All I Know How to do is Missionary Work

September 15, 2014

Hola! 

Hey, so i'm just here writing my last Email to you guys, kinda freakin' out a little bit. I don't know what happened to the last two years. They whooshed by like a turbo jet! People keep asking what I'm going to do when I get home and I always respond with a shrug. I have no idea. All I know how to do is missionary work. I think I forgot all other skills.. So you might be dealing with a complete weirdo when I get home in a week.. One week! Elder Harris calls me by my first name sometimes though, just to help me get used to it. So that might help my case!! 

This week we were able to visit M--and R--a lot. R--was super excited to get baptized, and everything looked really promising, he would ask us questions, an he seemed pretty excited, but come Sunday he said he was feeling really sick and couldn't come to church, and we reminded him about his baptism, and he said he probably couldn't get baptized either. We promised him he would feel better if he came to church. I guess he just felt too sick...but we're going to teach him a lot this week, and see if he makes it this Sunday. Hopefully!

M-- came to church though. She is the little nine year old drama queen, but is also suprisingly super intelligent as well. She could somehow understand what we were teaching while she was at the same time singing, or dancing, or climbing on things. We would tell her to sit down, and she would sit for about 2 seconds, and then get up and start doing something else, but when we asked her to explain back to us what we had taught she could do it easily. She was somehow listening! She's super funny. We have the baptismal interview set up for Tuesday, and she should be good to go for this Sunday. We had her schedule it in on her notebook, cause anytime we ask her when we can come back she always says, "Let me check my schedule!" and then she'll try to find a time to squeeze us in. I'm glad she can sacrifice some of her time for us. Her mom at one point asked us, "Have you met any other kids that act like this?" Haha she's a crazy little girl!

But yeah that's our week in a nut shell. We have some "Just Serve" activities planned for this week. It's been cool to see that get rollin'. Have you heard about Just Serve?

I love you lots and hope everything goes well. We'll see you in a week! I'm super excited to see you all again! 

Love,

Elder Higgins 

Rays of Light

September 8, 2014

The countdown is getting smaller! You'll probably only get one more Email after this one. I don't know if I'll have time to write on that last Monday in the mission. It will be a hectic one! That's crazy huh!? 

Had one of the most spiritual baptisms that I've ever been to this week.  It was very personal, and all of us were able to share our testimonies the sister baptized even shared her testimony, and said that every time the missionaries had left (she's been taught by many missionaries) she had missed them and wanted them to come back. And surely enough after a while missionaries would eventually find their way back over to her house. She said we were "rays of light" in her life. I just count my lucky stars that I was able to be with her as she got baptized. She's so awesome. You'll just have to meet her one of these days :)

We had a lot of meetings this week. It was weird to hear about all these up and coming things, and being like, "Hey, I won't even be here for that." For instance, this mission is getting iPads next month.. I leave right in time to miss that. I'm not too upset. 

Other than that, we didn't have to much else happen. Our investigator R-- came to church and bishop announced his baptism for next week. He seemed pretty happy when he heard his name over the pulpit. So that will be something to look forward to this week!

Well, We'll see ya'll soon! I love you lots. 

Love,

Elder Higgins 

Things that me trunky:  Everything......Haha :)

Letter of Release

7 August 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Higgins,

It is a privilege to announce the honorable release of your son, Elder Jordan Dale Higgins, from his labors as a missionary serving in the California Riverside Mission.  He has served a successful mission and will be returning home 23 September 2014.  Please schedule a time when your Stake President can release him.You should have received a copy of your missionary's flight plans.......You can be proud of your son and the fine work he has done here in the mission field.  As he has served and taught, his testimony and overall knowledge of the gospel has grown.  His missionary experience can now be a solid foundation on which he can build a life of happiness, success, service, and increased spirituality.  As his service here in the California Riverside Mission comes to a close, I express my gratitude for the valuable contribution he has made to our missionary effort.  We thank you for the love and support given to Elder Higgins while he served in the mission field.  May the Lord's choicest blessings be yours for sharing him with us in this tremendous experience.


Sincerely,


 John H. Mullen, President

Multi Zone Conference

"I'm so Stoked to be Going Home!"

September 2, 2014

We had a good week here in Calil! We're just livin' the Cali dream for a few more weeks.. 

We contacted a less active lady, and offered to do service with her, and helped her take apart some cabinets this week, she came back to church, and we're going to start to teaching her 9 year old daughter who is not baptized yet. Hopefully she's baptized soon! :) she is super funny!

This week we had multi-zones and president had us train on planning. It was pretty fun! In every multi zone the new missionaries give their incoming testimonies while the oldies give their outgoing. So this time around we gave our outgoing testimonies! It was crazy. We have a ton of missionaries that are leaving in this zone so there was a lot of us. It was nice to hear every one's testimony.  Elder Harris and I went last. So a lot of them before us cried, and talked about the trails of a mission. I was thinking through my missions and remembered a lot of trails but decided I didn't want to focus on them, and I got up there and the first thing out of my mouth was, "I'm so stoked to be going home!" some laughed, and some of them I think were a little surprised at the mood change, but it's true! I'm stoked to be coming home because I know so much more than I did before, and I know that I've done well, and I will continue to help others. The future is bright! I've learned that my favorite of the fruits of the spirit found in Galatians 5 is joy, and that's what I've always tried to get investigators to feel. We were created to feel joy. Elder Harris shared a similar testimony. We've had good, joyfully spiritual missions! :) 

21 days! I'm counting down with ties. I will never wear repeating ties again in the mission, until I come
home! How cool is that?? 

I love you! Thanks for everything!

Love, Jordy :)
 

Former Missionary Came back for a Visit

              The California sun in my eyes!  My companion Elder Harris, we were companions 

         In the MTC and we will finish our mission as companions! 

The Last Month

August 24, 2014

That's so cool you got to pour a bucket of ice water on Dad's head. Dreams do come true! And it sounds like it was all for a good cause. We actually have heard of that challenge, but I didn't really understand what people were doing it for. So thanks for explaining. It sounds pretty intense. 

This week was really good. We have a lot of people to visit so it's easy to stay busy.  We taught R-- almost everyday this week, and he's been reading. He has trouble comprehending things because he's gone through a lot of pretty severe seizures, but he still reads everyday and prays. We have to teach him very basically though. It took him a while to understand the restoration, but he's starting to understand. He came to church this week, and loved it. A member had to pick him up cause he can't drive. It was good though cause the member stayed with him the whole time. I think he will be baptized September 7th.

We are also teaching a new family. The dad wants to stop drinking, and the mom has a hard time going to a new church. She feels like she is betraying her ancesters. I think she knows it's true though, and that's why they came to church this week. They are a really nice family, and would be great members. We just have to overcome a few more stumbling blocks.

We have some other people that we teach, but I won't go into much detail. 

That's it for news this week. I sure love you guys, and I'm super excited to see everyone, and meet some new additions to the family. Love you!

Love,

Jordy

My Happy Birthday!

August 18, 2014

I'm 21! That's crazy. I woke up this morning to Elder Harris yelling, "Dude!! You're twenty one!!" He seemed really excited about it, and it got me pretty stoked too. I'm 21!!

I think I remember that day as well, It was before school when we used to read the Book of Mormon together. I'm still not very fond of growing up.. But there's also so many things I hope to do in life that I know are going to be so great. So in that sense I'm pretty stoked! Haha that was a pretty priceless moment :) Thanks for helping those moments. I have no idea what triggered them.. But thanks for you Birthday wishes. I got the birthday box you sent. Thanks!! I've eaten a lot of the rice crispies, and only shared a few. I love them too much to share!!

This week was good! We visited all the new investigators. One of them in particular is super sweet. Her name is P--.  She has been wanting to get baptized for a while now... She is such a sweet lady, she has such a positive outlook on life. She's had outrageous health problems and is always really happy, and has a lot of faith that God is looking out for her. It's really cool!

We taught this other guy named R-- a few times this week. He was committed to come to church but when we went by Saturday night he was in the Hospital in MoVal. He had had a seizure. So hopefully he can recover quickly. Keep him in your prayers!!

That's about it for investigator news. I do have a few things that happened this week that made me trunky though. Maybe we'll start a new segment these last few weeks, and call it "Things that made me trunky" just because it is impossible not to think about home anyway!

Things that made me trunky:

1. Friday Night we had dinner with the Ruiz family, and their daughter that goes to college in Utah and her friend walk in. They came back to visit from Utah. They are dinner with us, and were pretty attractive. I realized how much I missed girls and hanging out with friends. I imagine that will be really fun! I'm excited!!

2. President Mullen came up on Sunday after church to give Elder Harris and me our "Exit Interviews" where we pretty much just talk about how to adjust to the real world. About what I want to do when I get back and what I should look for as I'm dating. He gave us some good tips! He also gave us a packet of talks to study as we prepare to head home.

3. This one probably made me the most trunky. We were with a member last night, and she showed us the video of Elder Baltazar getting off the plane and hugging his family. It was so sweet. His mom just couldn't contain herself and sprinted to hug him. It was nice. 

But hey there's still a lot I can accomplish. So I'm still excited to be here these last few weeks! 

Thanks for everything Momma! You're the best mom a 21 year old boy could ask for. I love you!

Love,

Jordy :)