September 16, 2013

Dear Mom,

That's so cool. We're becoming a Dr. Pepper/Costa Vida family. I'll definitely want to hit up Costa Vida the day after I get home.

I'll definitely have to check out those stores on State Street!

That article about those missionaries in Newark was my companion. They did just spell his name wrong. Also, the Elder Smith was the one that started his mission when I did. We were in the MTC together.

Grandpa sent me a story of when he decided to start pay his tithing. It's a pretty cool story. It's so cool to hear about the amount of faith that goes into paying tithing. It's great to be in the Restored Church, knowing that your tithing money goes to actually building up the kingdom of God, and not just paying the pastor for his sermons. I think that's why so many people have such a hard time believing tithing in our church. They automatically think that it's going to the Bishop or someone because of all the experience they've had in other churches.

Q of the W:

1.  Your birthday is soon!!!  Is there anything you need?  or want?  I have ordered more contacts for you and will send them to you...

It'd be cool to get some talks on CD. There are cool ones by Truman G. Madsen. He always gives really good talks. There's one called "What's on the other Side?" It talks a lot about the Spirit World. Maybe something like that. I don't really need any books or anything. I can get books when I come home, plus they would just be more weight to carry around.

2.  Besides English and Spanish, what other language missions are there in NJ?

Portuguese and Korean

3.  Do you ever suggest the Ensign to those less-actives or non members?  Is it a missionary tool?

I've only tried a couple times. I haven't seen too many members out here with them. Even active members don't really get it. I think usually they just have stuff on their smart phones so they don't see the point in ordering a magazine. I would much prefer a magazine though. You can mark it up and stuff. But it's for sure a great missionary tool! Modern prophets speak!

This Friday turned out to be not such a good day. It seems like you always have to have a terrible day so that you will always be grateful for the good days. We had two set appointments during the day-time hours. One at 11:30 with a member, and then one at 2:30 with some investigators. They both weren't there. We showed up at the members home on time at 11:30 and a different lady answered the door. She said that they hadn't arrived yet. She called them up and then she told us to wait for about 20 minutes for them to get home. Well, they called back 25 minutes later and told us that they weren't going to be able to make it, that they were actually pretty far from home. The investigators that we had at 2:30 had forgotten that we were coming and didn't make the effort to be home on time to be able to be there when we showed up. We called them and they said that we're going to have to come by another day. By that time, I was kind of upset. I really don't like it when people don't show up for our appointments. It makes me feel like the missionaries are on the bottom of their priority list. It's sad, but every time that happens, I realize how much more I will understand how important it is to always be on time and ready for appointments that I agree to. I'll just be that much better because of the mistakes of others. Like I said before, it helps me to realize how great good days are! Later on that night, we had an appointment with that guy I contacted last week as well as the less-active Munoz family. The Munoz family was scheduled for 7 o'clock and Alberto was scheduled for 8 o'clock. Brother Munoz called about an hour before our appointment and asked us to come by a little bit past 8:00 pm because he wasn't going to get home until later. We tried going by Alberto's house and calling him to try and see if we could come by earlier, but we had no luck. We went to Alberto's house at 7, but nothing still. We decided that we would have a better chance at teaching the Munoz family than risk finding someone at home that's not even answering their phone. We've lost contact for now with Alberto, and we've been passing by and calling, but nothing yet. I still have my hopes up. We ended the night on a good note. The Munoz family brought some really good Mexican tacos and some Coca-Cola for dinner. I was really hungry by the end of Friday and those fantastic Mexican tacos hit the spot!

Then on Saturday, we met with Jorge and Stephanie again. He picked us up in his car and told us that we're going out to eat at his house. Well, he said in Spanish, "Voy a llevarles a comer en Mi Casa." We showed up at a restaurant called Mi Casa, or My House. He thought it was a pretty funny joke, haha. It was great food! Again, I had Mexican tacos. Super delicious! I also had a drink called Jarritos. I bet they'll sell them in those little Mexican stores in Provo. They have different flavors. They're sodas made in Mexico. They have flavors like pineapple, mango, fruit punch, strawberry, lime, and some others. They're all really good. My favorites are pineapple and strawberry. If you find them somewhere, you should think about buying one and trying it. They're not really ''foreign'' tasting, if you know what I mean. They're pretty sweet. I'm sure all the kids would love it. If not, I'll drink it by myself when I get home.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference for the East Brunswick Stake. Way good! President Jeppson was there and gave a quick talk on missionary work. He was talking about how in tuned and alerted by the drastic change in the number of missionaries. He said that everyone, with the large increase in missionaries worldwide, should have their ears perked up and wondering what in the world is the Lord trying to do right now. We should be involved more than ever in the work. He also talked about the Doctrine of Christ using 2 Nephi 31:10-12, 21. It was such a good talk. The last speaker was the Stake President, President Stokes. He talked about when he and other stake presidents had a meeting with the area seventy. The area seventy said that Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy were only to prepare the people of this area of the world for what's to come. President Stokes said that he doesn't know if it will be this year or next year or the years to come or even if it'll be a hurricane, but that something is coming, and we need to be prepared for it. Crazy! I'm scared to NOT have food storage and all that. Overall, it was an amazing Stake Conference.

Love you mom! Thanks for everything!

-Justin