church on Sunday!!!! They are awesome and really wanted to get baptized at first and then Luz Maria didn't go to church for two  weeks and changed her mind, and she went to church again yesterday and said that she wanted to get baptized!!!! Esoty tan feliz no puedo explicar mi felicadad en ingles por eso estoy escribiendo en español. AHHH!!!!!

Yea that's my life. I have been out here for a little while now and I just want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity I have to be out here. I love my God. I have learned that he has a plan for everyone of his children and his plan is one of happiness. There is no greater joy I have ever felt in my life. I love these people, I love this work, I love my God. 

Mateo 28:19 - Id y haced discipulos bautizando en el nombre del Padre, del hijo, y del Espíritu Santo.

Mom I love you. Have a great week.

Elder Jessop

The Mission‏

Hello Everyone. I literally do not know what to write you all this week. I'm really hungry. It is about lunch time and my stomach is going for the walls. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here in Paraguay for thanksgiving we go crazy and baptize. We don't eat turkey. Actually there is no thanksgiving here in Paraguay. That's OK though. For all of you folks in The United States, Happy Thanksgiving.

Also my parents are celebrating another year of marriage. I ask that you please wish them a happy anniversary. They are awesome. I think they are going on 32 years of marriage. My family is very blessed. 

I guess I have a funny story I can tell you all. My companion and I were walking on the sidewalk and a bus drove by us and a guy screamed out the window, and I quote, " spies spies spies, One day we will kill you all, spies." It was pretty awesome. It was funny too. Yea that actually happened yesterday.

OK, I know this isn't much but I would love to share my testimony with you all. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know the church is true. It is in my soul of my very being. I don't believe, I know. I have the blessing to be here in another country and to help the people here find happiness in their lives. I'm truly blessed. I love each and every one of you. Have a great week.

Elder Jessop

I Love Missionary Work!

Hello everyone, I sent pictures this week of where I live a little bit. We also had a baptism this week of a boy named Enrique. It was really funny actually. My first day here we went to his house and I started asking questions and I asked how old he was and he said 8, then I asked his mom for permission for him to be baptized and she said yes. It was awesome. My companion thought he was 7. It was a great day.

Also, in my district another companionship baptized 5 people!!!!! It was awesome. None of them talked in Spanish, they all talked in Gauraní. I had to do the interviews with a member. They got baptized in a River too. It was awesome. 

Also this last Tuesday an Apostle came to Paraguay. Elder Christofferson came and talked to us here. It was awesome. The Paraguay mission and the Paraguay North mission gathered up and 500 missionaries heard an apostle of the Lord speak. He talked to us in Spanish too which was pretty awesome indeed. I got to shake his hand and everything.

There are a lot of good people here. I really like it here. I'm going to fit in just nicely and if I don't I'm going to make myself fit...haha. I hope you are all doing awesome. Ive been out for a while now I think and I'm grateful for all your prayers and letters and love. Much peace and love to all. I'm living the good life. A missionary life.


Elder Jessop

Enrique's Baptisme  

My new Desk

River Baptism's

Turtle time!

My Star Wars Sheets!

Closet space

Outside the new crib!

Hello Paraguarí!!‏

Hi everyone, I GOT CHANGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I left Caáguazú on Wensday and now I'm here in a place called Paraguarí. I will take photos for next week. It is the only place in Paraguay with hills and mountains and stuff. They a really small mountains but still. 

I'm here with an Elder named Elder Lefler and we were in the MTC together. It is really weird because we have the same time in the mission, about 5 months, and we are companions. We are really new but it is really fun.

I also got a mini calling. I got called to be the District Leader here in Paraguarí. Some of you know what that is and some of you don't so I will explain it. Every mission in the world has an order of Leadership. There is the mission President, Then there are 2 assistants which are always helping missionaries and President Aggazani. Then there are Zone Leaders. There are 14 Zones in my mission and each one has two Zone Leaders and they are companions. So there are 28 Zone Leaders in total. Then each Zone has two or three districts. Each district has anywhere from 6 to 10 missionaries. So there are about 35 districts in the mission and there is only one district leader in each district not like the Zone Leader. Then there are the rest of the missionaries who are in the districts, which are in all the Zones. I'm one of the District Leaders now. So now that you know the organization of the mission, you know what I am. I'm not in charge of the missionaries in my district but I am responsible for them. I think I'm too young to be a District Leader but my mission President thinks otherwise.

My new life here in Paraguarí is awesome. I will take pictures and send them next week. 

Love you all and I hope you all enjoy your week. 

Elder Jessop

Andrew & Elder Lefler at MTC

So long to Elder Arteaga

Hi

Hi. 
I'm sitting here right now thinking about what I'm going to say to all of you awesome people and now I sit here and think and there are some pretty big days coming up in my family life so I will talk about them. Some other stuff too but I am still thinking. 

Changes: We have changes this week, there is a chance that I leave my area and there is a chance that I stay here with my companion, but I will let you guys know that next week. Changes are always fun.

Birthdays: This week, The 8th of November are the birthdays of some very important people in my life that I love. 

My Dad is turning 50, so happy birthday dad. I Love you and I hope you have a fun time on your cruise thing with mom. That should be really fun. That is a half century already. I don't even have two decades yet. OK thanks dad for everything and everyone should say happy birthday to my dad this week.

My grandpa turns 71 this week I think. My dad and grandpa have the same birthdays 21 years apart. That is pretty cool. My grandpa is an awesome guy and while he is not much of an Internet guy, you should all say happy birthday to him on the Facebook account of my grandma's. Hahaha she is on Facebook a lot I think still. Happy birthday grandpa.

Last but not least the 8th of November is the birthday of my dear friend Cody. Cody if you are reading this I want you to know that I love you bud. We have been friends for a long time and you are my best friend. We've been through a lot and have done a lot together and you are a big part of my life and who I am today. Your family has cared for me and has always accepted me as one of there own which is awesome haha. I haven't heard from you yet but I know that you are working know from what I last heard and I hope that everything is going great in your life. I care about you very much and I love you and your family and I hope that you are all doing just great. Your my best friend and that's not going to change. I hope you have a happy birthday. Say hi to your family for me. 

Everything is going good here in Paraguay. We are entering into summer and it is getting really hot. It gets over 100 degrees really easily here but that's OK, you just got to drink a lot of water. I'll let you guys know what happens with the changes this next week.

Love you all very much and the last thing I want to say is.... Hi to my mom. 

Hi mom :D

Elder Jessop

The Best Couple Months So Far In My Life.

Hi everyone, I have a lot of pictures this week. It is starting to get really hot and the summer is coming. It rains a lot and that's really fun. I hope you are all doing awesome. A couple things happened this week which was a great week.

We baptized a little boy named Lucio. He is really cool and is really happy and I'm glad I had the chance to be a part of his life and one day we will rejoice together. I cant wait for that day.
I also saw a baptism of another group of missionaries in a river. It was pretty cool. It was like going into the Amazon. There are not many places like that in the whole world. It was a neat experience.
OK I love you all. I got to go and teach people. I cant wait!!
Elder Jessop

The Trials of Missionary Work

Hello everyone. A lot of things happened this week that hurt my soul. We also found a lot of miracles on the way and I'm really grateful for those. I want to tell you about what happened to one of the families we have been teaching, but I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty tired. I hope you all had an amazing week and yea that's about it. I'll tell you some of my experiences this week now. 

First what I want to tell you is what hurt my soul:
We had three baptisms planned for Saturday. It was a family. The dads name is Damien and his sons are named Bruno and Francisco. They were going to get baptized, all three of them. We had baptism interviews planned for them and everything and they came to church and everything and were really excited to get baptized. On Wednesday, two Catholic priests came to their house and obligated them to be baptized in the Catholic church because their sons go to a Catholic school. Damien and his family almost don't have anything and the two priests have a lot of money and started saying things really bad about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. By the way the Catholic church is really different down here. I don't know why it is different but now Damien is afraid to get baptized with his kids in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His son Bruno still wants to get baptized but he can't because his dad won't let him. I'm really sad because of this. The only thing we want as missionaries is to help other people be more happy. We don't go around talking bad about other churches. We believe that people can worship who they want and where they want when they want too. I feel like we have done almost everything possible to help them and when you feel like you have done everything so that something happens and it still doesn't happen. It is hard sometimes but there is always light at the end of the tunnel with Jesus Christ as the mediator of all things. 

Something really awesome that happened this week is that we found a drunk guy one day and they next day he came to church drunk. It was awesome except for the drunk part but still. This guy told us everything. His name is Juan and he wants to change his life. His wife left him and couple years ago and he wants to change everything and find God in his life. Well I know one thing is for sure that he found the right place to change his life. He is awesome and we are helping him a lot with his desire to change and follow Christ.  

There are a lot of things happening around the world in missionary work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There are more than 80,000 of us in the whole world and we all work together for one cause. This is the work of the Lord. I know it is with all my heart. It is hard sometimes, but I love it.I hope you all have a great week. My dad sent me peanut butter recently so I will be enjoying that when it comes. Love you all. 

Elder Jessop

This week was really hard. La semana mas duro en toda mí misión.‏

Hi everybody! Elder Jessop here, writing now in a place called CyberRicky's. Turns out the guys name is Ricky. That makes sense right. This week was really long and I have never been so tired. A lot of good things happened this week though. I got bit by a dog. That was fun. There was a flood outside of my house on Saturday and we baptized two people this last week. One guy named Marcos and a girl named Maria. It was awesome. Now I'll tell you the stories.

Dog bite: A dog bit me. It kinda hurt. I was doing a contact on divisions with my Zone Leader and we were talking to a guy and I stuck my hand over the fence to pet the dog, like I have done a million times, but this time the dog bite me. We finished the contact though nice and strong. I then walked home and cleaned my wound. I looked up what to do if a dog bites me and it turned out that we needed to ask the guy if his dog had rabies. It didn't occur to me that the dog could of had rabies. Luckily he didn't, don't worry mom I know he didn't because we asked him. That was a good day. 

Flood: There was also a flood. It wasn't a flash flood because there was no warning. It was literally a flood. It just started pouring Saturday and then it flooded outside of my house. It took an extra 10 minutes to try and find a way to cross the thing. I have a picture so that is cool.

Baptism of Marcos: We baptized a 10 year old boy named Marcos. He is the nephew of a girl we baptized two weeks ago. He is awesome and he is going to make a great missionary one day. 

Baptism of Maria: Maria is a 19 year old girl that lives with members that are less active. They gave us the reference a week after we asked them if they had anybody we could teach. It was a miracle because they found somebody and we baptized her. She already wants to serve on a mission and she is really converted. It was a blessing to be apart of her conversion and to be able to baptize her. We also reactivated the family in the process and that was something awesome too. 

This week was really hard. But that is because we are working. The Lords hands are in this work. The last General Conference it was said that we now have over 15 million members of the Church. The work is going fast and it will keep going until it is done. I'm just glad I have a chance to be a little tiny part of it. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he is my Savior. I know with all of my heart that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church there in that God has given authority to act in his name through prophets. I know it is true. I'm happy that I know that.

I love you all and I hope you all have great weeks.

Elder Jessop

La Conferencia General‏

Hey everyone. My week was great. I have a lot of cool stories to tell you all. I hope you are all doing well and chill'n like villains. 

The General Conference: General Conference was awesome! General Conference is like Christmas for missionaries. They are 7 missionaries in my zone that are North Americans and the rest are Latino. Lucky for us we got to watch it in English and they all watched it in Spanish. It was pretty sweet. For those of you who do not know what General Conference is, it is a conference that the church does every 6 months when we get the listen to the Prophets and Apostles of the world. It is something that we have had since the beginning. Jesus Christ himself always had his meetings with a bunch of people when he was a prophet and he taught the people the will of God and we still do that today every 6 months. Anyways that was pretty awesome. 

The Lesson of Miracles: This last week I did divisions with my Zone Leader, Elder Moffett. We have been in Caáguazu for a long time together and we live together in the same house too. We went to teach a lesson in a place named Toro Blanco. We talked to the mom of our investigator, who is a member, and she told us that nobody was home. We were bummed but we waited like two minutes and out of nowhere our investigador Marcos shows up. He is 10 so we can't teach him. We have a rule that we can't teach lessons unless there is a guy who is more than 12 years old present. It is to protect us from bad situacions. So still we were stuck without an option, but then his aunt Martha showed with her Friends, they were all girls, so we still had to find a guy. We asked them to wait five minutes and we would come back with a guy. What we did is we went to a soccer field where a bunch of teenagers were playing soccer. We ask them to help us and only one wanted to help us. And then THEY ALL CAME. All 15 of them. We found a guy. We found a lot of them. So we began talking and Elder Moffet went to do a baptism interview with Marcos and I taught 27 teenagers and a 65 year old grandma by myself in Spanish and Guarani. It was pretty awesome and a miracle because Marcos passed his baptism interview. IT WAS AWESOME.

That is the best story of the week that I have. Miracles are real and I know that the Lord can work Miracles in every one of your lives. I´ve been away for a little while but I still have a lot to learn. I love being a missionary. I don't think I have ever been so happy. I am helping others help themselves. There is a lot of rejection but the people who accept the true gospel makes it all worth it.

Much Love

Elder Jessop

• mi nuevo companero and my favorite treat in all of Paraguay 

  (peanut butter squares)‏

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Woooooooooohooooooooooo

Hi everyone. 
I'm a doing great. I didn't get changed/transferred and I'm still in Caáguazú. I did get a new companion though. His name is Elder Arteaga and he is from Chile. He is pretty awesome. I hope you are all doing great and I want you all to know that the Lord is a Lord of miracles and through him we can do all things.

I baptized someone this last Saturday. Her name is Martha and she is 14 and she is awesome! I felt so warm after and the water was really cold. I could feel the love of God and I know that he used me as a tool to help Martha enter in the way that God has set for her. I have pictures so I will send them shortly. 

I love you all. Keep the peace. I hear that there are a lot of things going on around the world. Tranquilopa. Soy un misionero y estoy muy feliz.

Elder Jessop

He terminado con mi entrenamiento con Elder Morgan

Hello everyone. Such great people you all are. This week coming up is a big week and I don't know what is going to happen but I do know the Elder Morgan and I will not be companions anymore. My training is done and I will receive a new companion Wednesday. Yea. That's the life. On to the good stuff.

This week it rained A LOT. There were thunder storms and lightning everywhere. It was pretty cool. We were just walking the streets of Caaguazuu and it was like seeing a light show in the sky there was so much thunder and lightning. While it was pretty cool, we went from having 75 people in church the last week to only 25 this week. There were not any investigators either. It is weird. We work all week to teach and help people come to church and then the sky decides to change everything and no one comes to church. But there is a bright side to this. We have another Sunday!!! Woooohooooooo! Hopefully this Sunday the skies are normal. It is all worth it.

A miracle happened on Saturday too. Two people got married and baptized the same day!!! They are named the Familia Fariña. They almost didn't make it because it was raining so hard but they made it. They were 2 of the 25 people in church on Sunday. That's what I call dedication!

I talked early about how my training is over. I start my 3rd change Wednesday. I have been thinking a lot about the people and what they have done. They deceive or mislead us, they reject us, they say otra dia which means another day which by extension means no and they think I'm a spy but with all that happening I still love them a lot. I want them to be happy. That's why I'm here. I left everything. My family, my friends, school, a job, girls, and a lot of other stuff and I am here. I love it. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love these people and I love serving them. It is really hard but it is worth it. We do a lot of things wrong in the eyes of God but he still loves us and forgives us, so the least I can do is love these people like My God loves me. It turns out when you loose yourself in the work and forget everything else, you find yourself. Now that doesn't make much sense. How can you loose yourself and find yourself at the same time. I tell you what...its happening to me. I'm finding myself. It's awesome.

I love you all. Keep it classy. BE safe. And remember that you are loved.

Elder Jessop

My life as I know it.‏

Hello everyone, 

There has been a lot of thunder and lightning here the past 2 days. Every Sunday it rains. The whole week it is burning hot and Sunday and Monday it rains and thunders. A lightning bolt hit a tree and the ground right outside of my house. That is not something I see everyday in California that's for sure. I sent pictures. I hope you guys like them. The Assistentes to the President came to do Divisions in my Zone. That was pretty cool and also we had a open house in the chapel. Basically it is what we have outside of the temple like at the visiting center, but we are in South America so there are not as many. We have portable ones that we use. 

Life is good. I have to leave, but I want you all to know that I love you and I am very happy for your support. 

I have a special message for my sisters Hannah and Amanda: Hi sisters! I love you both. You have recently started school again and you're still working, but I love you both and keep working hard and you guys are awesome. Try to get along and keep going to church! :D

Much Love 

Elder Jessop