Friday, October 14, 2016

Our piece of the Gospel Puzzle


Dear family and friends,

Wow, this week has flown by in such a way that today I had to ask myself if I had even written in my blog this week!  I know I am getting old!  This is a sign.  It has been a good week, kind of a hype up week.

We had such a great time with our kids last week that it took us a little while to rest up and get back into the swing of missionary life.  But as we read and study the conference talks, it doesn’t take long to get motivated into what we need to be doing.

School has finally started here and Cambridge is crawling with people, and bikes, and early into the morning hours partying.  In fact, I picked up a Cambridge student newspaper and was looking through the topics, thinking a paper might just be a perfect place to put in an ad for LDS Institute!  The second page talked about the proper way to go clubbing in Cambridge.  The third page talked about ways to get over a hangover.  Our Cambridge YSA’s recommended that this wouldn’t be the best place to advertise for institute as we wouldn’t be targeting the most promising students.

They have what the school calls a Fresher Fair.  This is a chance for the new students to see what is available for clubs and extra-curricular activities besides bar hopping.  We wanted to set up a booth, but after talking to the right people, we couldn’t do it unless we signed up way last spring.  So note to self, we are putting the contact information into our stuff for the next YSA missionary couple.  We were able to talk to the right guy about our Institute program, and next week we will meet with him to get the scoop of being involved in the Cambridge theology website.  We are doing the same kind of thing with the other university (Anglica Ruskin) in Cambridge.  We are praying and thinking about how we can get the word out that the Mormons are here!!!!  I know if we do, the students will come running to join the church by the thousands!!!! (wishful thinking!)

We did have a miracle this week.  We have been trying to find a young single adult, and have gone to the flat listed in the church records as her address.  We have tried different times of the day, and have asked her neighbors.  Well, this week, the fifth time we went, she answered the door!  I had a lovely chat with her.  She is living with a partner and doesn’t want anything to do with the church!  Now you ask how is that a miracle.  Well, first of all, I was able to talk with her face to face and she was very kind. Second, I have her address, so I could send her a thank you note for talking with me and include the address of the church and my phone number if she ever needs anything.   And third, I found out where she works, so every time we go to the train station, we can pop in and say hello!!  And amazingly enough, two days later we were at that train station and she was working.  We went out of our way to say hello!   We have learned that missionary work includes finding ways to befriend people in a genuinely caring way.  We just pray every day that we can receive inspiration of who we need to see and what we can do to touch their hearts.

We were able to visit some of our older friends and as always have found joy in their friendship.  One of our friends, Leslie Ryan age 92 is in a care center close to our home.  We try to stop in to see him regularly.  He suffered a stroke and is physically limited.  His mind is very sharp other than he gets mixed up and forgets on occasion. ( Wow!  That's why we get on so well together!)  We went to see him this week.  He loves to talk and we love to listen.  He served as a Bishop several years ago and we encourage him to tell us about those experiences because they bring him such joy.  We always leave with a prayer.  This day he wanted to offer the prayer.  It was amazing.  He was clear, and offered a humble prayer that was inspiring and absolutely beautiful.  Afterwards, he acknowledged that his prayer made sense.  He was obviously touched by the spirit that was so prevalent in the room.  We left having all been buoyed up by the strength of the spirit!
One of the fun ways we have found to really bond with our young single adults is to invite them to dinner.  Usually they are very willing to meet with us.  Food has a way of enticing the young to talk!!!    As we approach the week, we prayerfully consider the YSA's that might need some one on one time.  We love it!!!!  We continue to meet with Callum, our volleyball friend we met in Provo.  He told us that he knows he will one day join the church.  We just keep praying!

For our p-day this week we joined up with our wonderful senior missionary friends, the Barons, the Gales, and the new office couple, the Feldsteds.  We went to the musical, Beautiful, the story of Carol King!  It was magnificent!  It was one of the best theater productions we’ve seen.  The music is from the 60’s and 70’s and was so good!  We ate at Byrons, Proper Burger afterward, and had a ball.  Before, we went with the Barons to the James Bond museum.  Brad was mesmerized by all the cars on display.  It was pretty sweet to see!

It was a great week!  Life is moving very fast!  We love the blessing of serving the Lord here.  We see little tender mercies each day that strengthen our testimony that the Lord is involved with the details of building Zion.  Our puzzle pieces in this work are small, but we feel the love of the Lord as we try to place them where the Lord wants them to be!

We love you all!

Love,

Dad and Mom

Papa and Grandma

Elder and Sister Jackman

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