Jerome; a #givethanks post

So yesterday was Jerome's birthday (he claims he's turning 59, but he's been 59 for the past year, so that tells you something's up, haha. I know his real age, but it is a secret everyone must find on their own).

I was going to do a #givethanks for him on Facebook, but something felt weird with it being so public. 

Like, if I shared only a little, people would wonder who the heck Jerome is. Which isn't horrible. I almost went for this option.

If I shared a medium amount, it would fix the previously stated problem, but we run into the next problem of me feeling like it's not enough. It would be at that weird point where things are said, but something just feels lacking.

If I shared a large amount, it would fix the previously stated problems, but we run into the next problem of it being a kind of private thing that I'm sharing with tons of people who don't know Jerome, and it might be a little weird. Or, perhaps, they do know Jerome but it would be weird for them for a missionary to dedicate a whole #givethanks post to him. I don't know.

Point being: Something was off and it wasn't fitting together, so yesterday instead I decided to do my post on how I'm thankful for the opportunity thus far to serve a mission.

I came up with the idea to simply post about Jerome on my blog instead. Feels better that way.

I'm going to act like it was written yesterday (aka, his birthday).

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I am thankful for Jerome!

It's his birthday today, so I thought it would be cool to write about him.

He'll claim he's 59, but he's been saying he's 59 for the past year, so that tells you something is up, haha. 

Discovering his age, which is one of the great unknowns of the universe, was an opportunity I only had because I was blessed to serve in his ward for 6 months of my mission.

Jerome does not like flattery. I think the difference between flattery and a sincere compliment is just that: sincerity. I hope my sincerity can get across in my writings.

Who is Jerome?

He is a man in one of the wards I served in for 6 months. He lived across the basketball court away from us (so: really really close by).

But who is Jerome?

Jerome is a man who teaches. He taught many people alongside us missionaries. He taught me to value Preach My Gospel. He has taught me many valuable principles, which would take far too long to write down here.

Jerome is a man who helps. He has helped me recognize my efforts. He has helped me understand what I truly value. He has helped me learn how to center and ground myself.

Jerome is a man who, when asked, would, if he was able, provide. He provided us a large box for Man on a Mission Episode 4. He provided us a car and a honk in Man on a Mission Episode 5. He provided us many many things.

Each of those sections could be much much longer, but I'll refrain from making them so.

If I had to put it in one sentence, it would but thus:

Jerome is a man who sacrifices.

He claims he does it for the "blessings", but I know it's truly out of love. Love for the Lord and love for the Lord's missionaries.

Save certain companions only, Jerome is the individual who has had the greatest impact on me as a person and as a missionary during the course of my mission.

#givethanks

His Individualized Plan

So many things I could write about.

At the time of my writing of this, It's been 4 weeks since I entered into Wyoming.

I am consistently amazed at how personal and wonderful God's tender mercies are. And at how grand his plan for us is.

Heavenly Father truely does have an individual plan for each and every single one of us.

At the very least, I can bear testimony that he has a plan for me as an individual. But I can also testify that that doesn't just apply to me. That wouldn't make any sense if it just applied to me. It applies to you too. 

This truth, that God knows me as an individual and has a plan for me (and also knows you as an individual and has a plan for you), is something I have grown a firm testimony of in the past 11 months.

This was something that I struggled to grasp before my mission. It was hard to imagine, and often even harder to feel, that God knew me as an individual and truely cared and loved for me as an individual.

I mean, I knew it on paper. Because I had faith in Jesus Christ and his Restored Church and that is one of the things his church teaches. But it was difficult for me to feel that truth for myself. ('Tis an interesting topic that I'm sure I could write much more about. The idea of knowing something in theory but not necessarily knowing it for yourself. It's hard to find the right words to describe it.)

So how do I know this to be true?

Simply put, I have seen Heavenly Father put specific people in my life when are where I need them. I did not meet these people by mistake or coincidance. I met these people because Heavenly Father has a plan.

Tchau tchau!!

~Elder Perazzo

An Information Expo about Me (Elder Perazzo) on a Mission with Blogger as an Approved App

Written 9/12/2020 (that date is indeed accurate. It's not off by a year. It's Saturday, September 12th, 2020 as I type this)

So, fun fact of the day:

          Blogger is an approved app on our phones. And I just got a keyboard that I can hook up to my phone.

         So that means blog posts from me, Elder Perazzo :)

          I like indents in my writing, but the app doesn't allow me to do them, so I'm copying and pasting 10 spaces for each one.

          My Brother just posted on my blog not too long ago, which I think is awesome. In it he references how I would see it when I came home. Lo siento, brother; I saw it a bit earlier :)

          So. I'm on a mission while I'm making blog posts. What does this mean for the content of the blog posts?

          Good question. A few notes on what things will look like/be like for my blog posts while I'm on a mission:

          Regardless of when I actually type up the posts (for example, in this case I'm typing this on a Saturday), I'll be posting them up on Mondays (aka Preperation Day) for a couple reasons. 1. It allows me to feel okay with being a bit more casual with my posts. 2. It doesn't make me feel like I'm attempting to communicate with family/friends on days besides P. Day.

          The posts will be revolved around Jesus Christ/The Church/The Scriptures/something I've learned on my mission etc. aka I won't be posting about which books I'll be reading first when I come home or what video games I'm excited to play etc. (Although if you email me about any of that, I'm totally down to talk about it, haha.)

          This post will hopefully be the most extreme of talking about non-gospel related things because I had to explain various things and such.

          I suppose I should close with something a bit more spiritual, though.

          It always feels weird to me to have my testimony out it writing. But here are a few things I know to be true for myself.

          Jesus Christ lives. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Heavenly Father has a plan for me individually and knows me individually.

#1

Wassup it iz I posting on my brother's blog! There hasn't been a post here in like half a year, and I'm here to fix that.

Hey so this is something he would appreciate but which I'm waiting till he gets home from his mission to share with him! Guess now I don't have to; he's gonna see this when he gets back. It was his 6/16ths mark (wait that rounds down further hold on) 3/8ths mark just last week. (That's nine months.)

But anyway it's a special canonical one-shot sequel to Death Note, for free?! and it's so good, and maybe probably intelligible if you've never read the original manga or seen any of its adaptations? possibly spoilers tho, idk

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/death-note-special-one-shot

Meanwhile though super hyped for Rhythm of War coming out Nov 17th; maybe I'll post something special here at that.

Welp

Written 11/2
Welp, I didn't have as much time for writing as I wanted, so I guess this'll have to be my last post. I wish I could have had more posts to fill this two year gap, but I guess this is alright.
I didn't even get through the rest of my drafts.

I'm excited to post again when I come off my mission!