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.