Whats up everyone?! things are really starting to pick up here in May Pen AKA the play pen. I have definitely met some interesting people and the work is going a lot better now that Elder Johnson and I are more established in the area. We now have 6 people who have baptism dates for december and january. soon it will be 8 people with commitments for baptism so that is pretty exciting. 

It is cool to see how people who are prepared to join the church have been put in our paths. The other night we saw a mom carrying a bunch of stuff to her house because she was moving and we offered to help her. As we were talking i learned that she use to meet with missionaries and attended church regularly about 10 years ago. I then asked if she would like to meet with missionaries again and she said that she would because she is looking to start over in her life. Hopefully things go well with her as we start teaching her. Things have just been falling into place with a lot of different people so that makes me happy to see. I can truly see a change in the people who we have been teaching and who have been following their commitments. They seem much happier and they start to develop a light in their eyes that wasn't there before. 

The other day I was teaching an investigator about why the scriptures are important. As i was teaching her I likened the scriptures to a map that tells you how to get to heaven. I asked her the question if someone said they had a map for sale that tells you exactly how to get to heaven what would you give up just for that map? she answered me that she would give up everything. I then told her we have the map for free and all that we are required to do is to read it and follow it. I think sometimes we all take the scriptures for granted. The scriptures are truly a map that leads us to heaven and to happiness in this life. all we have to do is read and follow the scripture's council. I challenge all of you to read your scriptures every day. I know i say to read your scriptures in almost all of my emails, but i say it because it is important. 

I hope Thanksgiving went well for everyone I never knew how much i would miss that holiday until it was gone haha. I especially miss the pies. Well I hope to hear from all of you soon! P.S. if anyone is sending me any packages/ letters for Christmas, send them now because I hear it takes about a month for the mail to be delivered to Jamaica during the holiday season. Everyone have a good week. Until next time. Lata

Elder Nugent 

Hows it going everyone?! things are going great here. This week was especially good. up until now we have only had 1 or 2 investigators actually come to church on sundays, but this sunday we had 8 investigators show up. It was so cool to see these people honestly seeking to know the truth and trying to align their lives with God. So cool. I was very happy to see them all come. It was also nice to see all of our hard work every day start to pay off. The days have been flying past sooo fast. I remember saying in the mtc that when you are in a hot tub time slows down twice as much and when you are in the mtc time speeds up twice as much. Here in the mission field time has sped up at least by 4 times. it feels like yesterday i was emailing home. This week was also really special because we were able to teach a really special family who has truly been prepared for the gospel by the Lord. A few days ago we decided to teach the family how to gain a testimony of what we were teaching. Instead, the family all just started bearing their testimony before we even had a chance to really teach them the lesson. And they all expressed their love for us and how ever since we had begun visiting them they had started to make changes in their lives and how they were so much happier and how they love the Lord so much. It was just awesome to say the least. The mom also said they want to join the church so that was just way cool. Well in the spirit of thanksgiving i have decided to make a list of things that i have really begun to be thankful for ever since serving my mission:

1. Washing machines. it is tough to spend 4 hours washing clothes by hand on every P-day

2. Back home we have a church on every corner. Here some people travel miles and miles just to attend church each sunday.

3. hot water. Taking showers in the cold water every day is now probably my greatest fear about serving a mission

4. Being around friends and family. I miss all of you very much and you are in my thoughts and prayers

5. The snow. Yes i said it. I never thought i would. But having snow and seasons lets you see how the time is changing.

6. Lawn Mowers. Chopping yards by Machete is tough work

7. The Hodlin family, The Sterling Family, and Selene who always feed us the best food every week. 

8. The people who sacrificed so much for us to have the Book of Mormon and Bible. People gave their lives to save ours. And for that we all should be eternally grateful. Never take the scriptures for granted. 

9. Church callings. There are not many better ways to really help us truly serve others than church callings. I have learned to truly appreciate people who serve in the church. Be very grateful for your callings.

10. This one I have always been thankful for: the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Which enables us to live. 

I hope you all really think of things you are thankful for. I am thankful for all of your love and support. I really am enjoying every minute of my mission. Everyone take care and have a wonderful thanksgiving. Eat a lot of turkey for me will ya?

Love, 

Elder Nugent

Wagawan everybody!? Hows it going? My stay in Jamaica has continued to speed by... a little bit too fast. I am still enjoying the food and the people and waking up at 6 30 every day and going to bed at 10 30 every night. I never thought I would see the day where I would wake up at 6 30 and like it but i guess now i have. 

We are still hard at work here trying to spread the gospel. Today I obtained my own machette for the very first time. so now i can really go to work serving people by cutting their yards haha. It is amazing to me how the spirit magnifies my calling as a missionary. Before my mission I would not have lasted going out riding bikes all over the place all day, talking to everyone, and serving everyone in the Jamaica humidity and heat. I simply would not have had enough energy nor strength. But being a missionary definitely gives you special blessings. In Mormon Chapter 4 i think it talks about the Spirit of the Lord leaving the people so they had to fight with their own strength and not the strength of the Lord. This means that when we have the spirit, strength can be given to us. I have definitely seen this take place in my every day life as a missionary. Every morning i wake up pumped and ready to go and when I am out there I can ride all day all over the place. 

The work has definitely been improving as well. Right now we have another person who has committed to be baptized, and we are teaching a family who really wants to be baptized and join the church as well. I have definitely seen how the Lord has prepared them to receive us missionaries which is pretty cool. People are still struggling to follow their commitments which is always disappointing but we are still pressing forward and hopefully they will come around eventually and have a greater desire to follow the Lord. 

The transfer is almost over which is so crazy because it seems like yesterday that I first arrived in Jamaica. The people here are still trying to determine what ethnicity I am. I have been called white, chinese, japanese, indian, and portugese. It was funny, the other day i was riding past and i heard a lady talking and she was asking the people she was with if i was white or black haha.  

I am including some pictures that were taken a while ago. One of them is one of the lizards that lives with us. The other two are of the Island of Jamaica on my first day here. and the last one is of me at the airport with a man I met who was a previous mission president over jamaica when it was part of the florida fort lauterdale mission. he said that grandpa was one of his counselors. I forgot what his name was though. It is tough to take pictures, but I promise more will come. 

Everyone know that I love it here in jamaica. I have definitely learned a lot. My testimony has grown, I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I know that Jesus is the Christ, and i know that this is his church. I have heard that jamaica has the most churches per square mile in the world which does not surprise me one bit. I imagine that the conditions here are similar to those of Joseph Smiths time where there were many churches all preaching different doctrines from the same bible. It is sad to see some of the confusion that prevail among so many people. well it has been real. I hope you all have a good week and continue to fortify yourselves against the evils of the world by reading your scriptures daily, praying daily, going to church weekly and doing whatever it takes to draw nearer to God.

Love,

Elder Nugent

Hello everybody, Wagwan? Everything is going great here in Jamaica. we have been finding some pretty good investigators. We have committed one person to baptism at the end of this month. she wants to be baptised in a river so that would be cool if it all works out. Also, we had 2 investigators unexpectedly come to church on sunday so that was really cool. I guess our hard work is starting to pay off a little bit. This has definitely been probably the fastest week in my life. Time has just been flying by.

I am new to Jamacia but I really think im starting to get the hang of things. yesterday I was hit by a car. I was riding down the road and it just came out and backed up and hit me. The bike was a little bent up. the seat of the bike was twisted a little and the handlebars  were shifted and part of the bike where the pedals are located got all bent. but I did not feel a thing. and i just walked away perfectly fine. Either the Lord has been protecting me or else when I get back I should try out for the BYU football team. I think it is the first case (the Lord protecting me) haha. But everything is going good.

I learned how to cut peoples yards with a machette so that is very cool. But definitely the highlight of the week was when Elder Johnson and I met with an investigator that was a referal from church headquarters. This person didnt know anything about the church at first. a little while ago though she was diagnosed with cancer. right after she was diagnosed one of her facebook friends (a member of the church who did not know she had cancer) started sending her messages of healing and messages of the gospel.This investigator then decided to meet with us the missionaries. I feel this person is very prepared to recieve the gospel so i have high hopes for her.

It is cool to see how we can share the gospel online now. In conference we have been told to use social media to share the gospel with others. and this experience with the investigator shows how important it is to reach out to others online so that they can eventually come to know the truthfullness of the gospel. anyways i hope you all are doing well back in the USA. I hope the snow isnt too cold for you hahahaha. I am enjoying myself out here. I know that this is the true church of God. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of all mankind and I Know that the Book of Mormon is true. my address on facebook should be updated now if it is not the address where you can send mail to me is:
Elder Nugent Jamaica Kingston Mission P.O. Box 2316 Kingston 8 Jamaica

Wagwan Papcaun! haha as you can tell ive really been picking everything up here in jamaica haha. I have only been here for a little over a week now, but i have learned so much. For about the first week here i was in culture shock, i will admit it. every morning i would wake up and would ask myself what is going on? what am i doing here? but then by the end of every day being in jamaica would be normal to me. but then every morning i would be shocked again. I think this is because in the day i was adapting to jamaica but at night my dreams were still american. but now my dreams are jamaican. so every day i work up and jamaica has already begun to become my home. I already have sooooo many crazy and funny stories about dogs, crazy people, and the things people think about us. I am struggling a little bit trying to understand everyone but i have greatly improved from when i first arrived here. we have 14 new investigators, hopefully all of them are effective and follow through on their commitments. we have also been visiting less active members and we got 4 less active members/families to come to church yesterday after they hadn't been to church in a month or more. so things are going good here. No baptism dates yet, but we are working hard. It is difficult because many peoples views about the gospel and churches are very distorted. at many churches people "get in the spirit" which means they shout and clap their hands and speak in tounges and run around, so when we tell them about the reverent nature of our church it throws them off. Some people think that it doesnt matter what church you attend as long as you worship Jesus. It is because of this that we always try to emphasize that this is the only true church. other churches may be good, but this church is the best, and it is the only church with the fullness of the gospel. I love the members and the people that i teach though. I will be very sad when I will have to leave May Pen because they already hold a special place in my heart. many members make great sacrifices to come to church. Many dont have cars and they live far away so they use whatever means they can to make it to church every week. there are so many temptations here that can easily beset people. Being here makes me very grateful to have a home in utah. But really we are very blessed in utah. there is a church on every corner, there are good friends and influences all around us. Here in Jamaica it is tough but them members find ways to follow the gospel and endure in their faith overcoming their challenges and temptations. But i am doing good here i am trying to follow the spirit and teach and find people who are ready and willing to live the gospel. everyone write me or dear elder me it will be great to hear from you. The gospel is true and it really can change peoples lives. there truly is a light in the eyes of those who follow the gospel. I love you all until next week,

Elder Nugent