Dear Mom,

Sorry for not emailing yesterday. The library was closed for MLK day.

So first off, this last Friday I tried a food this past week that I said that I would never want to try! Sushi... There's a member in our ward who is super cool. His name is Antonio. He's from Chile. He's way nice. He's probably in his early 40's or late 30's. I don't know for sure. He's single, but has had a rough life with his family. He came to the United States a few years back. He hated it at first, but when he found the Gospel, he realized why he was here. He loves the Church and now works in the Manhattan Temple. Somehow he inherited a good amount of money, so he treats the missionaries very, very well. He took us out to a Japanese restaurant. He loves sushi. When he asked us to come with him, I told him that I've never tried sushi and that I'm scared to try it. He said, if you don't like it that's fine, you don't have to eat it, don't worry about it; but I at least have to try it. So... I did. It's definitely different. The restaurant he took us to was a sushi buffet. I tried raw tuna. I tried sushi with eel in it, crab, fish, all sorts of stuff. Some of it I actually liked. Some didn't taste too good. Others like the tuna just grossed me out. They had lots of shrimp, so I ate that. My companion and Antonio made me try seaweed. I had wasabi with all of it. My companion tried to make me try calamari. He also tried jellyfish and clams. It was a definite 'no' for me to the calamari. I wasn't even about to try jellyfish or clams. Antonio also had me try all these dessert things. They were totally Japanese stuff. There were like two of them that actually tasted okay. The rest were pretty nasty. Overall, it was a pretty good experience. I'd be willing to try sushi again, but I don't think that I'm going to put the effort in to get to another sushi place again. 

Also on Friday, we went to the Bishop's house for some dinner and to get to know him a little better. President Jeppson has told us how important it is to get the Bishop's trust and to do everything he says. He, and especially his wife, are incredibly important for our work in the ward. We have to have them know that he can trust us. So we had dinner with him and his wife, who cooked very well, and then taught him about charity from Moroni 7. Our Bishop has been known to be a little grumpy and also, unfortunately, not very private when it comes to interviewing members worthiness. It's caused some members to got less-active. We call it "Chismoso" or gossipy. He and his wife really are amazing though. I don't think they do it on purpose. When we visited them, they were very nice and welcoming. Bishop seems to love the missionaries. That's good!

This last Thursday was Zone Conference. As always, it was amazing to hear from President and Sister Jeppson. They're so amazing. We practiced how to start teaching investigators by letting them know why we're here and what we want them to do. It was really good. Very inspiring. I took notes. I will always remember President and Sister Jeppson. We're going to have interviews with them later on today. I'm pretty excited to get some one-on-one with them again. I have some questions in mind that I want to ask them. It should be pretty great!

On Sunday, we went over to a recent convert family's home for dinner. They are an amazing family! They are both from Bolivia. They have a 7-year old daughter that just turned seven on January 20, right after Kaylee turned eight. They also have another daughter who is just over a year old. They are an awesome family. Two Sunday's ago, we had dinner with them. When we were eating, they asked me what my favorite food is. I told them my favorite food is my mom's food, haha! They asked what was it that my mom made that I always loved. I said that my mom cooks Lasagna really well. They said they would try to make it the next week. Last Sunday, just over a week ago, we had Lasagna! It was actually pretty good. It was the first time that they had made it too! It was the first time in a year that I've had it! Of course it wasn't as good as your lasagna mom, haha. Just this past Sunday, two days ago, they made my companion's favorite food. I forget what it's called. It's an Italian dish too. Again, the first time they had made it. They've only been members for over half a year. Milko, the dad, has had work lately on Sundays, and he's still working on trying to get those off. They want to go to the temple. Tina usually comes every week. The 7-year old girl, Nicole, wants to serve a mission some day. Great family! We taught them the Articles of Faith. It was a Spanglish lesson, since Tina reads and speaks Spanish better and the little girl is better in English. Milko is great both ways. It's pretty fun teaching Spanglish lessons. 

We have some good progressing investigators. They're just starting up or starting to progress. Nothing too amazing with them, but I think that February will be full of getting people ready to be baptized really soon. It's going to be great!

President Trent sounds like he's doing as amazing as ever. I wonder if he'll be a mission president.. It wouldn't surprise me. I can't wait to talk to him again. I really hope he's still the Stake President when I come home. I want to be able to talk to him about my mission. I've always loved talking with him. 

I've seen that soda machine before. The only one I've seen in Utah is at the Costa Vida by my Quiznos. I've seen them a lot around here in New Jersey. They're way cool. However, I usually end up just getting the regular soda. It's so cool though!

I can't believe that Morgan is already coming home. I'm also curious as to when Jaime Ricks, Patrick McMillan, and Tyler Whitely are coming home. How much longer do they have left? I forget who else is in our ward that's on a mission. I'm sure they're all getting close. Also, who else has left on a mission in our ward since I've been out??

One thing if you could send me. Sometimes we want to play a game for FHE at members' houses. I don't know how easy it would be, but if you could find a game from Deseret Book about the Book of Mormon or something in the Church that looks like it would be a fun small game, that would be great. Also, I would need it in Spanish.. If you can't find anything, don't worry about it, we've been good at coming up with games. Make sure it's a small game too, nothing too big. I'll send my camera soon.

Love you mom! Talk to you soon! 

-Justin

Q of the W:

1.  Do any of the missionaries get sick very often?  The flu is super bad here.  Just wondering if it is there too.

I haven't heard much about the flu among missionaries. I've heard about how bad it is though. I'm drinking plenty of Orange Juice!

2.  How often do you eat at people's houses in your new area so far?

Very often actually. This area loves to feed the missionaries. We probably eat at least once a day. Last night, a member took us out to eat at a small Hispanic restaurant. Sunday, we were at Tina and Milko's. Tonight, we might eat twice, once for sure though. Tomorrow, we'll eat for sure. Thursday, we have two FHE's. We'll get fed for sure at both of them. We're pretty much always eating. Good thing it's a walking area.

3.  Have you heard from your friends lately?  I wish they had a blog.  It would be fun to keep up. 

Yes. Tanner is doing really well at writing every week. He's been really good to keep in contact. Kyle every once in a while. Luke I haven't heard from in a couple weeks. Spencer I haven't heard much from. We're all pretty busy and loving it! Tanner wants to learn Spanish after the mission along with like 4 or 5 other languages. He's getting way into the languages now! It's going to be a fun friends reunion!