Hello everyone! whats up? hows it going out there? Things are going good here in JA. My companion Elder Montgomery and I are continuing to be hard at work here in Jamaica. I have been learning a lot from him. He is an awesome missionary. I hope I will continue to serve with him next transfer. We have been working with some pretty cool people lately, and i have faith that they will become converted to the gospel and go into the waters of baptism very soon. Hopefully I will be here when they do. The work is going great though. I love being out here... and speaking of love, valentines day is just around the corner so i think this calls for a special edition email.  The following is a list of the top 10 things i love about Jamaica and serving a mission:

10. Banana Chips.... mmmm so delicious

9. The Tropical climate... everywhere is so green and luscious. there is fruit on almost every tree. it is so beautiful, especially after a heavy rain storm.

8. Riding my Bike.... sounds weird i know, but bike riding is cool in jamaica. It is especially cool because whenever i ride my bike it feels like i am mountain biking because of the rough roads and rain foresty bush that grows everywhere.

7. There are little shacks pretty much everywhere you go on every road where  you can buy almost any necessity like toilet paper, food, etc.

6. Cook shops.... delicious food at a delicious price. Some of the best tasting food and it is very very inexpensive

5. Teaching people the gospel at night while sitting on their veranda. It is quite relaxing and very spiritual.

4. having daily studies for 2 hours. I thought i would hate having to study the gospel for 2 hours a day, but i love it so much now. I am able to learn and feel the spirit and improve and learn to help others improve it is great.

3. Always being busy... I do something every hour of every day. there is really no time for idleness. I am constantly busy. It is exhausting but i love it.

2.  Growing my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love learning about the gospel and strengthening my testimony. I love feeling and learning from the spirit.

1. Seeing people become happier and see there lives change as they apply and live the principles of the gospel. This is what makes it all worth it. Seeing someone before knowing about the gospel, and then watching them improve their lives and become happy is one of the greatest things in the world.

bonus. receiving letters from everyone at home i love that too haha.

As you can all tell i love my mission. i have had many great experiences while here in Jamaica. I wouldnt trade it for anything. i love serving the Lord. I know that this is his Church and I KNOW that he leads and guides and directs this work. I also love all of you back home. And I love hearing from all of you. Feel free to write me a valentines letter... maybe even 10 things you love about me. hahahaha just kidding about that last part. but i would love to hear from everyone. well i miss and love you all... until next week. Likkle more

Love,
Elder Nugent

Whats up everyone?! hows everything going? things are going good in may pen still. This transfer has been flying by sooo fast. not too much crazy has happened this past week. it has for the most part been a pretty calm week. We are still working hard on trying to get our investigators to get baptized. Whenever we get really close, something always comes up though so we have to delay the date. Its kind of rough but it just goes to show how important baptism really is. Whenever someone gets close to baptism, the adversary does all that he can to prevent it from happening. i have seen that so many times on my mission. I guess its a good thing though because when we are tried, and tested, we can truly prove ourselves and grow and become stronger.

Things are truly going well though. I am getting along very well with my companion elder Montgomery, we are working hard all day every day. its crazy that this transfer is almost over already. it has gone by way too fast. I love working with the May Pen branch. Its really cool to see how many of them associate with each other kind of like a family does.

Well not too much different has been happening. we are working with our investigators through all their trials. it is definitely tough, but when we see them make changes and see how much happier they become, I realize that it is definitely worth it. One thing we have been trying to improve with our investigators is their prayer relationship with God. Too many times we take prayer too lightly. We have to realize that we are truly engaging in a two way communication with our Heavenly Father. When we realize this our prayers will be transformed. We will get answers to our prayers 100% of the time. I encourage everyone to read in the bible dictionary about prayer, and evaluate their prayers and make necessary changes. Prayer is definitely a great blessing. How blessed are we to know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who communicates with us.

I know that this gospel is true, I know this Church is led by a true and living prophet of God, I know that Jesus Christ died and atoned for our sins, and for that I am eternally grateful and indebted. I love this Gospel and missionary work. I hope you all have a fun, safe week. I love you all and miss you all. Forget me not haha.

Love,
Elder Nugent

Whats up everyone?! how is everyone doing? I am doing good here in May Pen still. This week has been really good. We have still been teaching lots of people and we have been finding some new investigators, I also had my first zone conference this week so it was cool to see the other missionaries and learn from my mission president, we also had a zone p-day so i was able to play football both american football and soccer football. dang i forgot how terrible i am at those two sports haha. I am getting along very well with my companion Elder Montgomery. He is teaching me the ways and I really feel like i have been learning a lot from him and growing as a missionary. 

This week it really hit me that the reason we do certain things in the church, is so that we can become the person our Heavenly Father wants us to become. This gospel isnt just only about doing, its about becoming. We can go to church every sunday, but unless we go to church with the right intent, the right heart, the right attitude, we wont become the person we are trying to become. The same goes for repentance, If we repent just by not doing the thing bad that we did before, and we dont have a change of heart, or we dont try to become better, it isnt fully repenting. If we read our scriptures without trying to learn and apply the principles that we read about, we arent getting as much as we could out of the scriptures. We arent becoming the kind of person we need to become. With this, I would just like to challenge everyone back home to really think why they do certain things in the church. I would like to challenge all of us to not merely go through the motions for the sake of doing what we are suppose to. But i would like to challenge everyone to do what we are suppose to do so that we can BECOME what we need to become. It is only in this way that we can truly become like our Heavenly Father and live with him some day. 

I love this gospel and I love my Savior I love what they help us to become. I love being out here in Jamaica. It is definitely tough mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically, but it is definitely worth it. I love and really do miss and think and pray about you all. Thanks for all of your prayers and support and love. I really do appreciate it. On the humorous side, by the way, the weirdest things that i have eaten here to date are: 

Fish head, goat intestine, chicken foot, turkey neck, cow foot. hahaha and yes i finished them all. 

well till next week. Likkle More

-Elder Nugent 

Whats up everybody?! how is everything going? Things are still going well here. As you all know, I am still hard at work in May Pen with my new comp. Elder Montgomery aka blackgomer haha just kidding. But things are going good. We are working hard trying to get people ready for baptism. We have a family consisting of a mom and her two teenage children who will be getting baptized next sunday... Yes!. They are pretty awesome. Last week we went over to teach them, and after we were done teaching, the mom went into the house and came back with a rag and some shoe polish and she just bent down and started cleaning our shoes. We then quickly told her that we could clean them ourselves so she wouldn't have to. We weren't expecting it at all so it was kind of awkward and funny and cool to see the love that she has for us, and the love that she has for the Lord.

But on the spiritual side, There is another story about the same lady who started cleaning our shoes. For the sake of this email's confidentiality, we will call her name Shoe Lady. Last week after we had taught Shoe Lady, she told us that a few days earlier, her neighbors came to her house and cussed her out because they saw that she was meeting with the "Mormons", and they very much disliked us. Shoe Lady then told us that after we had left from teaching her, a few days after her neighbors came and cussed her, the same neighbor came and started banging on her door and yelling for her to come out again. Shoe Lady  told us that she just stayed in her house and she said that she just curled up in a ball in the corner and would not go to answer the door. Eventually she got the courage and went to answer the banging. When she opened the door, she saw her neighbor in tears and she came and hugged Shoe Lady and said she was sorry. She then told Shoe Lady, "Im sorry, those guys who are teaching you don't seem so bad anymore. They said hello to me as they were riding by!"

It was crazy that all those hard feelings that the neighbor had against church members dissolved after we simply said hello to her. I would just challenge all of you back home to always set a good example and clarify to people who may have misconceptions about our religion, what we are all about. Your good example will allow the spirit to touch others and help them to be more accepting to the gospel, and to fellow Latter Day Saint members. Well sorry if this email was confusing. as you can all probably tell my literary skills have already begun degenerating haha, but I really do love it out here. Elder Montgomery and I are getting along very well. And my love for our Savior Jesus Christ has been increased. I love this gospel, I love my Savior and I love all of you back home. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I really do appreciate it.

Love,
Elder Nugent

Watah go wahn everyone! hows it going? things are continuing to go well here. I just began a new transfer, and i have a new companion here in May Pen. We get along well and we are harder at work than ever. We are really striving to get the branch more proactive in doing missionary work because apparently 80% of converts are refferals from members of the church. We are trying to pick up a new pool of people to teach, and we are continuing to strive to work out our other investigators concerns so that they will be ready for baptism. This work has been hard physically, mentally, and spiritually, but it is always worth it. Every day i learn a little bit more of what our savior, and the prophets and apostles went through in the scriptures when they went out to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is such a great blessing and I have grown a lot. It is one of the best feelings to see people who have been prepared to hear our message.

This week, I have been thinking more about charity, which is the pure love of Christ. In the scriptures, in Either Chapter 3 or 4 i think, they talk about the love that Christ had for the world. He loved the world so much that he laid his life down for the world.  that love that Christ had is called Charity. In the scriptures we learn that we must have charity to inherit the kingdom of God. If we think about it, If we have a perfect love for others, a love for ourselves, and a love for God, we will never go wrong, So this week I would just like to encourage everyone to develop charity to strive to serve and love others, and i know that you will be happy doing so. I know that you will become more like our savior. I know that this great missionary work is guided and directed by God, I am thankful to be here in Jamaica to serve the people here. I know that I am not perfect, but hopefully through Christ I can become perfect. That is why he died for us. I miss and love you all.

Love,
Elder Nugent

Whats up everyone?! How is it going over in the motherland? Things are still going good here. This is the last week of the transfer. I will be staying in May Pen and i am getting a new companion (Elder Montgomery from vermont) he was my old zone leader and he is a great missionary so I am excited to start working with him in May Pen. 

This week was both good and bad. Good because we got back in touch with a family who we had been trying reach for forever to start teaching again. And good because we are still hard at work here in May Pen and some of our investigators are progressing and getting ready for baptism. And good because it is windy season now so the weather is very delightful. But bad because another family we had been teaching for the past two months just decided out of the blue to stop meeting with us and they dont even talk to us anymore. So this week has definitely had its ups and downs. But thats just mission life i guess. 

One thing I have realized this week is really the need to recognize the spirit in our everyday lives and especially in those who are becoming converted to the gospel. It is through the spirit that we are able to recognize truth and communicate with our heavenly father. In Ephesians we learn the fruits of the spirit which is peace long suffering, temperance and there are some more but i dont have time to look up the scripture at the moment. it is important that we recognize these feelings as the spirit. 

An interesting thing happened a few weeks ago. We were teaching an investigator and we asked if she ever recieved an answer to her prayers. she said no. we then taught her what the spirit feels like and she said that she had felt those feelings in the past. She said she just thought that it was her "heart working". we then asked her when she had felt those feelings. she replied that she felt them in the past during certain lessons with missionaries, when she read the book of mormon in a quiet place, and when she knelt down with some other missionaries and prayed with them. 

It is interesting that at times we confuse the spirit with just our natural feelings. One thing that i know is that the promptings of the spirit are definitely a different feeling than those natural feelings that come in our everyday lives. It always comes to bear testimony of the truth, to comfort us, at guide us at critical times in our lives. It is important that we recognize the spirit in our every day lives. Things to help us recognize the spirit and have it with us are prayer, scripture study, church, fulfilling our callings, loving and serving others, etc. I challenge each of you to truly strive to live by and recognize the spirit more frequently in your every day lives. I know that this gospel is true. I am privleged to be serving here in Jamaica, I have truly learned to love and serve others. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer. I love being here and i love this work. 

Love,

Elder Nugent 

Mi Deh Yah everyone. Sorry i havent been able to email in the past couple weeks. I am alright though. All the email places have been closed on preparation day for about the past two weeks due to christmas, boxing day, and new years. But i am doing quite well here in Jamaica.we have two more people who have baptism dates so hopefully they will follow through with their commitments and enter into the waters of baptism next month. Christmas was great though. We had a little Christmas program with the mission, so it was cool to see all the other missionaries who are serving in Jamaica.

I have had many little adventures since my last email. Even today I helped a family kill and pluck their chickens. it was quite intense to say the least. pictures will come next week.

As we are coming up on the new year I have been thinking of different resolutions that i can work on not only on my mission, but when i get back from my mission as well. One important thing i have learned while on my mission is the importance of fulfilling my duty as a member of the church through doing my best in all my callings, home teaching, and service to others. I never really understood the importance of home teaching and church callings till I began my mission. It is so important for us as members to follow the example of our savior by doing our duty to help and serve others. When we do not do our best in our callings, others will suffer and possibly fall away into inactivity from the church, and it will be partially our fault. There are definitely negative consequences from not doing our callings and responsibilities in the church, not just on those who are hurt by our lack of dedication, but we will face consequences as well. When we do our duty in the church however, we are greatly blessing the lives of others, as well as our own life. We will have the spirit of the Lord with us more, we will become true disciples of Christ, we will be able to deal with challenges and temptations with more strength in our daily lives, and we will be serving our God and our Fellowman. What a great blessing Church callings are! we should not view them as something negative, but we should view them as blessings that come from being members of God's kingdom on earth. As the New Year has just begun, I challenge all of you to fulfill your church callings with more purpose of heart. Serve others and the Lord with all your heart might mind and strength. Doing so will be such a great blessing to you and to others. I bear my testimony of the truthfulness of this Gospel. I know that Jesus Christ came, suffered, and died for us. Let us show our thanks and our dedication to him by serving him and others more faithfully. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.