3-25-13 My COUSIN in My Same Mission!!! OODALALLEY!!

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLE LIZA EMDONG and my beloved friends

COUSIN!!! (ELDER TREVOR MONTGOMERY!!) He's here!! He's in DC!!
OODALALLEY!! Hooray!! He is so great. We had a joint zone conference
with Ashburn and Centreville. When I walked into the room, Trevor
called my name and I dropped everything and ran to him. We can hug
family :) President was amused. We sat with each other and did all of
our practice teaching together. He is incredible, so humble and so
eager to serve. I'm grateful for his example of accessing the power of
the Atonement. He has been healed, he is being enabled, and he will be
exalted, for he has put his life into the Savior's hands. I love our
Father. I love His Son, our Redeemer.

"All that I have I desire to give you - not only my wealth, but also
my position and standing among men. That which I HAVE I can easily
give you, but that which i AM you must obtain for yourself" (Elder
Oaks, The Challenge to Become). The gospel of Jesus Christ is not
simply about doing, its about becoming. I'm humbled to watch Sister
Bell emulate my example, to see her copy the things that I do. Its
humbling and makes me think of our Savior. How grateful I am for His
love and His perfect example. I have Him to thank for any good that I
am. Thanks be to God! Because of Him, I will never be the person I
once was. Because of Him, I can become incrementally more like Him the
moment I choose to change and repent. From her responses to rejection,
her attitude on rules, to the way she communes with Heavenly Father, I
have been humbled that He would grant me this privilege and sacred
responsibility of bringing Sister Bell into the mission field. I love
her. And I have been so far from perfect. I've had to humbly admit my
wrongs and together work to change to live according to His will. With
hands outstretched he calls, "Follow thou me." He is "the way, the
truth, and the light." His example is perfect, His love is endless. We
must do as He has done. Follow His example. And then may we lay claim
on all the blessings available for us. May we become even as He.

I'm so very excited to tell you about the Holmes. I absolutely adore
them. Sweet Sister Holmes. She has been inactive since her teenage
years and has stayed far from the church. With her previous husband,
she went from church to church, never satisfied. Only weeks ago, she
started to come back to our church with the invitation from her
mother. Overcoming different trials in her life, she accepted the
invitation. She is overcome with joy and gratitude each time she
describes the way she has felt as she's returned back into the fold.
She and I have grown to be very close as we've sat with one another
and learned together in the three nourishing hours of church each week.
She truly is thirsting and hungering after the nourishment only Jesus
Christ can provide. She is an incredible example of sincere desire and
real intent. She is immersing herself in the scriptures, in the Book
of Mormon. And she's living all that she learns. She's learning the
gospel, she's living it, and she's becoming like Him little by little.
Well she so deeply wants to prepare herself to go to the temple, and
she longs to have her nonmember husband join her there to be
sealed for eternity by our Heavenly Father's power. So we had an
incredible day at the visitors center with the Holmes. They are
incredible! The moment we got in the car, they were asking questions
and we were teaching and testifying of the precious truths that our
Father has revealed to us. It was simply marvelous. Her husband is awesome
and has such a firm faith in Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon, the
Restored truths, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will
ring clear to his heart if he sincerely and humbly reads and asks our
Father in Heaven. He will answer. He has promised. And God never
breaks His promises.

LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN

Sister Bell!

Cousin :) He's here! I love him so very much.

 I adore the Holmes.

3-18-13 Children = the rubbing stone of perfection

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLEY LIZA DONG "... and guests" (Edna Mode, The Incredibles)

 

This week has been remarkable! I love our Heavenly Father!! I love our Savior! I love this beautiful life! I love being a missionary! I thank Him, I praise Him, I glorify Him! Sister Bell is simply delightful in every way. She is 19 years old, and positively splendid. She is so sweet and so eager and excited to grow and to serve. Training is the most humbling and blessed opportunity. I am continually amazed.

 

Children are the rubbing stone of perfection. By divine design, he places us into families. He gives us the privilege, the opportunity, the blessing of bringing His children into the world. For us to have the patience they need, for us to have the knowledge and understanding they require, for us to provide the nourishment (both physical and spiritual), the experience, the love, the education, the environment they need to grow in truth and righteousness, we must become more reined in our obedience, more diligent in living the gospel. We must become "a greater follower of righteousness and possess a greater knowledge" of the mysteries of God" (Abraham 1:2). "To be A FATHER of many nations, a prince of peace," we must DESIRE to receive, and then actually RECEIVE instruction from the Lord that we may more fully keep His commandments with exactness. To lay claim on EVERY blessing available to you and your children, it requires CONTINUAL humility, CONTINUAL repentance and learning, CONTINUAL coming unto the Lord with a broken heart and contrite spirit. Surely it is by His design, our Father in Heaven, the Most High God, who has provided the way to become perfect, even as He is perfect.

 

Mom, Dad. How deep is my gratitude and my love for you. I have no better example of humility, of continual refinement, of selfless consecration and love. I love you and thank you for continually looking to our Savior. I love Him with all my soul.

 

I have been praying and talking with Heavenly Father, asking that I may be prepared to be His instrument in guiding a family to the waters of baptism and to the temple. We are teaching several families, and they are incredible. The Fenos, Gloria and her children, Michelle and hers. I love this work. I love these people. I am forever grateful that I can be with you, my precious and beloved family, forever. And it is only by His power that we can. We have been sealed in His holy temple and I so deeply wish the same for these people.

 

I pray for you. For each of you, I commune with our Father for you.  I'm far, but close.

Sister Julia Jeppsen

3-11-13 I'm Training Sister Bell!!! Still in Warrenton

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLE LIZA EMMA and my dear dear friends

Lexi is officially out in the field!!! ..and I'm TRAINING?! AHH!!! In all honesty it's more like I'm being trained. I am so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with this precious opportunity to learn from and to grow with Sister Katie Bell. She's a darling girl from California who is so quick to serve and to offer help to those around her. She's incredible. To think that he is entrusting me with such a sacred responsibility, I am deeply humbled and amazed. I better understand how Helaman must have felt when his father placed in his care the sacred responsibility of maintaining the plates. "And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you with these things which are sacred and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his power unto future generations. And now my son, see that ye take care of these sacred things, yea, see that ye look to God and live. Go unto this people and declare the word, and be sober. My son, farewell." (Alma 37:14,47). Sister Bell has been placed into my care, His precious and beloved child. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are trusting me. Sister Bell will be an incredible instrument in blessing and training future generations of missionaries and bringing generation and generations of people to the truth. I cannot and will not do this without His help. I have no idea what I'm doing, but He knows. I trust Him with all my heart. I'm so far from perfect, I make many, many mistakes. But He is with me and I'm doing all that is in my power to do as He does and be as He is. We are seeing MIRACLES!

I'm still serving in the beautiful Warrenton 1st ward, but with the increase of missionaries, we now have 2 sets of us! Elder Barney (an incredible and humble missionary) and his trainee Elder McLaughlin have joined us in the ward. We, sisters, were moved from our apartment and now live in the basement of the Lubeskies. We cover the more... civilized part of the boundaries while the Elders are out in the country and long dirt roads haha. I'm so happy.

Liza, WHAT'S UP?! Half marathon, no big deal. And you beat Dad to the finish line. I blame Kyle.. haha :) Ok. I have no words for Mary Lake. I'm honored to call her my cousin. I'm trying to imagine her playing volleyball in my mind, and I'm sure that my vision is far less than what she really is capable of doing.

I wanted to share with you this week my grattitude for prayer. I looked up the definition for the word commune. It means to talk together with profound intesnsity and intimacy. We can commune with God! Our Father in Heaven talks WITH us. With profound intensity and intimacy, He talks with us. As I have poured out my heart to our dear Father in Heaven day by day, hour by hour, I have felt Him speaking with me, pouring out His love and wisdom to my soul. I know His voice. He "who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all the hosts therof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and have a being" (D&C 45:1). He is our God, our Father. I love Him. I love His Son, my Lord, my Friend.

LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN

Sister Bell and Sister Jeppsen.. Companions!!!

 

Elder Earnshaw, Cousin to Julia's cousin!! 

3- 4-13 Lay Hold to EVERY Good Thing! I LOVE MORONI AND ABRAHAM!!

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLE LIZA EMMA and my other dearly beloved friends

I talked to Elder TREVOR MONTGOMERY on the phone!! He's not in my zone, but maybe we'll see each other at transfers this Thursday.

 

I am so happy. I love Sister Smith. I love Warrenton 1st. I love all of the incredible people here. And oh how I love my Father and Friend. Without prayer, I would be lost. We truly can COMMUNE with God. [to commune: to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity and intimacy].. I would ellaborate but I feel to share with you something else..

 

I cherish the words of the prophets. What joy and clarity, what peace and strength we receive as we search and study His words. Very seldom do I read the Book of Mormon from beginning to end, but I immerse myself in its words daily. I have such a deep respect for Moroni. He was the very last prophet to write in the Book of Mormon and was a man of many sorrows as he was the only one to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, surrounded by wickedness, cruelty, and darkness. How difficult it must have been for him and for all the humble men before him, to press forward in the work when they knew that their efforts would be lost to apostasy. But they could endure, for their faith was in the future, it was directed ahead of them. He and so many faithful followers of Christ could cheerfully and willingly move onward because they knew that in our dispensation, good would defeat evil, that light would cast out all darkness, that the Jesus Christ would return in majesty and great glory. We are preparing the world for Him. Our efforts will not be lost. These are the last days. We are fulfilling prophesy. 

 

Moroni, with his unwavering faith in that which was ahead, he so diligently and so lovingly exhorts us to "come unto Christ and lay hold upon every good gift" (Moroni 10:30-31). President Riggs truly lives his commitment: "I will come unto Christ and lay claim on EVERY blessing available to me and my family." His scriptures and his studies are centered on seeking the promised blessings from our Father in Heaven, and what he can do to lay claim on them. Moroni's father had asked "How is it possible that ye can lay hold upon EVERY good thing?"  To answer, if we "search diligently in the light of Christ... and by faith [we will] lay hold upon EVERY good thing... In Christ there should come EVERY good thing" (Moroni 7:19-25).

Heavenly Father opened my eyes this week as I was studying the incredible man and humble prophet Abraham. Read with me from Abraham 1:1-2. "I, Abraham,saw.. and finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers... having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to recieve instructions and to keep the commandments of God.. I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers." Abraham saw that Heavenly Father had greater happiness, peace, and rest for him. He looked and his vision was expanded, his understanding enlightened. He beheld that there was far more he could enjoy, far more he could become. He studied and he realized there were greater blessings he could enjoy. Abraham was already a "follower of righteousness" but he wanted to be better. As we come unto Christ, God will show unto us our weakness (Ether 12:27). Abraham desired to be better, to be a greater follower of righteousness, to possess a greater knowledge. He wanted all that God had in store for him. He desired to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace. He humbly saught for instruction, to know what he could do to improve, to grow, to learn. He desired to keep all of the commandments, for he understood that it is ONLY by obedience to the commandments of God that we obtain His blessings (D&C 130:20-21). As Abraham actively sought, he BECAME. He received. He entered into a covenant with Him and took upon him the name of Christ. I've started doing as I have seen President Riggs do. I seek for the promised blessings from our Father in the words of His prophets, living and dead. I saw in his scriptures that he circles every "IF" and underlines every "WILL" or "SHALL." President Riggs is an incredible man, for he is humble and diligently follows Jesus Christ.

 

LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN

 

The Howards!

We volunteer at a food bank every week with some incredible people. This is Andy. He's great

 

 

2-25-13 Trust in Things to Come- Love Warrenton!

DAD MOM RYAN RASH LIZA EMMA and my dear dear friends

 

OOODALLALEY!!!! LIZA'S GOIN TO BYU!!!! WOOOHOOOO HOORAH! Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And WHAT?!?! Trevor's comin to DC??! AHHH! Thats so crazy. Oh I'm so excited. How glorious.

We had a tender little moment at the Whitesides this week. We were having dinner at their house Friday night, when Alexandra opened her email and found that she was accepted to BYU!! I was so excited. I just knew you were finding out too, Liza. Heavenly Father is so good. It is good to "remember Lot's wife" as Jesus taught us in Luke 17:32. Having been asked to leave the comfort of home in Sodom and Gomorrah, she looked back. Elder Holland teaches us that "she wasn't just looking back; in her heart she wanted to go back... she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future... The past is to be learned from, but not lived in... Faith is always pointed toward the future." How blessed are we! There is no need to wish to be where you once were, to enjoy the life you once had. If our dear Father in Heaven so graciously gave to us then, then why would He stop? Trust in good things to come.

 

Incredible lesson with Libby this week. She's what we call an eternal investigator, but we had a remarkable lesson at the church with the Norths (who I love dearly). I love Heavenly Father. Everything happens at the right time. They had been trying to set up a lesson with them for weeks, but it never would work. Surely it was Heavenly Father's hand. He is in every detail of our lives. He loves us. And oh how I love Him.

 

LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN

 

The Whitesides :) I love them dearly. Alexandra got into BYU too! Liza - you should be friends!

Sister Anderson exchange

Beautiful beautiful Warrenton with my beautiful beautiful Sister Smith