November 25, 2013
Mom,
I am not getting transferred. I'm staying in New Brunswick which means that I'll finish my mission here. I'm excited about that. I've grown to love the people here and I'll be able to really say goodbye to them with notice. It's always hard getting transferred and only having a few hours to say goodbye to everyone. But now I know exactly when I'll be leaving so that's nice. My companion is getting transferred. I don't know who my new companion is, but I'll find out tomorrow when we go to transfer conference.
I am totally fine with doing the homecoming talk on the 19th. That'll actually be kind of nice. I was thinking that it would be a little stressful having to prepare a talk in only a couple of days. So it'll be nice to have some extra time to prepare a talk. That'll for sure be an awesome birthday for Kaylee!
I got an email from Kyle Byington today. He said that his mom received his flight itinerary this last week. He's coming home the 22nd of January and his flight lands at 1:18pm.
I actually got to know Elder Pike pretty well. It'll be fun to travel home with him. I never got to be his companion, but we actually did go on an exchange at the beginning of this year. I was wondering about Brandon Walker as well. I imagine that he would come home the same day, but I don't know what hour it would be.
Six weeks it is. Today is the official start of my last transfer. Pretty much just six weeks left. It's hard not to count... It'll be a good transfer. Lots of Christmas stuff and activities with the ward and mission. Should be great!
Poor Kyle. Mouth things and braces aren't very fun. It really limits what you can eat.
Q of the W:
1. This is a strange and weird question I'm sure but I thought of it one day. Do you wear your missionary badge while you’re in the temple?
No. We take it off once we put on all whites.
2. Do the Spanish members fix the same type of food for Thanksgiving as we do?
Not really. If they even do Thanksgiving they just fix their typical food. Which is still really good.
3. Did you get the CD's?
Not yet. I'm sure they'll get here soon. I'll let you know next week.
So I don't know if you remember a guy named Carlos Hernandez. His wife is a member and she's not too enthusiastic about helping her husband out with the Gospel. He's a really sincere guy and I really think that he'll get baptized soon. Well, we had another lesson with him this last week. I was on an exchange with an English Elder so I was the only one teaching. When we usually go over to their house, we meet with most of the family. We always ask the wife if Carlos is going to come and join in on the lesson, but she's always a little negative about it and tells us that he knows that we're here and that he'll come if he wants. It's always hard to get her to help him out. So when we went over this last Tuesday, I asked her if he was going to come. She told her daughter to go and invite him. After a minute or two he finally came out! It's been almost two months since we've been able to visit with him. He's always very nice and welcoming to us. So we sat down and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During the lesson, I noticed that he teared up a little bit. I talked with the other Elder with me and he said that even though he didn't really understand what was going on in the lesson that he felt the Spirit there and that he's sure that Carlos felt the Spirit. Then, Carlos came to church yesterday! Progress!!
Later on that night we had another lesson with a guy named Alan. He speaks English, so the other Elder was able to participate in the lesson as well. We're probably going to give him to the English missionaries since he speaks English a little better than he speaks Spanish, but we wanted to have another lesson with him. We decided to teach him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ out of the Book of Mormon. The specific scriptures we used were Alma 7:11-13, then Alma 34:8-10, and then we finished by using 2 Nephi 9:21-23. It was a great lesson and he even though he had been to church many times, he didn't really know anything about the Atonement. It was a powerful lesson and Alan actually pointed out that no other churches that he has been to share ''testimonies'' like we do. He said he liked it :) If you remember, he's the one that we went to for the second time and said that ''he doesn't buy it'' - referring to the idea that if Christianity had existed on the American continent that the American Indians would have been Christians. Now he really wants to start on the Book of Mormon. We're going to try to visit him another time this week probably with the English missionaries to help him feel comfortable talking to other missionaries.
It's really interesting that many people that we talk to, even though they have gone to church most of their lives and have learned about Christ and God, hardly know anything about what the Atonement is. All they know is that Christ died for us. They are surprised, and always willing to believe, that Christ actually suffered for all our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. They don't really know anything about the Garden of Gethsemane. Before I teach the Atonement, I almost always ask if they know or have heard of the Atonement before. The answer is almost always ''no''. It's so amazing how much more knowledge we have about the Atonement of Jesus Christ through modern revelation. We wouldn't know, and most of the world doesn't know, hardly anything about the most important part of Christ's mission without the Book of Mormon. When teaching people about the Book of Mormon and how it testifies of Jesus Christ, I like to explain that the Bible gives us the story of what Christ did and the Book of Mormon teaches us and explains to us the doctrine of what he did and the ''why''. The Book of Mormon truly contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We visited with Jackie Torres and Marco again this week. Marco is the nine year-old that is going to get baptized soon. They pushed his baptismal date back another week again.. They want to set a goal for Saturday, December 7. I'll be praying for that soon. Their original goal for him to get baptized was for the end of October. They've pushed it back a lot. It was a really good lesson though. We were a little worried that Marco didn't understand the Restoration. It's always a little hard to get kids at that age to really be able to understand those things. They can learn it, but the parents really need to be teaching them up until their mission I would say for them to really retain that. So we decided to watch the Restoration DVD with them. It's a 20 minute short video basically about Joseph Smith's experience trying to find the true church and then has a great part about the First Vision. It has the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" while Joseph walks into the Sacred Grove and during the vision. It always brings the Spirit. Afterward we talked about it a little more with Marco and Sister Torres. Sister Torres said that she really felt the Spirit when Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Spirit always testifies of the truth!
We ended the week on Sunday with a great first lesson with a man we contacted this last week. We told him last week that we would try to pass by on Sunday. He was actually expecting us! We taught a good lesson about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit was in the lesson. Unfortunately his wife didn't want to join in on the lesson because she doesn't really like listening to religions and stuff, but I just laughed to myself because that was the same attitude that the first counselor in our Bishopric and the Elders Quorum President had when they first met the missionaries. They didn't want to talk to the missionaries at all. After the lesson with this guy he said that he would read the Book of Mormon and that he wants to visit with us this next Sunday. I have a good feeling about this guy.
Well, we should be okay for Thanksgiving this week. We have a couple appointments so far so we should be staying pretty busy. It'll be fun!
Love you mom! See you soon!
-Justin
I ordered a couple things off lds.org. I wanted more thermal garments, so I bought a couple more pairs. Just so you know :)
Also, now that I know that I'm staying here in New Brunswick for my last transfer, I want to start thinking about how I'm going to get some stuff home. I probably want to ship a few things home so my bags don't exceed 50 lbs. I know that Christmas is coming up and that shipping things is going to be very hectic. What would you suggest on when I should ship those things? Should I shoot for before Christmas, or would it be good to ship them after Christmas? I would prefer to keep things here with me as late as possible, but what do you think would be best?
Monday, November 25, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
November 18, 2013
Dear Mom,
Haha, I can't wait to talk to Grandpa Lee about Gospel-related topics. I'm sure that he still knows a ton more than I do. I don't know anything about Church history either. I'm sure he knows quite a bit about that. Hopefully I can continue my studies as well as soon as I get home so I can keep up how much I'm learning. We don't know exactly what we're doing yet for Thanksgiving. There is the Allongo family that has invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. We're trying to get permission to go over to their house because they're out of our area. I'm sure though that we'll get permission. We've also received permission to have a Turkey-bowl. Half of the mission is going to go to the Princeton University stadium and the other half of the mission is going to go to some place in Newark to play football that morning.
I did hear about the typhoon in the Philippians. I haven't heard much about it though. That's an amazing miracle about those four sister missionaries! I'm down for whatever the week after I get home. In fact, if you want you can plan whatever for those two weeks or so. I've only been able to think of a couple things that I want to do. I want to visit Jesse Rackiewicz. I don't think he has gone anywhere. I don't know if Seth is going to be in town or not, but I want to visit him as well. That's all I can really think of.
Q of the W: 1. Will we still be able to skype you at Christmas?
YES
2. In the scriptures - some of them such as Lehi, Nephi, Mosiah, ect. end their book by saying they are dying or soon to be. Do you think they knew when they would die or was it their way of saying they were old?
I think that it's possible that they knew approximately when they were going to die. I think that as well when they were closing up their parts in the Book of Mormon they were probably old, haha. I think it's a mix of both knowing that they were going to die soon after and that they needed to make their last remarks in the scriptures before they passed away. I think as well that many of them ended in that way, not necessarily because they knew that they were going to die soon thereafter, but that they knew that their part in the scriptures was near completion and that they needed to finish up and hand them down.
3. Do you know how long President and Sister Jeppson have left on their mission?
I think that they're going to end their mission in July. I'm definitely going to that homecoming!
So this last Friday was interviews with President Jeppson. That was my last regular interview with him. The next interview I have with him will be a few days before I go home. I don't know what exactly he talks to us about in that interview, but I heard that he gives some good advice and going home and helping us feel ready to do it. I guess I'll find out. It was a great time being with President Jeppson. He advised me not to talk too much about going home. Something common among missionaries is being ''trunky''. The term comes from missionaries starting to live out of their trunk the last few weeks/months of their mission so they don't have to pack anything once the time comes to finally go home. Today it has more reference to missionaries slowing down in missionary work and always talking about going home and stuff. I can really have a bad effect on missionaries sometimes. When they let it affect their missionary work, the work in their area slows down. President Jeppson advised me to bust through the finish line tape at full speed! That's the best way to end a mission! So far the idea of ''going home'' hasn't affected me too much. I am excited, but I'm still working hard!
We should be having a baptism coming up in the next few weeks. Most likely on the first of December. It will be for a nine-year old boy named Marco. His mom Jackie was less-active for years and years when finally we found her. We were just going through the ward list and knocking doors and calling phone numbers of members that we didn't know. We got in contact with Jackie and during our first appointment with her a few months ago she told us that she wants her son to get baptized. It's been hard to get him baptized soon, because she's really busy with Marco and her other younger son and her job as an Elementary school teacher. But he's getting prepared. He's good at learning what we teach him and remembering it. Hopefully we'll be able to see him get baptized soon.
So on Sunday we had an appointment with a member couple. The sister is named Isidra Nunez. She's usually at church every week, but her husband, Santos, hasn't been to church for probably ten years. Isidra told us that he got baptized and then soon after when they wanted him to do home teaching, he stopped coming. Kind of sad. We haven't ever really been able to talk to him about his experience with church and religion and all that. Last week we were able to visit her and he sat in on the lesson. I started thinking about him a little more and I had the feeling that it would be good to invite some leaders over to the ward to start fellow shipping him more so help him feel invited and wanted at church. So yesterday, we brought the Elders Quorum President and the first counselor in the Bishopric over with us. As we talked to him, he didn't show that he ever really felt like the Book of Mormon was true or that the Church was true. From talking with him, it sounded like he was just following what his wife was doing. His idea was that there can't be a true church, because any church, like all the churches now a days, claim to have all the truth and that it causes tension among everyone. It's a good point that he has and that's why there are so many people that are against organized religion. They believe that they can worship God in their own houses in their own ways and that they'll be good. Unfortunately, from the experience I've had, most of those people hardly do anything on their own. If they really read the scriptures sincerely and prayed sincerely, they would feel obligated to do more to serve their God. I felt God's love for Santos during that visit, and I really wanted him to come back to Church. The first counselor in the Bishopric and the Elders Quorum President are very strong members and are also both converts in their adult years. They both bore powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of the restored Church and the prophets and apostles. (Side note, the Book of Mormon was the key in their conversion for both of them. I learned that even for us who have been born into the church still need the Book of Mormon to be the key of our conversion.) The Spirit was strong in that room, but I really felt like Santos wasn't going to come back to church quite yet. We'll keep working on him.
There have been a few people that I've met that have expressed feelings that they think that all the churches are just different ways to get back to the same God. It's hard to put that doubt to rest. Christ clearly taught that He was the way to get back to the Father. I really don't like comments like those. I honestly feel like that is something that the adversary puts into the hearts of as many people as possible. It keeps them from desiring to learn more and from thinking that there is one truth. One example I like to use with people is the example of Judaism versus Christianity. They both teach us to believe in God, but the Jews completely reject Christ as the Savior, so who's right? The Christians or the Jews? Was Jesus the promised Messiah or not? It's a frustrating doubt to get through, but I've seen that the example of the beliefs of the Christians versus the Jews really gets people to realize that there is one truth. That's when I can tell if people are just making excuses or if had sincerely believed that concept. Unfortunately, it is usually an excuse. Oh well, people have their agency.
There's a few other interesting insights from Jesus the Christ. I'm starting to come to the end of the book. I've been reading basically about the Savior's Atonement this week. In the Bible, Luke makes an interesting comment. In Luke 22:44 it says, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." James Talmage says that many Bible Scholars doubt that He actually did sweat drops of blood because of the way Luke says it. James Talmage gives thanks to modern scriptures in that it clarifies many of the aspects of the Atonement of our Savior: "...for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people." -Mosiah 3:7. When I read that, I really felt the Spirit and realized what an enormous blessing it is to have the Book of Mormon. President Jeppson has advised all missionaries to refer to the Book of Mormon as "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ" when introducing it to people. Another interesting thing that James Talmage talks about is the illegality of the trials of Jesus Christ. It was against the Jewish law for someone to be arrested at night, like Jesus was. The scribes and the high priest then commenced to hold a trial that night, which was also against the law. During the trial, the vote was unanimous to put Jesus to death. In their trials, if someone was ever convicted of death unanimously, they were to try them again and again until it wasn't unanimous. They did this to avoid those judges of secretly conspiring to put people to death. Jesus was convicted of death, and they held no second trial. As well with the death penalty, it was required of law to hold at least two trials in the case of death penalty. Again, no second trial. They also required witnesses against people to punish them. They couldn't find any witnesses against Jesus, so they found false witnesses but their 'witnesses' didn't agree with each other. Jesus was convicted for blasphemy. As Talmage words it: Jehovah was convicted for blasphemy against Jehovah. The only witness they had of His blasphemy was from His own mouth. Their law didn't allow for anyone to be convicted upon their own confession, yet that's exactly what happened to Jesus. There's even more things that were completely illegal about the trail of Jesus. But it's really interesting to read about it all. During that whole time, Jesus was completely calm. He was this way because of what He had previously said to His disciples: "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -John 16:33. He had indeed overcome the world and there wasn't anything in world that had power over Him. He was ultimately in charge, yet His will was perfectly in line with that of the Father's.
Love you mom!
-Justin
PS: Next week is transfers! I'm guessing that I'll stay here for my last.
PS: I accidentally hit something on the keyboard that prematurely sent my letter.
One more thing, Could you send me a CD or two from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? I don't have any music from them, and I was thinking about how nice it would be to be able to listen to that every morning. If you could, I want one CD with the song "This is the Christ" on it. Thanks!
Dear Mom,
Haha, I can't wait to talk to Grandpa Lee about Gospel-related topics. I'm sure that he still knows a ton more than I do. I don't know anything about Church history either. I'm sure he knows quite a bit about that. Hopefully I can continue my studies as well as soon as I get home so I can keep up how much I'm learning. We don't know exactly what we're doing yet for Thanksgiving. There is the Allongo family that has invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. We're trying to get permission to go over to their house because they're out of our area. I'm sure though that we'll get permission. We've also received permission to have a Turkey-bowl. Half of the mission is going to go to the Princeton University stadium and the other half of the mission is going to go to some place in Newark to play football that morning.
I did hear about the typhoon in the Philippians. I haven't heard much about it though. That's an amazing miracle about those four sister missionaries! I'm down for whatever the week after I get home. In fact, if you want you can plan whatever for those two weeks or so. I've only been able to think of a couple things that I want to do. I want to visit Jesse Rackiewicz. I don't think he has gone anywhere. I don't know if Seth is going to be in town or not, but I want to visit him as well. That's all I can really think of.
Q of the W: 1. Will we still be able to skype you at Christmas?
YES
2. In the scriptures - some of them such as Lehi, Nephi, Mosiah, ect. end their book by saying they are dying or soon to be. Do you think they knew when they would die or was it their way of saying they were old?
I think that it's possible that they knew approximately when they were going to die. I think that as well when they were closing up their parts in the Book of Mormon they were probably old, haha. I think it's a mix of both knowing that they were going to die soon after and that they needed to make their last remarks in the scriptures before they passed away. I think as well that many of them ended in that way, not necessarily because they knew that they were going to die soon thereafter, but that they knew that their part in the scriptures was near completion and that they needed to finish up and hand them down.
3. Do you know how long President and Sister Jeppson have left on their mission?
I think that they're going to end their mission in July. I'm definitely going to that homecoming!
So this last Friday was interviews with President Jeppson. That was my last regular interview with him. The next interview I have with him will be a few days before I go home. I don't know what exactly he talks to us about in that interview, but I heard that he gives some good advice and going home and helping us feel ready to do it. I guess I'll find out. It was a great time being with President Jeppson. He advised me not to talk too much about going home. Something common among missionaries is being ''trunky''. The term comes from missionaries starting to live out of their trunk the last few weeks/months of their mission so they don't have to pack anything once the time comes to finally go home. Today it has more reference to missionaries slowing down in missionary work and always talking about going home and stuff. I can really have a bad effect on missionaries sometimes. When they let it affect their missionary work, the work in their area slows down. President Jeppson advised me to bust through the finish line tape at full speed! That's the best way to end a mission! So far the idea of ''going home'' hasn't affected me too much. I am excited, but I'm still working hard!
We should be having a baptism coming up in the next few weeks. Most likely on the first of December. It will be for a nine-year old boy named Marco. His mom Jackie was less-active for years and years when finally we found her. We were just going through the ward list and knocking doors and calling phone numbers of members that we didn't know. We got in contact with Jackie and during our first appointment with her a few months ago she told us that she wants her son to get baptized. It's been hard to get him baptized soon, because she's really busy with Marco and her other younger son and her job as an Elementary school teacher. But he's getting prepared. He's good at learning what we teach him and remembering it. Hopefully we'll be able to see him get baptized soon.
So on Sunday we had an appointment with a member couple. The sister is named Isidra Nunez. She's usually at church every week, but her husband, Santos, hasn't been to church for probably ten years. Isidra told us that he got baptized and then soon after when they wanted him to do home teaching, he stopped coming. Kind of sad. We haven't ever really been able to talk to him about his experience with church and religion and all that. Last week we were able to visit her and he sat in on the lesson. I started thinking about him a little more and I had the feeling that it would be good to invite some leaders over to the ward to start fellow shipping him more so help him feel invited and wanted at church. So yesterday, we brought the Elders Quorum President and the first counselor in the Bishopric over with us. As we talked to him, he didn't show that he ever really felt like the Book of Mormon was true or that the Church was true. From talking with him, it sounded like he was just following what his wife was doing. His idea was that there can't be a true church, because any church, like all the churches now a days, claim to have all the truth and that it causes tension among everyone. It's a good point that he has and that's why there are so many people that are against organized religion. They believe that they can worship God in their own houses in their own ways and that they'll be good. Unfortunately, from the experience I've had, most of those people hardly do anything on their own. If they really read the scriptures sincerely and prayed sincerely, they would feel obligated to do more to serve their God. I felt God's love for Santos during that visit, and I really wanted him to come back to Church. The first counselor in the Bishopric and the Elders Quorum President are very strong members and are also both converts in their adult years. They both bore powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of the restored Church and the prophets and apostles. (Side note, the Book of Mormon was the key in their conversion for both of them. I learned that even for us who have been born into the church still need the Book of Mormon to be the key of our conversion.) The Spirit was strong in that room, but I really felt like Santos wasn't going to come back to church quite yet. We'll keep working on him.
There have been a few people that I've met that have expressed feelings that they think that all the churches are just different ways to get back to the same God. It's hard to put that doubt to rest. Christ clearly taught that He was the way to get back to the Father. I really don't like comments like those. I honestly feel like that is something that the adversary puts into the hearts of as many people as possible. It keeps them from desiring to learn more and from thinking that there is one truth. One example I like to use with people is the example of Judaism versus Christianity. They both teach us to believe in God, but the Jews completely reject Christ as the Savior, so who's right? The Christians or the Jews? Was Jesus the promised Messiah or not? It's a frustrating doubt to get through, but I've seen that the example of the beliefs of the Christians versus the Jews really gets people to realize that there is one truth. That's when I can tell if people are just making excuses or if had sincerely believed that concept. Unfortunately, it is usually an excuse. Oh well, people have their agency.
There's a few other interesting insights from Jesus the Christ. I'm starting to come to the end of the book. I've been reading basically about the Savior's Atonement this week. In the Bible, Luke makes an interesting comment. In Luke 22:44 it says, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." James Talmage says that many Bible Scholars doubt that He actually did sweat drops of blood because of the way Luke says it. James Talmage gives thanks to modern scriptures in that it clarifies many of the aspects of the Atonement of our Savior: "...for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people." -Mosiah 3:7. When I read that, I really felt the Spirit and realized what an enormous blessing it is to have the Book of Mormon. President Jeppson has advised all missionaries to refer to the Book of Mormon as "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ" when introducing it to people. Another interesting thing that James Talmage talks about is the illegality of the trials of Jesus Christ. It was against the Jewish law for someone to be arrested at night, like Jesus was. The scribes and the high priest then commenced to hold a trial that night, which was also against the law. During the trial, the vote was unanimous to put Jesus to death. In their trials, if someone was ever convicted of death unanimously, they were to try them again and again until it wasn't unanimous. They did this to avoid those judges of secretly conspiring to put people to death. Jesus was convicted of death, and they held no second trial. As well with the death penalty, it was required of law to hold at least two trials in the case of death penalty. Again, no second trial. They also required witnesses against people to punish them. They couldn't find any witnesses against Jesus, so they found false witnesses but their 'witnesses' didn't agree with each other. Jesus was convicted for blasphemy. As Talmage words it: Jehovah was convicted for blasphemy against Jehovah. The only witness they had of His blasphemy was from His own mouth. Their law didn't allow for anyone to be convicted upon their own confession, yet that's exactly what happened to Jesus. There's even more things that were completely illegal about the trail of Jesus. But it's really interesting to read about it all. During that whole time, Jesus was completely calm. He was this way because of what He had previously said to His disciples: "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -John 16:33. He had indeed overcome the world and there wasn't anything in world that had power over Him. He was ultimately in charge, yet His will was perfectly in line with that of the Father's.
Love you mom!
-Justin
PS: Next week is transfers! I'm guessing that I'll stay here for my last.
PS: I accidentally hit something on the keyboard that prematurely sent my letter.
One more thing, Could you send me a CD or two from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? I don't have any music from them, and I was thinking about how nice it would be to be able to listen to that every morning. If you could, I want one CD with the song "This is the Christ" on it. Thanks!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
November 12, 2013
Mom,
I haven't received my flight information yet. Maybe it'll come today or tomorrow. It might even go to the mission office I'm thinking so I won't get it for another couple weeks or so. We just barely got a delivery of mail from the mission office, so we won't get more for a little bit. We'll see I guess. I'll definitely let you know as soon as I get it.
My teachers in the MTC told me that they finally figured out how to be a missionary once they hit the end of their mission. Now that I'm finally starting to feel comfortable in Spanish, I'm coming up on the end of my mission... Crazy.
So the pictures that I was tagged in are from the Noche de Hispanidad from this last Saturday. In English it's called Hispanic Night. It was basically a ward activity that they do every year to celebrate Hispanic culture and all the countries that people are from in our ward. There were in total tables or booths from Columbia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Then for the first time in the New Brunswick ward, the United States was represented as well from all eight of us missionaries serving in the New Brunswick ward! Not really a Hispanic country, but everyone was super excited to see what we would bring. At all the booths there were little items and things on display from every country and all typical foods found from every country. There was SO much food there. I'll include a couple pictures from the US table next week since I don't have my camera with me today. It was a lot of fun. We thought it would be funny to have the most simple and funny American foods. We had hot dogs, chips, red cool-aid, and green jello. We get a couple American flags and I borrowed an American flag tie from another missionary working in the English program. I just tried to be as 'American' as possible that night. The reason we were dressed up is because we helped out with the Colombians in a couple skits. I was a paramedic in one of them. In the other one I was just trying to be as ''cool-looking'' as possible. They were both pretty fun skits and we made people laugh a lot. It was great!
Hopefully I can help you out with the cabinets!
Jesus the Christ is a pretty thick book to read. You really just have to have patience while reading it and stay on top of it. He goes really slow through all the phases of Christ's ministry and other things so you really have to keep up on it so you don't forget where you're at in the story. I guess you really just need to build up a lot of momentum to read that book. I read a really cool part of the book this last week about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Talmage says: " Jesus, who when miles away and without any ordinary means of receiving the information knew that Lazarus was dead, doubtless could have found the tomb; yet He inquired: “Where have ye laid him?” He who could still the waves of the sea by a word could have miraculously effected the removal of the stone that sealed the mouth of the sepulchre; yet He said: “Take ye away the stone.” He who could reunite spirit and body could have loosened without hands the cerements by which the reanimated Lazarus was bound; yet He said: “Loose him, and let him go.” All that human agency could do was left to man. In no instance do we find that Christ used unnecessarily the superhuman powers of His Godship; the divine energy was never wasted; even the material creation resulting from its exercise was conserved, as witness His instructions regarding the gathering up of the fragments of bread and fish after the multitudes had been miraculously fed." I think the reason that this paragraph stuck out to me so much is because it demonstrates the personality of Jesus Christ so well. He really does expect stuff of us. He won't force us to do our part. Another part earlier in the book talks about the will of God and how it's part of our responsibility to bring to pass God's will. It definitely is not His will that we go less-active in the Church or that we stop obeying the commandments. Talmage mentions as well that it's not His will that people kill other people. We can stop things like that from happening and bring to pass God's will. It really is an amazing book. I made a goal to finish it before I finish my mission. So far, I'm doing very well with that goal. I also want to start reading it a second time as soon as I get back.
I haven't heard too much from Kyle Byington lately. I'm pretty sure that he'll come home two weeks right after me. He left two weeks after me so I'm assuming that the same will happen with coming home.
Q of the W:
1. Do you know what you will be doing for Thanksgiving?
Not yet. Hopefully we'll be getting fed. But hopefully we won't be fed too many times. I don't think it'll be anything too special. Thanksgiving is more of an American holiday. Lots of Hispanics here have adopted the holiday though, haha.
2. Will you be able to go to NYC again before you leave?
Yes. Probably twice. This December we'll have the privilege as a mission to go there again. Then the during the last week of all the missionaries, they go to the temple again with President and Sister Jeppson. So I'll be doing that probably the week before the week I get home. It should be a lot of fun!
3. When you study the scriptures in the morning - are you studying them in Spanish or English or both?
We have an hour of personal study and another hour set apart for language study. I usually do my personal study in English, but I always spend time in the scriptures and stuff during the hour for language study as well as studying the grammar.
Last Monday night while we were trying by a less-active family a lady pulled over and rolled down the window and asked us if we were the Mormon Elders. We said yes. She said that she had just moved from Virginia and hasn't come to church in a while and wants to start coming again. It's pretty cool how sometimes the Lord just hands us people to teach without us really trying at all. What a blessing! We set up an appointment with her for the following Wednesday and we passed by to visit her. She said that she's been talking with her boyfriend, who is not a member, and that he wants to learn more about the Church! We haven't been able to see him yet, but we'll be in contact with her later on this week. She says that she wants to come back to church because she misses it a lot. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make it to church yesterday, but returning to activity in the Church is more of a process than it is an event.
The biggest event of the week was by far the Noche de Hispanidad. We had several friends of members come to it and a couple investigators as well. Hopefully we'll be meeting with those friends this next week or two to start teaching them. Ward activities are GREAT opportunities for members to invite their family and friends to get to know the church and the members so that they can feel more comfortable coming to church and meeting with the missionaries. It also provides a good break to us from the normal routine and have a good time while enjoying the companionship of the members. I love ward activities!
I also randomly remembered the show Restaurant: Impossible this last week. I don't remember why it came to my mind, but I remember all the fun times we had watching those shows and hearing Robert Irvine yell at people. Fun times! Any new episodes of that show?
Love you mom! Talk to you soon!
-Justin
Mom,
I haven't received my flight information yet. Maybe it'll come today or tomorrow. It might even go to the mission office I'm thinking so I won't get it for another couple weeks or so. We just barely got a delivery of mail from the mission office, so we won't get more for a little bit. We'll see I guess. I'll definitely let you know as soon as I get it.
My teachers in the MTC told me that they finally figured out how to be a missionary once they hit the end of their mission. Now that I'm finally starting to feel comfortable in Spanish, I'm coming up on the end of my mission... Crazy.
So the pictures that I was tagged in are from the Noche de Hispanidad from this last Saturday. In English it's called Hispanic Night. It was basically a ward activity that they do every year to celebrate Hispanic culture and all the countries that people are from in our ward. There were in total tables or booths from Columbia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Then for the first time in the New Brunswick ward, the United States was represented as well from all eight of us missionaries serving in the New Brunswick ward! Not really a Hispanic country, but everyone was super excited to see what we would bring. At all the booths there were little items and things on display from every country and all typical foods found from every country. There was SO much food there. I'll include a couple pictures from the US table next week since I don't have my camera with me today. It was a lot of fun. We thought it would be funny to have the most simple and funny American foods. We had hot dogs, chips, red cool-aid, and green jello. We get a couple American flags and I borrowed an American flag tie from another missionary working in the English program. I just tried to be as 'American' as possible that night. The reason we were dressed up is because we helped out with the Colombians in a couple skits. I was a paramedic in one of them. In the other one I was just trying to be as ''cool-looking'' as possible. They were both pretty fun skits and we made people laugh a lot. It was great!
Hopefully I can help you out with the cabinets!
Jesus the Christ is a pretty thick book to read. You really just have to have patience while reading it and stay on top of it. He goes really slow through all the phases of Christ's ministry and other things so you really have to keep up on it so you don't forget where you're at in the story. I guess you really just need to build up a lot of momentum to read that book. I read a really cool part of the book this last week about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Talmage says: " Jesus, who when miles away and without any ordinary means of receiving the information knew that Lazarus was dead, doubtless could have found the tomb; yet He inquired: “Where have ye laid him?” He who could still the waves of the sea by a word could have miraculously effected the removal of the stone that sealed the mouth of the sepulchre; yet He said: “Take ye away the stone.” He who could reunite spirit and body could have loosened without hands the cerements by which the reanimated Lazarus was bound; yet He said: “Loose him, and let him go.” All that human agency could do was left to man. In no instance do we find that Christ used unnecessarily the superhuman powers of His Godship; the divine energy was never wasted; even the material creation resulting from its exercise was conserved, as witness His instructions regarding the gathering up of the fragments of bread and fish after the multitudes had been miraculously fed." I think the reason that this paragraph stuck out to me so much is because it demonstrates the personality of Jesus Christ so well. He really does expect stuff of us. He won't force us to do our part. Another part earlier in the book talks about the will of God and how it's part of our responsibility to bring to pass God's will. It definitely is not His will that we go less-active in the Church or that we stop obeying the commandments. Talmage mentions as well that it's not His will that people kill other people. We can stop things like that from happening and bring to pass God's will. It really is an amazing book. I made a goal to finish it before I finish my mission. So far, I'm doing very well with that goal. I also want to start reading it a second time as soon as I get back.
I haven't heard too much from Kyle Byington lately. I'm pretty sure that he'll come home two weeks right after me. He left two weeks after me so I'm assuming that the same will happen with coming home.
Q of the W:
1. Do you know what you will be doing for Thanksgiving?
Not yet. Hopefully we'll be getting fed. But hopefully we won't be fed too many times. I don't think it'll be anything too special. Thanksgiving is more of an American holiday. Lots of Hispanics here have adopted the holiday though, haha.
2. Will you be able to go to NYC again before you leave?
Yes. Probably twice. This December we'll have the privilege as a mission to go there again. Then the during the last week of all the missionaries, they go to the temple again with President and Sister Jeppson. So I'll be doing that probably the week before the week I get home. It should be a lot of fun!
3. When you study the scriptures in the morning - are you studying them in Spanish or English or both?
We have an hour of personal study and another hour set apart for language study. I usually do my personal study in English, but I always spend time in the scriptures and stuff during the hour for language study as well as studying the grammar.
Last Monday night while we were trying by a less-active family a lady pulled over and rolled down the window and asked us if we were the Mormon Elders. We said yes. She said that she had just moved from Virginia and hasn't come to church in a while and wants to start coming again. It's pretty cool how sometimes the Lord just hands us people to teach without us really trying at all. What a blessing! We set up an appointment with her for the following Wednesday and we passed by to visit her. She said that she's been talking with her boyfriend, who is not a member, and that he wants to learn more about the Church! We haven't been able to see him yet, but we'll be in contact with her later on this week. She says that she wants to come back to church because she misses it a lot. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make it to church yesterday, but returning to activity in the Church is more of a process than it is an event.
The biggest event of the week was by far the Noche de Hispanidad. We had several friends of members come to it and a couple investigators as well. Hopefully we'll be meeting with those friends this next week or two to start teaching them. Ward activities are GREAT opportunities for members to invite their family and friends to get to know the church and the members so that they can feel more comfortable coming to church and meeting with the missionaries. It also provides a good break to us from the normal routine and have a good time while enjoying the companionship of the members. I love ward activities!
I also randomly remembered the show Restaurant: Impossible this last week. I don't remember why it came to my mind, but I remember all the fun times we had watching those shows and hearing Robert Irvine yell at people. Fun times! Any new episodes of that show?
Love you mom! Talk to you soon!
-Justin
Monday, November 4, 2013
November 4, 2013
Dear Mom,
I like that idea about Christmas for me. I guess maybe just some snacks or something small that I can eat up really quick. But for sure I'll need some clothes and stuff once I get home. (I'm also going to need more garments. My last laundry load, all the ink on those tags that say the size and everything of my garments are pretty much washed off completely. They're not that white anymore.)
I sure do hope that I can get a career in which I can utilize my Spanish. I'm thinking more and more of the FBI. I know it won't really be anything like criminal minds, but I'm thinking a job from the government would be stable and have benefits. I guess we'll see about that once I get home and can start researching stuff like that.
1. Does your curfew change now that we are off of daylight savings time?
No. We still work until 9:00 pm.
2. How often do you get rides from the members?
Not very often. There are a few members that come out with us quite often, but they don't have cars either. We'll get rides to correlation meeting on Thursday afternoons from our ward mission leader and we always have to call around to find a ride to church on Sunday.
3. Just for fun - what is the first movie you want to see when you get home?
I'm pretty sure that it's going to be Batman!
Well last Monday, after P-Day, we had an appointment with a guy that works in the building in which we live. His name is Miguel. I've seen him around a while and he always has said hi to us. Back in July or August, I remember he told us that he wants to talk to us about God one day. Well, I finally asked him a couple weeks ago when we could come by and see him. So we got to go over there and teach him the Restoration last Monday afternoon. He has his own story just like everyone else. He told us that his ex-wife is a member of the church here in New Brunswick. We noted down her name and looked it up on the ward list and there's nothing even close to her name. So... I don't know. Also, the only time Miguel has ever been to any church was when he was super little in the Dominican Republic and he doesn't even remember it. So he's basically never been to church before in his life. After we taught him the Restoration, he said that he needs to read the Book of Mormon! He seems promising. He didn't come to church even though he said he wanted to. Which I can imagine it's probably scary going to a church for the first time in your life that you remember. We have another appointment with him tonight! It's great to find receptive people that actually take interest in what you have to share.
We met with a lady yesterday. She's a former investigator. Well, after our visit, she's still a former investigator. We taught her the Restoration very well and I felt that the Spirit was there. She told us that she's good with where she's at. She doesn't go to church yet she claims herself as Catholic. But she thinks that as long as she reads the Bible and does her best that she'll be good. When she said that, I said to myself that obviously she doesn't understand the Bible. I went about my best trying to teach her that authority to baptize is essential and that a correct church is more than important. She still didn't change. I expressed my thoughts that we need to follow the example of the Apostles of Christ and show humility to what we thought was correct and be willing to change. She told us that she doesn't want to change. I told her that this is a chance to find out if Christ's original church is truly on the earth. She said that she believes that all churches are good and that it doesn't matter which church you belong to. She just plain didn't get it. She said that she's not willing to change and there really isn't much that we can do about that. Sad...
Wednesday and Thursday, we got home at around 6:00 pm. I just read Jesus the Christ pretty much the whole time. It was a weird feeling to have nothing to do. I did read a very interesting part in Jesus the Christ when Jesus is in the temple in Jerusalem and the Jews start to question him. There's a great video on that part in the Bible videos on lds.org. The video is called: Jesus Declares: I Am the Light of the World, the Truth Shall Make You Free. One thing that James Talmage clears up in the use of the name "I am" at the end of the video. "I am" is another name for Christ. Christ declared Himself as "I AM that I AM" to Moses when He appeared to him. It means a few different things in Hebrew and has a lot of symbolic meaning. Well, for the Jews in that time, the mention of the name "I am" or "Jehovah" was strictly forbidden. It was too sacred to say. There was only a certain time once a year during a certain ceremony when some priest would use the name. Other than that, if you said it in public the punishment was extremely harsh. So while Jesus is talking to the Jews in the temple, their conversation leads them to talk about Abraham. Then the Jews ask Jesus how He knows Abraham. Then Jesus says, "Verily, verily I say unto you. Before Abraham was, I am." Not only does Jesus use the name when it ''wasn't allowed'', but He claims it as His own. James Talmage describes how mad the Jews were during that time. In the Bible it talks about how the Jews took up stones to stone Him, but then Jesus just walked out of the temple. It wasn't His time to die, so He chose not to die. So cool!
Saturday I got a few comments on my Spanish. We were trying to find some guy that we contacted earlier during the week and we came into contact with a couple other people on some stairs in front of a house. After a minute or so of just talking to them and answering some questions about what we do, one Honduran guy looks at me weird and then tells me, "Wow, you really speak Spanish!" He asked me how I learned Spanish and I told him that I just learn it talking with people. He said, "No, where did you really learn it." I told him that I read the scriptures in Spanish and I have a grammar book that I study. It was a confidence booster and it made the day better knowing that Hispanics think that I really speak Spanish. Not ten minutes after that, when we were waiting for a member to meet us at an appointment, a little boy maybe 9 years old started talking to me in Spanish. He asked me what we were selling. I told him that we're missionaries. I had a Spanish-English dictionary in my hands and he asked me what it was. I told him what it was. Then he asked me if I speak English. I said yes and asked him if he speaks English. He said a little. I asked him how he was doing and what his name was and he didn't know what I was saying, haha! I talked to him a little more and gave his dad a pass-along card. It was cool because there aren't very many kids here that don't speak English. Usually they all speak English; many of them better than Spanish because of school. It was good to know that I can understand what kids are saying in Spanish. Usually they're pretty difficult to understand. Also, to add onto all of this, members can tell that I'm close to finishing by how much Spanish I can speak. They'll tell me that they can tell I'm almost done because I speak Spanish so well... :)
Well, that's about it for the week!
Love you mom! See you real soon!
-Justin
Dear Mom,
I like that idea about Christmas for me. I guess maybe just some snacks or something small that I can eat up really quick. But for sure I'll need some clothes and stuff once I get home. (I'm also going to need more garments. My last laundry load, all the ink on those tags that say the size and everything of my garments are pretty much washed off completely. They're not that white anymore.)
I sure do hope that I can get a career in which I can utilize my Spanish. I'm thinking more and more of the FBI. I know it won't really be anything like criminal minds, but I'm thinking a job from the government would be stable and have benefits. I guess we'll see about that once I get home and can start researching stuff like that.
1. Does your curfew change now that we are off of daylight savings time?
No. We still work until 9:00 pm.
2. How often do you get rides from the members?
Not very often. There are a few members that come out with us quite often, but they don't have cars either. We'll get rides to correlation meeting on Thursday afternoons from our ward mission leader and we always have to call around to find a ride to church on Sunday.
3. Just for fun - what is the first movie you want to see when you get home?
I'm pretty sure that it's going to be Batman!
Well last Monday, after P-Day, we had an appointment with a guy that works in the building in which we live. His name is Miguel. I've seen him around a while and he always has said hi to us. Back in July or August, I remember he told us that he wants to talk to us about God one day. Well, I finally asked him a couple weeks ago when we could come by and see him. So we got to go over there and teach him the Restoration last Monday afternoon. He has his own story just like everyone else. He told us that his ex-wife is a member of the church here in New Brunswick. We noted down her name and looked it up on the ward list and there's nothing even close to her name. So... I don't know. Also, the only time Miguel has ever been to any church was when he was super little in the Dominican Republic and he doesn't even remember it. So he's basically never been to church before in his life. After we taught him the Restoration, he said that he needs to read the Book of Mormon! He seems promising. He didn't come to church even though he said he wanted to. Which I can imagine it's probably scary going to a church for the first time in your life that you remember. We have another appointment with him tonight! It's great to find receptive people that actually take interest in what you have to share.
We met with a lady yesterday. She's a former investigator. Well, after our visit, she's still a former investigator. We taught her the Restoration very well and I felt that the Spirit was there. She told us that she's good with where she's at. She doesn't go to church yet she claims herself as Catholic. But she thinks that as long as she reads the Bible and does her best that she'll be good. When she said that, I said to myself that obviously she doesn't understand the Bible. I went about my best trying to teach her that authority to baptize is essential and that a correct church is more than important. She still didn't change. I expressed my thoughts that we need to follow the example of the Apostles of Christ and show humility to what we thought was correct and be willing to change. She told us that she doesn't want to change. I told her that this is a chance to find out if Christ's original church is truly on the earth. She said that she believes that all churches are good and that it doesn't matter which church you belong to. She just plain didn't get it. She said that she's not willing to change and there really isn't much that we can do about that. Sad...
Wednesday and Thursday, we got home at around 6:00 pm. I just read Jesus the Christ pretty much the whole time. It was a weird feeling to have nothing to do. I did read a very interesting part in Jesus the Christ when Jesus is in the temple in Jerusalem and the Jews start to question him. There's a great video on that part in the Bible videos on lds.org. The video is called: Jesus Declares: I Am the Light of the World, the Truth Shall Make You Free. One thing that James Talmage clears up in the use of the name "I am" at the end of the video. "I am" is another name for Christ. Christ declared Himself as "I AM that I AM" to Moses when He appeared to him. It means a few different things in Hebrew and has a lot of symbolic meaning. Well, for the Jews in that time, the mention of the name "I am" or "Jehovah" was strictly forbidden. It was too sacred to say. There was only a certain time once a year during a certain ceremony when some priest would use the name. Other than that, if you said it in public the punishment was extremely harsh. So while Jesus is talking to the Jews in the temple, their conversation leads them to talk about Abraham. Then the Jews ask Jesus how He knows Abraham. Then Jesus says, "Verily, verily I say unto you. Before Abraham was, I am." Not only does Jesus use the name when it ''wasn't allowed'', but He claims it as His own. James Talmage describes how mad the Jews were during that time. In the Bible it talks about how the Jews took up stones to stone Him, but then Jesus just walked out of the temple. It wasn't His time to die, so He chose not to die. So cool!
Saturday I got a few comments on my Spanish. We were trying to find some guy that we contacted earlier during the week and we came into contact with a couple other people on some stairs in front of a house. After a minute or so of just talking to them and answering some questions about what we do, one Honduran guy looks at me weird and then tells me, "Wow, you really speak Spanish!" He asked me how I learned Spanish and I told him that I just learn it talking with people. He said, "No, where did you really learn it." I told him that I read the scriptures in Spanish and I have a grammar book that I study. It was a confidence booster and it made the day better knowing that Hispanics think that I really speak Spanish. Not ten minutes after that, when we were waiting for a member to meet us at an appointment, a little boy maybe 9 years old started talking to me in Spanish. He asked me what we were selling. I told him that we're missionaries. I had a Spanish-English dictionary in my hands and he asked me what it was. I told him what it was. Then he asked me if I speak English. I said yes and asked him if he speaks English. He said a little. I asked him how he was doing and what his name was and he didn't know what I was saying, haha! I talked to him a little more and gave his dad a pass-along card. It was cool because there aren't very many kids here that don't speak English. Usually they all speak English; many of them better than Spanish because of school. It was good to know that I can understand what kids are saying in Spanish. Usually they're pretty difficult to understand. Also, to add onto all of this, members can tell that I'm close to finishing by how much Spanish I can speak. They'll tell me that they can tell I'm almost done because I speak Spanish so well... :)
Well, that's about it for the week!
Love you mom! See you real soon!
-Justin
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