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