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