September 9, 2013

Dear Mom,

My new companion is Elder Nuckolls. His family is living in Provo right now, but he lived in Alabama until he was like 12. He and his parents are actually all converts. His dad was baptized a few months before his was, and his mom followed a few months after. Both his parents teach at BYU now. His dad teaches anthropology and his mom teaches linguistics. He's pretty cool. He just started his mission about four months ago.

I've actually had some frequent thoughts about Costa Vida lately. I'm definitely craving that and a Dr. Pepper right now!

That's sad that it hasn't cooled down in Utah yet. For me, I've been very grateful the last few weeks. It's been cooling down quite a bit. When we leave the apartment at noon, it's about 65 degrees. It's generally around the high 70's and low 80's for the rest of the day. So it's getting to be really nice. I'm super excited for fall.

You should totally try to send me that video that someone got. I'd love to see those nasty clouds. That's so scary to see clouds like that. I just remember that the craziest clouds I have ever seen were when Hurricane Sandy hit.

I would have loved to get out of the car and start talking with a bunch of Mexicans in Spanish. I'm definitely looking forward to just randomly talking to Mexicans in Spanish when I get home. I'm going to try and go to the little Hispanic corner stores in Provo. I'm going to buy some of the little Hispanic drinks and stuff that I've come to know out here. I really hope that they have them over in Utah.

Thanks for all the stories this week. It was a lot of fun to read them all. I don't know who President Jones is either.

Q of the W:

1. What would you tell someone who has a hard time believing in God because they wonder why would He allow so many bad things to happen to people all the time?

There is a part in the book of Alma where it touches this topic. Alma 14:8-11. I can also tell them that we all have our free agency. Lots of people use it poorly and it affects the lives of other people negatively. God will hold them accountable for the damage they have caused to the lives of other people. But God cannot take away the agency of anyone of us.

2. Do you ever see that the people have a hard time with the Word of Wisdom - especially the coffee drinking?

Usually we can explain it pretty well. They think that it's pretty weird, but they just have to get used to it. Some people will hold that against the church and impede their own personal progression by holding that as evidence against the church, that it's not true. They're just hurting themselves. Those that are sincerely looking for the truth don't have a hard time giving up coffee unless it's a physical addiction.

3. Have you ever met/talked to Jehovah's Witnesses yet? I remember you talked to one once but ever see them walking around on the streets?

It depends on the area you're in. I saw them a lot in Union City and West New York. I haven't seen too many of them here in New Brunswick. They're not usually nice about how they do their missionary work. I hear people talking about how they come back to houses even after they have been told not to return. They also will only try telling you why you're wrong. They can never prove that they're right. There are some nice ones sometimes.

We met another less-active member this last week named Brother Morales. Some of the other missionaries in a different area here in New Brunswick found his phone number and gave him a call. It turned out that he had moved to our area so we went over to his house on Thursday night. He offered us beer. I'm pretty sure he was kidding, but he definitely had it available in his apartment. He was baptized about three years ago, and went less-active about two years. It's always interesting meeting less-active members for the first time. I always have a hard time planning for lessons with those members that we meet for the first time, because there are always so many different reasons as to why they stopped going to church. With Brother Morales, it was just because he had to get another job because his wife got pregnant. Now they're getting a divorce. Now he's not going to have to work so hard so he says that he'll be able to start coming back to church. It's going to be a rough road for him getting back on track, but the Atonement covers everything. I really hope he can use it fully. It's hard not to judge people sometimes. I've definitely learned that a LOT on my mission.

On Saturday, we had another appointment with Stephanie and Jorge. She's doing great. She's forgotten to read in the Book of Mormon, but they haven't missed a Sunday yet! They picked us up and took us to a park and we had a lesson in the park about tithing and fasting. It was probably one of the best lessons I had on it. I always tell that experience about when grandpa had a heart attack and we all fasted for him and he got better. I actually don't have any cool experiences on tithing. Have you or dad had any cool experiences with tithing that I could start to share? But as for the lesson, I just felt that we shared and used the scriptures very well and explained the doctrine very simply. Stephanie liked the lesson a lot and she said that it makes sense to her. We're probably going to fast with her in the next few weeks to help her experience it.

Sunday night we also had a really cool miracle happen to us. It started out when my companion was on a mini companion exchange on Saturday. He had met somebody in the street named Alberto. My companion told me that Alberto said that it would be okay if we came over to his house on Sunday. We just put him as a backup plan because people will usually tell us that we can come over but they end up being out of the house. So I didn't think too much about this guy. Then when we were on our way to our appointment around 7:30, I saw a family walking towards us on the sidewalk. I thought to myself that they would be a cool family to teach. We were late to our appointment as it was so I wasn't planning on contacting them. However, right when I passed the dad, I felt a huge necessity to talk to him, so I stopped and said, 'Hey! Can I give you a card?' He turned around, smiled and told us that some of us were already going to come over. I was surprised, and I knew that I had never met him, so I asked if they live in Somerset, a different area with some other elders. He said no, that he only lives a few streets down. I asked him his name and he said it was Alberto! We set up another time for this Tuesday night. He seemed pretty happy to have us come over. It was such a miracle contact! So we're going to start teaching a family this Tuesday. I'm super excited! I'm glad I followed the Spirit!

Love you! Miss you! See you soon!

-Justin

If you could, try and find the recipe to funfetti cookies. A few of us missionaries really want to make them, but none of us know the recipe for the cookies. If you could send that to me next week! Thanks! Love you!