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