Dear Mom,

So this past week, it's gotten to be pretty cold. I have a sweater on and my two-piece coat from Mr. Mac. I also have a scarf and a hat. My gloves are also very nice. I'm just trying to find some thermals somewhere. I stay pretty warm. When the wind picks up, then it gets a little more miserable, but luckily we don't have too far to walk between appointments. Most of the time during the day we don't have many appointments, so we'll be walking around for a little longer. When about 4 o'clock hits, then it starts picking up and we have a good amount of appointments. I have my little weather thing that I got for my birthday that tells me that in the morning it's about 15 to 20 degrees. Earlier on this week it stayed about that cold all day long. A few days the wind made it seem like it was way worse. Today, it's going back and forth between snow, hail, and rain. It's P-Day so we are just hanging out at the chapel. All of our apartments are too small to fit the six of us. The past few days, it's been about 30's. Not too bad. A little bit of snow, but still nothing is sticking.

So this last Tuesday we had our interviews with President and Sister Jeppson. Amazing as always. I told a story to President Jeppson that happened to me last week. I was a little concerned about how I handled a certain lesson. I don't think I told you last week. So here's the story, we were visiting one of our investigators at a member's house. Our investigator is this 16-year old girl from the Dominican Republic named Melissa. She doesn't speak English. She's spent the past few years serving a ''mission'' spreading the word of the Bible. Good for her. She wanted to learn a little more about our Church. She's come to Church a few times now. The Wednesday before this past Wednesday, we had this lesson with her and we taught her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She seemed a little spectacle about it, which isn't a rare response. After we were done, she said she had a few questions. She pulled out a few pieces of paper and started asking some weird questions. When she was reading off the paper, I heard her say something that gave me the feeling (the Holy Ghost) that I needed to see exactly what this paper was. I asked if I could see it. She said sure. I started to read some of it, and I could tell that it was Anti-Mormon stuff. It was anti-Mormon and anti-Jehova's Witness and anti-a couple other things, but it was Anti-Mormon stuff nonetheless. Then I had another feeling (the Holy Ghost) that I needed to tell her straight up that these were lies. So I got up some nerve, then I looked at her and told how it was. I said these were lies and that they came straight from the devil and she couldn't read them if she wanted to grow closer to God. She said no and that God had directed her to find those. I said no, they are lies and if she wants the truth it is only found in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. She didn't have much to say after that. The member family was kind of happy about that, and then we left maybe 10 minutes later. For some reason, I didn't know if that was the way I should have handled that situation. So I asked President Jeppson. He said that he was proud of me for having the courage to act on that prompting to tell her the truth and that he doesn't think I could have handled it any other way. It was a pretty scary experience to tell someone that what they are holding is lies when they think they got it from God. I'm glad though that I was able to call her out on it! We had another member with us who is preparing for his mission. He's name is Alan and he's from Mexico. He was super happy for me when we got out of that lesson. He was telling me how much the Holy Ghost was with me when I called her out. Fun mission experiences!! We had another lesson with Melissa just a few days ago. She didn't take anything personal. She's a little confused right now. She told her pastor about that experience! It's good that she's confused. Hopefully she'll just draw back on sincere prayer. We'll keep telling her to read the Book of Mormon. Again, fun mission experiences! 

This last Sunday, we were able to go see a few other baptisms in our District. We saw a family of three get baptized in West New York and a mom and daughter get baptized in Jersey City. When we were in Jersey City, I ended up translating the baptism as it was going on for President and Sister Jeppson. It was really, really hard. That was actually my first time translating! President and Sister Jeppson said they were impressed. I guess I did a decent job for my first time translating! It was a 'good feeling' moment. The baptisms were wonderful and they were packed with people. Everyone in those wards wanted to see them get baptized! 

We had dinner at Tina and Milko's again last night. What an amazing family. They are from Bolivia and fed us a traditional Bolivian dish. I forgot the name, but it's beef, onions, green peppers in a sauce over french fries. It's not as good as it sounds, it's actually WAY better than it sounds. It was so good. 

This next week should be a pretty normal week. It's the last week of January, and I'm glad. I just want winter to end. I want spring. Not necessarily summer because summer is going to be so hot. I just want spring and fall. 

In his weekly letter to all the missionaries, President Jeppson announced that on Saturday, February 16, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is going to come to speak to our mission! He didn't say who, but an Apostle!! That's about three weeks away, but I'm already looking forward to it. Before I know it, it'll be here probably. 

Has Kelsie been hanging out with William at all? Have you talked to William at all? I want to know how he's doing. I sent him a couple letters early last year, but I never got anything back. 

Q of the W:

1.  How often do you actually tract? 

Hardly ever. We contact people sometimes, but mostly we're just working on the investigators we have and as we help less-active families, we'll find family members or friends that are interested to hear more.

2.  If you could only give one piece of advice to someone leaving on a mission, what would it be?

That's hard. If someone is preparing to go on a mission, I would say to start studying Preach My Gospel and the standard works as much as possible. If someone were leaving on their mission in the next few days, I would say learn to love the members as soon as you can. The members are everything. Missionary work does not progress without the members, so do everything you can to love the members so they can trust you.

3.  When you talk to members who are less active?  Is there a common reason they became inactive in the first place?

Yes. Work!!!! I hate work!!!!! It's the reason why so many people don't come to church. Then they get used to not coming to church and then when they finally do get Sunday off of work, they have forgotten about Church and are embarrassed, or scared, or nervous, or something about coming back.

Another that isn't as common is someone getting offended. Usually some good talk about what really is important will brighten their attitude.

Love you mom!!

-Justin