Yes, we have “Fall”en in love! Every day we see missionaries who have “fall”en in love with
missionary work. We are getting
caught up in the happy cycle of loving what we do and doing what we love! MISSIONARY WORK. It is a pure joy!
Autumn is a beautiful time of year to “Fall” in love with
this great work and be”leaf” it that the effort put here in the garden state of
New Jersey has been tremendous. Our missionaries are working very hard. They plan their work
and work their plan to see miracles happen. A young 17 year old girl named
Sophie is just one of them. She
belongs to a Ballet Dance Company and noticed one of the girls on her team is
always happy. She asks of course
why she is so happy and the girl opens her mouth and expresses her beliefs to
interested Sophie. Sophie gets on
Mormon.Org and finds out more and that you can request missionaries. She tells her Catholic Mother and
Jewish Father that she wants the Mormon missionaries to come and teach her
about the LDS church. Her parents
were of course not very thrilled with the request. She gets a Book of Mormon and had already read a third of it
before the missionaries even come.
She loves it. After meeting
with the missionaries and going to church she asks her parents if she can be
baptized. Of course they say no
and tell her she has to wait until she is 18. She finishes the Book of Mormon
and continues to plead. Her father
thinks she has fallen in love with the people and not the religion so he took
her to another ward to see if she still feels the same way. Her family went
with her and we received a text from her that said she loved it and felt the
same way with this ward as she did the other ward. Now isn’t that the way it should be all over the world as we
go to sacrament meeting? Our
missionaries were praying that it would be a good meeting! Thank heavens it
was. We had some investigators
come to a testimony meeting several months ago and many of the testimonies were
about travel etc and not the gospel which was sad for the investigators and for
the missionaries.
Two of our sister missionaries were walking down the street
and watched a man walk past them.
One of the sisters said to herself, “Oh, I should have opened my mouth
and said something.” She turned around to look at him and she saw him looking
at her. They were just starring at
each other. He approached her and said “Do you have something to tell me?” Amazing that he felt prompted as well
and yes, she did have something to share with him. Can you be “Leaf” these stories. We have several a day which help us to continue to “Fall” in
love with the work of saving souls.
We just finished “another” stake conference. We call the missionaries up to stand in
front of the pulpit. We also have
the senior missionaries too so we can put a plug in for them as well. When you see the missionaries come down
the aisles to the front everyone becomes emotional. You can just feel the power as they are bonded together as a
great army of righteousness. It reminds
us of the scripture in Luke 24:32 “And they said one to another, did not our
heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened
to us the scriptures?” Everyone’s
hearts seem to burn as we talked about the missionaries and testimonies of
opening your heart to open your mouth so we can share the gospel. Many a member
cried watching these wonderful missionaries stand before them. I speak as the missionaries come up and
everyone was so touched today it was hard to talk. Jon, of course, can get everyone excited about missionary
work. We didn’t even need a rest
song after he spoke because he gets the congregation worked up. No one sleeps when he talks! You can be “leaf” that! People think he
was a Baptist Minister convert the way he talks from the pulpit. It was
fun. The missionaries were happy
and we hope the members will now go out and help them.
We had leadership training with all the new missionaries who
have come to New Jersey since January.
It was a couple of long days starting at 8 am and finishing at 4
pm. There was a lot of teaching,
training, role plays, music and lots of food of course. Being with the missionaries is always
the best part.
We have finally been able to start our mission tour of the
apartments. It is very interesting
to see where these missionaries live throughout the state. Happily, most of the apartments are
clean, tidy and there is a good feeling present which is what we are looking
for. There are a few, mind you,
that need a swift kick in the pants to clean up and remember the scripture from
D&C 88:119 to have an apartment of glory, an apartment of order, an
apartment of God…but you better be “leaf” we are working on it.
Our monthly focus for September was two fold: First, planning. President
Jeppson laughs at Sister Jeppson because he told her he has never seen anyone
plan like she does. She has taken
to heart from Preach My Gospel pg. 146: Goals reflect the desires of our hearts
and our vision of what we can accomplish.
Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. She is already planning for Christmas
Conference and then when she said, “hmmmm, I’ve been thinking about next
summer’s activity: he said. “I don’t be “leaf”it!!!! He thinks she is in love
with planning!!!! Well, maybe it’s a sickness but we hope our missionaries
catch it! Second, To always
remember Him! May we all continue to “Fall” in love with the Savior everyday
and with missionary work. Open your heart and it WILL help you to open your
mouth. Help those missionaries find people to teach on the home front. We know you can do it! You better be “leaf” it! May you always
remember HIM in all you do. Have a
beautiful autumn season. We love and miss you dearly, Dad and Mom, Jon and
Bonnie, President and Sister Jeppson
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