Water in places you didn't know existed...

Yo! Goodmorninwit-chu! - How they say Good Morning in troy.... even though its the afternoon.. 

But Hey! How's it goin?! 

We had a somewhat semi Eventful week this past week! Although Our Numbers had nothing to show for it.. some cool things happened. :)

First off, ALL of our appointments fell through. And most of our investigators wre no where to be found. Which honestly sucked, but didn't phase me until Sunday.. 

It has been raining on and off here like CRAZY!! And of course in the east this means.... HUMIDITY! ugh. ON Wednesday we plan this awesome day of Finding in North troy. The sun is out, it feels great outside. When all the sudden these massive Storm clouds come out of no where. By this time we had walked about 3 miles away from our apartment so the minute we see these clouds we turn around, and... IT POURS! I'm not talking a bunch of rain falls down and gets us wet. I'm Talking MASSIVE TROPICAL BEHEMOTH STORM! With rain coming from all directions. The water accumulated around us so fast there were rivers all over just dumping into the Hudson. Also the masses of cars splashing us didnt help much either haha. So we finally make it across the bridge to our apartment as we are bombarded by billions of Freakin Water Bullets! and the second we get inside.. it abruptly stops. The sun comes out. The birds chirp. Rainbows galore. And we both just SCREAM! WHAT THE CRAP?! haha It gets better;)

So with every inch of our body being completely drenched we struggle to change our clothes, and through them in the dryer. We put on fresh shirts and ties and put on Raincoats this time (because we've learned our lesson). And Head out to meet with this very interesting man we had previously met at a soup kitchen we volunteer with. So we arrive at our destination, A burger king. We shake his hand and apologize for our tardiness. Then we sort of start to have a Bible study, Jumping from topic to topic. He being very Impressed with us. After a while i feel prompted to tie the restoration into this study. And over time i break out the Book of Mormon and Testify of its truthfulness and Divine nature, Expecting him to come to this conclusion that this must be another Testament of Jesus Christ. But, When I pull it out of my bag and place it on the table..... No Joke... Clouds formed. The Lightning crashed, The rain pounded against the glass and His face was one of complete FEAR! hahaha Then he proceeded to bash with us. The spirit was gone. And The weather outside was getting worse. Elder Davis turned to me and said, We NEED to go.. NOW! Right when he said that the Lights went out. The Power went down in Cohoes. We took it as a sign and told him we needed to leave. So after Shaking his hand and taking his keys and grabbing his umbrella for him, we left. Having a great appreciation for the Tender Mercies of the Lord. Then a member came and picked us up and we helped someone push their car out of 2 feet of water... what a mess! haha WHATA DAY!

 I learned many a lesson that day! haha But other than that we had a pretty slow week. We participated in a lot of service this week, which i wouldn't trade for anything! We also had Zone Conference. WHich was great! Saw some familiar faces and great friends! We found out more about the ipads, soon to come to the NYUM! Which is great. I wish i could tell you more but... no time! Other than that a typical week in good ol Upstate New York! 

I hope you all have a Great Hopefully less wet than NY week!

Until next week! 

mmmmmmmBYE NOW!

-Elder Jepsen

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P.s This picture is a Of a picture of a members son on their fridge which i laugh at every time i go over. So i had to take a picture of it!

And last but not least is a terrible picture Elder Davis took of me being Miserable...

Gotta love it

SHOCKED!

What a Crazy week!!

We got our transfer calls on Saturday, and found out Elder Hutchinson is being transferred!!!! He is Reopening the area in Owego. I was so Surprised.. haha I was sure we were going to be together for 2 but president had other plans haha.

So an Elder Davis is coming to take his place and be the District leader here. I was so re leaved when I heard he was going to be the district leader haha everyone said it was going to be me...WHEW! safe:)

But besides the crazy news, we had a pretty good week here!

WE KILLED A MOUSE THAT HAS BEEN TERRORIZING OUR APARTMENT! haha No worries ill post pictures;)

We also had a good meeting with the Bishop to update the Ward Roster, we went through all the names and contributed our info on all the people we have contacted and who has moved and whatnot. That was really good. I had been bugging our ward clerk and the bishopric about getting together and updating this HUGE roster as of late and they finally gave in haha. YES!;)

Then on Thursday we had our Zone Meeting. Which went really well, All the districts in our zone gave training's, it went really well. We have been pounding this new teaching method into our brains every Zone meeting and We are seeing great results from it.

We had many opportunities to go on splits a couple times this week and further the work in the area! Which i was more than happy about. We tried to contact one of our investigators with a baptismal date all week, but she wouldn't answer her phone so we drove to her house to behold a disappointing sight... All her windows and doors were covered and there were no trespassing signs all over and when we knocked on the door we saw someone peek through the blinds then slowly close them again.. Our investigator finally snapped.. we knew she was borderline crazy but, she lost it. The lord works in marvelous ways and does it all for a reason. We may not see this greater purpose, but he does.

Also we have been helping at a soup kitchen lately in a Protestant church. And it has been going so well, Everyone is always asking us questions and is curious about what we do. Granted half of them are Legitly CRAZY but eh, what do ya do. But after A Man named Ted a Bible thumper and a minister and I were talking about the times and about the bible (as well as this weird guy who always ties things back to the government). And Eventually i look up around us and there were people standing all around us just listening and nodding their heads in amazement. They couldnt believe such young men could talk about God in such a Mature, Sophisticated manor with such wise old men! hahaha IT was really interesting, Because i didnt think twice about it. It's what we do. As missionaries its our Duty to invite others unto Christ and to talk of Christ. 

It got me thinking though, About 200 years ago talking about God on a intellectual level was the social norm. But overtime people have put worldly things before god. They worship False gods. Too caught up in the Philosophies of men.

So It is all of our duties, as disciples of Christ to share that knowledge we have attained through Gods Good Grace to all men. As it says in Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hathanointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to thecaptives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. 

I Pray that we will proclaim liberty to those who are captive, and spread the Gospel abroad!

I hope you all have an amazing week!

I love you all!

Elder Jepsen

This is the Erie canal! we snuck onto! 

And the DREADED MOUSE!... its not the ROUS but its close... (WARNING- a bit disturbing. ) 

....sorry for posting the picture. Jake would kill me if I didn't....

F E B R U A R Y . . .

Dear Family and friends,

This past week started out great, We had a great many things planned for the week. But oh how the tables turned... haha But more on that later! 

So we began our week on exchange with the Zone Leaders in Potsdam. I went down to Potsdam with Elder Lamb (a great missionary) we contacted a lot of former investigators in the outlining areas. We came across a former in an awesome Colonial house by the river and she let us right in! buuuuut... she did not hesitate in letting us know her beliefs... This... sadly led into a Bible Bash! MY FIRST! She was definitely very knowledgeable. She had scriptures memorized left and right! BUT she based almost her whole beliefs out of Leviticus and Ephesians. So you could say she was pretty stubborn with her beliefs... We were trying not to bash with her at all, I kept my peace and bore my testimony of the Truthfulness of the Book of Mormon as much as i could. And so was elder Lamb, Until she told us our faith was foolish... then  Elder lamb lost it, and the bashing commenced. To make a long story short we ended with a testimony and she said she loved us and wanted us to come back better prepared... SO that was an experience haha

After our awesome exchange in Potsdam I woke up with a weird sore throught... But i payed no attention to it. As the day drug on it slowly became worse... But instead of resting and kicking it in the butt, I stayed out and continued to work. That was a mistake. So you might be able to guess how we spent the remainder of the week... I was told by the mission presidents wife i wasn't to leave our apartment, until i turned around. After a couple days of rest and weird dreams I STILL DIDN'T FEEL ANY BETTER! it was getting worse...
 So this Sunday, (Still very sick)  they banished me to the corner so i wouldn't shake anyone's hand, or pass the sacrament and infect the entire branch with my sickness. 

We later found out that our chorister would never show up, so i was volunteered to lead the music. This tall, lurpy deathly ill missionary, who could barely lift his arm, let alone carry a note lead the music! hahaha it was a ...Interesting experience.. I almost past out a couple times from getting up to fast and i kept forgetting where i was! Elder Mecham had to keep fighting himself to not record me conducting the music! haha 

But i woke up this morning feeling like a hundred bucks! I'm so grateful and excited! ...so that's good 

So this past week as definitely been a learning/ humbling experience for me. I'm so grateful for elder Mecham and his patience with me, as well as his constant loyalty. He is the best.

Thanks to all of you for all of your love and support!

I hope you all STAY HEALTHY and have a great week!

Love always

 -Elder Jepsen