2-16-15 Can I get a Wh. Wh. Wh. White Wash!

Hello Family and Friends this week was super interesting and exciting!! President Agazzani through a bomb at me near the end of my mission and told me in one of my emails that I was going to have a "mind shark" coming my way. I didnt know what that meant, but I will let you all know in 3.. 2.... 1.......... Blast Off.

Monday: Good Old P Day. I took a ton of pictures, but the computer wont accept my photos and the computer turns off every time I plug my USB cord in. Good old Paraguay for ya haha. We ended up climbing the Hill Lambare, which is a really famous tourist site in Paraguay (here in Paraguay, not in the world). It is a hill that has asfaulted roads and we walked up to the top and it turns out that my zone has limits with Argentina. You could see Argentina from the top and it was awesome. It was like crossing a state border. You really have no clue when you do it, unless a sign tells you on the side of the road like "Welcome to California", or the best state in the world, but I wont get onto that subject today. We climb the hill for our district activity and then we walked back down. 

Tuesday: The assistants called us and told me that I have changes!!! I left my area Ybate 1.1 and I left my dearly beloved Elder McFarland, but we go home together so I will see him again someday. I was told that I am getting sent into a WHITE WASH, or when two new Elders go to an area without knowing anything about it. I am super excited and I cant wait and I was also told that I will be training a new missionary, again! That should be fun. The last time I trained was over a year ago so we will see what happens. Super excited!

Wednesday: Change Day, got to see a lot of missionaries in the terminal. I went straight to the office! To pick up my new greenie Elder. His name is Elder Zamora!! Finally! A Latin comp. I have had 8 American comps and 4 Latin comps. Elder Zamora is from Ecuador and got baptized a year and a half ago. It is pretty amazing and we are going to have so much fun. We are both going to a new area, with new members, new people, and I am very blessed to have this opportunity. My area is called Barrio Obrero. There is a giant soccer stadium in our area and like I mean giant!! I still haven't seen it yet because I am not sure where it is (so much for giant), but that is just what people have said to me haha. 

Thursday: The fun thing about a White Wash is that you do not know anyone, anything, and you can talk to anyone. We are trying our best not to get lost, but that happens sometimes when all you got is a map. We found someone to teach though and his name is Rodrigo. He is 13 and he is a stud. He turns 14 in March and has a lot of friends that are members! He loves the church and is getting baptized this Saturday!

Friday and Saturday: Fun adventures getting lost in the rain. We are basically looking for every single person that has gone to church in our area book and that is all that we have done for two days. Elder Zamora is great, super funny and all he wants to do is work and help people come unto Christ be baptism. I will send a picture home of him next week!

Sunday: Finally Church!! We got to know all the members. It is a branch here in Asuncion and about 75 people went to church on Sunday. Sundays in Paraguay are super awesome. Sundays anywhere are awesome, but right now I am here. There is something special about Sunday.

I learned today the importance of dedication and repetition. I have done the same thing every day for about a year and a half and it says to become a master of something you have to do it 10,000 times and even then you are not perfect. I have learned the importance of self conversion and perfecting ones self. We can all be perfect in Christ who helps us kick out the the kinks, refine the edges, and molds us into who he needs us to be. I am becoming the man he needs me to be, the husband my wife will need me to be, and the father that my kids will need me to be. Even though I am not perfect, I have been extremely blessed by the Lord these last years of my life and I still have a lot to do here and a lot of souls to bring unto Christ. 

I love it here. I love the people, the sites, the blessings and everything that has happened. I am happy and it is the happiness that I see in other people that accept the gospel that truly makes me happy. I love you all and thank you for all the prayers, love and support.

Elder Jessop

2/9/15 - All of Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength

My Mission...... What is it like to be a missionary? 

People always talk about the missionary life. I have felt recently that I was preserved until this time so that I could serve a mission. It has been the hardest years of my life, but like they also say, its been the best years of my life. Changes/transfers are this Wednesday and I don't know what is going to happen, but I know that I must serve with everything I can because before I know it, it will be gone. I love the mission and it always makes me happy that I can share my experiences every Monday with my beloved Friends and Family. 

Capacitación de Zona: This last Friday we had our Capacitación de Zona and in our mission we talked about the importance of baptism, retention, and Reactivating less active families. That was the basis of the capacitation that we gave, my companion and I. The doctrine is that every one needs to be baptized in order to enter into the kingdom of God. After baptism everyone must be nurtured by the word of God and do all they can to live in accordance with the principles of the gospel. Unfortunately some people fall and stop living these principles, but every one can come back if they repent and come unto Christ again. The doctrine is always the answer. We talked about the applications that we are applying in our mission so that we can baptize more sons and daughters of God, help them in their conversion process, and reactivate the ones that have let go of the iron rod. We read a talk by Elder Lawrence B. Corbridge that was a Mission President in Chile in 2008 and A vision to baptize. We baptize people because it is the only way that they can enter into the kingdom of God. You can be a great person, do everything right, even keep all the commandments, but without the baptism we can´t enter into his kingdom. That is why Christ got baptized right. In my mission we are changing our mission so that we can baptize more, retain more, and reactivate more. The goal in our mission is 2000 converts this year and it is quite a t ask ahead, but God blesses us according to our desires.(Alma 29:4). It was an awesome Capacitación de Zona. 

Paraguyan Buses: My companion and I had to go do a baptism interview for some Elders in our Zone and it was the crazy experience of our time together. Talk about a 1 and a half hour detour there and back. We were supposed to be there at 5 and we got there at 6:30. We left at 7 and were supposed to get back into our area at 7:30 and got home at 8:40. It was a rough day to take buses. I looked at my map so many times and we were pretty lost, but luckily Paraguayans are really good with directions, not so much street names, but directions yes. It taught me a big lesson and now I know a lot better the city of Asunción. Good adventures.

Investigators: We have a couple investigators that are progressing and getting baptized soon. Jose Enciso has a baptism date for the 21st. He has to go to church once more but he is super prepared and super ready to be baptized. He loves God and reads everything we give him. We are trying to help him feel the spirit and recognize his answer by using the Book of Mormon. He is amazing and will get baptized. Then we got Juan Francisco, he is 42 and has been divorced but he is really interested in the church. It helps when his Best Friend is a member and went to high school with him and her two daughters are return missionaries. They have been preparing him for like 1 year. We are teaching him about the restoration and he is doing great!! Then we have the Mora Family that we found. The dad is a member and the rest of his family isn't and he really want to go to church he just didn't know where it was, but thankfully we found his house and we have an appointment with him tomorrow. The work is going great here and I love being a missionary.

I have been extremely blessed to be here in Paraguay serving the Lord the best I can. I know that the church is true and I know that everyone can know that truth if there are willing to ask God. It has been hard, but every second has been joyous, I have learned the importance of love and serving the Lord and his children because of the love that we have for them. I hope that you all enjoy my emails and I will let you know if I get changed or not.

Elder Jessop

2-2-15 La gran misión Paraguay Asunción. La mejor misión en el mundo‏

Hello Family and Friends!

This week went by very nicely and we did everything that we could to invite people to repent of their sins and be baptized. WE have a very awesome investigador named Jose Enciso. He is 20 years old and already did 2 years of military service. He loves that gospel and he accepted a baptism date and has gone to church 2. In our area here in South America. Every person before they can get baptized has to go to church 3 times in order to show that they are trying to repent. We also have another investigator family that is the Sanchez family. They are a family of 4 and we invited them to be baptized and they also accepted a baptism date for this month and we hope to help them so that they can work towards baptism and then an eternal family. Now I´d like to tell you about my week.

District Meeting: I learned the importance this week of using the Book of Mormon always. There are a lot of people that reject the Book of Mormon and don't accept it simply because they do not know what it is. We were doing a practice and my doubt as the investigator was that the Book of Mormon is false. What the Elder did in our practice was respond using the Book of Mormon and invite me to know that it is true using the Scripture in Moroni 10:3-5. It was very spiritual and helped me a ton. 

Teaching Investigators with General Authorities: So as it happens it turns out that Sister Linda K. Burton came to Paraguay this week and Sister Marriot came too. Sister Burton is the president of the Relief Society in the church and Sister Marriot is the 2nd counselor of the Young Women's and they came to visit Paraguay. On Saturday they came to my area. MY AREA!! I know that they don't really have to do anything with me because I am not a girl, but it is knot everyday that general authorities come to your area in South America. They visited one of the families in our area and that night we happened to have an appointment with that family to teach an investigator so we thought that we were doing to teach with them!!! It turns out that that didn't happen... Haha we are not as important as general authorities so we rescheduled the appointment, but it was still kinda cool. 

I am out of time. I love the mission. It is February and the Liahona this month had a theme of giving all your might, mind, soul, and heart!! That is my plan and I know that God will help me be the way that we can help many of his children be baptized in the true church of God. Thank you for all the support and all the love.

Con cariño!

Elder Jessop 

Elder Arteaga, My second companion in the mission. He goes home in 2 weeks!

1-28-15 I´m Going To Go On a Mission And I Want To Be Ready......

Hey everyone!! This week was a week of goodbyes in my Ward where I'm serving in Ybaté. It was a great and fulfilling week and it has all just been a blessing.

Benjamin Machuca: This is a future missionary that is going to The Argentina Buenos Aires North mission and the guy is a stud to say the least. We eat at his house on Wednesdays and he is fully converted. He is a light and my life and I know he is going to be a great missionary. He just wants to help people come unto Christ and save souls. The Ward is going to miss him.

Victor Ortellado: Victor is going on a mission to the Lima Peru West mission. He has had two other brothers that have gone on mission's and he is super awesome. He has had a lot of help to prepare himself to go and he will be a great missionary.

Sunday we had a really awesome investigator in church named Jose Enciso. He is 20 years old, has already served in the military and is really prepared to hear the Gospel, accept it and be baptized. We found him doing contacts in the street and he just let us in as if he was expecting to see us. We hope to see progress with him and all of the other investigators that we are teaching.

Today I went to the temple to clean it. We went up stairs and cleaned the hallways where all the electrical stuff is. I really wanted to go on the roof, but that didn't happen. I love the temple and it is truly a blessing in our lives.

I love the mission. Words cant describe the feelings, emotions, and peace that it brings to the life of a Young man like myself. I have been changed by it. I have been sanctified by it and the reward has been indescribable beyond measure. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Gods kingdom here upon the earth and that the Book of Mormon is the key to that truth. I love inviting people to read it and feel the peace and comfort that comes by doing it. It has brought me great joy and peace. God leads this church and his missionaries. I know that to be true.

Elder Jessop

P.S. Please I wanna wish by big sister Amanda Jessop a Happy Birthday!!!!!