9-17-12 Powerful Word of Wisdom/ Always Reach Heavenward

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLEY ELIZA EMMDONG... and guests :)

Another GLORIOUS week!

I love our Father in Heaven!! Sister Carter and I were really sick - and I am so very grateful! What a blessing it was that we were sick together, that we had the chance to bond with one another in unity, to suffer and endure with one another through complete exhaustion and sickness. I love her so much! It was wonderful

We had a miraculous lesson with the Seipels this week. We have been preparing for this lesson with the Seipels for weeks, studying, praying, practicing, and fasting - for we knew that the Word of Wisdom would be a very pivotal lesson for them, as we were anticipating the large possibility of getting screamed at and kicked out of their house. It was marvelous to witness the matchless power of God in EVERY aspect of the lesson! God made it possible for us to go to heir house earlier in the day to help Sharon clean out the kitchen and refrigerator. She opened up, saying it was time for a fresh start as we threw out food expired 4 years ago, when her son Sam died!!!  The house hasn't been cleaned since Sam passed away... and they have 10+ pets... Then our fabulous ward mission leader - Brother Stark (who's wife is from Boulder City!! - they're going to be visiting next month, so I gave them our address and number :D Expect a visit) had been insisting on meeting them, so we invited him and his wife to join us for the lesson, which surely was divinely arranged. The lesson was remarkable. We went into the lesson, handing everything over to God, having done all that we could, trusting in Him completely. We had no fear. God was with us, His angels were before us and round about us, bearing us up. And we knew that He would give us the words. And He did. He did not fail us. I wish I could explain everything that happened in that lesson, I wish you could have experienced it with me. But it was absolutely incredible. As we leeway-ed into the Word of Wisdom, it was as if Sharon's tongue was tied. We were able to teach John the entire thing, and he was so excited! He's been reading the Book of Mormon, he's been praying, and as we taught him this precious commandment, he eagerly and faithfully committed to changing, to living this law - even tho he knew it would be hard. Then when we turned to Sharon, to ask her if she would live the Word of Wisdom - it was as tho there had been a fog over her mind for those few minutes. She didn't remember any of it! She started yelling at us, asking us why we would bring this up all of the sudden and why we were attacking her - accusing her of drinking alcohol while John has his coffee addiction. She thought we had been talking to John behind her back, that we had been plotting against her. We were all caught a little of guard, John, Angela, Brother and Sister Stark, and us. Everyone assured her that we had just talked about this with John, that this was the first time we had ever spoken of it with him. It was crazy. And then we asked John if he would like a priesthood blessing - and he did! He lit up when we told him that he could hold God's power too, that he can bless his family and others too after he is baptized. Then Angela asked for one! She wanted a blessing so that she can know which church to be baptized in. Sharon refused. But oh how miraculous that lesson was!! There are like a million more crazy miracles God performed for that lesson too, but too little time to write them. When we got into the car, Sister Carter and I crashed. We were so weak and exhausted, our sickness bearing down heavily all at once - it was wonderful! We didn't feel sick at all through the whole thing. God is so glorious, so powerful, so merciful, so wise! I love Him with every fiber of my being.

Have I told you about Chris and Adam? (Chris Borg and Adam Pollard) They are simply wonderful. They are these two 18/19 year old boys, recently out of high school. One day, we felt impressed to go to our dinner appointment early. We did, and we found Chris across the street, watering his lawn. He was great. We set up a time, and we've been teaching him and his best friend ever since. They've come to church and have been fellow-shipped into the ward so beautifully. I love our ward! The members are fantastic. The ward had gone into a lull, where they lost their missionary focus for a few years. But its been so cool to see them change! The entire ward has just become so missionary work focused! I love them so much!! We taught them the Word of Wisdom this week too, and its wonderful to see just how prepared they are. They have been raised smoking tobacco, smoking weed, drinking alcohol - every day. Its all they know. But its so cool to see them so eagerly and willingly want to change, because they know there is more to life. They crave what we have! We went through and made goals with them for cutting back and they are excited to change. Goodness, they are great! I love them! And God loves them so much, I can feel it. Its so powerful!

Ray Royal was baptized :) And we got to go through the temple with Sister Meier and President Riggs! Oh how I love the temple. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: 2 Nephi 28:20-30 We should never get comfortable with where we are at. There is so much to be had, so much room for improvement. Its exciting!! We should never stop reaching heavenward, stretching ourselves, changing ourselves, aligning ourselves with our Savior. We must never be "at ease in Zion," we must never think "we have received, and we need no more," that "we have enough." I never want to be the person I once was. And I never have to be, as long as I remember! The Book of Mormon is constantly exhorting us to remember! Do not fall back into your old ways, change - and become a new person through our Savior. Don't look back but look forward, look outward, look heavenward.

I love each and every one of you with all my heart, with all the energy of my soul. My precious family, ward family, and friends. 

Glory to God, our Eternal Father in Heaven!

LOVE SISTER JEPPSEN

Goodbye Sister Meier!

Elder Gronning! He's our wonderful district leader and he's from Vegas, from Eldorado Valley Stake!! We love him so much! He's hilarious. He's going to be the greatest Dad.

 Brother and Sister Stark! She's from Boulder City and will be visiting in October! 

Temple with President Riggs. He is so wonderful, and just so powerful! I love being near him

Chris and Adam!! They are GREAT!

                                             Ray Royal is baptized!!!!!!! WOOOHOOO! 

9-10-12 Luis / Jorge near pond / Let's Be Humble!!!

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLE LIZA DONG and all other loved ones

Dad is an Alcatrazian swimmer man!! HOOORAY!! And Liza and Emma Dong are volleyballing winners of sorts! I'm.. so... happay! Ryan... he's a Dentist (flirtatious fat lady despicable metian smile). And Rachelle! Did you shave Chloedogs hair like that?!??! Who did it?! she looks... GREAT! 

Everyone. Spoil Dad this month! It's his month! OODALLALLEY! Birthday boy on Sunday. Someone - tell Kyle to take him on a 51 mile bike ride the day before his day of birth! And quick fetch me a tricycle! 

So I absolutely love Sister Carter and Sister Meier. I'm as happy as a clam! Sister Meier leaves us tomorrow morning tho, to start her second mission in South Carolina. Crazy! Sister Carter and I are going to get bikes tho, of which I am VERY excited!! I've missed my trusty cow. 

Miracles are still on a down pour! I need to tell you about Luis Rios. He's this short, older Puerto Rican man who has lived in New York for a long time before coming here. He is absolutely incredible. We found him tracting and he has been very interested from the moment we met him. He loves our Savior. He understands the importance of doing all that we can do, that we shouldn't passively live our life, but we must actively be seeking to learn more about our Father in Heaven. He's been devouring the Book of Mormon, just soaking it all up! And he is going to be baptized the 29th! Its been incredible to watch him grasp the truth, to see him advance in his understanding of the gospel. He's so excited to be baptized! He is wonderful because he has let God make him into the man he is and he still is letting Him continue to transform him. 

One day, God, being as great as God is, led us to this pond, where we saw this man sitting in the grass reading. We approached him and we saw that he was reading the Bible! It was such a beautiful day and this man - Jorge Campers - was so open and so prepared as he sat studying the scriptures, admiring the beauty of God's creations. It was remarkable. He is so ready! We've continued to meet with him at the pond as we've taught him, for the Spirit is just so strong there. 

In Helaman 12:3-7 it says "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions... they will not remember him." It is so sad to see just how forgetful we are! I do not want to wait to be compelled to humility, chastened to remember Him. But I want to choose to be humble, I don't ever want to forget the miracles I've seen, the promises He's kept, the blessings I've received! It made me think and reflect: What are I forgetting? What do I need to remember? I love personal revelation :) Don't limit yourself, but let God give every blessing He has prepared for you! Do all that you can to follow Him, to be obedient, to ask, to work, to live so that you can receive all that He has in store.

Ashley has gone missing. We can't get a hold of her and no one is ever home... We're hoping she's not back in the hospital. And pray for the Seipels.. Satan's working very hard.

Oh and Ray Royall (from Shirlington) is getting baptized on Saturday!!!!! :) 

Glory to God!

LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN

3 McDonalds Cones

Jorge Campers and the beautiful pond

 Luis Rios is amazing

Sara Muso and her granddaughter from Sudan

9-3-12 Three-some / Ashley / Heavenly Father's Love for us

DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLEY LIZA AND DING DONG and all my other loved ones

Hello! Our new Sister from temple square arrived Wednesday!! OODALLALEY!!! She is INCREDIBLE! And I love her so much. Her name is Sister (Victoria) Carter and she has been out for 10 months or so. She's from southern California and she is simply wonderful. Its been a ton of fun to be working in a three some. I love Sister Meier and Sister Carter so much and I thank God for allowing us to work with one another, to grow and to strengthen each other. Sister Meier gets her new mission call tomorrow!! Craziness

SOOO MANY MIRACLES!! This is God's work! We were stopping by a members home to follow up with her and see what revelation she had received from God for us, but she wasn't home. We also checked on her two neighbours that she had referred to us, but neither were home. As we were walking back to the car, all three of us were drawn to the house across the street. We knocked and spoke with the father of the house, Brian. He talked with us for a few minutes - expressing that he was far too busy to make time for church and he kindly turned us away. As we were walking away, his 24 year old daughter, Ashley Bogle, had ran from the house to meet us by the garage door. She desperately asked us if we were with a church and if we would be willing to talk to her. Let me tell you about Ashley. She has had a very, very hard life. She was just released from the psych ward, having had attempted committing suicide twice, suffering from Bipolar, depression, and many addictions and psychological ailments. She's been in a very dark, angry, miserable state for years and she was reaching out to us for help. She has never been taught about God and Jesus Christ and she craved to know more. She wants to change, she so desperately wants to be happy, and God sent us to her doorstep to help her. We sat on the doorstep and started teaching her and after the prayer, she was in tears. She she felt so different, that these tears were nothing like she had experienced before. It was such a powerful and miraculous experience. God loves her! He is aware of her and wants her to be happy. What an honor it is to be part of this work, to be able to love His precious children. 

The Seipels are struggling. When their oldest son Sam died, Sharon turned to alcohol to numb the pain. And because she is held captive by the alcohol, she and her family cannot progress. Its so heart breaking to see. If she would just turn to our Savior and let him heal her, how light will be her burden, how free from pain will she be, and how great will be the progression of their family! Keep them in your prayers. We're going to bring President Riggs with us to a lesson this week hopefully so that they can experience the power of the priesthood.

Sister Carter shared an incredible quote with us, and I couldn't help but weep as I read. Howard W Hunter said: 

"Our Father in heaven... loved his Son, Jesus Christ, better than Abraham ever loved Isaac, for our Father had with him his Son, our Redeemer, in the eternal worlds, faithful and true for ages, standing in a place of trust and honor, and the father loved him dearly and yet he allowed this well-beloved Son to descend from his place of glory and honor where millions did him homage, down to the earth, condescension that is not within the power of man to conceive. He came to receive the insult, the abuse and the crown of thorns. God heard the cry of his Son in that moment of great grief and agony, in the garden when, it is said, the pores of his body opened and drops of blood stood upon him, and he cried out "father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me..." His Father looked on with great grief and agony over his Beloved son, until there seems to have come a moment when even our Savior cried out in despair, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking upon these dying struggles until even he could not endure it any longer, and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his head,, and hid in some part of the universe, his great heart, almost breaking for the love that he had for his Son. Oh , in that moment when he might have saved his Son, I thank him and praise him that he did not fail us, for he had not only love of his Son in mind, but he also had love for us. I rejoice that he did not interfere, and that his love for us made it possible for him to endure to look upon the sufferings of his Son and give him finally to us, our Savior and our Redeemer. Without him, without his sacrifice, we would have remained, and we never have come glorified into his presence. And so this is what it costs, in part, for our Father in Heaven to give the gift of his Son unto men."

I am so grateful for our Father in Heaven. My heart is so full in gratitude for His infinite love and mercy, His patience and compassion, His wisdom and power. How great is our God! Our Father in Heaven! This is His work and His glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. His whole purpose is for us to be happy, to have a fullness of joy! He loves us, more than we can comprehend. Pray to Him. Glorify Him. Ask for His help and His guidance. What a remarkable gift it is that we can talk to Him in prayer. This week I've really learned not to take prayer for granted. I want to be more like Enos - wrestling before God, praying all day and night, struggling in the Spirit, praying and laboring in ALL diligence (Enos 1). How many of us are praying like this? With ALL energy of heart? I know I have much to improve, and I am so grateful for our Lord, for allowing our Savior to atone for us so that we can change! I love repentance. I am so grateful for it! 

Little Thought: Many people say that they are too busy to learn more, to make time for God, to do the things He so lovingly beckons us to do. Another missionary said that BUSY stands for Bound Under Satan's Yoke. Powerful huh! We should put God first, He should be our focus, our priority. 

Good luck in school this week!! You are in my prayers. I truly do care about and love each and every one of you. I'm so excited that Sister Panda Lake will be with you soon! Love you!

Glory to God!

LOVE SISTER JULIA JEPPSEN

Sister Carter and Meier :)

This is Ashley - she is soooo great!

 I love my companions

Sharon and Angela haha.