Dear Mom,

So, first of all, I'm being transferred. After 6 months in Plainfield  I'm finally done and moving on. I've also been released as District Leader. So less responsibility and a little more time to read and study what I want. I'll miss some of the responsibility and being 'in' on mission things, but hopefully in the future I'll be able to help out more. I don't know where I'm going next yet,  but I'll let you know next Monday. 

So last night, I finished the Book of Mormon challenge that President Jeppson gave us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I was a little behind for a while, but then I buckled down and read a lot. Yesterday, I was in Mormon chapter 4. I didn't read through Ether, because that was the first book that I read in the Book of Mormon. For the last half of the book of Mormon and all of the book of Moroni, I read out loud with another missionary in our apartment who was at the same place as me, so we finished together. Mormon and Moroni were both super smart, intelligent guys! Moroni especially talks a lot about the Atonement. Also, something that I've just barely started to understand from the Book of Mormon is how much it talks about the gathering of Israel and the Lord fulfilling that covenant through the Book of Mormon in this dispensation. It's something that I haven't really ever heard of or known about until these last two months when we started to learn more about all the purposes of the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon!! It is such an amazing book!! I'll be studying it again from cover to cover and highlighting all the things pertaining to the gathering of Israel through the Book of Mormon. I'll keep you posted. 

We actually met a lady the other day who started to almost bash with us about the shooting in Connecticut. She wanted to know the answer why a just God would let children die in such a way like that. She said she knew that people can choose what they do, but she wanted to know why God chose those children to die in such a brutal way. Well, like many people, she was hardhearted and didn't understand the answer that the Book of Mormon can give her. We showed her the story in Alma 14 about Alma and Amulek. It's a crazy story about mass martyrdom. It actually says in one of those verses why God allows the innocent to die. This lady said that that story didn't answer her question, but we know it did. We also had a member with us who has been a member since he was little. He knows a lot about the Church. He was even Branch President of Plainfield a little while back and he said after the lesson that the scripture that I shared in Alma 14 should have answered her question. Some people are just hardhearted and there's nothing we can really do about it. I like the scripture in 1 Nephi 16:2. The wicked take the truth to be hard. Sometimes that happens too, haha! 

So yesterday was the day that I said goodbye to the members in Plainfield. I kind of knew that the chances of me being transferred were pretty high, so I was telling all the members about it. They were very loving about it. We had an FHE with two families last night and we brought a Church video about temples. It's called Between Heaven and Earth. Some, or a lot, of Church videos can be pretty cheesy, but this one isn't that at all. If you get the chance to see that video, it's pretty good! It teaches a lot about temples. They even get a Catholic person that I think is pretty high in the Catholic Church and two professors of Judaic studies to talk about temples. Then they have Truman G. Madsen, a temple president, President Packer, and Elder Holland testify and teach about modern temples too which is really good. After that, I said goodbye to them. I'll be going back tonight to say goodbye to some other members. I always tell them that I'm going to come back and visit. I've had a good time in Plainfield!

I can't wait to see Les Mis. I've been seeing the movie The Dark Knight Rises on DVD in Walmart! AAAHHH! One more year..

Well, I'll probably be spending the rest of the winter in my next area. I remember last year for New Years Eve, I was at Tanner's house with Luke, Tanner, and Spencer playing Call of Duty. I remember telling Luke specifically that I only had 10 days left before my mission. HAHA! One year ago.. Now we're all on missions. How great! This next year will be a good year. 2013 all in NJ. 

Another thing, there's a work out place in New Jersey that's called work out world. Their logo is Jersey Strong. It's a pretty big thing. They give out free magnets that say Jersey Strong. It's especially big among missionaries because we all love NJ now. They also sell like shirts and jackets. I might have to buy one. 

By the way, what did I send Kelsie again?? I can't believe I forgot..

Q of the W:

1.  Do you guys have any snow yet???

Yes. It melts on the roads though. It was snowing yesterday.

2.  What will you be doing New Years Eve/Day?  if anything?

Not much. Tonight we'll visit some members and that's about it. Tomorrow is transfer conference and I think we've decided to go to a diner before the conference. We're going to go to a place called Edison Diner. My first diner experience!!

3.  Has it been super cold there yet?  and how do you guys stay warm outside?

Yes. Today it's about 32 degrees. That Mr. Mac coat is really nice and I got like 3 scarfs for Christmas. One from the all-mission Christmas conference, one from a member, and one from an investigator. The scarfs help out a lot. 

Love you mom! Talk to you next week!

Mom,

The temple trip to NYC was awesome! We all loved it. We spent several hours in the temple. We woke up early on Wednesday morning to drive over to Newark to take a PATH train to Penn Station at the World Trade Center in NYC. To start off, over this whole day, I think I saw at least a million different people. There are just way too many people in NYC. We arrived at the World Trade Center. Some of us wanted to take the Subway to 64th which is close to the temple. The rest of us wanted to walk the 50 blocks to the temple. I walked. We got a little lost, but the New Yorkers know their way around. There were a couple times when we were walking through the city when we hear, "Elders!" We wave to them and they wave back. We even got an "Elderes!" which is the Spanish version. That's a lot of fun! When we were leaving the temple, I saw a guy with a "Utah Utes" hoodie on taking a picture of the temple. As we walked by him, he said, "Hey elders." It's a lot of fun meeting other members in Manhattan. We also bumped into two Manhattan missionaries by the temple too. It was cool to meet them. At the temple, we did an endowment session and baptisms for the dead. Baptisms was a lot of fun. Two of us would get in the baptismal font, then one of us baptized the other for ten names, then we just switched places. It was really fun. Also, on our way to the temple, we walked through Times Square again. As we were approaching Times Square, I noticed a gigantic mormon.org ad. It was at least 20 feet tall and 50 feet wide. It was huge!! Right there in the middle of Manhattan! By Times Square! I took a couple pictures of it, but I forgot the cord to my camera to connect it to the computer today, so I'll have to send them next week. It was the ad about Christmas. It's on mormon.orgright now. I also learned something else very important about NYC on Wednesday. It's super expensive to travel there. $2.25 for a one way ticket on a train or subway. It's ridiculous. It eats your money right up! I've rethought about living in NYC now. I don't think I could handle paying that much for transportation every day. I still want to visit, but we'll have to come ready to pay a lot for transportation.

On Friday, we had our all-mission conference. We had a special guest visit from Alex Boye. It was a really fun Christmas party. All the presents that had been shipped to the missionaries came through the Mission Office. There were so many packages! They also wrapped all the packages they got in Christmas wrapping paper to make it more festive. We got a little stocking with some candy and other little things from the Jeppsons. It was really nice. Also, there were some donations to the mission from some other people. They made hats and scarfs for all the missionaries. It was really nice. Alex Boye sang some Christmas songs for us. President Jeppson talked to us a little bit more about Christmas. It was all in all a pretty good Christmas devotional.

Then the next day, we went out to do more clean-up service from the hurricane. The first lady that we helped had a pretty big yard. It's all pretty much forest in her yard. There were a few trees that got knocked over. So two missionaries who have had experience with chain saws before the mission cut up the trees and we hauled all the parts of the trees to the front yard by the street so the city can come by and take it away. We got a couple trees done when it was time for us to go to our next one. We had told a guy the previous week that we would come back and help him with his deck at low tide. At about 12:30 we got to his house. I don't remember if I told you about him. He had a good sized deck in his backyard. His backyard is facing the beach. However, there is a ledge that is in his back yard that goes down onto the beach. He also has a small dock where he used to park his boat. During high tide, the water comes right up to the ledge and there's no beach. During low tide, there's about 10-15 feet of beach. What happened, was when the water came in from the hurricane, it came up over that ledge, picked up his deck and turned it. Then the water receded and set the deck halfway on his backyard and leaning on the dock over the beach. Last week, we came during high tide so we couldn't do much. This last Saturday, we came back during low tide, so we cut up the deck and hauled it out front. It took about 2 hours and about 14 missionaries. It was fun! We then returned back to the first lady and did as much as we could for another hour until the sun went down. We returned the supplies we were using back to the Eatontown, NJ ward, and came back an hour late for our Branch Christmas Party. The party was cool. It was pretty simple. There was a lot of food and we just ate and talked to each other. There was Christmas music going on. It was fun!

Other than that, we didn't do much this week. We've gotten a few Christmas presents from members and investigators. It'll be a pretty good Christmas! I'll miss everyone over in Boise! I also have been seeing some advertising for Les Miserables coming out on Christmas Day. Is that the movie you're going to go see? Let me know how it is!

Love you!

-Justin

Dear Mom,
I'm sending a package home tomorrow. I picked out just a few things for everyone. Not Chubs though. Hopefully he won't notice. 

To start out, we've had a 2009 Chrysler Sebring in my area. Last Monday, after we were done with most of our P-Day stuff, the vehicle coordinator called us and told us that we need to bring our car down to the Morristown chapel; that it's time to sell it and get us a new car. So on Wednesday, we picked up our brand new Chevy Cruze. I was the first to drive it. I drove it out of the Morristown chapel parking lot with 33 miles on it! It's a lot of fun driving a brand new car. It drives very nice and has some cool features. It's very basic though. The Church doesn't buy any unnecessary features. Just the basics. But it's fun.

That's so sad to hear about those children in Connecticut. I did hear something about that, but no details. That's so sad to hear about. I can't imagine the pain and misery that he will feel when he's held accountable for that. In this scripture in Alma 14, Alma and Amulek, both of which were extremely rebellious in their youth, now converted to the Lord, are preaching in the land of Ammonihah. They are missionaries and prophets declaring repentance unto the people in these few chapters. In this chapter particularly, they are cast into prison, beaten, starved, then sent to watch the martyrdom of the Saints.

"9 And it came to pass that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire.
"10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.
"11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.
"12 Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also.
"13 And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not."

This is a very sad story, but I love it. Amulek shows so much faith! He knows that he holds the power of God! He knows that he has the capability to stop this "awful scene" from happening. However, it is not the will of the Lord in this instance. In verse 11, we read what Alma says of the will of the Lord. However, I think there is much more that the Lord sees in this instance, that is not written and not known to us about this story; and Alma knows that; and Amulek learns that. Then I absolutely love the answer that Alma gives to Amulek concerning their death. Alma knows that their time had not yet come. Before their mission, their fathers Alma and Mosiah were promised that their sons would not die on their missions. Alma remembered that. I think that we can apply that to us. Even though this ''awful scene'' happened in Connecticut, our work is not yet finished! We still have work to do. We're being kept on this earth in this time, because the Lord wants us to help bring others to Zion. 

So, this last Thursday, we went to the Mission Home for what's called Jingle with the Jeppsons. Just our zone went on Thursday, so there were about 18 of us. I saw your card you sent to them mom! It was such a fun experience! One of the activities that we did was with these bells. We each got a bell that was a certain note. President and Sister Jeppson made these posters with songs on them and the certain note that goes along with the song. So as we were singing, we would ring the bell when our note came. It was a lot of fun. There were a few songs that a lot of us didn't know, so that made it hard for us to keep up. Fortunately, President and Sister Jeppson and just a couple missionaries knew these songs, so they could sing it and we could follow along a little better. They also fed us breakfast! So good! It's so nice to have a meal that's done so well. It always reminds me of Sunday meals at home and breakfast on General Conference and Stake Conference days. President Jeppson also taught us a little more about Christmas. You know how we always share the stories from the Bible about the birth of Christ? Well, President Jeppson, being so amazing and knowledgeable about the scriptures, shared the story of Jesus from the Book of Mormon! How fitting, since our monthly focus is on the Book of Mormon! I'm trying my best to start to become like that on my mission. I love the Book of Mormon. I read it at least an hour a day. It's so amazing. President Jeppson shared a few scriptures from 1 & 2 Nephi about the prophecies of the coming of Christ (including some Isaiah chapters) and also Alma 7:10-14 emphasizing the Atonement of Christ. It was a cool spiritual experience. Maybe I can pull off something like the Christmas after I come home. 

So we actually went to do more service this last Saturday. We went to meet up in a chapel in Eatontown, NJ. Then we went to a place called Oceanport, NJ. This time, we had two Elders with us that have had a lot of experience with chainsaws before the mission. So we went to the people who needed help with downed trees. It was crazy! The first tree that we worked on was leaning on a fence and onto a shed. A couple Elders, including the ones with the chainsaws climbed up and started sawing all the limbs off. The rest of us were picking up the limbs and putting them on the side of the road. We did some other small things too. We also tried to get into Seaside Heights to help a guy who needed a lot of help. Unfortunately, the National Guard is very strict on letting people into that area. They said that we need a pass to get in, but he didn't really know where we could get a pass. We kept trying to tell them that we're service volunteers and we're there just to help out. They didn't budge. So hopefully we can go back this next Saturday to help out. We were told by some other missionaries later on that day that we just have to take a different highway into Seaside Heights and the National Guard will let us in if we're service volunteers. It was a little stressful, but it was really fun to help out again! 

So this coming week we will be going to the temple in NYC on Wednesday. We'll be leaving pretty early and spending a good amount of time at the temple. I think we'll be going in right under the Freedom Tower! Cool! I can't wait to go to the temple again. It'll probably be an exhausting experience, going into NYC, walking to the temple, spending a lot of time there, then coming back to our area. Fortunately, we have some set appointments with some members that night, so we won't be running around trying to surprise visit members or trying to find potential investigators. This next Friday, we have our all-mission conference. It's obviously Christmas-themed. Alex Boye will be the speaker. I don't really know what to expect, but it should be a lot of fun! I'll let you know about it this next week. 

So that'll be it for this week. I'm really excited for this next week. It's going to be really good. Hopefully it won't be too slow because of all the last minute Christmas stuff. I'm loving the Christmas CD that was sent! Love you mom! Talk to you soon!

-Justin

Q of the W:

1.  Any snow yet?

We've had a little bit. But it just melts. These last few days it's been raining.

2.  Did you guys decorate your apartment in any way for Christmas?

A sweet lady in the Scotch Plains Ward gave the English Elders some decorations to put up in our apartment. We haven't done much. We have a mini Christmas tree though. 

3.  Does New Jersey have any type of city transportation? Like a subway or bus system?

There is NJ transit, which is a train system. They also operate a lot of buses. I haven't used any of them yet. We're going to meet up in Newark on Wednesday morning to go to the temple. We'll be taking some sort of tracks system. I think some subways do come into New Jersey. I don't know for sure though. 

Dear Mom,

I'll open it up as soon as I get home today! I'm still gathering for something I'm going to send home for Christmas. It's not much, but I hope it'll be cool. 

This week has been a pretty fulfilling week. We visited several less-active members and we are working on getting them back to church. What less-active members don't understand is why we have commandments. After listening to a talk from a former Mission President named Brad Wilcox about the grace of Jesus Christ and studying more about the commandments, I've come to learn that the commandments are not a list of requirements for the Celestial Kingdom. The Lord has revealed to his prophets what the Celestial Kingdom will be like by giving us commandments. So now we can see that in the Celestial Kingdom, we 1) We will only worship God, 2) We will not worship anything else, or in other words, we will sacrifice anything for God, 3) We will not use the Lord's name in vain; no profanity in heaven, 4) We will keep the Sabbath Day holy; or in heaven we can say that we will set apart our time to the Lord to learn, 5) We will honor and respect our parents, 6) There will be no violence, 7) We will all have high moral standards, 8) No one will steal; no crime 9) Everyone will be honest, 10) No one will covet, no impure thoughts. We can say that we are not earning heaven, but we are learning heaven. We are preparing for it. That's a different, more correct way, to think about the commandments. This former Mission President, Brad Wilcox, said that at the last day, the unrepentant sinner will not be the one begging Jesus to let him into heaven. If he hasn't prepared and wanted to be more Christ-like here on earth, what is going to make him want to be that way after this life? Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly. Brad Wilcox also said that at the judgement day, the person who is probably going to be begging will be Jesus. He will be begging the unrepentant to use His Atonement and to truly repent. It's a really cool talk! Maybe I can send a copy home.

So this week, we found some of these less-active members. For some reason, they just stopped going to church. When we visited them, we ask them how they first met the missionaries and why they were baptized. Then since we're focusing on the Book of Mormon this month, we help them remember the importance of the Book of Mormon and how much it can bless their lives and the lives of their family. One family in particular is the Huapaya family. If you remember me last week mention Brother Caycho from the Scotch Plains English ward, this is his brother (or something like that, I'm not completely sure). However, I asked Brother Caycho about him. He's a former Branch President and also served in a Stake Presidency for a few years. He's a return missionary and so is his wife. They're both less-active now for years. Sister Huapaya has come a few times to church and claims that she comes more often then she really does. What an amazing family they could be!! Such amazing power could come from the father in that family having served for so long in leadership positions. The mother being a return missionary could have such a powerful influence on other members and her friends. Yet they have chosen to stop coming to church. I don't know why, but they have stopped living the Gospel. Well, I set a personal goal to visit them every week and work to try to rekindle that joy that they had for so many years. 

We also recently found a member named Myrian Alokour. One night, we got several calls from her son. We were in an appointment already, so I couldn't answer the phone. When I got back to him, he told us that his mom, Myrian, wanted a Priesthood blessing. I was excited. I've been trying to find Myrian for a few transfers now. A few members knew approximately where she lived, but not exactly. Now she was looking for us! We gave her a blessing and then visited her for a little bit. She had just separated from her Muslim husband who told her that she couldn't go to her church anymore. She's happy that she can come back to church now and she is. We've been passing by a few times. She fed us dinner the other night. She's really cool, but she has some catching up to do. She was really close to receiving her temple endowment before she stopped going to church. We're going to go see her tonight to plan a family home evening this next weekend. It's going to be great!

Last night was a fireside in Union City for the Spanish wards and branches throughout the New Jersey Morristown Mission. It was amazing. The Spirit was very strong there, especially as we sang the Spanish version of "This is the Christ"! Afterward, there were snacks and socializing. Unfortunately no one from the Plainfield Branch came. However! I saw some members from Dover! and Paterson! I saw Bishop Abreu from Dover and also Edwin. It was so great to talk to them for a little bit. I asked them about the people I helped baptize there. The Montalva family is doing wonderful. Natalie, the mom, is a counselor in the Primary Presidency, and Albert, the son, has the Aaronic Priesthood and helps with the sacrament every week. Ivan is doing great. He started football and has lost some weight. Unfortunately Sydney hasn't come in a little while. Her mom is a member and not too supportive. I remember that she enjoyed going to church and seeing the people there. She really enjoyed Sydney's baptism as well. It was disappointing when we met with them to smell smoke on her.. Hopefully the missionaries there now can start doing some reactivating work. It was fun to see those members that I first started working with in Dover. 

Good week! I'm loving it. 

I hope Kelsie enjoys the Great and Terrible series. I can't wait to read those again even though I already know what happens. I was reading yesterday in the book Our Heritage. It's a brief history of the Church. One of the prophets not too far back encouraged saints to spread the Gospel in creative ways. The Great and Terrible series immediately came to my mind. Very creative! And awesome.

For this next temple trip, we've been talking with the zone leaders. We were thinking about taking a train into Penn Station which is right under the Freedom Tower. It would be a really, REALLY, long walk to the temple from there though. Something like 20 to 30 blocks, which equals to about 5 miles. Maybe too long.. We'll see what happens. Last week, when Brother Peck took us on the mini-tour through NYC, it pretty much filled me up with just about everything I could expect on a tour as a missionary. I'm good now! The next major tour will be after the mission. I might take some pictures this next temple trip just because it's Christmas time, but I don't know about next summer and winter. We're planning on going to the temple December 19.

When is Kelsie going on that trip to Greece?? If I'm still on my mission, is it possible for her to wait a year then I can go with her?? Also, I'm so happy Kelsie is choosing to go on a mission! She's going to love it! She just needs to remember not to laugh at the Elders when they say that their girlfriend is waiting for them. Haha! It's only a matter of time until the Dear John comes. 

Q of the W:

1.  Do people in your ward/branch give you food or treats to take home?

Sometimes we'll take leftovers from a dinner appointment. It's not very often that they give us food or snacks to take home. 

2.  I am so happy to hear you can practice the piano!  Where do you practice though?

Lately, we've been doing email at the Scotch Plains chapel in the family history center. So when we're there and we have extra time, I'll play the piano. Lots of fun! I just need a lot of practice, every day.

3.  How is Plainfield/Middlesex looking since the hurricane?  Have they cleaned up everything?

Our area wasn't affected too badly. Just some knocked down trees which in turn, knocked down power lines. It's all cleaned up now. Everyone has power, and all the power lines are up and running. The bottom parts of trunks of trees are still everywhere. Apparently, insurance companies take care of paying for the clean up of all the tree except the bottom part of the trunk and the roots. I don't know.. Other than that, it's all good!

Love you mom! I miss you!

Justin

Dear mom,

This last week has been a pretty normal week. Unfortunately it was a little slow. We've been going around a lot and trying to get in contact with people. We have a lot of less-active members to work with and we're trying to find them all. Sometimes it can be pretty frustrating to talk to them. They know that we want them to come back to church and a lot of times they don't really care to go back to church. What they don't understand is why we are trying to do it. We just want them to be happy and have the blessings of the Gospel in their lives. So once we can finally see them and visit them, they start to understand a little more why we are there helping them.

The weather has been pretty normal here. It has still been a little cold, but nothing too miserable. I just hope winter isn't too long or too cold. It's not very fun going around doing missionary work when it's so cold. But, I'll be able to do it. It's a lot better when people let us in.

We have a goal from November and this month in the mission about the Book of Mormon. Every month we have a different monthly focus in the mission. For two months now it has been the Book of Mormon. It's a lot of fun to focus on the Book of Mormon and to learn so much more about it! President Jeppson also challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year starting in the beginning of November. I'm a little behind but I'm reading as much as I can. I love reading the Book of Mormon!

This Saturday we did more service. We went with Brother Peck from the Scotch Plains Ward. We went to Long Island. We were all over Long Island. We had what are called work orders. It's an address, name, and phone number for somebody who requested help from the Mormon Helping Hands. Well, the first two fell through. One of them, they just needed help cutting a tree apart that fell on their fence. We didn't have any tools to cut a tree, so we went to the second one. Turns out she was already done. So we got a third one. She was a member of the church and needed some help cleaning up some things and putting containers in the shed. It wasn't too much work. We got it done in about an hour. After that, we went to a church building which was in a rented space on the street. We went there to get two more work orders. When we left the church building to start out, some other Mormon Helping Hands volunteers came through the parking lot to get another work order. They had just gotten Quiznos for lunch and were carrying it to their cars. We all decided that we wanted Quiznos too. So we went! I kind of miss Quiznos food. It was really good! Good quality. How's our Quiznos going? Have you passed by my Quiznos lately? So after, we headed out to try the next two work orders. Both of them didn't need help. Brother Peck was fed up with driving around, so he said we're going to head home. On the way home, Brother Peck said he wanted to take us through Manhattan, but that might not be the best idea. Well, he took a few ''wrong turns'' and he ended up taking us on a tour through Manhattan. I'll print some more pictures today of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree, the Freedom Tower, and some other things. We were extremely close to getting into an accident several times. New York driving is ridiculous. I was also in the front seat and his car had a roof window. It was a fun experience, but I just didn't feel accomplished because we hardly did any service. The member lady that we helped felt pretty thankful though.

This upcoming month is going to go by pretty fast. It'll be a lot of fun with lots of Christmas stuff. I'll let you know as it goes on.

Love you mom!

-Justin

 

Q of the W:

1.  Did you get your package?

Yes. I assumed it was for Christmas, but I saw the sheet music through the flaps on the box so I had Elder Jensen open it up and take out the music then tap it back down so I didn't find out what was in it! Haha.

2.  Will you be going to the Manhattan Temple soon?

YES!!! We're still planning out that trip.

3.  Are you still playing the piano at church?

No. The Branch President's daughter is playing. She's like 11 years old. She's good, however, she doesn't have a sense of rhythm or beat. It's pretty messy and it messes everyone up. Kind of funny.    I'm actually practicing every Monday. I'm getting a lot better at sight reading!