Hey everyone back home! hope you are doing well. This past week has been pretty crazy, but good none the less. It is especially crazy how fast time has been flying. This whole week seems like a blur. This past week, we had the opportunity of meeting several really awesome and promising investigators. One of them is the girl friend of a brother that we recently reactivated. We have only taught her twice so far, and she loves everything. She came to church yesterday with her two children and loved it as well. this investigator has been one of the most prepared to receive the gospel that I have taught yet. We are excited to help her to progress. She is awesome. We have also recently started teaching some partmember families as well who have a lot of potential. This past week, has been crazy with a lot of administrative things that have popped up as well. Our mission President was on another island for a few days, and right after he left there were a couple of things that took up a little of our time. This past week, I also had the opportunity of attending Grandpa's brother's funeral. At the funeral, I was really able to appreciate all of the knowledge that the restored gospel has given to us about the plan of salvation, and what truly happens after death. It was also really neat to be able to meet so many of my Jamaican family. I never knew there were so many Nugents haha. It really was a cool experience, and I found out that I live right next to some of my second cousins who we will try to teach. It was also really awesome to be able to see Grandma and Grandpa again. I always love seeing them. I dont have much time to email today, but it really just feels very strange now that time is winding down a little bit. I don't think about it much. and I dont really want to. Well I love you all back home

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! greetings once more from the beautiful island of Jamaica. This past week has honestly been a blur, time is going by double the already fast pace that it has been going. On Tuesday, we had several really awesome lessons. In one lesson, we taught one inactive lady and her two active teenage children. It was a very tender lesson. The inactive mom has been inactive for years, but she cares so much for her children, and she sends them to church each week. In the lesson, this lady's children, bore powerful testimonies about how much the gospel has blessed their lives, and about how much they want their mom to come back. The Spirit was there very powerfully, and the mom started to cry, and agreed to start coming back. It was just awesome. This week, we have also found several promising investigators. We are teaching a couple of college students, and another lady who was a referral from a member in Spanish Town. The Lady who was a referral, is very excited to learn about the gospel. She recently lost her 10 month old baby, and is searching for peace and healing. In the first lesson we had with her, she agreed to be baptized on September 28. We also taught this guy preparing to be an electrical engineer, and had a powerful lesson with him. He felt and recognized the Spirit, and is so excited to learn about the gospel and read the Book of Mormon. This week, my testimony on receiving revelation through the Book of Mormon has definitely increased as well. I had a pretty neat experience in reading from Alma 32 where I was able to gain a lot of additional insight and understanding. I have read this chapter more than almost any other chapter in the Book of Mormon, and yet I was able to learn things that I had never before learned. It was awesome. Well, I am very excited for the upcoming week, our investigators who were suppose to be baptized this week encountered some opposition, and will be baptized sometime in the next few week(s). Please pray for them. I love you all. Till next week,

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! I hope everything continues to go well wherever you may be. Good luck with school to everyone who will be starting soon. Well... where to begin. This past week has been pretty busy. Sadly, a lot of our time was taken up with missionary things such as transfers, and dropping people off at the airport, and moving people into new houses, but we still have seen a lot of miracles. For one, that guy that I told you about last week who was led to the mission office is doing awesome. We learned that he didn't live in our area, so last week we had one final lesson with him with the set of missionaries whose area he belongs to. In the lesson, the young mans mother and sister joined in, and as we began the lesson, we learned some very interesting things. His mother told us that she had met with missionaries before not too long ago. She also told us that this young man's father who is currently dead use to investigate the church before he was shot and killed. Then, the young man told us that he had been having dreams before he met us of his father going to our church. AND THEN, he told us that he remembered seeing a Book of Mormon in his fathers dresser before he died. AND THEN, he started asking all types of inspired questions like where his father is now. needless to say we were overjoyed and excited to see a small part of how much the Lord has been preparing this young man to receive the gospel. But, the story gets even better... Yesterday, he came to church and he bore his testimony in fast and testimony meeting, and in his testimony he said that he had read up to 1 Nephi 13, and he knows that the Book of Mormon is true, and he also declared that he was getting baptized, and relayed to the congregation how the Lord had led him to the church. Now if that is not a miracle, I don't know what is. Yesterday, we also had an opportunity to teach some inactive members. We had a very powerful lesson, and the Spirit was there very strongly. I had met one of the members a few months prior, and each time I met him he was always pretty closed off and didn't show any desire to change. In the lesson yesterday though, both he and his sister opened up to us completely, and we were able to help them set some goals to make some changes. It was just awesome to see how the Spirit can penetrate hearts. Well, that was just a little taste of our week. It really is awesome being able to serve a mission here. I envy all of the missionaries that just barely started their missions last week. The work here is hastening faster then I have ever seen it. It is just an awesome time for Jamaica. I love you all, have a great week,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Greetings from Kingston Jamaica yet again. I know I have said this many times before, but it is crazy how fast the time is slipping away from me. This week I begin my last transfer... Well, this past week has been excellent. My companion Elder Faumui and I have been a part of some really powerful lessons, our investigators are progressing wonderfully, and we are still being led to more and more elect people. It is amazing to see how fast the church will be growing here in Kingston very shortly. This past Sunday, 7 of our investigators came to church again, and they all loved it. We also had the privilege of teaching two lessons with Elder Gamiette of the Area Seventy. Today, we met a man that was led to the mission office, because he wants to start following God completely in his life. We taught him about the restoration, and he agreed to be baptized on the 21 of September. I am learning more and more everyday that this is the Lord's work. I know that the people we are teaching were led to us by God, and that we didn't just find them on our own. It is amazing to see how aware of us our Heavenly Father truly is. It is difficult for me to write about all of the miracles we are experiencing, because we have been experiencing so many. I know that this work is true. Well, this upcoming week is transfer week, so we are getting ready for 13 additional missionaries, so we are excited about that. I love you all,

Elder Nugent  

Hey Everyone! hope you are all doing well. Sorry I wasn't able to email yesterday. We had to take a fridge to a new house across the island so we never took a preparation day. I'm just sending a quick email today though. Everything is going really well over here. We had 7 investigators come to church on Sunday, and many of them are very prepared for the gospel. Currently we have 2 really special investigators who will be getting baptized on the 14th. They are doing awesome. It is so cool to see the changes that they have been making, and how happy they are now. One thing I noticed on my mission, is that when people are truly striving to repent and come unto Christ, many times they will start changing and start living commandments that you haven't even taught them yet. It is so cool. And that is definitely the case with these two investigators. We are also teaching another awesome investigator who spent his whole life in another church, but who is very meek and lowly in heart. At first when we started teaching him, he was trying to prove us wrong all the time. He was very surprised though, when we didn't argue or try to prove our point, but we just taught him what we know to be true and invited him to pray about it. As he has been sincerely praying, he has been receiving answers, and he is making changes and it is just awesome. Well, as I said, I don't have much time, but I just want you all to know that this work is true. I love being a missionary. The work is going awesome over here. Love you all and have a nice week,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! wow can you believe how fast the time has flown? I cant believe summer is almost over. It has gone much to fast. Even though it is always summer in Jamaica I guess haha. This has been a great last couple of weeks. We have been able to see the hand of the Lord in great abundance, and we have experienced many, many miracles lately. The Lord is hastening His work here in many evident ways. Currently over the past several weeks, we have been led to very prepared people who have the means and capacities to become leaders in the Church in Jamaica. We are teaching many investigators with families and jobs and cars and they all are referrals from members and have great fellowship with members of the church. The Lord is just throwing these people at us. I recently learned that Jamaica is getting a stake a lot sooner than we even anticipated a few weeks ago. I cant say much about the details but it is coming! and it is coming fast! Start saving money for a trip to Jamaica. We are working with more prepared people who will be leaders in the Church now than I have ever worked with at one time on my mission. We are witnessing people's hearts get softened by the Spirit over night. For one example, we were teaching the friend of a member about the restoration at the members home. During the entire lesson, the investigator was very hardened and very closed off. She tried to argue everything that we taught her. Near the end of the lesson, the investigators member friend bore a powerful testimony to her about the truthfulness of the restored gospel. The investigators heart seemed to soften a little bit because she stopped arguing, and we gave her a restoration pamphlet to read and pray about and we set up a return appointment. When we went to the investigators home a few days later, we were expecting to be received with the same hardheartedness that we experienced in the first lesson. As we began to teach the lesson however, to our astonishment, the investigator had a complete change of heart. She was very accepting of the things we taught, she had read the pamphlet twice, and she told us that she is going to read the Book of Mormon, and she said she is going to pray and pray until she receives an answer because she really wants to know that it is true. The lesson was awesome! i was amazed to see how the Spirit was able to cause such a mighty change of heart in her so quickly. The member who is the investigators friend was so excited and she had a huge smile on her face because we are now able to teach her friend about the gospel. It was awesome. We have had several other experiences similar to this one. We also had a really cool experience that happened yesterday that i should write about real quick. we had a referral lesson with some strong members who felt very impressed to share the gospel with a family who they are friends with who are gas station owners. The members have tried several times in the past to share the gospel with this particular family, but the family was pretty hardened against the church at the time. just recently, the mom of the family had a brother who passed away, and she asked her member friends if they could do the temple work for the brother because he was never baptized!!! obviously the Spirit has been working in this nonmember family, their hearts are being softened, and we will be teaching them soon! This is an exciting time in missionary work! especially in Jamaica. This was just a few of the many miracles we have been experiencing. We are teaching more families that the Lord is leading us to. Tonight we have a lesson with a 5 person family! who have come to church twice and LOVE the church. we will be giving them a baptism date of September 14. they were already good friends with 2 very solid families in the branch. The mom of the family said she wants to become a member. It is just awesome! This is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Dear friends, family, readers, etc.

 

This has been another very eventful/crazy week, but it has been a good week though. Sorry i won't have much time to email again today though. I will be flying to nassau bahamas in a couple of hours to do a zone conference so we will need to go to the airport soon. I don't know where to even start with how this week went. Let me just put down a couple of thoughts. well, this week we had 2 emergency transfers that we had to conduct, we had 2 sessions of zone conference, our water ran out twice, we had transfer meetings, and we are house hunting. Next transfer we will be gaining 14 missionaries and only losing 2, so we need to prepare to open a lot of new areas. Despite all of the craziness of the week, and trust me it was probably the craziest week of my mission, it was awesome to see how mercifull the Lord has been to us. I haven't been in my area much at all. In fact we have only had maybe 1 full proselyting day, yet the Lord has been leading some very prepared people to us, and us to them. Not only are the people the Lord is leading to us prepared, but they are also the kinds of investigators who will contribute to a Stake. I can definitely see how the Lord is preparing Jamaica for a Stake. Miracles are already occuring. The work is hastening here. One thing I have noticed is when the Lord requires much of us, we are always able to see his hand in great abundance as we rely on Him. It is just awesome. Well time is winding down. It is weird that this is my last round of zone conferences of my mission. I love being a missionary for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Sorry I don't have much time today to email, so this one will have to be pretty short. Everything here in Jamaica is going well. This past week has been pretty hectic and crazy because we had to move some missionaries around and also do a lot of splits with some missionaries for training purposes. It is crazy how fast time is flying by. This week has been especially quick. Currently, we are working with a couple of really awesome investigators. We are actually teaching two families who were referred to us by members! They are really good people, and so far teaching them has gone very well. It is amazing how much more receptive people are to learning about the gospel when a friend introduces them to the gospel rather than us cold contacting them. One thing that I have been pondering about lately is the importance of humility. Humility is when we submit our will to the Lord's will. The reason we can do this is because of the perfect love that God has for each and everyone of us. As we humble ourselves and yield ourselves to the Spirit of the Lord, several things will happen. We will be cleansed and sanctified, we will have no more disposition to do evil, and our very natures will change to name a few. That is the test that we all have in this life: whether or not we will humble ourselves before God and remain humble by obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel. And, when we truly humble ourselves, that is when true joy comes. I know that this gospel is true and that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are all powerful and all knowing and full of charity and love towards each and everyone of us. may we always strive to do their will and follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing excellent. This past week has been a memorable one to say the least. Full of miracles and the Spirit of the Lord. As all of you know this past week was transfer week, in which we had 15 new missionaries come to the island. My companion and I spent much time driving and transporting missionaries and participating in training meetings. Let's just say things were very busy. We weren't even able to get to bed until after 1 am on Tuesday and Wednesday night, and on both of those days we had to wake up at 5 am or earlier. In one day I also drove the mission bus more than 500 kilometers. which was about 9 hours of driving. That is just a small taste of the business of this past week. Miraculously though, everything with transfers went pretty smoothly it was great when everything was finally finished. 

Transfers wasn't the only thing exciting that happened here this past week though. Several other miracles occurred. On Wednesday, we had a very special meeting with all of the 15 new missionaries and their 15 trainers. The Spirit was so strong in the meeting. President Brown spoke, and he shared with us a Spiritual revelation that he received as he interviewed all 15 new missionaries. He turned to 3 Nephi 22:1-2. He told us what those scriptures mean, and he prophesied that the Lord had sent those 15 new missionaries to help establish a stake in Jamaica. He prophesied that within the 2 years of those 15 missionaries service a stake would be established in Jamaica. The Spirit filled the whole room. He said that in the past Jamaica has been barren, but not anymore. A stake will be established. I started to weep uncontrollably. I know that what President Brown said is true because the Holy Ghost bore witness of that to my soul. The work of the Lord is hastening in Jamaica. It will take many miracles, but I know Jamaica will have a stake within 2 years because this is not the work of man, but this is the work of Almighty God. On Sunday, we had district conference in Spanish Town. Over 720 members of the church who live within the Spanish town district assembled. The chapel was not big enough to fit everyone. In the conference, President Brown again prophesied that Jamaica would receive a stake within 2 years. He called all of us missionaries up to stand in front of everyone and we sang called to serve. By the end of the song, everyone in the chapel was standing singing. I could barely choke out the words. It was a very powerful meeting. I feel so blessed and privileged to be serving a mission in Jamaica at this time. I don't want my mission to end. I don't want to leave Jamaica. I know this is the Lord's work. love you all,

ELder Nugent

Hello everyone! greetings from JA. Wow. Is it just me? or does time seem to go by faster and faster every day. This past week has been excellent. We have met several very promising investigators over this past week. We are teaching a family that are good friends with the Browns. We met the grandfather of a girl that we baptized on Saturday who is friends with my great uncle Mipsy. (Grandma's brother). We will be teaching him on Sunday. And we have been receiving quite a few referrals from people who we visit. No complaints there. A little while ago we met a pizza delivery man and he agreed for us to come teach him at his house. He warned us that he lived pretty deep in the wilderness, but we didn't realize just how deep until we went to teach him yesterday. Yesterday we called the pizza guy and received directions to where he lives over the phone. We drove deep into the tropical rain foresty mountains for quite some time looking for this guys house. there was no real signs of civilization and we were driving for some time, when we decided that we were lost and were about to turn back. Just as we were about to abandon our search for the pizza guy, we saw him pop out around a bend in the road on his motorcycle. We then followed him for about another 20 minutes deep into the jungle when we finally reached a little dirt trail that our vehicle couldn't drive on. We parked the vehicle and then hiked the little trail to the pizza guy's house. all in all, it probably took about 40 minutes of driving through the jungle before we finally reached where he lives. It was a pretty cool drive and we had a pretty cool lesson with the man and his family.

Also, on Saturday, we had a baptism! We baptized the daughter of the part member family that I told you about last week. The ones who knew grandpa and grandma. It was a really good baptismal service, and we received a lot of support from members and nonmembers. The girl that we baptized is such a sweetheart. She is one of the purest and smartest little girls i have ever met. The baptism of the girl has done a lot to really help her family as well. We are going to hopefully begin teaching the father of the family who is a nonmember, and the mother of the girl has become active after a long while of inactivity. It has been such a blessing to be able to know and teach this family. I am grateful for this blessing from the Lord.

This next week will be pretty hectic. Tomorrow my companion and I are going to be driving around the entire island picking up missionaries in the mission bus for transfers on Wednesday so wish me luck. I love you all. I hope you have a great week,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing fantastic, and happy Independance day a few days ago. I hope it was a good one. The work is going well out here on this end. This past week has been pretty good and busy. Right now, we are gearing up for transfers which is next week. This will be the biggest transfer that I have ever experienced on my mission. Almost every missionary will be affected because we are gaining 15 new missionaries and only losing 6 and there are a couple of other factors requiring some big changes. Lets just say transfers is going to be crazy. This past week, we had our first missionary leadership council meeting with our new mission president, President Brown. It was awesome. President Brown is a great mission president. We learned a lot about finding people to teach and about how the work is hastening. It was excellent to say the least. Jamaica is definitely blessed to have him. This week has also been busy with transfer meetings, and of course teaching the gospel. Next week will be even crazier though. Because it was recently Independance day, I would like to share a cool quote I found in a talk by Elder Neil A. Maxwell: 

"Brothers and sisters, by divine appointment, “these are [our] days” (Hel. 7:9), since “all things must come to pass in their time” (D&C 64:32). Moreover, though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail.

Recall the new star that announced the birth at Bethlehem? It was in its precise orbit long before it so shone. We are likewise placed in human orbits to illuminate. Divine correlation functions not only in the cosmos but on this planet, too. After all, the Book of Mormon plates were not buried in Belgium, only to have Joseph Smith born centuries later in distant Bombay.

The raising up of that constellation of “wise” Founding Fathers to produce America’s remarkable Constitution, whose rights and protection belong to “every man,” was not a random thing either (see D&C 101:77–78, 80). One historian called our Founding Fathers “the most remarkable generation of public men in the history of the United States or perhaps of any other nation” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Birth of the Nation [1968], 245). Another historian added, “It would be invaluable if we could know what produced this burst of talent from a base of only two and a half million inhabitants” (Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam [1984], 18)." 

I love that quote. I know that we, like the Founding Fathers, have been placed on this earth in a specific place, at a specific time, around specific people for a reason. I know that we have been placed in other people's "human orbits" to be a light to them. Especially in sharing the gospel. I know that me being sent specifically to Jamaica, to be a missionary at this particular time was not a coincidence. I know that as we submit our will to the Lord's will we will be in our intended orbit to light and help those who we are suppose to help. I love you all and I pray for you.

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everybody is doing well! Things are going awesome here. Things are really starting to pick up for Jamaica. The Lord is hastening His work. This has been a pretty eventful week. On Saturday, President and Sister Hendricks flew home after finishing and magnifying their callings as our Mission President and his wife. It was sad to see them go. President Hendricks is one of the best men I know. I have learned so much from him, and he has changed my life. On Friday night we went to the airport with President Hendricks to pick up our new Mission President, President Brown. President Brown is the first Mission President called from Jamaica. I knew him a little before he received his call because he was previously a counselor in the Mission Presidency. President Brown is awesome! He has so much energy and passion and excitement for this work. I am so blessed to be able to work closely with him at this time. On Sunday, he came to our branch, and he gave a powerful talk about the hastening of the Lord's work. He said that when he was in the MTC, Elder L. Tom Perry said that these announcements for missionary work (the age lowering, the changes talked about in the meeting last week, etc) will have at least an equal impact on the world as the First Vision, and the revelation on the Priesthood in 1978! What a great time to be a missionary! Just to give you a small clue about the hastening of the work here in Jamaica, in 9 weeks, we will be losing 8 old missionaries and gaining 29 new missionaries. There is a lot of excitement here. I know we are going to see some huge miracles soon. The work is going well. Currently, my companion and I are teaching a really special family. The mom of the family was actually an inactive member who had served a mission years ago here in Jamaica when Grandpa was still living in Mandeville. She says she knew Grandpa pretty well, and the missionaries even stayed at their house before. A couple weeks ago we started teaching her and her daughter who is 9 years old. We have had some really good lessons with them, and the Spirit of the Lord has been working in their hearts. The mom is now active in the church, and we will be baptizing her daughter on the 13th. It is so awesome to see the hand of the Lord in this work. He works in many mysterious ways, and I am glad to be able to serve Him. I love being a missionary. I love all of you back home. Have a happy 4th of July! And always remember that Jesus Christ is the source of true freedom. 

Love,

ELder Nugent

Hey everyone! Wow, it has been a while. Long time no talk, haha. Sorry about missing email last week. It was due to some unforeseen circumstances. Let me begin starting off with Thursday.... On Thursday (not last week but the week before), my companion and I flew to Cayman to spend a few days doing splits with the missionaries there before we had their zone conference on Saturday. Cayman was awesome! It is like a tropical version of America. It was very modern and nice and clean. And to be quite honest, I was very culture shocked. I can only imagine the culture shock that will come after I finish my mission, haha. On Saturday, we had a zone conference which went well, and then we flew over to Nassau Bahamas. Nassau was very neat as well. It was very different from Cayman, and very different from Jamaica. In fact, If you took Jamaica and Cayman and mixed them together, you would get Nassau. My companion, Elder Worley and I conducted splits with the Nassau Elders until we had their zone conference on Tuesday. On Monday, Elder Worley started feeling pretty sick. We thought it was nothing more than the stomach flu, but it continued to get worse and worse. The next day, we gave Elder Worley a blessing, and then after zone conference we started flying to Miami to head back  to Jamaica, when Elder Worley's condition got pretty bad. When we landed in Miami, the paramedics took my companion to the hospital with Sister Hendricks, and President Hendricks and myself flew back to Jamaica. It turned out that Elder Worley had appendicitis, and he had to have his appendix removed at the hospital. It was really a blessing that Elder Worley was able to be in Miami when he needed to go to the hospital, rather then being in Jamaica, or on an airplane, or in Nassau. The timing couldn't have been more perfect in that unfortunate event. So, I landed in Jamaica Tuesday night and I was placed with the zone leaders here in Kingston until Elder Worley arrived back to Jamaica today. He was in Miami for a total of 6 days. On Thursday and Friday, because Elder Worley was gone, I had to teach the Assistants portion of Zone conference alone. It turned out alright. The Lord blessed me and I was able to get through everything that I needed to. Elder Worley was definitely missed though. I learned a lot from President Hendricks in the zone conference. This was his last one before he finishes his mission on Friday. He taught us about consecration, and the temple, and about our life's mission. It was a special meeting I will never forget. I love President Hendricks. I have learned so much from him, and I am heartbroken to see him have to go. He is one of the best men I know. I am glad that I will be able to serve with President Brown though. It will be great being able to serve with the first Jamaican Mission president. The work is hastening here. We will be having a baptism on July 13. We have started teaching a formerly less-active/part-member family, and we are baptizing the daughter on July 13. I love this work. This is the work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This is the work of salvation for the children of men. I know it is true.

Love,

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your nice summer break. The kids here in Jamaica are still in school right now, so count your many blessings. This past week has been quite busy with a lot of missionary things. Wednesday was transfer day, so it kept us pretty occupied. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we were dropping off and picking up missionaries from the airport. On Wednesday night, we had a departing devotional for the missionaries who have finished their mission. Then, on Thursday, we had our mission leadership conference. Needless to say we had a very busy week.

On Tuesday, we had a funny experience picking up the new missionaries from the airport. My companion and I arrived at the airport Tuesday night at about 9pm, and learned that the flight that the new missionaries were on got delayed for about an hour. At about 10pm the new missionaries arrived (three Elders and one Sister). My companion and I took one of the Elders, 2 Sister missionaries who followed us to the airport drove the new sister, and President Hendricks took the other two Elders. That night, Jamaica was playing a much anticipated soccer game against mexico at the national stadium, which is on the route that we usually take to go from the airport to the mission home. To avoid traffic, my companion and I decided to try to go an alternate way through downtown Kingston near the Cornation Market to the mission home, and the sisters decided to follow us in their car. Little did my companion and I know however, that many of the people on the streets in downtown kingston near Cornation Market at 10pm are either crazy, homeless, or looking for no good. The streets were lined with piles upon piles of garbage, there were many crazy people,  there was a naked man trying to break a brick on the sidewalk, there were packs of wild dogs roaming the streets, the roads were dimly lit, and the new missionaries were on a once in a lifetime ride. I can only imagine how shocked they must have been. But, we arrived safe and sound at the mission home, and explained that that is not how Jamaica is most places, and apologized to them.

This past week had been crazy, and sadly we were unable to do a lot of proselyting because we were moving people around. This week will be pretty crazy as well. On Thursday we will be flying to Cayman to do some training and have a zone conference. We will leave Cayman on Saturday and fly to Nassau Bahamas where we will do some more training and have another zone conference out there. We will then return on Tuesday to Jamaica. We will then be having a zone conference in Sav-la-mar on thursday, and we will be doing our last zone conference in Kingston on Friday.

This past week, I have been thinking more about how much of a gift repentance really is. Repentance and forgiveness is a divine gift purchased for us by the shedding of the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. Without repentance, we would be doomed to despair, we would not be able to change for the better, we would be without hope in this world, and we would only reap misery and despair in the world to come. We would be lost to the heavens forever. Too many times, people view repentance as something bad, or as something undesirable. Sin is bad and undesirable and creates lasting misery. Repentance is the escape route. Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance and the ordinances of salvation is the key to gain hold upon the atonement of Christ the Lord and allow his sacrifice to save and change us. Christ did not sacrifice himself to save us in our sins. He sacrificed himself to save us from our sins and provide us with an escape from our sins. He sacrificed himself to provide us with the divine gift of repentance. May we all use that gift.

Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! I hope everyone has been having an excellent summer so far. It is getting a little hotter here in Jamaica for summer time. It is funny because at the beginning of my mission I couldn't feel the temperature changing for the winter and summer seasons. I could only feel one temperature here in Jamaica, and that was HOT. But now I can feel the seasons changing. I am developing into a true Jamaican haha. 

This past week has been very nice. On Friday, Elder Cornish and Elder Gamiette from the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us. They taught us some very excellent principles that I know will move the work here forward even faster. Both Elder Cornish and Elder Gamiette taught us about the importance of working with less active members and their friends and families and helping them become active members of the Lord's Kingdom as a way to build up the Kingdom and also find new investigators. They said that working with the less actives is the way to do missionary work now. We also learned about the importance of councils in the meeting as well. It was just an awesome meeting. The Spirit was there very strongly, I learned a lot, and we have begun to implement the principles we have learned immediately. 

 Already, we have seen some really great success. We are teaching some more families, and are finding people interested in learning about the gospel and changing their life.  Up until this point, working with less active members was one of my lowest priorities on my mission. Now it is one of the highest. The meeting will change the face of the mission.

 Also, this morning, we had a meeting with President Hendricks, and Elder Gamiette. Both shared a spiritual thought, which taught me a lot. President Hendricks taught about how we need to follow the Lord wherever he may take us even if we do not understand why. We may not understand why He tells us to do certain things, and we won't know until we do them. But we need to trust in the Lord. It is better to walk with God in the dark (understanding)  than ourselves in the light. how true that is! Often times we are prompted by the Spirit to do things, and we don't really know the reason why. But, as we obey, we will later understand. Following the promptings of the Spirit is the only way we can follow God's plan for us. It is the only way that we can be led by Him. may we all listen and obey.

 Elder Gamiette then shared a thought on the Sermon on the Mount. He explained and clarified it in a way that I had never before thought about it. He taught us how the Beatitudes (3 Nephi 12:3-10 and corresponding verses in Matthew 5) are actually talking about repentance. When we are poor in spirit, we are humble. We are brought low because we recognize our carnal natures and our sins. When we come unto Christ, we will be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven. When we mourn it is talking about mourning because of our sins, and we will be comforted as we come unto Christ through repentance and baptism and partaking of the Sacrament etc. When we partake of the Sacrament, we are comforted. When we mourn and repent and are comforted, we will be meek, we will be completely submissive to the will of the Father. We will know that His way is the way to happiness. Our way only brings misery. We will want more and more commandments. We will want to be obedient and do the will of the father. That leads us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We hunger and thirst after the Bread of Life, and the Fountain of all Righteousness. We hunger and thirst after the Sacrament. And we are filled with the Holy Ghost when we do so. As we continue this pattern of righteous living, we may be tempted to look down on others who are not living the way they should. But, we need to be merciful to them and show mercy. Next, when we are pure in heart, we shall see God. Those who are pure in heart are those who are filled with charity, the pure love of Christ. As we do these things, we also need to endure to the end despite persecution and opposition. I know that these things are true. And I am grateful for these truths that I have learned these past few days. The mission is awesome. I love it out here. 

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Elder Nugent here again. I hope everything is going well back home. Things are starting to pick up a little bit more here. This past week has been pretty good. We recently taught an entire family this past week. Yes that is right, a father, mother, and children. All of whom are investigators. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jamaica, this is extremely rare. It is very difficult to find and teach an entire family. The man who we are teaching is a very high ranking military person here. He is a very nice man, and his family is quite delightful. I met them the first time I came to kingston. At that time though, he was preoccupied with work. Now, he is on a pre-retirement leave for a whole year; during which time all he does is stay home and spend time with the family and read. For those of you who know missionary work, it doesn't get any better than that haha. We had a pretty good lesson with him, and we will be teaching him again this week. Other than that, this week has been pretty normal. We had to go to court in Linstead to make a statement for a lost passport... that was tedious. But this last week has been good. This week, I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was reading the scriptures one day, and the thought dawned on me, "If we don't use the Atonement, our Savior will be devastated." I then thought of someone going through the most intense suffering to save someones life, and then the person chooses not to be saved. I imagined the absolute disappointment and sorrow of the person who went through all that he did to save the others life, and then to be rejected. It brought me to tears. The amount of disappointment and grief that we feel as missionaries and members when those we love and serve reject the gospel, is incredibly small compared to the amount of grief and disappointment that our Savior feels, when others reject the priceless gift that is His to offer. Our Savior will do all within His power to invite others to come unto Him. May we be more diligent in inviting others to come unto Christ every day of our lives. 

Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Elder Nugent the first here again haha. Hope everyone is doing well back home. This past week has been pretty good. It has been a little slow, but good. We currently are focusing a lot on finding people to teach right now. It still amazes me to see how much trust these total strangers place in us missionaries when we first meet them. It is pretty cool, and definitely a testimony builder to me that people do recognize us as servants of the Lord. This past Saturday, my companion and I drove all around the island again. A missionary decided to go home 3 weeks early due to some illness, and so we were driving missionaries all over the island to fill in the missing spots. After we were driving for a while, the missionary going home asked for a blessing, and told us that he decided he didn't want to go home, and that he would regret going home for his entire life. We pulled over the car, and gave him a blessing. After that, we called the mission President and he received permission to finish out his mission. When we arrived back to the missionary apartment, he told us that he was feeling completely better. He was so excited to finish out these last few weeks strong. It was a pretty special moment. I really do love serving out here. I have finally learned what it means to have an eye single to the glory of God. It means to have our eye single to helping our Heavenly Father in His work and His glory which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! happy Mothers Day to all of the mothers out there haha. This past week has been pretty good in Kingston Jamaica. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened this past week. I have just enjoyed teaching, and finding people to teach. I feel like the branch is getting pretty excited about missionary work. Members are talking about it more. We have found and have been teaching a couple of really cool investigators. Yesterday, a really cool lady and her son came to church for the first time. The way this lady and her son were introduced to the church was quite remarkable. A while back, the investigator's son's friend accidentally texted a member in Spanish town on the son's phone, and 3 weeks after the member received the text, she felt prompted to call the number. As it turns out, the son who owns the phone that sent the text has been searching for the truth, and for a church for some time. Both he and his mother came to church together to our branch yesterday, and both of them LOVED church. We will be teaching them on Tuesday, so I am very excited for that. It is amazing to see how the Lord places people into our paths to teach. I feel very blessed.I am loving the mission. I have learned a ton,especially from my Mission President. I know this work is true, and that it is the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everyone is doing excellent! I am doing well here in Kingston. This past week has been another busy week, but it has been a good week. On Tuesday, we picked up some new missionaries, and on Wednesday we had a little orientation meeting for them. Picking up the new missionareis caused me to take a trip down memory lane. I began to remember when I was a new missionary and when I was picked up from the airport by the aps and everything was just crazy. It was kind of funny to hear the new missionaries ask my companion and I the same kinds of questions that I asked the missionaries who picked me up from the airport about a year and a half ago. It seems like yesterday I was a new missionary. Time certainly is moving very fast. Currently we are teaching a pretty cool investigator who is a cousin and a grand daughter to some members in the branch. She is very teachable and we are excited to be teaching her. This past week, I have been pondering a lot about scripture study. On Thursday, we had a mlc (formerly known as zlc), and President Hendricks said something that stood out to me. He told us that scriputre study wont do us any good if we dont get the word of God off of the paper, and into our heart. What a true statement! since then, I have read in 1 Ne 8, the vision of the tree of life. In the vision, there are several examples of how we as members of the church treat the word of God. In the vision there are some who cling to the word of God, and after they partake of the fruit, they are ashamed because of the scorn and mocking of the world. Elder Bednar in one of his talks says, "It is significant that the second group pressed forward with faith and commitment. They also had the added blessing of the rod of iron, and they were clinging to it! However, as they were confronted with persecution and adversity, they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost. Even with faith, commitment, and the word of God, this group eventually was lost—perhaps because they onlyperiodically read or studied or searched the scriptures. Clinging to the rod of iron suggests to me only occasional “bursts” of study or irregular dipping rather than consistent, ongoing immersion in the word of God." (Lehis dream: Holding Fast to the Rod). In order to have the word of God enter our hearts we must hold fast to the iron rod. We must allow the word of God enter into our hearts and become a part of us. We do this by applying what is taught in Alma 32. We must experiment upon the word. We must try it out. we must study consistently and prayerfully. we must read and study and ponder and search the scriputres. we must hold fast to them. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have felt the Holy Ghost testify to me that it is the word of God. It has helped me to draw closer to Christ than any other book. May we all strive to allow the scriptures to enter our hearts so we can press forward and partake of the fruit of the atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ more fully. love you all

 

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope things are going well. Everything is going well here in Jamaica. This week has been pretty crazy and busy. Sadly we have not been able to do a lot of proselyting this past week due to transfers and other miscellaneous transfer related things. On Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the majority of the day driving missionaries to transfers, and coming from transfers. Wednesday was my birthday... and you know what that means... flour....lots and lots of flour.... see pictures for an explanation. On Thursday, we had to do some renovations (painting and cleaning) on a house so that some sisters could stay there. On friday, we had to drive all over the island for an emergency transfer, and on Saturday we had to drive all over the island to look for a lost passport. Also, on Saturday morning, Amos Chin the first missionary to serve in Jamaica took my companion and me and another set of missionaries out to breakfast. Amos Chin is originally from Jamaica, but he was out here visiting for about a week. It was really neat to talk with him about the early history of the Church in Jamaica, especially about the missionary work. It was amazing to see how the Lord has prepared people to accept the gospel.

As you know, I have been transferred back to Kingston. It has been really cool and kind of weird coming back to an area that I have already served in. I imagine this is what it kind of feels like coming home from a mission. At church on Sunday it was neat seeing all of the members that I had left behind when I left Kingston about 5 months ago. It was crazy to see the changes that have taken place in that short amount of time. I am excited to get another chance to serve here though, and apply the things that I have learned from my last area. One thing that I really want to improve on here in my final area in my last few months is my prayer relationship with God. Prayer is essential to receive God's greatest blessings, and it is essential to do the work of the Lord.  We must learn to receive answers and revelations through prayer from our Heavenly Father to ever be successful in this life. One thing that I have been trying to do a little more of is to prepare myself mentally and spiritually before I begin to pray. I try to ponder questions I need to ask, I find a quiet place,  I think about what I am going to pray for, I try to imagine our Heavenly Father in my mind. Already, as I have been preparing myself to pray, I have noticed a huge difference. I feel the Spirit more, and my prayers feel more guided. I would like to challenge all of you back home to take serious thought to your prayers, and find ways to improve them. Praying is essentail to keep the devil away. I am loving it out here. Time is flying by too fast. I love all of you back home,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Hope everything is going well! I am doing well here in Jamaica. This week has been a pretty sweet week. First off, early in the week, my companion and I had a chance to give a blessing to an investigator because she was not feeling well. Sometimes, when we would go over to the investigators house, her niece and nephew would be over there. They are 2 and 5 years old and their names are Boombai and Dudus. and, to put a long story short, whenever Boombai and Dudus were at the house, we would always have to stop the lesson early because they are wild children haha. When we went to give the investigator the blessing, Boombai and Dudus were crazy as usual, but as we proceeded to give the blessing, silence began to envelope the home as we all began to feel the Spirit of the Lord, and at the close of the blessing, there was complete silence and peace. The most peaceful I have ever seen at that investigators home. The Spirit was present. There was a stark contrast from before we gave the blessing to after we gave it. Probably the biggest contrast that I have yet to see so far. It was an awesome experience. 

Second off, we have begun teaching a cool new investigator. On our second visit to her home, she told us she didn't know if we would believe her but that she had seen us in a dream the night before we first met her. She said that she saw our same truck pull up to her house in her dream and that she saw us. She described us as two white men (many people in Jamaica still think i am white haha). She said that in her dream we had come to her and taught her. She then told us that in her dream after we had left her, another similar truck pulled up to her house, and there were two different men that tried to take her away and force her into their church. the investigator then told us that she felt that satan would try to attack her after she began meeting with us so we all needed to watch out. What a neat experience indeed!  It was amazing to see how she understood from her dream that satan would oppose her after she began to meet with us. 

Third off, on Saturday, I got a transfer call. I am being transferred back to Constant Spring branch in Kingston where I will be the new Assistant to the President. I am excited that I will be able to serve in that branch again. I feel kind of inadequate to be an AP, but I know the call came from the Lord, so I know that as I rely on Him, His grace will be sufficient for me. I am excited though because I will be able to travel to the other parts of the mission like to the Bahamas, and to Cayman, and to Turks and Cacaos. So that will be pretty cool. I am also excited to be able to learn from my mission President as I work closely with him. So, I will be leaving Santa Cruz on Tuesday evening. I will definitely miss the people here. I have developed many friendships and I love this area. I know this is the Lord's work, and I am grateful to be a part of it. 

Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope things are going well back home! I am doing well out here in Jamaica as usual. This past week has been pretty good. We had a zone meeting in Sav on Wednesday which went really well. We have also had some really good lessons, and we have met some awesome investigators this past week. Yesterday we experienced a miracle. At the end of Saturday, our gas was running low and we forgot to fill it up. There was enough gas to barely get through our scheduled appointments for Sunday. After church on Sunday, we were asked to give a blessing to a member's son who was in the Hospital in Black river due to an asthma attack. Black river is a pretty good distance from Santa Cruz (over 30 km away), and we were unsure if we would be able to make it all that way and back on the limited gas that we had. We also had an appointment that was about 25 km away in the other direction later that evening. The car that we drive is a Ford Ranger and it is not very good on gas mileage at all. We decided to go and give the blessing. As soon as our car pulled into the Black River hospital, the gas light turned on indicating that our fuel was exhausting. We proceeded to give the blessing, which was a Spiritual experience. I love participating in blessings. After the blessing, we started the long journey back to Santa Cruz. The gas needle was halfway on the empty line by the time we reached Santa Cruz, but we decided to drive to our next appointment 25 km away. The whole time we were very nervous that we would run out of gas. In fact, we were sure that we would run out of gas. But we didn't. By the time we arrived at our appointment, the needle was below the empty line. After the appointment, we began the long journey back to Santa Cruz. Miraculously we made it without running out of gas. We drove over 80 km after the gas light came on and we still had enough gas to go to the gas station this morning. Yes, i know that we were unwise in not filling the car on Saturday, but I know that the Lord blessed us to travel all those distances yesterday so we could give the blessing. It was an awesome experience. Well I love being out here. We are working with some really solid investigators who have a lot of potential. Time is flying by too fast. I love teaching, and inviting others to come unto Christ. Love you all back home,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everything is going well! I hope you all enjoyed and learned a lot from General Conference. I know I sure did. General conference is one of my most favorite times of the year now. I love watching and learning and feeling the Holy Spirit. This past week has been full of meetings, so we have not had much time to proselyte. On monday was perparation day, tuesday was zone conference in Sav, thursday was Zone Leader Council in Kingston, saturday was general conference, and sunday was general conference. Needless to say, it has been a busy week. But, it has been a good week full of learning. One thing that I have been pondering about a lot lately is something that I was reminded of at zone leader council. My mission President said that when we learn things at meetings and we feel the Spirit, we need to bind ourselves to act and to change and apply the things that we learn. Otherwise, meetings become nothing more than just spiritual entertainment. As we bind ourselves, and act and repent, we become sanctified- cleansed and set apart. What a great blessing! As we choose to humble oureselves and follow the guidance of the Spirit and bind ourselves to action, we become sanctified, and are filled with joy and peace. I know this to be true, because I have applied this principle in my life. All of us who have watched general confernece have been spritually fed. What better time to bind ourselves to act on the things that we have learned at confernece than now? I know as we do so, we will enjoy a greater portion of the Holy Spirit, we will find more peace and direction in life, our testimonies will strengthen, and we will feel a greater sense of God's love in our daily lives. May we all choose to act and not be acted upon. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! Happy Easter yesterday! and happy April Fools Day today. This past week has been pretty good. We went to Port Royal for preparation day last week, and we had splits with the Elders in Montego bay the next day. We have been working with some pretty cool investigators here in Santa Cruz as well. Yesterday we walked for 2 hours with some investigators to church. it was a pretty awesome experience. We have been teaching them for a while and they have been coming to church (usually by taxi because they live pretty far), but this week they were out of taxi fare. When we taught them on saturday, they were unsure if they would come to church because they didnt have any money. We then taught them about the importance of attending Church, and invited them to walk to the church with us. They gladly accepted. The following morning we comenced on our 2 hour journey to the church. we started walking with them at 7 and arrived at 9, one hour before church started. It was great to see them put their faith to action. I have offered many times to walk with people to church, but rarely will people exercise the faith to do it. This experience also made me reflect more heavily on the great importance of attending church and partaking of the Sacrament and on my own commitment to attending church every Sunday. Our sabbath-day behavior is an outward expression of our commitment to honor and worship God. May we all truly keep the Sabbath-day holy for our entire lives. Also, I am very excited for General conference. I know that there will be a message delivered to each of us for our individual lives by the Spirit, if we will listen with the Spirit. Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey! This week has been pretty good here in Santa Cruz. Time is flying by too fast. I cant believe it is already almost April. That is crazy! Well this past week has been pretty excellent. We have been teaching some really cool people still. My companion and I are getting along great. We have begun waking up at 6:00 now so we can get an hour of exercise in each morning. That is going fantastically. On wednesday, we held a zone meeting in Sav which went really well. I have realized on my mission that I love teaching which is awesome because that is what we do in God's kingdom. We teach and we teach and we teach haha. On Sunday, my companion and I were informed about 20 minutes before Sacrament meeting that we had to give talks, so that was pretty neat. The talks went well and it was a good meeting. Im glad my talk giving skills have increased a little on my mission haha. This past week, I have been pondering a lot on the importance of the principle of remembering the Lord and the great things that He has done for us. In the Book of Mormon, there are many instances of people who remember and also people who forget the Lord. Those who forget the Lord, always fall into transgression and misery, while those who remember the Lord, always walk in rightesousness. As I pondered why that is, I realized that as we remember the Lord and the great things He has done for us, we draw closer to Him. We are filled with greater love towards Him and our fellowmen. We learn to rely on His goodness and grace and mercy in our every day lives. We humble ourselves. When we forget the Lord, we distance ourselves from Him and we strive to rely on our own strength and we stumble and fall. We develop pride. This is why so much of the gospel is centered on remembering God and His son Jesus Christ. The Sacrament, prayers, and daily scripture study, to name a few, are all ways in which we remember the Lord and the great things He has done for us. I challenge everyone to make a more earnest effort this week to remember the Lord and the great things He has done for us.

 

Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everything is going well! this past week has been a pretty busy week out here in Santa Cruz, Jamaica. We just had transfers so Wednesday and a large part of Thursday were spent driving all over the island. By the time I arrive home, I will be an experienced road tripper. I received my new companion on Wednesday. His name is Elder Romney and he is from Washington. He is a cool guy, and we get along well. He only has about 4 months left on his mission. Currently we have been working with some pretty cool people. One day last week, we asked the branch president for directions to a less active member's house. We followed the directions, but when we arrived, we found out that it was the wrong place, but in the process of trying to locate the inactive member we found two really cool people to teach. They are very interested and they are husband and wife, so it doesn't get any better than that. This past week, I read in Doctrine and Covenants section 98. v 11-15 or 16 or somewhere around there. It really stood out to me. It talks about how we need to embrace all good and reject all evil, and how that the Lord will prove us to see if we will live according to our covenants even unto death. It also tells us to not be afraid of our enemies. It tells us that if we do not keep our covenants we are not worthy of Him. Sometimes, it may appear hard to follow the Lord, sometimes it might seem scary to keep our covenants. But we always have to remember that He loves us, and that we must put our trust in Him. And remember that we have to be willing to keep our covenants no matter what, even unto death. We cant be afraid of our enemies no matter what or who they may be. I love this gospel, and I love our savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives.

Love,

ELder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everything is going well. Things are going well over here, especially because I have just recieved news that my brother Joseph recieved his mission call to New York! that is awesome. Well this past week has gone by pretty well. We have been teaching a couple of investigators who seem pretty promising, so hopefully all goes well there. Santa Cruz is doing pretty well though. On Wednesday my current companion will be finishing his mission, and so I will be getting another companion his name is Elder Romney. Yes related to Mitt Romney haha. He is a cool guy, so I am excited to serve with him. As many of you probably know, President Hendricks, my current mission president will be finishing his mission presidency on June 27. The next mission president has been called. His name is President Brown, and he is from Jamaica! He is the first Jamaican Mission President! President Brown is a great guy. This is definitely an exciting time for Jamaica. On Sunday, President Brown paid Santa Cruz a suprise visit. He wasn't planning on speaking or anything, but time allowed for him to give a talk during sacrament meeting because some people didn't show up on time. President Brown gave a powerful talk guided by the Spririt. It was amazing to see his talk address all of the current concerns and internal problems that are going on in the branch right now, concerns and problems that he couldn't have been aware of except it was revealed to him by the Spirit. It was powerful. This experience truly built my testimony stronger that President Brown has been called of God to be the next mission president. Jamaica will definitely miss President Hendricks, but the work is in good hands. It is in the Lord's hands, and He knows who to call to lead His church. Love you all,

Elder Nugent 

Hello everyone! hope you are all doing well. I am doing very well on this side of the world. This past week has been good. Nothing too crazy has happened, but it has been another great week in JA. On Monday, I completed the Margarittaville challenge again for the fourth time. The challenge was a 2lb burger, fries, and a pickle in under 15 min. and it is free. I just love getting free meals I guess haha. Our investigators are doing well also. We are working with a couple of really cool ones, and we are meeting new investigators almost every day. Time is flying by way too fast. I feel like each week is a day. It is crazy. This past week, I have been thinking a lot about the great things that our Heavenly Father has done for us. We are so blessed to know that we have a kind and loving Heavenly Father, who loves us and looks out for us. I have felt His love many times in my life. I have felt forgivness that comes through His Son Jesus Christ. This week, I have tried to become more greatful for the great things that the Lord has done for me, and I have seen a huge difference in my days. I challenge all of you back home to be more concious of the great things that the Lord has done in your lives. Love you all,

 

Elder Nugent

Hello everyone! how is everyone doing? Things are going really well here. This past week has been pretty awesome. Busy but awesome. On Tuesday, we drove the whole zone into Kingston in the mission bus for a mission conference held by Elder Rasband who is the Presiding President of the Quarum of the Seventy and Elder Cornish a member of the Quarum of the Seventy. They held a question and answer session. It was great being able to be taught about missionary work by two General Authorities. After the conference, we were planning to stop somewhere with the zone to eat and then to head back to Sav-la-mar to stay the night because we were supposed to have a zone meeting the next morning in Sav. As I was driving, my Mission President called on the phone and was talking to my companion. My Mission President told him that Elder Rasband wanted to meet with  Brother Banhan and I the following morning. So, I went on a last minute trade-off with the assistants and the following morning Elder Rasband, Elder Cornish, and their wives, and President Hendricks, and President Brown met with the Banhan family and I. Elder Rasband had heard some of Brother Banhan's conversion story from President Hendricks, so he wanted to meet with us and talk about Brother Banhan's conversion. It was awesome being back with the Banhans after being away from Kingston for about two months. As His conversion story was told, the Spirit was very strong in the room, and it brought back my sacred memories of teaching Brother Banhan. Near the end of the meeting, Elder Rasband asked if when the Banhans go to get sealed in the temple he could preform their temple sealing. The Banhans excitedly said yes. We also gave a priesthood blessing to Brother Banahan. As Elder Rasband was leaving, he said that the Lord had sent him to the Banhan's house that day. What an awesome experience! I was touched and very greatful that I could be apart of it. I feel like I dont deserve all of these awesome experiences, but I am very thankful for them. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he guides the Church through His chosen servants. Love you all,

ELder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everything is going well! things are going really well on this side of the world. This past week has been pretty good. we are working hard and we are really starting to help the members become involved with the missionary work here. it is awesome. This week, we spent time doing splits with some other areas in the zone and we also had to go into Kingston for zlc. I am healthy and love it here in Santa Cruz. the people are great and time is flying by way too fast. This past week, I have been thinking a lot about how the gospel is really here to help us become and measure up to our full potential. I thank God for allowing us to come to earth to be tried and tested, to learn and to grow, and eventually if we are faithful become like Him. I thank God for providing us with a Savior to make it all possible. I love my mission. And I love all of you back home,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! how is everyone doing back home? I am doing excellent out here. I am loving the mission right now more than ever. My companion Elder Taylor from San Diego and I get along very well. This week has been awesome. We experienced another miracle. A few weeks ago, we asked a very inactive member who they knew who would be interested in or benefit from the gospel. She told us about a friend that she had named Camile, but she said that she would have to talk to her before she gave us her number. Several weeks passed, and the inactive member finally gave us Camile's number. Several days passed after we got the number, but for some reason, we waited to call Camile's number. Then, on Thursday, we were looking through our planners and Camile's name stood out to me and we decided to contact her. We set up a time to meet with her later that day. When we arrived at her house, Camile seemed very eager to learn, and as we began talking with her she told us that for the past three days, she had been fasting and praying for God to show her the steps she needed to take to follow Him, and that that very same day in which we had called and met her, was the day that she had ended her fast. In fact, she told us that it was about 2 hours after she had ended her fast that we had called her. It was an awesome experience. As we continued to talk with her, we asked if she had any questions she would like answers to. She then said, " yeah, why are there so many churches, and how do I know which church I should join?". It was so amazing to see how she had been prepared by the Lord. I know that this work is the work of the Lord, not just because I have experienced miracles such as this, but because the Holy Spirit has borne that witness to my soul.

Love you all,

ELder Nugent