Mission Home Welcome

Alma 7:14-15

14  Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; 

for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; 

therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, 

that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, 

who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

15  Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, 

which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, 

yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing 

to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, 

and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. 

*  *  *  * *

Our Glad-iator ;)

Ciao!!! I made it to Roma safe and sound at 8 this morning. Sorry i was not able to call from JFK. We had WAY less time than we thought and then none of their payphones worked. But the plane ride was good and we are now at the mission home. They kept us awake all day to help us adjust to the time difference. I learned that i missed kat by four hours! :( but oh well such is the many sacrifices of a missionary. We got to see the temple and coliseum and the other monument huge thing. I learn who my trainer is and where my first area is tomorrow.

Love you all!!!! Vi voglio bene!!!

I've Arrived!

Rome Airport

Sorella Jarnagin at Rome Temple

Missionaries at Rome Temple

For up-to-the-minute mission play by play, visit: 

http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/

Noble ?

It's crazy my MTC experience is up. I have learned so much and hope to learn even more in the field. I can't wait to go out and experience that... 

also make your guesses on my first area!!! 

Fratello Whaleden guessed Palermo, aka mafia capitol of the world, and Sorella Francom guessed Batti something by Napoli. So that's fun. 

Okay. 

Well, I feel weird emailing on not a PDAY so I'm gonna go write my talk for sunday in Italiano now. But send my love to the children and pray my trainer is kick butt !!!! :) And if you wanna send me some letters to italia, I wouldn't even be mad ;) 

We will arrive in Rome on Tuesday at 8:40 their time... 

but stalk the mission blog for pictures of me because they will be posting them. 

romeitalymission.blogspot.com 

Ps the guy that works in the mail room told me he liked my dimples today and i have never felt more awkward ever... Sorella Tacchi was like way creeped out!!!! Haha I'm gonna be SO awkward when I get home. Brace yourselves!!!! 

Also, do me a huge favor and go to Barnes and Noble and just relish the moment. And smell the books and let me know when Sarah Dessen's new book comes out and what it is called!!!!! 

VI VOGLIO BENE 

Love, Sorella Jarnagin

P.s. thanks for all the love and the mail and the love :) #blessed #thatmissionlyfeisheavenlytho

Worthy of Thy Love

Ciao!!! 

    This week was one of the best yet! We leave for Roma in 4 DAYS. We are all going crazy and getting so trunky from the MTC, but we are managing :) 

    This morning we started off the day by all four of us sorelle in our room stopping for a solid five minutes and just popping the bubble wrap from a package... It was hilarious, and pathetic that now we consider bubble wrap popping a highlight of the week... sigh. #thatmissionlyfe. 

    We had to say goodbye to our favorite teacher Fratello Walden, or Fratello "Whale"den as I may or may not have deemed him and then it may or may not have caught fire in the zone... but hey I think he likes it. How could you not like being associated with cute blubbery aquatic creatures? But I think we are even now,because he guessed my first area would be Palermo, which is the mafia capitol of Italia and the most dangerous area for sisters to serve in the Rome mission... but now I kind of want to go there and check it out!!! haha. I mean, danger is my middle name. So I guess we will see. 

    Another bellisimo highlight of the week was what we call "cat dancing." It was supposed to be kickboxing for the exercise class for sisters in the morning..... but it was TOTALLY cat dancing. Because the lady who teaches it is #interpretive to say the least. Haha. Sorella Crandell and I went again on Tuesday morning and we had to leave early because it made us laugh so hard...But you know what? Everybody needs a lil interpretive dancing in their life, especially if it involves cats.Or at least cat like movements.

     Last night, since I'm now forced to be responsible, we welcomed the new italians into the MTC. There are 2 sorelle and 3 anziani, and only 2 anziani are going to Roma. the rest are sadly stuck with Milano. Sad for them because Roma is amazing. But anyways. They are angelic and so innocent and I just want to wrap them in fuzzy blankets and let them know it's gonna be okay even if it seems SO treacherous right now. Because I can testify there is a light at the end of that tunnel. 

     I can't believe this is our last P-Day in America. It's so crazy. Time flies and drags all at the same time. I remember how weird I felt that first week, and now I am almost done, and headed to Italia. I love the MTC and I have a lot of tender memories and miracles that will always be close to my heart from here, but I am so excited to get out there and serve real humans, real Italians, and bring them closer to christ. I've never wanted anything more in my life!!! 

     Another thing that happened, that was a miracle in disguise, was I lost my temple recommend. And it seems to have vanished in thin air. But one thing that was cool was my new one says "Missionary Training Center" on it. And I think  it is to remind me that even on our mission we have to be checked up on and making sure that we are still making an effort, and maybe even More of an effort, to stay worthy and honor our covenants. I didn't realize how important they were, how truly significant being temple worthy was, until I came on my mission. It's something I think we often take for granted, especially because in Utah there are temples galore. But we need to ponder them, and center our lives on Christ and the covenants we have made to be closer to him. We need to be running to those temple doors as often as we can. The temple has saved my life here on my mission, it is the peace that I cannot imagine living without. and I'm really sad I have to give it up for a year and a half, but then I realized that Italians have lived for thousands of years without one... and now they are getting one!!! And it is so WONDERFUL. So I invite you all to make an effort to attend the temple more frequently, and if you can't, at least to ponder why your covenants, especially baptism, is so important for you in your life. and also, please PRAY FOR ITALIA and that the temple will be complete while I am still there!!!!

But more, just remember that you are loved, and God loves us so much he has dedicated many places we can go just to talk to him more closely. That is pretty amazing!!!! 

    Lastly, a line from Savior, Redeemer of My Soul, has been heavily impressed on my mind lately. "Make me more worthy of thy love."  And this line has been making me wonder, and pray a lot harder, to know what I can do to be more worthy of God's love. What I can do to be a better portrayal of him and his love? How can I change to be more worthy of his love? 

I haven't found an exact answer yet, but I have a few ideas and I am excited to continue to keep bettering myself, but also just losing myself in the lord. The days that I simply thrust everything I have into everything about the gospel, and focus only on christ, are the days I am the happiest, and not worrying about home or my life after the mission or how I am feeling. It's not about me, AT all. And it's not about us. It's about the people who don't know the love of christ yet. and it's about bringing them back. 

In devotional this week, we were learning about being a shepherd and a sheep, and not just one or the other. So we must be a sheep, in coming to christ, but also a shepherd in helping others come back to christ as well. It was awesome!!! 

I love being a missionary and I hope, if any of you get the oppportunity to serve, that you do not pass it up and you take it despite how scary or daunting it may be. The lord will BLESS you out the window for coming. But also, you have the choice to make it whatever you want. You can make it bad, and sad, and painful if you choose to just think of home and all the things that aren't happening and all the people you miss, or you can choose to let that go, put your life in the lord's hands, and work to serve his children. and then I can promise that his hand will be in your life, always guiding you towards happiness. and always have hope for the best. Even when things don't work out how you wanted or how you hoped, then have hope still, because you know that it wasn't the best. And you know that God is still leading you towards that. 

I love you all, and thanks for all who have written me! Your mail has helped me get through some tough days. 

Arrivederci!!! See you in Roma. I will be emailing again in 2 Mondays with all the scoop of real mission life in Italia. 

I love you all. Stay true, and remember how much you are loved and are prayed for!!! 

Sorella Jarnagin

1. Savior, Redeemer of my soul,
Whose mighty hand hath made me whole,
Whose wondrous pow'r hath raised me up
And filled with sweet my bitter cup!
What tongue my gratitude can tell,
O gracious God of Israel.

2. Never can I repay thee, Lord,
But I can love thee. Thy pure word,
Hath it not been my one delight,
My joy by day, my dream by night?
Then let my lips proclaim it still,
And all my life reflect thy will.

3. O'errule mine acts to serve thine ends.
Change frowning foes to smiling friends.
Chasten my soul till I shall be
In perfect harmony with thee.
Make me more worthy of thy love,
And fit me for the life above.

i am totally blurry in this, but hey. here is my cute district and fratello whaleden :)

Impressions...

We only have one PDAY left in the empty sea, then it's off to Roma. I'm stoked, as the hipsters say. 

This past Domenica I was assigned to be Sister Training Leader along with Sorella Lo Russo, who is one of the Milano sorelle. We are loving it, but we hate toting around the ghetto flip phone they give us to call the front desk, and so it's like hot potato each night as we swap it, and we always just frown at the other when we have to exchange it. Haha it's the best.

One of the highlights of the week was doing impressions of our teachers, which I will have to send pictures of next week. For Fratello Sloan, Sorella Tacchi and I put on our grey cardigans and scarves as ties and we imitated him always tripping over the garbage can and blurting "mamma mia" or "caspita".. and Fratello Walden always says "molto bello" in like this sort of deep California bum voice.. haha it's funny. and for Sorella Francom we just put our hands on our hips and said "Anziani!!!!!" and played with our "bangs" alot... good times. They were enthused with our on point impressions...at least on the outside.

During lunch last week I found an ENTIRE dead moth in my salad. and I had already eaten a bit of the wing!!!! EW EW EW EW. I've decided now I am only eating pb & j until Roma because the food here is just too big of a risk.. 

Well. One last thing I'd like to share is from Alma 26: 30-31. these scriptures have helped me remember why i am out here doing this very hard thing. 

" And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us." 

One soul. That's what is important. Even if it's just one soul. One soul would make my entire mission worth it, to bring them back into the light. Even if that one soul is me. 

I love you all, and I hope you have a good week. Remember to do your best and don't let things get you down. have faith in the Lord, because he will ALWAYS be with you, so reach out to him. 

Love, 

Sorella Jarnagin

Here are more photos!!! 

we ripped up the photos of sorella tacchi and the terrible soul who dear janed her... poor guy. 

we got to sign a beam that is going in the new MTC building!!! kewllllll 

Ti voglio bene!!!

this is a picture that explains life at the empty sea.... yup. 

sorella crandell and i were opposite matching... excuse my face no one knows why i'm making that expression. ;) 

Monument to Hope, Reminder of War

Ciao Tutti!!!! 

Mamma Mia this week was a crazy crazy CRAZY CRAZZZYYYY Train of a week. It has flown by, but not without smashing us to bits first.. 

Was that a little too bold? I'm sorry. Let me explain... 

I guess this week could be deemed the "trail of tears" because i feel like every day since last P-Day tears have been shed, both for happiness and misery. 

On Saturday, we all watched the morning session of conference, and BOY. B-O-Y. Was that the most spiritual session of conference i've ever witnessed in my entire LIFE. #blessedtobits... But really, it was so spiritual!!! But my favorite moment of that day was when good ole Mo Tab sang "Come Thou Font" and i lost it. It felt like my soul was trying to rip itself from out of my tired missionary body. But what really made me lose it was that shot of that man crying in the choir. I just felt very human and vulnerable in that moment, and it made me realize that life is short. It is too short not to feel all that we can feel, because something about mortal feelings interloping with spiritual feelings can cause one to lose their mind, but in a good way. And during that song I glanced at the other Sorelle, and all four of us were in tears!!! They were just streaming down our cheeks and we were all  volcanoes of emotion. Yikes. Poor Anziani. They had no idea what was wrong. Or, more like what was right with us. It was a very tender experience. 

I LOVED Uchtdorf's talk, hence where i got my subject line for this week. It was when he was talking about scars, and that church and the burnt stones still embedded in the new stones. And that was maybe my favorite line from his whole talk. How scars are "a monument to hope, and a reminder of the war." That STRUCK MY SOUL, people. Because having scars is NOTHING to be ashamed of. They are the things that will make us stronger, because they remind us of where we have been, and where we are going, and how FAR we HAVE COME!!!! I'm sorry for the caps, but I have to just sort of SCREAM things because I can't in real life to you, so caps is a close second. Aka, if all you read are the caps, then it's okay. 

And then Papa Jeff, as one of my weirdie MTC teachers called him once, got up to wrangle the entire thing all into a nice neat box of wonderfulness. Yes, Elder Holland is also one of my faves, but he just hits you so hard, and so lovingly all at once. My favorite line that has been sticking with me the longest, is "Don't let tomorrow destroy today." but also "Tomorrow is ultimately going to be magnificent. Why? Because the Lord WANTS IT TO BE." He wants us to have a magnificenttomorrow. He wants us to be HAPPY. Don't ever think God doesn't want that for you. HE DOES. But you have to want it to. He will never obstruct your agency. If you don't want good things too, he isn't going to force them on you. But he wants good things for you. But that doesn't mean those good things won't start out as hard things, and maybe even the hardest things you have ever done. But boy, are hard things WORTH IT. So just forget yourself and go to work!!! Follow those dreams and don't think you can't have them, because God wants you to have the good things you want!!!! 

Which brings me to Donald L. Hallstrom's talk. That one was molto molto bellisimo as well. But he quoted Elder Holland in his and  he said "you can have what you want, or you can have something better." I LOVE that. Because we have to realize the things God wants for us, are like 2.0 versions of the things we want for ourselves. How AWESOME is that?! He will always up the ante and make the things we want even greater. I love that about our kind loving padre celeste. 

Devotional on Tuesday was bellisimo. Hence why so many tears were shed.... it was Ian S. Ardern who is a seventy and the Phillipines area presidente i believe... his talk was awesome. just on being the best missionary you can be. but the funniest thing that happened was a BAT was flying around the gym during it, and finally he just stops his talk and says "I see I have a little competition," and we all just busted up laughing. He was one of the funniest general authorities i have heard here at Spiritual Boarding School, and so it was awesome. 

But then after the devotional, we had a district review. and fratello donahoo who is one of our branch peoples told us something really awesome that resulted in happy tears. 

Last week at TRC, where we teach members in italiano, we taught a legit Italian couple from Milano!!! And i bore my testimony to them about my love for jesus christ, in my sad baby italian, and sorella tacchi and i just were very simple but honest in our testimonies. and then she (sister simone) was a patient at the dental school where fratello donahoo  oversees, and she was apparently really impressed with our baby italiano and our lesson!!! and so we were really excited about it. because it was nice, really nice, to know that we made that much of an impact on a real person. so we were excited..  

of course all good things must come to an end, as we have been sort of lost when it comes to teaching our investigator Gennaro, and Fratello Sloan (who acts as Gennaro) noticed big time and kind of called us out on it, but we needed it. we needed to realize that were were sort of drowning in the very shallow water of maybe fear as well as getting lost in the muddle of things, and now we are working on how to come back and how to help each other not fall down again. but we are always picking ourselves back up and that is what matters!!! And we are both committed to putting our WHOLE hearts into teaching, well, being good vessels for the spirit to teach from, despite the inadequacy and others things we feel. But we are both so grateful those things happened so we could improve and pull it together before we head to Italia. 

Also, Elder Kearon, the man who spoke on refugees in conference, is Sorella Tacchi's best friend's dad! So it was hard for her to hear him speak (homesickness is real) but it was so good! I thought he did awesome! And that talk is going to really apply to us in Italia because there are tons of refugees there. I can't wait to serve them however i can. Go listen to it if you need to spark up more of a desire to serve others!

And on the brightest side of all, (NOT) Sorella Tacchi opened up her email this morning, and found a nice little gem from a terrible soul named Steve. I hope you all find him and egg his house, because he dear Janed her and it was not sublime at all. And her best friend is getting married soon, so it's been a rough go for her today. Luckily she met a cute elder going to California, so maybe things really do happen for a reason!!! #therearenoaccidents. but it was pretty sad.. and also i think Elder Ardern jinxed all of us because he talked about how things are going to still happen while we are gone. And how we won't get that letter or email we have been waiting for, that our parents may disown us and our pet chicken might be eaten by a wolf... okay not that extreme but it kinda felt like that for a minute.

Hahahaha. Mission life is the best..EVER. Literally it's awesome. Things are so funny even when they are so sad!!! But i love being a missionary and I LOVE the gospel!!! I am SO HAPPY despite what a lot of you might be thinking right now. The mission is already one of the greatest highlights of my life. 

Remember who the dark things are from (satan) and who the light is ALWAYS from (christ) 

It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy? -JSH 1:20 

Ti voglio bene!!!! 

Sorella Jarnagin 

PS, if you want to write me but don't wanna post it (send it, sorry the brit is rubbing off on me), go to dearelder.com and i get them the same day! It's lovely to get letters from all my peeps!!!! <3

That one time we both looked classy, so we took a pic to monument :))))))))

"It's a plane! IT's a bird!!! IT's.... nothing. We were just posing." Also, that isn't a gang sign. Just an MTC inside joke... refer to page Flirty Three, I mean Thirty Three, of the mission handbook. 

(We flash that sign whenever there is apparent flirting happening. IT's a blast.) 

"Hey boys, we are the sisters-- can't you tell????...." 

I'm legit now!

in the main hall at the lovely MTC we found a picture of Sorelle! That means they are totes Italiano even though there wasn't a label. 

Ciao!!!!

Sorella Tacchi and I with Elder and Sister Vinson, both fans of good ole Monroe Utah!!! Love you all!!! (and yes I was having a bad hair day, thanks for noticing)

Hey look! I am related to him!!! This picture of me is pretty lerpy but whatever. the good news is is that Jacob Hamblin has a building named after him at the MTC along with other legit missionaries like Parley P Pratt! So we are in good hands here. Love all of you. 

Wake Up The World (March 31)

Buongiorno darling people of earth, 

This past century, I mean week, was full of crazy things like always. I have learned that missions themselves are bipolar, and we as missionaries are really not. It's just that we experience so much in just one day that it feels like a month's worth of real time experiences, if that makes sense. 

Yesterday we hosted the newborn baby missionaries and helped them get thrown on into the tornado of tasks and schedules that the MTC consists of. That was a real party. And I accidentally made the comment: "Yeah, it's okay to cry a lot at the MTC. It's pretty normal. Everybody does it..." and then this sister just looks at me horrified, with like this look of panic... so then i tried to shake it off and pretend I was joking, but I so was not. Haha. But that's okay. 60.3 percent of the tears shed here are from the spirit or happiness, etc. 

On Easter Sunday, we got to hear from M. Russell Ballard. It was really cool. He told the story of his grandfather seeing Jesus Christ, which I had never heard before, and afterwards the choir director told us how lucky we were to hear the personal account from an apostle of God, and not just the scripted version. So that was pretty touching. 

Then on Tuesday night for devotional we got to sing "Praise to the Man" in the choir. And boy that was a crazy experience!!! During the rehearsals before the devotional, the Choir director who is the most legit ever, told us that the line "wake up the world...." something something was the line for us as missionaries. That that is what we are doing when doing missionary work. We are waking up the world!!! So that hit me pretty hard. It was really cool and I can't explain what it felt like to sing that with 500 other missionaries, but it was bellisimo. 

And the speaker for the devotional was Elder Vinson of the seventy whose son went to South Sevier! Jaryn, that one's for you!!! :) So after sorella Tacchi and I went up and shook his hand and I told him I was from Monroe and that I kind of knew his son, and so they wanted to get a picture with us to send home!!! and while waiting to take the picture we got to talk to the MTC first lady, aka the president's wife, Sister Burgess, and she is from Richfield!!! Haha pretty crazy!!! Proof that cool people can be sprung from the little green valley. 

But Elder Vinson spoke on exercising faith, and it was just what I needed to hear. How we need to act, and not be acted upon. So remember that if you want answers to your prayers, you have to have faith that they will come, and you have to act and keep acting on that faith, in order to receive answers. 

Io so che Gesu Cristo e il Figlio di Dio.

I love Italian and I love my mission so much already. Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't get discouraged at least 327 times a day, mostly with not being able to just be fluent in Italiano already... but hey it is coming along!!! A few more bits of understanding trickle in every day. 

Ps sorry if I say some weird British phrases like bit, Sorella Tacchi is certainly rubbing off on me!!! But I got her to say lerpy, so it's a win win thing:) 

Congrats on your competition Hoper. I know you did so awesome. And thank you for all the mail and letters everyone has sent it literally makes my life each time!!! Keep writing though! and I promise i am slowly but surely writing everyone back as I get time!!! 

I love you all, and remember to watch General Conference this weekend, and to watch with questions in mind so they can be answered!!! 

Keep exercising faith and know that you are loved infinitely!!! I love hearing from each one of you!!! But like if you wanted to write me letters I wouldn't even  be mad... Just sayin.

Now, on to a funny moment of the week:

Anz Ridd e Anz Hansen had a staring contest for so long they both started crying. so they spent the rest of daily planning just wiping their tears away... see people cry at the MTC from staring contests not just the sadness in their hearts. 

Have a good week!!! 

Sorella Jarnagin