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