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

The day that changed my life‏

Hi everyone. I'm doing great. Yesterday it hailed in the streets of Paraguay and it rained really hard. My umbrella broke (mom I bought a new umbrella here in Paraguay and it broke yesterday, that should answer your question). I want to tell you about my week, which includes the studies that changed my mission.

We taught someone named Maria this week who was a reference from members. She lives with these same members and she is literally oro (gold). She told these members that she wanted to come to church yesterday before we even knew here. Uh sí o sí ella va a bautizar. She is awesome and we are going to teach her everything with the members that she lives with. We are teaching a lot. We taught 25 lessons this last week and that is a blessing from the Lord. 

Something the I'm learning a lot is that the weeks are like days and they days are like weeks. Really the days are normal days and the weeks are normal too, but it feels so different. OK my schedule in the morning is we eat and exercise and until 8. We study from 8 to 12 everyday. In personal study I read the Book of Mormon and I finished it. I read the last chapter in Moroni 10 and I thought a lot and I prayed. In this chapter there is a promise that says if you read the book, think about it, and then pray about it, we will know that the book is true through the power of the Holy Ghost. That is exactly what I did. I testify to everyone who is reading this, that if you would just ready the book of Mormon and get on your knees and ask God if it is true, you can receive a confirmation the it is true like I have many times and like millions of other people have too. This book has changed my life. That was just personal study. In companionship study I read Ether 12:27. This scripture changed my life. I couldn't understand how we can do everything possible to do good and follow Christ and not actually do it. It is either we do it or we don't. There is no do everything possible. To try is not to do it is to try. It turns out that we cant do it. It is impossible to live with God again by ourselves. That is why we have Jesus Christ. With him we can do anything. All we can do is try and do everything we can and then Jesus Christ does the rest. To try is to do. So try and do everything you can and when you think you cant do it, you can, Jesus Christ will help you because he has done it.

I love you all. I am changing I am different. I am better. I am becoming more like Christ every day. That is the meta. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.

Elder Jessop

La gracia de Dios es suficiente‏

Hi everyone. We recently bought all of our food. I'm in an Internet cafe with a lot of food writing you guys. I've already eaten some bread. I'm always eating here. I'm always hungry, but esta bien. It is raining a lot outside. For two days it was really hot, I was sweating bullets and last night at like 2 in the morning it started to thunder and there was lightening and it was raining and now there are rivers in Paraguay. It's supposed to be the only country without rivers and an ocean, but as of now we have found the ocean. Anyways I want to tell you all about the week. 

We are teaching a lot of people. Like more than 25 lessons in a week. That's a lot. We have to walk to every house which takes a long time, and some of them don't have telephones so if they're not home then we walk somewhere else. We have 4 hours of studies every day except for Monday and Thursday. 1 hour of personal study, 1 hour of language study, and 2 hours of companionship study. It's a lot of studying, but I'm learning a lot so tranquilopa. These are a few of the people that we are teaching.

Catalino: This man is older and works at a shop for cars and he fixes them. He smokes and he used to drink a lot but he wants to stop. The gospel can help him stop that's for sure. He can't walk very far so it is impossible for him to walk to the church. We think he may have cancer in his mouth from smoking and drinking. We had a miracle with him. One of the members is going to drive him to church every Sunday so he can get baptized and we are going to teach Catalino in the house of Hermano Caballero every time so he doesn't have to be with his firends that he works with that smoke and drink. He's awesome and we are going to help him change his life to the better.

Jerge y Sarah: They are a married couple, which is a surprise because a lot of people here are not married and they live together. That is a desafio. They are awesome though, they are Catholic but they know that the Catholic church isn't completely true and they are looking for something more. Boom here come the missionaries, we taught them about the book of Mormon and they are reading it and praying. They feel good and need more time but they are really awesome and yea. They are going to get baptized.

Fermina, Giovani, and Madi Gonzales: They are a family of brothers and sisters. Jimmy is the only member in the family and has been a member for 7 months. We watched a movie with them. It's hard to teach all of them at the same time, but this movie was with Madi and Fermine. We watched finding faith in Christ and it literally changed my life. The power of a testimony is so strong and invites the spirit like nothing else. That is what Jimmy did, he shared his testimony with his brothers and sisters and they could feel that this was right. They need to go to church, but we are helping them a lot. They are awesome too.

Something I learned this week that change my life was about the Grace of Jesus Christ. This week I felt like God was not satisfied with my work as a missionary and that I need to do better. Always there is something we need to change in our lives so we can be better, and I was really discouraged. I felt like I could never be like Jesus Christ. I am wrong. We can't give up. We have a life to live and when we live it the way that Jesus Christ taught. We will always be happy. The Grace of God is sufficient. It is his son, Jesus Christ, that will help us in the end become like him. Never give up, never stop trying, yes it is hard, but it was not easy for our Savior, Jesus Christ. His grace is what keeps us going. I know that the Lord is satisfied with me because I'm doing all I can to help these people accept God, and his son. 

I love you all.

Elder Jessop

Rain Rain Rain‏

Hi everyone. I have pictures this week, but I hope the computer works or I wont be able to send them haha. It rained a lot this week. It was really hot at the beginning of the week and rainy and wet at the end.

This week I learned:

Try not to step in giant holes of mud in the rain. I stepped in mud and my shoe came off. And then to top it off I stepped in the mud again with only my sock. I couldn't keep my balance. That was fun and a lot of the Spanish speaking people laughed at me. It was raining, it was cold, I was wet, and it was really funny. My companion laughed more than everyone else. I just put the shoe back on and kept walking. That's the life right there, that's life. 

I also learned of the power of testimony. We taught a guy named Carlos Molina and he said to us that he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. This is awesome because a lot of people don't want too. We came back later and he told us that he didn't feel anything. He told us that we only need the bible, that we don't need to go to church because people have the church inside our hearts, and he basically told us that we were wrong. This hurt for sure. Nice little prick on my heart. I testified, in Spanish I might add, that he didn't do his part to know that the Book of Mormon is true. It turns out that he read one page of the Book and prayed one time after and didn't do it any more. I told him that I knew the book was true and that I knew this church is true and that there is no other church in the world that is of Jesus Christ and has all the truth. He didn't say anything and we left. This experience helped me learn of the importance of a testimony. I have a testimony, and because I have a testimony I should do all I can to share it with every person I see. It is our obligation to share the gospel with others. That's what I'm doing and I'm happy and have a lot of peace in my heart with the knowledge of these things. Share your testimony.

Also something awesome, it is my moms birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well was my moms birthday. Sorry mom hahaha. I love my mom. Her name is Rebecca Jessop and she is awesome. Everyone who sees this I hope you say happy birthday to my mom. I'm not going to tell you how old she is, but she is around 35 or so. You can ask her yourself. Love you mom. I hope you had a great birthday. 

Peace out

Elder Jessop

                               This is a lomito aribe they are really good

                               This is a breakfast I made in 15 minutes

                                This is one of our areas‏

                                This photo is the jungle area

•                                 

•                                 This is my zone leader 

                               The box my parents sent me

                                The stuff that was in the box

‏