I stepped on a lizard. But I didn´t mean to.

It´s true.  I stepped on lizard and killed him dead without meaning to.  Poor little guy.  The good die young.

It´s been two weeks in one.  The first week was lame.  I was sick.  I started feeling it last Tuesday, but then on Wednesday and on it got worse.  I just had like random little symptoms from everything, like headaches and woozy stomach and super tired legs after doing nothing, so I got scared it was mono, and we rested a lot.  We still went out and taught lessons when we had them and whatnot, but it definitely was not the same rough and tough missionary work we always do unfortunately.  Please don´t think I´m a baby. I just wanted to not die like December of my senior year (Sherlock Holmessss).  So basically all I have to report from those days is that Cristina kind of went downhill :(.  She has been studying lately (like, started this past week) and now is super busy trying to work, study, and I guess she wants to be entertained at times too (I dunno what that´s all about) So she´s been too busy to read from the Book of Mormon and has "otra cositas que hacer" Sunday mornings during church.  She loves us (Elder White and I), so she still wants us to come over, but I think we´re gonna go this Saturday with a member, invite her to church, read with her in Mosiah 18 to show what it´s all about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and then if she doesn´t come to church on Sunday we´ll have to...drop her.  Sad.  But it is what it is. We´re searching for the elect according to Doctrine and Covenants.  

Sunday was cool.  We caught a flightb(surprise surprise) over to Gran Canaria so Elder White could do his thang with the other elders in our district.  I got lucky because the Zone Leaders are split up right now over theremn(there´s only 2 companionships on that island) which means that while Elder White went with the other 2 that he hasn´t done exchanges with (he did it with the Zone Leaders when they came 2 weeks ago, do you remember?) I got to work with the Zone Leaders again.  This is luck because they´re both legit.  Elder Kunkel and Elder Jackson.  They´re both from Georgia.  Who´da thunk it? I worked in Las Palmas on Sunday with the Kunkster and in Vecindario on Monday with the Jacksonator.  Do you like those nicknames? Elder Jackson said "I never did understood that" at one point and it was great Georgian-ness at its finest.  Tuesday, o sea, yesterday, we had district meeting over there in the old mission home again with everybody together.  It was great fun.  I am trying to attach fotos.  I´m sure they´ll delight everybody.  

It´s hard to have much to say this week.  I didn´t really get to have a typical investigator teaching week so I can´t really share anything new with ya´ll (oh no) about the investigators and such. Sorry.  Something cool that has happened lately though is that Riqui, the other mini missionary that was with Elder white, had a super lame bike crash (fell off the handlebars and hit his head on a light post, then the sidewalk) 4 days before he was supposed to enter the mission (Málaga) for reals.  Everybody thinks it´s super sad, but right when it happened I dunno why but I felt like there was a purpose for it.  Well, as he was with us for 2 weeks his mom decided to let the missionaries teach her for the first time.  Now he has been in a coma for 10 days and she has seen all the support from the branch and, since she knows how much she loves that little blue libro de mormón, she has been reading him a chapter (at least) every day while he has been taking his medically induced siesta.  She even came to church for the first time on Sunday.  So I think that she has been the purpose for this accident.  I dunno, I have had a good feeling about the whole situation even though the situation is a bit of a sad one.  Basically, just realize that sometimes bad things happen but the Lord has His hand in our everyday dealings and he´ll get his work done.  Trust him.  I´m trying to learn to trust him better.  I´m not saying it´s easy.  But I do know it´s worth it when we can do it.

Tell Brother Loosli I got his email and thanks.  He´s always been a legit example to me.  There should be an Ensign article about him and how he always tried to help visit me and help me even if I had work on Sundays and didn´t show up at Sacrament meeting.  He really did help me a lot.  Tell Bishop Burton hi for me too and that I really do miss setting up a ridiculous amount of interviews with him. Ummm .The river trip went well. Awesome! Still jealous, but not trunky. Can´t wait to hear more. Thanks for all who sent me scriptures.  You´re all legit.  Love you.  Thanks for teh package too. Including to the North Carolina crew.  The peanut Butter is the biggest jar of happiness I´ve ever seen .  

Love,

Elder Jeppson. 

I´ll sing a melody

Hola familia. Comment êtes-vous? It was a melodious week.  Does that make sense to you?  Hmmm. I swear this time I mean it.

Bueno, sigamos.  Ha sido una buena semana.  No muy fuera del normal, pero una buena semana.  We found some new investigators.  Katia called us(while I was emailing last week actually) and said that her friend had given her our number and that she needed our help.  She lives in Matagorda (which means kill fat, hahaha) and so we visited her.  It´ll be interesting to see how she progresses.  She is in a...situation.  :) hahaha but she has some legit desires de recurrir a Dios para recibir ayuda (recourse to God for help).  So we´ll do what we can do.  Have I talked about Gladys and her kids yet? I can never remember what I write.  In fact I´ll probably be sitting at this computer writing again before I even realize a whole week has gone by.  It´s nuuutzzzz. I think I even finished 8 months already.  Holy Hades.  I said Holy Hades cause I read it in a letter this week and I liked it.  It doesn´t translate well though.  Man, I don´t have like anything to say this week.  I´m sorry ya´ll.  I don´t even have a story to tell. I´ll tell you one from clear back in B2 with Elder Ketchum.  One time a member asked us if we wanted an apple.  So we said well sure (we were just walking on the street) actually, this story isnt that great.  I´m not even going to finish it.  Let´s just say we´re not sure if he stole the whole bag of apples or if he paid for them at a different moment.  Back to Gladys and her kids.  So they´re from the Dominican Republic.  By the way Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic.  She´s not from Santo Domingo though.  She´s from the North.  Where they´re white apparently.  Hey, I remember bringing her up last week now.  So basically they ended up coming to church, but after Sacrament Meeting.  She works from 10-11 on Sundays which is pretty much a charly horse in the thigh since that´s when Sacrament Meeting is.  Pero bueno, we´re gonna see if we can work something out about that.  We´ll see.  She was the only investigator that really came.  Darwin was there, but he´s pretty much an unbaptized member.  He´s probably one of the most legit people I have met on the mission.  He´s from Guayaquil.  For those of you keeping track back home that is where Elder Quevedo is from.  He was a companion I had.  Therés a lot of Guayaqilianos here.  I made that word up, so if it´s not correct, forgive me.  Katia didn´t make it.  We´re not sure why not.  But she works from like 10pm-7am so we´re thinking maybe 2 hours wasn't enough sleep or something.  We´ll see. I think we´ll make it back down to Kill Fat on Saturday do teach her.  She went to Fuerteventura for a bit (which could be a different reason why she wasn´t in church).  I got a package this week, but it wasn´t one that had Peanut Butter.  It was one full of glorious CD´s.  And a teaser that Mayday Parade has a new acoustic CD.  Jussayin´.  Thanks Kylie!  And mom, I´ll keep on the lookout for yours too.  Thank you from protecing the King of the Lions from the Butter of the Peanuts.  That would  be a disaster.  In other news, I also bought a suit last P-day.  It´s legit.  It´s gray...  and it´s European.  I haven´t worn it yet.  Tags are still on it.  It´s my baby.  I love you all.  I hope you all have a miserably amazing time at the Grand Canyon. I´m only bitter cause I ALWAYS asked to go and then it got planned in my mission. Bah humbug.  I hope you all have a write Elder Jeppson night.  Also, Paige had a birthday last week.  Tell her I didn´t forget.  Hmmmm. if anybody else had one in the last week I did forget though.  Sorry.  Tell me and I´ll send you a sorry something.  Has this been a random email? I´m sorry. I sometimes wonder what goes on inside my head.  I am the captain, but I don´t even know at times.  

This next week, I would love to receive emails from everybody that receives this with a good scripture that I can memorize the reference too.  Also why you like it so much.  Especially from the Book of Mormon.  I should probably study the Bible more, but I´m still on a 20 month Book of Mormon kick.  Ooops.  But seriously, a letter or an email with a legit scripture on it that I can memorize the reference to help out with these lazy canarians. (I guess it´s hard to convert people when they´re already in Paradise).

Love,
The Boss, Elder Jefeson

P.S. no pictures. I still love you all,   I just didn´t even take a single one this past week.  Madre Mía!

I don´t even regret it. I do! You broke my juice box!

Hello Familia.  It´s been another week.  Wooooiiiii!

Mom, are you still sending these to Elder Robbins? He loves them.  

Cool.  Well it´s been a crazy last week.  A lot of stuff has happened.  The mini missionaries were here for the weekend so that was fun.  But they knew they were going home in like 3 days, so they kind of died off on their desires to work and serve haha.  My companion was already back on home on like Wednesday mentally it seemed.  But it was alright.  It was a fun and really fast 2 weeks with them.  That´s the truth.  Learned a lot of Spanish from them (especially Canarian slang haha Sollajo!) and got a lot of work done.  Found some new people even.  We have been teaching a Columbian lady named Patricia.  She is pretty cool.  Doesn´t seem like she always has TONS of interest, but she retains what we teach.  She only likes to meet with us once a week and doesn´t come to church, but bueno we´re gonna keep it up with her.  See what happens.  The big thing from lately is that we have been working a lot with menos activos.  They members that don´t really ever come to church.  It´s been cool to see people start showing up to church again after they haven´t been in so long.  It´s cool to feel the same spirit with them that we feel with Investigators.  I dunno. It´s not something I guess I expected before the mission ya know? You just picture yourself getting pneumonia from baptizing so much.  But it´s really cool to help them fortalecer their testimonies too.  Saturday there was a sweet activity in the church.  A Hawaiian Leau(loo-au?)  I don´t know how to spell that.  I didn´t get to go though, because Elder White and his mini went and I went and did visits with President Watkins!  He was down here visiting the branch and doing temple interviews for the branch before they all go in September to the temple.  So after his interviews we got to go out and work with President.  It was cool.  He´s a trabajador.  I learned a lot from watching him/working with him.  My mini left the next day after Church.  It was a bittersweet ending haha.  I think he realized how hard the missionary work really is but I also think he learned to really appreciate the spirit you can feel.  It´s a rollercoaster of an experience.  He is still studying but says he´ll be heading out on the mission in 2 years after studying.  I´m hoping to be able to keep in contact with him and keep darring him some animo.  It really is a crazy experience, the mission.  Christina and Jhon keep on progressing.  Well, Christina does at least.  I really think she just needs some friends in the church and then she would be golden.  So this week we´re trying to get different members to accompany us and then in the church we try to let the members do their thing and not get in the way too much.  The members are really sooo important in missionary work.  Sooo crucial.  A good thing goes a long way and a dumb comment goes a long way in the opposite direction too hahaha.  Luckily the branch here is pretty legit.  Monday we also taught another new investigator that Amado and I contacted last week.  She´s from the Domincan Republic, but she´s white.  It´s interesting.  Her name is Gladys. 

The Zone leaders came from Gran Canaria on Sunday to do exchanges with Elder White and I and then on Monday morning we all taught Gladys and then split up.  I went with Elder Jackson (which is how everyone says my name. So that was fun) on Sunday afternoon and then with Elder Kunkel on Monday.  Elder Kunkel and I did some old-school passbys, which means we took old teaching records from our area book and went and knocked their doors again to see if they want to see the missionaries and this one family let us in.  They have a piano.  Elder Kunkel is the piano master.  Like has Beethoven stuff perfectly memorized and can sight-read whatever in the world he wants.  They had him play a bunch of stuff and then I tried to dazzle them with my immense piano knowledge of come follow me and miserable at best.  It went well.  They want to come to English classes too.  I´m not sure how excited they were about the gospel, but I´m excited to get to know them and hopefully become their friends and get them pumped about getting baptized! Wahoooo.  We´ll see how it goes.  Yesterday we were muertos.  Dead tired from all of the exchanges and mini missionaries and everything.  But Elder White and I are finally together again.  It´s weird.  I´m excited though.  Keep up what we built up with two companionships here for our last 2 weeks.  Should be good stuff.  Maybe we´ll get up to those grand mission goals of lessons and contacts!  Only time will tell.  That´s where I´m sitting right now.

Thanks for all your emails and blog updates and such.  It´s fun to see about all the camps and deer-hittings that are going on back in Utah/North Carolina.  Thanks for all your support and thanks in advance for that package that is over the Atlantic Ocean right now I´m sure.  I love the Savior.  The Atonement literally gave us a purpose to this life.  I think it´s important that we remember to be grateful for that atoning sacrifice of our older brother.  I can´t think of a better way to be grateful for it than to help Him with His mission, o sea help people to learn about the importance of the Atonement and help them into the waters of baptism to apply La Expiación en su propia vida.  Such a blessing. It´s tough, but with support from a fantastic family like ya´ll and with the Lord on my side I definitely feel the love everyday.  You´re all the best.  Thanks for the letters, prayers, and support. I love you all. 

Love,

Elder Jeppson

There is a plan. And a hole in the back of my hair.

Hello all.  I love you all.  I am sad to hear about Grandma Vinson, but I know it is for the best.  I am also very glad I had the opportunity to tell her goodbye before I left.  It was a great blessing to have known her.  She will be missed, but she has left an amazing example of hard work and an amazing attitude for all of us.  Hard work, and an amazing attitude.  I can think of nobody who was happier than my amazing great-grandma Vinson.  I love you grandma.

Elders Jeppson & White and their "mini-missinaries"

I don´t have much time.  But it has been a crazy week.  I´m just gonna get this thing going.  The biggest thing has been having a mini missionary.  It has been a big blessing and a big patience tryer at the same time.  Also, a big testimony builder.  Let me explain.  He is Canarian.  He was baptised one year and two months ago.  The Canarian part means he is really prideful and speaks Spanish. (That was a terrible generalization. I´m sorry)  Which means that if I don´t understand every word he says he thinks I´m an idiot.  Which is partially true.  But the baptism part means that he has a great testimony and not a ton of church background.  It has been amazing to hear his conversion story and how the gospel has changed his life.  It reminds me of the reason why I´m out here on the mission.  Baptize.  Invite others to repent and come unto Christ.  It also means that I have been trying to help him bear his testimony and learn a lot of the doctrine still.  It´s been a really hard working week.  Being the example for him and all and being more or less in charge of the week I have really tried to work hard.  I have loved it.  The harder we work, the more happiness I feel.  But, I am afraid I went a little overboard, because Monday my mini decided to go home.  But then his best friend, who is Elder White´s mini, convinced him to stay here for the second week.  Needless to say it has been a fantastic rollercoaster.  Wahoo! A good week without doubt.  Carmen is a painter.  I might have talked about her before.  She is an "eternigator".  We challenged her to a baptismal date of July 16th.  She´s praying about it.  She says she feels peace when she does.  But she isn´t sure if that´s her answer or not.  It´s hard.  But we´re being patient and doing all we can to help her into the waters of baptism.  She can´t come to church really though (like I haven´t ever seen her there) because her job is taking care of an old sick man.  It´s a  hard situation.  Christina and Jhon have been going great!  They BOTH even came to church on Sunday.  That is like a landmark cause Jhon is a lazy 17 year old that likes to sleep (weren´t we all?) and she didn´t like the absence of, well, virgins and saints the first time.  But they both came and Jhon really liked it and his mother loved that he liked it and it went better for her this time too.  We´re hoping to set a baptism date with them.  They´re praying too to see if baptism is what they´re supposed to do.  Monday was the 4th of July, so of course there were firework shows and all that good stuff.  Oh wait....nope.  We didn´t even have a flag.  So I drew one, and then a member called us and put the Star Spangled Banner on speaker phone hahaha.  It was good stuff.  Then, there was someone here before that left an England flag in our piso.  So we took pictures with it.  Hahaha. They were at least involved in the Revolutionary war, right?  It didn´t really feel like a holiday.  At all.  Mail even came.  But I didn´t get any, which  made it feel a little more like a holiday.  Such is life.  

Yesterday I made one of the biggest mistakes of my mission: I let Amado cut my hair.  He chunked the back pretty bad I guess.  But it´s whatevs.  The other two did a clean-up job that apparently isn´t "too noticeable".  Guess hair grows for a reason.  That´s been the lovely story of a boy in Spain this past week.  I hope you all had a great week and that everybody can be happy to have had the blessing of knowing Grandma Vinson.  You´re in my prayers.  Moroni 8:3 style. 

Love,

Elder Jeppson

Riding a camel...