Elder Jacob Elgaaen in Jacksonville, Florida: March 25,2019 Transfered to Fleming

This week was a good one! So it was sad saying goodbye to the district I have been with for the last 3 months but my new companion Elder Kesler is awesome and my new district is as well! So transfers was a good day except for some reason I thought we were suppose to meet at a different building. So we got there and realized nobody was there. I asked Elder Bell what building it was and for him to look it up in the weekly letter from our mission president. He did??? and said it was the church in Orange Park. We drove there and it wasn't! I remembered then the church it was and we made it there about an hour late! Haha it all worked out though.

So Fleming Island is awesome! The members are super involved and willing to help in any way they can. The people are also super nice and we have taught some good people! We have had some good experiences sharing our testimonies with people. We also found some awesome people to teach. On Sunday, we were asked to speak on prayer... I wonder if God is trying to tell me something like I need to work on speaking. Haha

Hopefully I can get a break for a while. In my talk, I shared one of my favorite accounts of prayer which is Joseph Smiths account.

10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

16 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

In this account, I love how Joseph Smith was able to receive an answer to his humble prayer. It shows me that I can receive answers as I seek the will of the lord. I also love how when Joseph was seized upon by a great power (Satan) he was able to pray with all his energy and was delivered. I am so greatful for prayer and the power it can bring to each of us. I am also greatful for my experience with prayer and my answer I have received as I have studied the gospel out in my mind and read the scriptures. It is such a blessing to know something and receive answers through prayer!

Besides all that, we were able to have some good lesson with a man named Ian. He has a belief in God and doesn't see christ as more than a great prophet. We were able to share with him our message and invite him to pray and seek truth from God. He accepted our challenge and we will be seeing him Wednesday. Also, we were able to do some service for him and help clean out his garage. He has a sweet BMW and wants to park it out of the weather. He told us a "story" thing which went like this...

Me: Hey God, a second is like a million years to you?

God: Yes

Me: Alright. Then if a second is like a million years to you then is a penny like a million dollars?

God: Yes

Me: Okay. Well God, can you give me a penny?

God: Maybe in a second.

I really liked this 1. Because it was funny and 2. Because it is so true! Many times, we ask for blessings and try and obtain what we want now. Lots of times, we need to trust in the lord and God and in his timing.

I am greatful for my chance to serve in Fleming Island! I am greatful for my new companion. I love you all and hope you have a great great week!

Elder Elgaaen

Address: 2285 Marsh Hawk Ln # 16-203 Fleming Island, FL 32003