Jenkins, Joshua

Good morning        Man I'm running out of ways to start my emails, maybe I should have done monthly emails to break up the chore of trying to figure out the titles and how to start. I'm doing a lot better and doing things a lot better. I've definitely grown this week and felt a change. Elder Greene and I were planning our week out and felt a little discouraged as we filled our schedules with pretty much nonsense. We're trying to find the most effective and best way to "waste" our time, given that theres not many effective ways to USE our time. This week ended up being a borderline mental health week, as people took their last minute vacations and trips before having to stress about getting things up and running for school again. Alpine turned into a ghost town, and were left wandering the streets soulless at times. A week to recoup and regenerate was something that we both needed considering the mental abuse that is Alpine. It's good to take a break for a...

Ní haò mā?        Okay you caught me again. I might be exaggerating a little bit in my title. This week, I learned some very valuable lessons, some old and some new. I'm no stranger to hard days, weeks, months, or even years, but it's always the same. We can never fully appreciate something good without experiencing something bad first. And bad things prepare us to experience some of the most precious and beautiful things yet, but some of us give up before we see that. Well ladies and gentlemen the lord did just that. He blessed elder greene and I with a great week. We found 9 new people in only 2 days. This is the most people I've found in one week in my entire mission. Being in the buckle of the Bible belt has its finding struggles.  Just to refresh what finding someone means: we meet someone, teach them a principle and leave them with something to think about, then schedule up another time to meet. I also refreshed my memory and gained a stronger testimony of...

Welcome back!       Alright I'll be the first to admit that the title is a little dramatic. It's more of an attention grabber, but it's not far off. This ones gonna be long so buckle up. I got to meet the new mission president for the first time on Tuesday because we had zone conference. It was really good and I felt like it was God talking directly to me. The mission is in great hands because the new mission president and his wife, are incredible people. They know the balance of working hard and having fun and that resonates with me a lot. We had a great interview and we get along a little too well so I'm excited to continue to serve under his guidance and direction. After zone conference our week was a nightmare. I'll get into the more specific details later on, but it's really feeling like our work is in vain and nothing is coming out of it. It's been really discouraging and I've been losing motivation like crazy, but I know there's still a reason...

Whats popping yall!?        Hope everyone had a great 4th, and got to see family and let off some fireworks on my behalf. I was thinking on the 4th how grateful I am for the country we live in and the freedoms we have, and also the men who fought and died for it. Let us also remember that only one person ever lived for us. Jesus christ was sent to this earth and lived, so he could teach us how to live the laws of heaven while in mortal flesh, then was later crucified and performed the atonement so we can have the freedoms to chose to follow him. What a cool holiday and correlation. The 4th was a big day for us. We spent all day going to events and just tryna meet people and get our name out there. We joined a corn hole competition and did pretty well, and also did a hot dog eating contest. Let me tell you I don't ever wanna even look at a hotdog ever again, but my companion and I tied for second. We had a good time and met a lot of people and now the town is very fam...

Talofa!       Good morning cuties, hope yall are doing well! I'm grateful that I get to communicate with you all so often. I remember thinking before I came out that I was only going to write once a month at most because I'm a private person and don't like to share about myself or about what I'm doing, but I've come to love talking about my dealings with the Lord because I know that other people enjoy hearing about it. This week was pretty good overall, with a very good ending. Things were pretty slow to begin with, but we've been able to see blessings come out of our efforts, even if they were small. I'm getting along really well with Elder Greene and that's been a big help for me in this area. We were able to do a lot of service and actually get to meet some new people as well, but most importantly we were able to enjoy the work and see God's hand in it all. I'm so grateful for this challenging area and the many things that it has taught me.   ...