Weekly Update- 6/16/14

Given my medical issues with my ankle and foot, I am not able to do too much.  I was able to go to the visitors center on the temple grounds this past week and see Brother Topper speak at the 'Why I Believe' conference.  He spoke of his conversion, shared his testimony- called me out a few times which was touching.  I was able to find out he is preparing for his priesthood ordination.  It was great to see him, I am really excited about that and so grateful to be a part of his life.

I had an appointment at the Georgetown University Medical Center this week to see a foot specialist.
Here is what the diagnosis is with my ankle: I have a bone spur, a cartilage defect, bone fragments from my fracture a year ago, and also a possible perineal (?) tendon tear. Wednesday I will be taking an MRI to find out for sure if there is a tendon tear and we will go from there.. :/ 

I'm still very grateful for the doctor finding out what is the problem this time!  Hopefully soon we will be able to put together a course of action to get this taken care of.

Love you all and have a great week!

Elder JT Ekberg

Ankle Update & Frustrations- Still doing what I can!

The last little while has really sucked. I have been back at our apartment everyday this last week inside, and off of my foot. For those of you who know me, you know that I want to out working or doing something haha. Well, with this injury, I am not able to walk or bike
without major pain stirring around in my ankle. I was able to go out once this week for a few minutes to see if I could bare (bear? I'm not good with these but I think it is the first one! Haha) the pain, but once we got about half way to our destination, I couldn't handle it.
So I am in the process of waiting for a doctors appointment in 2 weeks. This week was not the greatest.

I hope you guys have a wonderful week! I love you all so much for the love and support you have given me. I know that whatever happens is God's will for me.

PS: just a friendly reminder to send letters to the mission office
(11700 Falls Rd Potomac, MD 20854) for now on.

Elder JT Ekberg

Yes I have a cane....

June 2, 2014- We are Professional Movers!!

Bonjour ma famille et les amis!

This week was really crazy. So there is this guy who lives in the
same complex as us. He asked us if we could help him move out of his
apartment (this was at the beginning of the month). We said yes and
that is what we did this week! We took most of his furniture and
placed it in ours so that the mission could come and see what they
need. Our apartment was pretty packed with all this stuff and it was
very hard to maneuver around. There was like one walkway leading from
the entry to the kitchen :o I don't like stuff. Especially that MUCH!

Then on Wednesday, we were heading home for dinner and we wanted to
talk to this guy walking towards us. So I'm like " Alright, I got
this." I introduce us as missionaries and asked if I could give him a
card (he seemed to be in a rush) he just kept saying no and saying "I
gotta pee!", "don't hold me up, I'll pee my pants!" It was really
quite hysterical! And then while he was making this scene, he looked
at me and said " don't look at me like I'm crazy! I really gonna pee!
STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH THAT CRAZY LOOK!" Well what else do you want
me to do? Stare at you cross eyed? Geez! Hahaha it was very funny!


Saturday was another very busy moving day. We had 2 people that had
asked us to help them move, so we thought we could make both of them.
Well, we ended up going on another exchange with our roommates. Elder
Fuller (roommate ) and I went to an investigator in our area and spent
the whole day moving this guy and the others did the same thing. BUT I
got a guitar out of helping this person! It was a great day!


We have some bad news... Paula the recent convert, decided that she
doesn't want to get confirmed because of things that she doesn't like
about the church. She read some things on Google and that just added
on to her doubts. 

We are sad :( I am getting really frustrated with my
ankle. I can't walk without a limp, and pain searing all over and
around my ankle. Please keep me in your prayers... I will be talking
with both mission president and his wife Tuesday.

I love you all and I hope to here from y'all soon whether via email or
letters! :)

Love Elder JT Ekberg
Washington, D.C. Zone!

First Full Week In My New Area- DC 3rd

 This week was the first full week of being in my new area. It's
really cool to see how the key indicators/numbers are different from
being in a car. In a car, we can't talk to everyone because it is
kinda awkward driving up to someone and getting out. I am sure they
think they are gonna get jumped or something. Being on a bike we are
supposed to talk... I am still working on it hahah.

  Wednesday, I went with our roommate to help teach one of their
investigators named Lee. He lives like right around the corner from
the White House! And he is a very cool guy. We talked about the plan
of salvation and he taught the lesson! He told us everything about it!
From Pre-mortal life, birth, death, spirit paradise, the resurrection
and judgement AND The 3 Kingdoms of Glory. Let's say he is one of
those golden investigators! Lee is an IT kinda guy, so we connected
really well :)

  Friday, we went on exchange with our zone leaders: Elder Tavana and
Elder Hansen. Elder Hansen came here with me and he is a very sweet
person. We started off the day by going up to this bike shop up by the
National Mall to get me a bike tube. That took all morning pretty
much. When we get off at our metro stop, we go to this place called
&pizza. It's basically like subway but with pizza. Holy. Smokes. IT IS
THE BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!! It is a rectangular pizza and as
bigger than a foot long! Just tying this is making want to go get some
more!! :P

Then at night, we took one of our investigators up to the Visitors
Center to have a lesson on the plan of salvation. He felt the spirit
so strongly that night, so he kept expressing what he was feeling
inside. Really touching!!

  Saturday was not the best day for me.. Friday was just as bad
because of all the walking. But on Saturday I didn't go out because I
could hardly put pressure on my foot. It is so frustrating that this
is happening again to me, but The Lord has his reasons for these
trials for us.

  Lastly, yesterday we went down to the Mall to see Ceasar, who is a
retired marine and feeds us like every weekend. But he was in the
Memorial Day parade with the Rolling Thunder Bike brigade. Instead,
since we missed the big group of motorcyclists, we talked to people.
Which was fun for a little bit. We were walking around the Washington
Monument and we saw some random guy standing on a wall preaching. At
first we thought he was a JW (Jehovah's Witness), but turns out they
were Baptists. We talked to one of the guys handing out flyers which
normally we shouldn't take, but we took anyways to exchange for one of
our cards. Their beliefs are similar to ours but not really.. haha

Thank you Linda Watson for the letter this week, and also, thank you
to all those who have written me! I really enjoy reading about the
cool stories each of youi have so please continue to write! :)

I Love you all so very much! Have an awesome week my friends!

Avec beaucoup d'amour,

Elder JT Ekberg

Sent from my iPad Mini

My First Transfer!!

So this is what happened this week:

Tuesday, the day before transfers, We had a great day with a senior
missionary couple named the Biolos(? I don't think I spelled that
right). First we had an appointment with Scott Jenkins (investigator)
and reassured him that his decision to be baptized will be the best
decision that he will ever make. Scott is amazing. His testimony is so
strong and he already acts like he is a member! I hope that when he
does get baptized I can get to go to that

Wednesday was transfers! And guess what? I GOT TRANSFERRED!! =D I am now in Northeast D.C. in the D.C. 3rd ward. When we got to the apartment, basically unpacked for a little bit and then we went to
dinner at the chapel. This ward doesn't do a meal calendar so we get fed like 1-2 times a week :(

Thursday night was very interesting. We went over to see one of the investigators we have. We get there and is friend answers the door and we asked him if he would want to learn more about a prophet. At first, he hesitated. Then he warmed up to the idea of 5-10 minutes. Well, it wasn't 5-10 minutes lol. It was more like one hour! As we were talking to him, one of his roommates came down to see what was up. These two individuals are both Theological scholars at the Catholic University, just down the street from where we are living. So it turned into a mini Bible bash! We mostly talked about The Fall of Adam and Eve and
they learned A LOT!! I was happy:)

Friday was really cool. In the evening, we went by Paula's, an
investigator, to finish her baptismal program and to have the baptism
interview from the Zone Leaders. She got baptized yesterday! :) She is
such a strong and faithful person. Her testimony is awesome. And what
drew her to the church, was the peace and warmth she felt whenever she
was in the building.

Saturday was the best day I have ever had being in the mission field.
Why you might wonder? It was because we got to hear from Elder
Ballard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D  Basically in short, he told us that
we need to talk to more people in order to see more people come into
the church. He issued us all (3 Missions so about 760 missionaries) to
talk to 10 people each and every day. So this will be very interesting
for me to see the growth that comes from this.

I love you all oh so very much. The Savior lives. His gospel is truly
real. He suffered the ultimate sacrifice for all the world that no man
could ever do.

Ps: I have a new address! Please send JUST LETTERS to this address:
120 Michigan Ave. Apt # K-31
Washington, D.C. 20017-1023

and then packages to
11700 Falls Rd
Potomac, MD 20854

THak you all!!!! ❤️☺️😏😃 :)

Breaking News- TRANSFERS!!!

BIG SPIDER!!!

My Lil Buddy

**BREAKING NEWS** brought to you by the DC north mission news choppa!

So after being in the area of white plains, md for 6 months, I will be
getting transferred! And I will be going on bike somewhere! I'm pretty
excited to go but I am hoping my ankle won't give out suddenly while
on bike.

This weekend was pretty awesome. We had a last lesson with the toppers
on Friday on receiving a patriarchal blessing, and then we had dinner
at there house the next day! We were so thankful for them having us
over two days in a row! Breakfast for dinner is like the best dinner
ever! Then of course Mother's Day yesterday! I wish we could have more
time to talk with our moms and our families :( start the countdown for
Christmas! :)


Today we went on a little "nature hike". I really wish Maryland had
mountains because then we can really go mountain biking! But we got a
couple ticks and luckily they didn't burrow inside us! We found some
frogs and some cool scenery, still not as cool as it would be with the
mountains! ;)

Sorry this one was short but here are some pics and keep writing me!

Rehearsing for the Cumorah Pageant

Please send all mail to
Elder Jonathon Ekberg
11700 Falls Rd
Potomac, MD 20854

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder JT Ekberg

Adventures & Crazy People

This week has been an adventure in all honesty. The work here is
starting to pick up and we are doing more and more service for less
actives and elderly people. In order to help speed up the
finding/teaching in white plains, I put together a skills camp for
kids of all ages! It is this Saturday and I hope it goes really well!
Last week, there was this guy that came to sacrament meeting wanting
to know more about the church and what the difference is between the
bible and the Book of Mormon. We told him that we can set something up
during the week or meet at church on Sundays. He came back today.. We
got to talking with him and he is literally crazy. At first, he seemed
like a solid investigator, and then he said some weird things that as
missionaries and also our ward mission leader questioned about the
sanity of this guy... Claimed he was Jesus Christ because he believed
in himself, he wants to write a book about him and all this crazy
stuff.
Also this last week, you can say that we are the "traveling healers"
hahaha. We gave blessings (of comfort or healing). We gave at least 5
this last week. That is the most we have ever done in this area! It
was a very cool experience for me because I'm still not comfortable
saying those things to people. You never know what to say but then the
spirit comes in and takes over from there! It was good experiences all
around.
Today, we had a zone activity and guess what it was?! BOWLING! :) we
played two games: the first, I didn't do too well (I wasn't warmed up
at all;) ) then the second game I broke 140! I was very rusty today
haha.
I have been in this area for almost 6 months now and I am pretty I
will be heading out of here next week. I will find out if I am staying
or going Saturday night. Transfers are on the 14th and I will be out
for 6 months on the 13th! Ain't that crazy?!

Hope y'all had a great week last week and that you will have and even
GREATER week this week! Also, tell all your moms that Elder Ekberg
says happy Mother's Day and that he loves you! Your moms are ALL
amazing mothers!

Mom, I LOVE YOU TOO!

Elder JT Ekberg

Below is a picture of us celebrating Cinco de Mayo with Sister Schwartz.  She is a great member in our ward.  Her son just returned home from the Salt Lake City, UT South mission!!

Miracles!!

April 28, 2014

Tuesday, we met with our "new" investigator and talked to him about
baptism. It was cool because he is so ready to be baptized and get
going with callings in the church. And he knows it too! At the end of
the lesson, we committed him to call us the very next day with his
answer towards his prayer for baptism. He did call us with some good
news! He said after a long night talking with his wife and praying, he
said that he will be baptized along with his wife and son!! WHAT AN
AWESOME MIRACLE!!! We will be teaching the family after his surgery
and recovery on May 28th. This area is starting to progress with the
work!

Friday, we concluded the final new member lesson for Brother Topper...
:( I am kinda bummed out. We have had such a great relationship and
bonding as friends, and to see that change in him grow and progress is
freaking amazing and unbelievable! Bro. Topper is such a great guy. He
is getting ready to go do baptisms for the dead soon, and then sooner
than later receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Then yesterday at
church we were talking and he wants to get his patriarchal blessing
soon too so we will be talking with him one last time friday about
that.

Saturday night, our ward mission leader, and us miissionaries went to
a less actives house to give her a blessing. Brother Cottle, our ward
mission leader asked me to do the anointing of the oil, and I was so
nervous! He said that I did a great job and I said all that needed to
be said. Also, during the ride back, Brother Cottle shared a scripture
with me that really hit home to me as to what blessings I will receive
while leaving everything behind and has helped be with homesickness
and I would like to share that scripture with you all: This is in Mark
10:
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have
followed thee.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with
persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

(Mark 10:28-30)

Sunday was pretty sweet honestly. We had one of our investigators come
to church with the bishops family. She hasn't come for at least a few
months so it was good to see her there. Then after sacrament meeting,
one of bishops counselors introduced us to a gentleman who came to our
service because one of his friends is LDS and was curious what the
difference is between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We will be in
contact with him early this week and to start teaching him! Then to
make things even better, one of our members named the Escolopio's
(They have a son who was a drummer or guitarist for the band 'Good
Charlotte' whom I want to meet soon but anyways:) ) came up to us and
said that her other sons children want to be baptized and the
nonmember wife also wants to learn more too! IT WAAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!


I love you all and no matter what, I love each and every single one of
you. Do not forget that. Have a FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC Week my peeps!

**NOTICE** From now until May 15th, do not send any letters to the
Prestancia Pl address. Transfers is on may 14th so I could go to a
different area but i am not sure yet. So please send ALL mail,
packages to the mission office: 11700 Falls Rd Potomac, MD 20854

Love always-
Elder JT Ekberg

5 MONTHS- HOLY COW!!

April 14, 2014 

This week has been pretty hectic for me. Not with missionary stuff but
with emotional and personal things that I am doing my best to
overcome. Being away from all the people I love is hard but I know
that I am out here because all the love you have shown me and the
least I can do to repay all of you is to be serving The Lord.

Going back to missionary work, we are slowly becoming more and more
busy. We have been working a lot with the less actives in the ward.
With the spring and the less actives projects they have, we have a lot
of service days for them. I really like helping them out because we
get to get out of our missionary clothes! :P the most recent of those
we are seeing and that I really like, are the Gardners. They live
close by the Patuxent river and the husband said he would take us
fishing out on one of the local docks :) I really miss fishing...

This last week, we went to Sister Margolis' home for lunch and pretty
much had a party! She made like a hash brown crisp kinda thing. It was
pretty good. We thought that was all she was going to feed us, so we
were like uhhhh is this all? Then she pulled out the bubba burger
which are some pretty big patties LOADED with meat and oh. My.
Goodness. I was in heaven! The only thing that was missing was a nice
coke and some of my homemade hash browns... And maybe a steak too.
Hahahaha! While we were there, she asked us if it would be ok if she
took us to downtown DC aka the national mall today. So that is what we
did today! We went to visit the national archives and to see the
cherry blossoms (which they all fell of due to the wind so it wasn't
that great but still was pretty fun). I got to see the original
Declaration of Independence, the bill of rights, and the constitution.
I felt like I was in the movie national treasure!

OH AND I HIT MY 5 MONTH MARK YESTERDAY!! holy cow!

And Just a reminder, all letters can be sent to my apartment address (4670
Prestancia Pl #108 Waldorf, MD 20602) till about the first week in
May. Don't send anything after that because I won't get it. Any
packages send to 11700 Falls Rd Potomac, MD 20854

Thank you so very much and I love you all!

Elder JT Ekberg

April 7, 2014

April 2nd was transfers and I am staying in my 1st area still. Coming up on 5 months being out. Elder treasure is also staying here too. We got a new Zone Leader Elder Rushton. He is from Oregon and plays basketball too.

Friday I went on exchange in the city because my companion had a leadership training meeting. So I spent most of friday biking around with a cool missionary named Elder Elliot, he was in the group that came out with me from the MTC. Anyways, he gave me a tour of the city and told some cool things that go on down there (other than drugs... Just kidding haha). When the kids get out of school, they ALL go to the courts and play ball. Basketball is SUPER BIG in that area. There is a place called Berry Farms, and that is where Kevin Durant grew up! I was hoping we would get a chance to go down there and play with the kids, buuuuuuutttt we didn't :( 

We had an appointment with a guy named Oscar, and word on the street was that he gives out hats and pairs of sunglasses to missionaries who come visit with him. He gave me a hat that said Yokohama and then gave a war story about that place. Oscar gave me the nickname of 'smiley' because i smile alot. haha he is a cool guy!

Then friday night we went back to our area for dinner appointment. For our spiritual thought, the kids taught us how to play lacrosse. It was fun but basketball is more fun! haha. The kids were telling the parents how good he thought I was at lacrosse. He was like you should play lacrosse!! That family is awesome. 

Sunday was conference and I had a lot of questions and prayers that I need help with. Some got answered and some didn't and that is ok. My favorite talk from this conference was President Monson's during priesthood session. My favorite quote from that is "Just be the same person in the dark that you are in the light."

What was your favorite conference talk?

We watched all the sessions of conference at members homes except the priesthood session which we watched at the chapel.

Hope you have had a great week last week and i hope you will have another great week this week

PS. Thank you to those who have written me I really appreciate it!

Man it gets cold here!

March 31, 2014

The past couple of days it has been raining and then all of a
sudden, last night, Mother Nature thought about giving us another
curve ball in the weather... she made it snow for a good hour. The
good thing is is that it didn't stick so I was happy.
         This week was pretty good. Tuesday, after our studies, we decided to
make some brownies and take them to some members and investigators.
Definitely the best idea to do when you have nothing to do and you
have visited EVERYONE in the area... One of the members was The
Jenkins family. She has a son named Chris who is handicapped and I
love him! He is the coolest person ever! When ever we go over, he gets
really excited and shouts our names and jumps in the air, clapping his
hands. Sister Jenkins takes care of her two grandsons as well, and the
youngest is really hyper haha. They love having the missionaries over
anytime! :)

Love these kids!!

   Wednesday was our temple trip for all the missionaries who are
going home. I had a really great experience there! I love going to the
temple because the spirit is so strong wherever you go in there. That
evening, we had dinner with a Less active, recent convert, part
member. The husband is the less active, the oldest daughter is a RC,
and the rest of the family are non members and they are super cool!
The kids were crazy and all over me! I don't know why kids like
climbing all over big, tall trees but they did make some very funny
faces and I did capture that moment ;)

   Thursday we had an awesome dinner and a lesson with another former
investigator that we are starting to teach again! The investigator is
pretty cool. He struggled in the past with the Word of Wisdom, doing
some pretty intense and crazy things, and then got off of that stuff

Ping Pong P-Day...they think I am a giant!

but started smoking and got addicted to that. He has been doing his
best with quitting that, but it is still very hard for him. He wanted
to have us come over on a weekly basis so we will be teaching him
every week and helping support him with quitting; but he doesn't want
to be pressured heavily into joining the church. We chatted with
Brother Heath (his home teacher) and asked for suggestions on how to
work with him and he said the exact same thing the investigator said.
I think that in a few months, he will realize that he needs Heavenly
Fathers help if he wants to quit the smoking.. We will see though :)
         Friday we put down another New Member Lesson in the books with
Brother Topper. Me and him have established like a best friend
relationship you could say. He says things like "When you come back to
visit, you are welcome to  come over, chat swim, anything. I'd love to
see you again!" and the classic: "I can't wait to watch you play ball.
I would love to come to your games." His family is legitimately solid
:)
        I hope ya'll have a wonderful week! :D Send emails and letters too! I
love 'em both! Love you all!!

-- 

~Elder Ekberg~

Such Wonderful News!!

This week was hard for me. But I pulled through. I went to the doctors today to go over the CT with the doc.. The pictures (he let me look at them) showed that there is no bone growth that is causing the pain. He said that it is a sprain and I should be good to go in 1-2 months. I was really really happy :)

Tuesday, we picked up two new investigators! They are catholic but they haven't been for a long time hahaha. When we first talked to them, we gave them a brief intro to the church and how it was restored through Joseph Smith. The wife asked some good questions and agreed for us to come by later in the week. We went by to their house on Saturday to see if they still wanted to learn more. When we went by, she was working on her midterm that was due at the end of the night and she said that her husband was asleep. So we gave her the movie of the Restoration and invited her to read it by the time we come back. She committed and we will follow up! :)

We are teaching Brother Topper the new member lessons and we just finished the Plan of Salvation

with him! He is still SUPER strong in the gospel. Literally, he wants to do everything right now haha. He has found a family name to do Baptisms for the Dead for, has blessed the Sacrament a couple times now, AND he spoke in church yesterday! His talk was about how inviting someone to do something impacted his life. When he talked about his conversion, he said that it started a long time ago when he married his wife. A seed was planted from her. Then he got invited to work on the remodeling of the Visitors Center up at the temple. And then, when he got invited to be baptized was the biggest and boldest invitation he has received. He mentioned how bold I was when I invited him and told that story. (To be honest, I teared up a little bit...) He is so AWESOME! He comes and plays ball with us on saturdays too! 

Spiritual Exp. for the week: If you have time, I STRONGLY encourage you to read "Be Ye Converted" by Bonnie L. Oscarson. 

I'd like to give a shout out to all those who have written me the past couple of months, and I just wanted to thank you for all you do. Thank you and I love you!

I am looking forward to hearing back from you guys soon, whether it be email or a letter! Thank you for all your prayers and supporting me and I hope you will have a FANTASTIC WEEK!!! I Love You All!!!! :)

--

~Elder Ekberg~

A Short Weekly Update

One of these days, I will do my best to write longer! 

A few updates from my injury: Today, I had scheduled the doctors appointment for this morning and last night, well it snowed... So we got told not to use our cars till about 4 this afternoon and I got really mad. The roads were FINE. haha but i know that president wanted us all to be safe so I had to be obedient. I will be going to the docs tomorrow. I will be honest, I have never been so stressed about this injury. The devil is doing his best by trying every possible thing to delay me but I know that I am MUCH stronger than him. He can bruise my heel (which he did...) but I can crush his head. Nuff said there. Haha. 

I went on exchange with one of our Zone Leaders and that was pretty cool. The one I went with I really like because he is tall and lanky just like me! Only thing wrong is that he played tennis :P We picked up a potential investigator but I wasn't sure if she was being serious because she just had a tooth pulled so we will see how that turns out. We went down to the river and took some pictures on the dock there and some of them turned out pretty neat!

We had stake conference this weekend and the missionaries in the stake sang our mission song called: "Testify of Me" I dont like singing infront of a very VERY large crowd... but did it anyways haha  

 

Answer to a couple of Questions:

1) When will the famous blossoms come out? - whenever mother nature decides to stop the snow from coming! Snow is a pain! even on the crutches.

2) Where did I get the crutches? - A member of the bishopric gave them to me. They are still small for me but I enjoy them. Better than nothin'!

3) Scripture for the week? -Ether 12:6

~Elder Ekberg~

PB is a MESS!!

March 10, 2014

Tuesday after our lame snow storm, we were able to go out and use
our cars. We had dinner with a recently reactivated Less active who is
really cool. We learned that he was in the army and that he likes to
blow things up :) He said that the next time we are over, we might do
something like that... ;) His family is super cool!!
   We also did a Peanut Butter challenge... I don't recommend doing
that at all.... You get so sick of PB :/ I couldn't get past the half
way mark in the jar. For how much I eat, thats pretty sad haha.
   If you don't know already, I have had some issues with my ankle the
past couple weeks. So at first, I thought that the pain I was getting
was from some exercises I was doing for basketball... But that is not
the case. Today I went in to the doctors and had some xrays and
examinations done. The doc said that I have a bone that grew from the
previous fracture and previous rolls to that ankle. The bone is coming
from the leg bone (don't know what it is called) and is pinching and
irritating nerves and tendons. I will be getting a CT scan for the
doctors to make sure it is that, and then go about fixing the problem.
I don't know what he will say after, but I am hoping that we can get
this taken care of. I appreciate you all thinking and praying for me
during this discouraging time.  Right now I am on crutches to
alleviate the pain in the ankle. They are a pain! But they are good
too.
   Friday we had the first New Member Lesson with Brian Topper. He is
doing so well already. He is working towards getting a recommend for
Baptisms for the Dead and will be doing some family history work so he
can take some names to the temple! SO NEAT!  Yesterday he blessed the
sacrament for the first time, and he sounded like a natural! He
didn't seem nervous whatsoever. It was super cool!
   Saturday, I was asked to do a little basketball skills camp for the
11 yr old scouts. That was a fun time even though I couldn't
participate with them. At church, I had a couple of parents come up to
me and say like "you must've inspired so and so because when he got
home, he went straight to the basketball hoop and started practicing
the things he learned!" or "my son said that you are a great coach and
just talked about you until we got home" things like that. I think the
next one we do, will be with non member neighborhood kids that LOVE
basketball. I need to come up with some more drills!! :D Well that was
my week, and please, pretty please, keep me in your prayers!

I love you all! Have a marvelous week!!

Elder JT Ekberg

Sent from my iPad

Snow Days Stink!!

March 4, 2014

Another day snowed in... These snow days are not fun. With no wifi at
the apartment, we can't really do any updates with our iPads. Haha I
am very sick of these snow days here. They call for like a couple of
inches of snow and the people freak out and prepare for a blizzard.
But the MD people don't know how to drive in the snow so it is a good
thing that we are staying inside.
 This past week was cool. We had a neat experience with finding some
new investigators. So Elder Treasure and I decided to visit some
"cool" members in our ward because when you visit every person in your
ward more than once, you lose track of who you have seen, visited,
etc, there is like nothing to do ahah. We payed a visit to a family
named the Jenkins. A little background info on them: Sister Jenkins is
a widow and takes care of her handicapped son, Chris who is SUPER
COOL! Sis. Jenkins also takes care of 2 grandsons who are pretty cool
but energetic. Anywho, we went over to her house and she invited us in
and asked what we were up to and we told her we were just making
visits to ward members and seeing how they are doing, and if they know
 of anyone we can teach. Turns out the Jenkins' godfather was there.
And sister Jenkins said: "oh I have someone to teach for you guys!"
(pointing to Eric the godfather) So we taught him how we can over come
the trials in our life with faith in Jesus Christ, we watched the
mormon message "Mountains to Climb" and both Sis Jenkins and Eric
loved how that applied to them. At the end, we asked him if he would
like to learn more about the Gospel and he said yes, but it wouldn't
be at his house... So we get to teach him at The Jenkins house!! :)
 Yesterday, Brian Topper, the most recent convert, was ordained a
priest in the Aaronic Priesthood! That was awesome to be apart of. He
was super happy and excited to receive this. Now the next step is to
prepare him for the Melchizedek priesthood and then go to the temple
to get sealed :) I am so proud for Brian and the decision he made just
a few weeks ago.
   While we were visiting members, we dropped by Sister Margolis in
Swan Point. She is so cool! She taught us how to make sourdough bread
and cinnamon rolls too. The sourdough bread was
reeeeeaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyyy yummy!! I wish we had time to make more
of that stuff.
 Sunday was neat. I had a cool experience with comparing blessings to a faucet.
When you turn on the faucet, immediately the water rushes out and
empties into the glass cup. And sometimes, if the water pressure is
low, the water will come out super slow and we get impatient. Often
when searching for blessings, some may come just like the faucet:
instantly filling you with joy, peace and comfort. Some other
blessings come slowly. Blessings come after the trials of our faith.
That is why they may take some time to come to you. I know that Utah
is going through a scary time now because of the water supply in the
mountains is low. As you and I keep our faith strong in Heavenly
Father, he will bless us after the trial of our faith.

This past week, my ankle has been giving me trouble again and it would
mean a lot if you could keep me in your prayers.

I think that is all for this week! I love you all so very much. I think and pray for you everyday. And I hope you have a fantastic week this week!!