7-22-12 "I'm Flying"(Essam) Talking about God + McDonalds Ice cream cone = Heaven

DAD MOM RYAN RASH LIZA EMMMMMMA

Hello my wonderful family :) Emma dong, tell me the details about EFY!
What did you learn!! Share with me your knowledge!!! And Liza, write
me back!!!
God is surely a God of MIRACLES. So this week, we were bikin around
(as usual) and we stopped to talk to this man waiting at the bus stop.
His name is Essam. He's from Egypt, has a sweet mustache, and was (and
always is) dressed in this delux suit. Well his bus came and he had to
leave before we could set up an appointment or get his number. BUT, he
actually texted US!! Which never happens. So we set up an appointment
for the next morning. He's a big talker, he loves to talk. He was
raised Muslim but he is very open and eager to learn. As we started to
share the First Vision, he interrupted, describing how incredible and
happy he was feeling haha. Once we finished, we asked him how he was
feeling. He paused and said "I'm FLYING!!" He tried to put to words
the incredible feeling of angels lifting his heart :) The Spirit is
incredible. God is incredible. We taught him again and set up a ride
for him to come to church. But, on Saturday we received multiple texts
from him, telling us that his mother passed away. He was desperately
trying to get out of work and fly back to Egypt. He told us how he had
no one to talk to but us. He just moved to America 3 weeks ago, his
wife and son died 7 years ago in a car accident, and he knows no one
here. God cleared our schedule (Biruk canceled his appointment) and
Michelle drove us to his house so we could leave him cookies. We
called him and he was crying. He expressed his deep grattitude to God
for our friendship, for placing us in his life so that we could offer
him the support he needs. We promised him that as he turned to the
Book of Mormon, he would be filled with peace and assurance that his
mother was with God now.

Had a lesson with Patrick this week and Troy came!! It was his first
lesson as the newest member in our ward :) and it was remarkable.
Troy's testimony seems to be that of a general authority! He was
teaching Patrick things that we didn't even teach him! Patrick will be
baptized. He says over and over that he knows its true and that this
is what he needs to do, but he just isn't sure if he's willing to make
all the sacrifices yet, if he's ready to make this covenant with God.
We're having a lesson this week and he wants to lay out all his
concerns so we're very excited!!

Troy did an iron man this weekend. No big deal. And he went to the
Sacred Grove on his way home today :) He's the best.

Ash is great! He's 25 years old and originally from Bengladesh. I love
teaching him. He has so many questions and it's so wonderful because
we have the answers! We have the gospel! We have the truth! God is so
gracious to give us the truth so that we can have hope in this life.

President Riggs is absolutely amazing. I wish I could explain just how
bright he radiates the Savior's love! And he is a master scriptorian.
He KNOWS the scriptures and he loves them. He is so inspiring. So, a
repeating theme that he has been teaching us is accessing God's grace.
In Ether 12:27 and D&C 104:79-80, the formula for grace is FAITH +
HUMILITY + DILIGENCE. With the grace of our Savior, anything is
possible.

I love you guys. I really do. I can't possibly put into words how
grateful I am for you and for all that God has given me. I am in awe
when I try to consider all that He has given me.
Whatever I recieve, I'll give
LOVE SISTER JUICE

The Zone

 Rudy (El Salvador) We love him. He is becoming brighter and
brighter every visit. He can't deny the Spirit. He's been reading and
praying and has noticed a remarkable difference in how much happier he
is, and how much more positive life is!

 Ash!! (Bengladesh) He is so wonderful. Sister Rozsa and I went to
NINE HOURS of church this week, ten if you count the breaks between
wards. Ash slept through the other wards, so we found him a ride to
the 3:00 service and stayed with him til the end. Worth every second!!

 Michelle Wright is the greatest member missionary. She comes with
us to teach ALL the time. We can always rely on her. She definitely is
"high heeled and low maintenance" member as Elder Maxwell teaches us
that we should be
Saturday night was the first time Sister Rozsa and I taught someone on
the street while licking our ice cream cones :) It was GREAT! Talking
about God + McDonalds ice cream cone = Heaven

 Some sweet black man - Leroy Lightning.

 Essam!!! (Egypt) We love him and his mustache so very much

7-15-12 Troy's INCREDIBLE Baptism! / Blessings are Great!

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLE LIZA EMMA!!

Oh my goodness gracious. The baptism was INCREDIBLE!!!! AHHHH!!!! Troy is soo great! And he has the gift of the Holy Ghost now :) My heart is so very full! I'm... leaking! {:D (the Grinch) lol. After he was baptized, Troy shared his conversion story. Oh how divinely prepared was he - being "nudged by degrees" until he found he had come a full180 degrees! His whole life, 28 years, God has been preparing him forth is moment. It was after our first lesson with him, when we asked him to offer the prayer when the Spirit flood him "like a tidal wave". He said that never before had he been found speechless, trembling in humility as he opened his heart completely to God. With "open eyes andan open heart," he bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, declaring its words to be "timeless." In closing he boldly and so faithfully declared, "I am a witness to God's plan!" It was incredible. The Spirit was soo thick and so piercing! And not only wasthe room packed with members to support him, but there were 4 other sets of missionaries with multiple investigators with them, and Patrick and Taneala were able to come too! This is exactly what Patrick needed. He soaked it in, leaning forward, ever so intently listening to every word, jaw dropped in awe. Patrick is wonderful! He really has this incredible gift to connect with everyone he meets. He made so many divinely appointed connections and relationships that night too, so many people God wanted him to meet so that they can inspire him and support him in his conversion. Patrick even went to dinner with Troy and Vicki and the whole gang afterward too! Gosh, this was perfect for him.So I received some remarkable revelation at church today. My questionI had was: How do I turn my gaze outward and be selfless like Christ and like my Dad and Mom? I felt prompted to study the life of Christ, likening His life to myself to Him as I usually do with the Book of Mormon. I was directed to John 6:5-14 and read the miracle of feeding 5 thousandwith 5 loaves and 2 fishes. It was incredible! To open my eyes and look, to see my Savior give all that He received (the 5 loaves and 2 fish) to others - and as He did so, God gave Him enough to feed the thousands. We too must give all that we receive. And in turn we will receive even more, just as Christ collected the 12 baskets of leftover bread. We then will have even more to give away and we'll be able to give more abudantly because we've received more. It's like a never ending and expanding spiral upward! And this applies to the littlest of things He blesses us with (like a $25 gift card to Subway Ray gave us), to the greatest of gifts we've been given (like our family's being sealed for eternity). This is my lifelong goal: Whatever I receive, I will give. When God blesses me with strength, I will give all my strength to serve another. When God blesses me with revelation, I will give and share all that He has revealed unto me to bless and strengthen others. When God gives me energy, when God gives me time, when God gives me food, when God gives me a bike, when God gives me joy, or protection, when God succors, comforts, heals, or forgives me, when God gives, I will give all that He has given me to bless and serve, to love and lift, to comfort and lift another. For that is what our Savior would do. That is what we have promised to do at baptism -to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort (Mosiah 18:8-10) God has given us life eternal, He has given us His son, He has given us this incredible gospel, so we must "waste and wear out our lives," giving all that we have to bless His children (D&C 123:12-17) I love each and every one of you so dearly. You are in my prayers and forever in my heart. God has given me you, my precious and most treasured family. And now I have the chance to give up my family sothat the people in Virginia can have family's like ours, divinely protected, full of love, and eternal. In return, God is blessing our family greatly, our family will be even more abundantly blessed, protected, strengthened, and happy! And its already happening! Your letters inspire me to work even harder, to give even more - because you guys are being watched over and lifted and I am forever grateful to God. 

Love Sister Julia

 TROY!! BAPTISM!! OODALALLEY!

 Mubarak (he's from Saudi Arabia and he is wonderful, so sweet and
so sincere. he's going home for a month, but he so badly wants to be
taught more when he returns)

Patrick is simply wonderful. He went around saying "I know this is
right, I know this is what God wants me to do" all night at the
baptism :)

Troy and his devout followers. They were literally in awe.

 McDonalds = place of many miracles (we went everyday this week in
honor of Troy's baptism)

7-9-12 Troy's Story/ Pres Riggs Here/ Miracles at McDonalds

 DAD MOM RY RACHELLE LIZA PRIM and CHLOEDOG
Why hello fambly! So for starters, TROY IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON
SATURDAY!!!! ODALALLEY! I am so stinkin excited. His original date was
8/11 but last week he was like... sooo this will be my third week at
church (everyone is required to attend church 3 times before being
baptized), so can I just get baptized on the 14th of july instead???
You guys. Troy really is the most prepared person in all the land.
Have I given you the details about him? So his dad was a member, his
mom was not. His dad wasn't very active tho and when he was 8 years
old, he got in a terrible car accident because he was drinking and
driving. It was an awful crash and his dad became a parapalegic. His
parents were then divorced soon after and Troy went away to live with
his mom. Fast forward a bit, Troy qualified to be drafted into
professional baseball, but chose not to and went to Airforce Academy
to get an education instead. After returning home to America from his
deployment in the Middle East, his dad committed suicide the next day.
It caught him off guard. He didn't know who to turn to, and at the
moment - he didn't feel like he could talk to his mom or his brother,
but he felt the need to talk to his dad's best friend, an active stake
president for the church. They talked for hours and his eyes were
beginning to open and his heart was softening. A few months later he
starts dating this beautiful and incredible girl named Vicki and her
brother asked him if he wanted to start meeting with the missionaries
and he said, "Actually, I'd really like that." Gosh. I cannot even
begin to describe how prepared he was. Back in January, he felt like
he should stop drinking alcohol.. and that was definitely God
inspiring him, because had he not, he wouldn't have been able to
progress so quickly and he wouldn't have been so receptive to the Holy
Ghost as he was! Teaching him the Word of Wisdom was incredible. Gosh.
His insights are incredible! He is so humble, so willing, so eager,
and so faithful, steadfasdt and unwavering in his commitment to follow
the Savior. His faith is like no one I have ever seen before! He has
given every ounce of himself to the Lord and it is incredible! God
truly does bless us abundantly for that which we give and sacrifice to
Him. The more we give, the more we receive. We went to the temple with
him and Vicki and I can't wait for them to be married!!! They are
going to be the greatest parents and the greatest general authorities
ever! haha. They've only been dating for 2 months tho so they aren't
quite engaged or anything yet. But its going to happen. And Vicki is
from VEGAS so you guys have to go to the reception!!! YES?! AHH!
WOOHOO! So plan on it, a year from now :)
Oh funny side note. Sunday, Vicki came out of Relief Society to see
Troy, beaming with excitement. And he said "I SIGNED UP TO BABYSIT
SEPTMEMBER 6TH!! I have no idea what that means, but i am SOO
EXCITED!!" haha he is already part of the ward. Everyone LOVES him. He
said it was the first sign up sheet that had ever passed by him in
elders quorum and he was just ecstatic! haha He's great. Vicki + Troy
= Eternal marriage

President Riggs is here and we got to meet him! He is absolutley
incredible. I cannot even begin to describe the love I felt as he
walked into the room! And his family is amazing. 4 daughters and 2
sons. (the oldest son and daughter are moved away). They are great. So
funny and so wonderful. As I shook his hand, he told me how much he
loves me and he called me his daughter. When he did he paused and said
"Wow... that felt incredible to say. You ARE my daughter now." It was
so sweet and I am so grateful. The next day, I read Alma 56:10,46.
Helaman calls the stripling warriors his sons ("for they were worthy
to call sons") and the warriors call him Father. I hope I can live up
to that name and be a daughter he can proudly call his. How divinely
organized are missions and families. God loves us so much and He wants
us to understand His great love for us so He puts us into the divine
units. Heavenly Father is so amazing! I stand in awe of His infinite
wisdom, love, and power each and every day.

Church was INCREDIBLE!! I am so happy. It was a miracle and such a
tender mercy - sitting in church, I was surrounded by four of our
incredible investigators: Troy, Tanelea, Ray, and Biruk. My heart was
so full of grattitude and with love! These children of our Heavenly
Father were sitting in Christ's church, they were being filled with
the Spirit! And then Muhammed, Medi and Yessir (part of this
incredible Moraccan family we met at McDonalds) came with us to a
later ward because they couldn't make it to either the Alex1 or
Shirlington wards. Oh, they are incredible! It has been so huumbling
and such an honor as the wards have come to really trst and love
Sister Rozsa and I. Four different ward members came to us with
referrrals of loved ones in one day. Bishop Salmons and Bishop Sampson
have actively participated in referring people for us to teach too!
What an honor and a privledge. The ward members are really the key to
missionary work. Without their love, their fellowship, and their
active participation in sharing the gospel to their friends and
neighbors, our efforts would be greatly hindered.

By the way. I'll explain later, BUT - McDonalds is a place of many
miracles. And I'm pretty positive its going to be for my entire
mission. I challenge you guys to share the gospel with Zach!!! Invite
him to our house for dinner, give him a Book of Mormon, share your
testimonies, and get the missionary discussions started!!! Pray for
God's help, and go for it! Pray for the right words to say, pray for
miracles to happen, and I promis you - they will! God will be with you
and His angels to bear you up. :D

I love you guys so much! Miracles are happening every day! Your
letters and your stories are so incredible. Thank you for being such
an incredible support and strength for me! Thank you thank you thank
you!

LOVE SISTER JUBLIA

Troy= the golden gold in all the land

They will be married in Las Vegas, save the date!

At a conference, meeting Pres Riggs

Tanelea Johnson, she's  sooo wonderful! I love her!

7-2-12 Storm in DC/ Bike Repair/ Repentance is Great!

DAD MOM RY RASH EM LIZA... and guest
Hello my wonderful family! I love each and every one of you soooo very
much! Thank you for the package! It was great. We rolled around in all
the bike goo and popcorn, it was like Christmas.
So lets get down to business. The adventures for the week: There was a
ginormous storm this week! I had no idea it even happened tho because
I slept through the entire thing haha. I guess it started like 2
minutes after we layed down for bed, but I was out. It was supposedly
way extreme tho. When we woke in the morning, we found the whole world
torn into bits! Huge trees all of the place and power lines down left
and right. Our apartment building was spared tho and we were one of
the few that still have power.  Its been a few days now, and the
powers still not back on in tons of homes. We only had sacrament
meeting for church this week too because of it. I feel so bad for
those without power tho!! It has been SOOO hot and humid!
OK, Miracle time. Saturday night, Sister Rozsa and I were on our way
to go check on Dair before making the trek back to our apartment when
her back tire went flat. So as we started to walk back home,we started
talking to this man along the side of the road. His name is Allejandro
and he's this hispanic minister who is some super charity man and
loves to feed the homeless. Well once he found out our tire was flat,
he immediately went to work. He went up to his apartment to give us
his tire tube and he started pulling apart the bike to try to fix it.
He couldn't get the tube off the tire for a while, but he was
determined lol. He started hackin away at it with a screw driver haha.
He was so determined tho, we couldn't stop him! 30 minutes later he
finally was able to remove the tube, only to find that his replacement
wasn't the right type. Since it was 9:15 and we had to book it all the
way home, he offered to put our torn apart bike in the back of his van
so we could pick it up the next day. We didn't really have any other
choice, so we did. The next day, we got there to find our tire fixed
and with a new tube and note reading "God bless!" What an amazing and
selfless man! He is so incredible! God knew He could trust Allejandro
to do everything in his power to help us. He was truly a good
samaritan!
Amazing week! So many incredible people we are teaching. Rudy,
Stellamarie, Troy, Patrick, Mauluda, Harry, Yitagesu, Amir, Tenelea,
Ray, Jackie, Fara, and so many more! I wish there were time to tell
you about them all. Pray for Patrick tho. He's having a hard time with
his family and he hasn't been able to make it to church yet cuz he's
always going out of town. But he knows its true! Gosh. Keep him in
your prayers.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: Repentance is such an incredible gift! So many
people view repentance as this awful, shameful thing. But really, it
is a gift from our Father in Heaven and our Savior and it is exciting!
Repentance brings joy, peace, and happiness. It brings progress and
light. Don't procrastinate! But let our Savior lift your sins and your
burdens from your shoulders. His hands are extended toward you and He
is pleading for you to repent because when you do, He can pour down
blessings over your head! He wants to bless you, so let Him.
I'm so glad you found that accordion for Bishop!!! I MUST see those
pictures! I love you all so much. Sorry, there's so little time to
write! You mean the world to me! Keep telling me everything thats
going on! It brightens my day :)
LOVE YOU! Sister Orange Jewlious Jeppsen

Next package ides (not that you need to send one right now):
lovespell, mints, more apple cider

Pictures:

1. trying to fix the bike... fail haha! Dad, you need to teach me how
to fix a bike!

2. Stella marie! She's sooo great! She works at the homeless shelter
and is soo sensitive to the spirit. She loves reading the Book of
Mormon cuz she feels so peaceful and happy :) She's going to get
baptized for sure

3. Troy Jeffers. Oh my word. He's golden!!!! And he's going to marry
Vicki in the temple a year after he gets baptized, which at the moment
is 8/11! Happy brithday momma!

4. Tree. dead.

5. Rudy!! He's so wonderful. He's refused to go any where near the
church, but he finally agreed to going to the church for a lesson
tomorrow!!! HOORAY! I'm so excited.