July 15, 2013
Mom,
It's okay. I'm sure that next year will be a lot better.
That's super cool to hear about the Bishop wanting teachers. I'll take that Mission-Prep class for sure!!! That would be awesome. I think that I'm forever going to enjoy teaching. I don't think that I want it to be my profession, but as far as teaching in Church, I'll always love it. I do the same thing! When I'm preparing a lesson for something, I'll learn new things. That's one of my favorite parts about preparing for a lesson.
It's in the 90's here constantly. Actually, I was pretty glad to find out that it's in the 90's. That means that it probably won't get much hotter. We're coming up on the hottest part of the year. I think that in about a month it should start cooling down. Yay! It's just so humid here. That is what I really don't like about it. I hate the humidity. Last week was kind of nice because some light storms came in and it rained. We just carry an umbrella with us and we don't get too wet. Most people do have air conditioners. Some people don't and visits with them are hard. It's kind of hard to have a really good focused lesson when it's super hot.
I was super excited to get emails from them! Thanks!
I think that I've heard of those series before. I don't know if I've heard of them on my mission or if it was before my mission. I do have it written down on my books to read.
This last Friday, we had a zone conference. President Jeppson told us that he was praying hard to know what he should teach us about during this zone conference. He said that it came very clear to him that he needs to train us on the Great Apostasy and the Restoration. He showed us many scriptures in the New Testament that explain clearly of the coming Apostasy in that time. It was really cool that way President Jeppson likened it to our day. Many of the books in the New Testament are letters written by the Apostle Paul to members of the Church in a certain part of the world in that area. President Jeppson said that when Paul wrote the epistle to the Galatians, he was writing to the Galatia 1st ward. When he wrote the epistle to the Ephesians, he was writing the the Ephesian 1st ward. When he wrote the epistles to the Thessalonians, he was writing to the Thessaloniki 1st ward. It was a pretty cool analogy. I didn't bring my notes with me, but I could share with you many of the scriptures that clearly depict that an Apostasy was eminent. I've never really asked anybody not of our faith what they think about those particular scriptures. I should. He also spoke more on the Restoration. He said that in his opinion, there are three major things that were restored through Joseph Smith that he thinks are three of the most important things: 1) That God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate individuals, 2) That they both have physical bodies of flesh and blood, and 3) That the Church of Jesus Christ was not on the earth at that time. He also shared with us a quote from Joseph Smith. When Joseph Smith went to talk to the President of the United States, the President asked Joseph Smith what the biggest difference was between Mormons and the rest of the Christian world. Joseph Smith's response was, "We have the Holy Ghost." I liked that quote!
So it was a pretty hot week. We're trying to set as many appointments as possible so we're not outside so much in the heat. It's kind of hard at times because during the early hours of the day between 12 and 3, there aren't very many people that can see us. But, it's okay. We just have to find those people that can see us.
Q of the W:
1. Do you have hard times understanding Spanish still, or are you an expert now?
I do sometimes. I think that it's because of all the different accents. I'm still not very used to all these accents. There are still some words that I don't know sometimes. Also, sometimes I still don't know exactly how to express myself. I guess learning a language is a lifelong battle. I think it would help if I were constantly emerged in Spanish too. Especially on P-Days, I don't use Spanish too much.
2. I was reading Sister Jeppsons blog and she talked about two missionaries getting into a car accident. Did you know them?
I do know one of them. He was an English missionary that came out to New Jersey the same time I did. They're doing a lot better though!
3. There is an 'on-line chat with a missionary thing' online. Have you done this or have your heard about this?
I think I have heard of it. I've never looked into it though. I don't know anything about it.
Love you mom!
-Justin
Monday, July 15, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
July 8, 2013
Dear Mom,
Our 4th of July was kind of boring. We didn't do much. I was really hoping to still be in Union City at this time so I could see the fireworks over the Hudson River. President Jeppson advised us that we were not to leave our zones to watch fireworks. I'm about 45 minutes away from Union City. So we got together with some other missionaries and went to a small town called Milltown to watch some local fireworks. It was pretty good. Out of all the fireworks that I've seen, those were definitely one of them. Haha, nothing too special. Then last night, when I was calling some the missionaries in my district to follow up on how their week went, a bunch of fireworks started going off over the highway right next to us. The thing was, these fireworks were better than the ones on the Fourth of July. They were super loud because they were pretty close and pretty distracting. I watched some of them during calls from our window.
That's funny about Kelsie. That would happen to her.
I honestly didn't pay too much attention in Seminary unfortunately. I think they definitely taught me things about the scriptures. I remember one seminary teacher who directed us to page 119 in the Doctrine and Covenants and showed us verses 9-11 about forgiveness and then pointed out how both those numbers are 9-1-1. He was relating it to the 9/11 incident. Afterwards, he told us to take that as we will. I also just remember the examples from my seminary teachers. I don't necessarily remember exactly what they taught me, but their excitement towards the Gospel and the Scriptures made an impact on me. I never really saw the personal importance the scriptures had to me, so I never paid too much attention. I'm excited to go to institute after my mission and hopefully eventually those classes at BYU to learn more about the scriptures. I'm studying in depth the New Testament right now. It would be great to go through it in a classroom setting at the same time, but I'm on my own right now.
Good news about the Munoz family: They came to church yesterday! All four of them! And they said that they really enjoyed it. Brother Munoz was smiling most of the time, and the 17 year old girl, Yaxiri, said that she felt the Spirit. I was very excited to see them there. We had a lesson with them this last week and we talked to them a little more about the temple and the blessings they may have if Brother Munoz receives the Melchizedek Priesthood and they all go to the temple. They said that they wanted to do it. I'm excited for that family!
My six month left mark has been pretty normal. Just like I said before, when people find out they always tell me how little I have left. There are many other missionaries in the mission right now that I've known for quite a while. They were pretty new missionaries when I first came in. They're all starting to finish up here pretty soon. Some finish the end of this month. Most of them end their missions the end of September. So I just think that they have to finish before I do. It feels like I still have a while to go, and I kind of do. I still have the possibility in serving in two other areas after here in New Brunswick. We'll see, maybe my next area will be the last. I've heard that sometimes Mission Presidents will send missionaries home if their departure date is close enough to Christmas. At first, my departure date was several weeks after Christmas, so I didn't put any thought into it, but now it's exactly two weeks after Christmas. In my opinion, that's pretty close to Christmas. What would you think if President Jeppson gave me the option to come home a few days before Christmas? I'm not saying that I will, because he hasn't talked to me about it, so as far as we know, I'm still coming home beginning of January. I just want to know what you think. :)
This last Friday we had a special training in Morristown. It was a meeting for all District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. It was all about how to be a great leader in the mission. They talked about all sorts of things that have to do with leadership in the mission. It was pretty good, I liked it a lot. They talked about how to make our District Meetings and Zone Meetings better. President Jeppson talked about how he has many meetings and many times, he'll come out of a meeting and say, "Out of all the meetings that I've been to, that was definitely one of them!" He said that he doesn't want missionaries to come out of our meetings and say that that was just another meeting that they've been to. He said that he wants missionaries to come out of our meetings filled with the Spirit and a desire to fill the world with the Book of Mormon! I'm really learning on my mission how to make meetings better. Well, at least make a good District Meeting. I don't know how well I'll be able to put together other meetings, but I guess we'll see. I plan on telling Bishop Jensen and President Trent that I want to keep teaching. Maybe they can get me a calling that I can continue teaching.
Then on Sunday, we had a great Elders Quorum Meeting. The Elders Quorum President, Michael Allongo, taught the class on the Priesthood. It was a really good class. I actually learned quite a bit. For a while now, I haven't really ever learned anything new at church. Usually it's all refreshing my memory. I don't know if that's bad or not, but I still love going to church. I think that reminders are very important. We can't always remember things forever. However, in Elders Quorum, he talked about why we initially received the Aaronic Priesthood in Moses' time. He broke down the experience with Moses and his people and why they didn't deserve to have the higher Priesthood. I had a basic understand of that but I didn't know it nearly as well as Brother Allongo. He also talked about what we mean when we say that we know that the Church is true. Basically it boils down to two things: 1) We know that we have the, and 2) We know that the Prophets and Apostles are receiving revelation. All in all, it was a really good lesson. That's where I hope I can be in teaching a class after my mission. But Brother Allongo is really smart and already graduated college and is a criminal prosecutor, so he has a lot of experience under his belt.
So that was my week! It's really hot here. I get to some lessons after 25 minutes of walking across town and my shirt is wet from sweat. Fun experiences on the mission.
Q of the W:
1. When you are teaching families the gospel, do you tell the father that it is his responsibility to lead the family in prayer?
We usually just have him pick on somebody for the prayer. We just respect him as the head of the home. Usually they understand that concept. We'll invite him many times to say the closing prayer. It just depends on how we feel.
2. Do the in-actives or less-actives ever talk about their Home Teacher or Visiting Teachers? What is your opinion on Home Teachers?
They sometimes talk about them. Usually they'll either tell us how they've been coming by lately. Sometimes they tell us that they haven't had them in years. Haha! I've thought a lot about home teaching. It's just going to be a continuation of a part of missionary work when I get home. I'm excited to do it. I think that it's very important to do.
3. How is your supply of Diovan and contacts? I feel the need to get you more Diovan?
I may need more contacts soon. I should be good on Diovan.
Love you mom!!
-Justin
Dear Mom,
Our 4th of July was kind of boring. We didn't do much. I was really hoping to still be in Union City at this time so I could see the fireworks over the Hudson River. President Jeppson advised us that we were not to leave our zones to watch fireworks. I'm about 45 minutes away from Union City. So we got together with some other missionaries and went to a small town called Milltown to watch some local fireworks. It was pretty good. Out of all the fireworks that I've seen, those were definitely one of them. Haha, nothing too special. Then last night, when I was calling some the missionaries in my district to follow up on how their week went, a bunch of fireworks started going off over the highway right next to us. The thing was, these fireworks were better than the ones on the Fourth of July. They were super loud because they were pretty close and pretty distracting. I watched some of them during calls from our window.
That's funny about Kelsie. That would happen to her.
I honestly didn't pay too much attention in Seminary unfortunately. I think they definitely taught me things about the scriptures. I remember one seminary teacher who directed us to page 119 in the Doctrine and Covenants and showed us verses 9-11 about forgiveness and then pointed out how both those numbers are 9-1-1. He was relating it to the 9/11 incident. Afterwards, he told us to take that as we will. I also just remember the examples from my seminary teachers. I don't necessarily remember exactly what they taught me, but their excitement towards the Gospel and the Scriptures made an impact on me. I never really saw the personal importance the scriptures had to me, so I never paid too much attention. I'm excited to go to institute after my mission and hopefully eventually those classes at BYU to learn more about the scriptures. I'm studying in depth the New Testament right now. It would be great to go through it in a classroom setting at the same time, but I'm on my own right now.
Good news about the Munoz family: They came to church yesterday! All four of them! And they said that they really enjoyed it. Brother Munoz was smiling most of the time, and the 17 year old girl, Yaxiri, said that she felt the Spirit. I was very excited to see them there. We had a lesson with them this last week and we talked to them a little more about the temple and the blessings they may have if Brother Munoz receives the Melchizedek Priesthood and they all go to the temple. They said that they wanted to do it. I'm excited for that family!
My six month left mark has been pretty normal. Just like I said before, when people find out they always tell me how little I have left. There are many other missionaries in the mission right now that I've known for quite a while. They were pretty new missionaries when I first came in. They're all starting to finish up here pretty soon. Some finish the end of this month. Most of them end their missions the end of September. So I just think that they have to finish before I do. It feels like I still have a while to go, and I kind of do. I still have the possibility in serving in two other areas after here in New Brunswick. We'll see, maybe my next area will be the last. I've heard that sometimes Mission Presidents will send missionaries home if their departure date is close enough to Christmas. At first, my departure date was several weeks after Christmas, so I didn't put any thought into it, but now it's exactly two weeks after Christmas. In my opinion, that's pretty close to Christmas. What would you think if President Jeppson gave me the option to come home a few days before Christmas? I'm not saying that I will, because he hasn't talked to me about it, so as far as we know, I'm still coming home beginning of January. I just want to know what you think. :)
This last Friday we had a special training in Morristown. It was a meeting for all District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. It was all about how to be a great leader in the mission. They talked about all sorts of things that have to do with leadership in the mission. It was pretty good, I liked it a lot. They talked about how to make our District Meetings and Zone Meetings better. President Jeppson talked about how he has many meetings and many times, he'll come out of a meeting and say, "Out of all the meetings that I've been to, that was definitely one of them!" He said that he doesn't want missionaries to come out of our meetings and say that that was just another meeting that they've been to. He said that he wants missionaries to come out of our meetings filled with the Spirit and a desire to fill the world with the Book of Mormon! I'm really learning on my mission how to make meetings better. Well, at least make a good District Meeting. I don't know how well I'll be able to put together other meetings, but I guess we'll see. I plan on telling Bishop Jensen and President Trent that I want to keep teaching. Maybe they can get me a calling that I can continue teaching.
Then on Sunday, we had a great Elders Quorum Meeting. The Elders Quorum President, Michael Allongo, taught the class on the Priesthood. It was a really good class. I actually learned quite a bit. For a while now, I haven't really ever learned anything new at church. Usually it's all refreshing my memory. I don't know if that's bad or not, but I still love going to church. I think that reminders are very important. We can't always remember things forever. However, in Elders Quorum, he talked about why we initially received the Aaronic Priesthood in Moses' time. He broke down the experience with Moses and his people and why they didn't deserve to have the higher Priesthood. I had a basic understand of that but I didn't know it nearly as well as Brother Allongo. He also talked about what we mean when we say that we know that the Church is true. Basically it boils down to two things: 1) We know that we have the, and 2) We know that the Prophets and Apostles are receiving revelation. All in all, it was a really good lesson. That's where I hope I can be in teaching a class after my mission. But Brother Allongo is really smart and already graduated college and is a criminal prosecutor, so he has a lot of experience under his belt.
So that was my week! It's really hot here. I get to some lessons after 25 minutes of walking across town and my shirt is wet from sweat. Fun experiences on the mission.
Q of the W:
1. When you are teaching families the gospel, do you tell the father that it is his responsibility to lead the family in prayer?
We usually just have him pick on somebody for the prayer. We just respect him as the head of the home. Usually they understand that concept. We'll invite him many times to say the closing prayer. It just depends on how we feel.
2. Do the in-actives or less-actives ever talk about their Home Teacher or Visiting Teachers? What is your opinion on Home Teachers?
They sometimes talk about them. Usually they'll either tell us how they've been coming by lately. Sometimes they tell us that they haven't had them in years. Haha! I've thought a lot about home teaching. It's just going to be a continuation of a part of missionary work when I get home. I'm excited to do it. I think that it's very important to do.
3. How is your supply of Diovan and contacts? I feel the need to get you more Diovan?
I may need more contacts soon. I should be good on Diovan.
Love you mom!!
-Justin
Monday, July 1, 2013
July 1, 2013
Dear Mom,
I was thinking the same thing. I think that every member should know about what they talked about in that training. It definitely makes me want to work harder!
The All-Mission Conference was great! We were told to wear t-shirts and jeans. No shorts. They warned us that if we brought shorts we would be sent back to the apartment to change into jeans. I don't know exactly the reason behind that, but I think it was that they didn't want anyone to get ticks. We weren't anywhere much more than just grass though.. But, everyone obeyed. It was really hot though. We went to a park in Morristown and played some sports. The park that we went to had stuff permanently set up for sports. They had a street hockey rink that we used for dodgeball, then we had a small soccer field that we used to play beach soccer. We just used a giant beach ball for the soccer ball. We also had kickball and volleyball. It was pretty fun. It was so just hot in those jeans! After that we all went over to the Morristown chapel where we had skits. Each zone the previous week made up a skit that had to do with the mission. Ours was about zombies and sister missionaries taking over the mission field. It was pretty funny, but I didn't record it. The other skits were pretty funny as well. Then we got to hear from the Temple President from the Manhattan Temple. He taught us a little bit about the temples. One thing that he said that stuck out to me was that the biggest difference between a temple and a chapel is that a chapel is where we go to worship and learn together. The temple is where we go to worship and learn individually. Pretty cool. I love the temple! After that we went home. No Apostles. And the mission t-shirts this year aren't nearly as cool as the ones last year. Sadly, I don't think there were very many people that were impressed with them this year.
That's kind of understandable that Kelsie wasn't able to attend church in Greece. I looked on LDS.org and there are only three Greek Branches and one English Branch in the whole country. There isn't even a stake in Greece. Kelsie's trip may have largely increased the total number of members of the Church in Greece, haha! I can't wait to see some pictures of Greece!
That's pretty gross to hear about the E.coli problem. I'm glad it didn't last very long. Do you know if anyone was affected by it? Here in New Jersey, I don't think that there are very many people that drink the tap water. It tastes kind of funky. I usually brush my teeth with it and everything but to drink it usually everyone has a filter, or they buy those large 10 gallon things of water, or just bottled water. Could you not even shower during that time?
Sounds good about the NYC trip. I'm down!
This last Saturday, we had a meeting with the other leaders of our zone. It was the zone leaders and the other two district leaders. Like I've told you before, every month we have a certain focus to help us improve our missionary work. The zone leaders all meet up with President Jeppson on Friday, and then on Saturday, the zone leaders meet with the district leaders to discuss how we're going to apply the monthly focus to all the missionaries in the zone. So this month the focus is on the Book of Mormon. President Jeppson challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon in three months, by the end of September with a certain focus. We just recently did this same focus back in November/December, but since then we have received over 100 new missionaries in our mission, so President Jeppson wanted to do another focus on it. I'm excited for the challenge! I don't know what I want to do it on yet. We were also talking about one of the more important purposes of the Book of Mormon is in the gathering of scattered Israel. As missionaries we are fulfilling ancient Old Testament prophesies in the gathering the lost tribes and many other prophesies. It's cool, the Book of Mormon is so important in these last days. The Book of Mormon is actually full of stuff pertaining to the gathering of Israel.
Yesterday, we had a pretty cool lesson with a very less-active family. It's the Munoz family. They haven't been to church in a long time, but they always tell us how they love when we come over because we bring a good spirit with us. This less-active family is a little different than many other less-active members. Usually other less-active members call us 'the brothers'. It's really weird sounding in English, but in Spanish 'los hermanos' sounds very, very normal. Usually the members that have been in the Church for a while and understand the doctrine better will call us by our proper titles, 'elders'. Like the Bishop and many other ward leaders will call us 'elders'. Well, the Munoz family is different because they call us 'elders'. When we visited with them yesterday, we followed up on the commitment we had left them the previous lesson which was to say a kneeling prayer everyday as a family. They didn't do it, at all. Brother Munoz said that he just hasn't had the desire to get the family together for a prayer. He also said that he simply just didn't have the desire to come to church on Sunday. It's kind of hard to help people that don't have a desire. We ended up reading Mosiah 4 with them as a family. Sister Munoz was a little sick so she didn't come out. After we read we talked a little bit about the chapter we read. We asked the two kids to share the scripture that they liked the most out of that chapter and then we asked what Brother Munoz had liked from that chapter. They all gave very good answers. Our team up, Javier (who is 27 years old and is a convert), shared his testimony. After that, I felt impressed to share with them a little bit about my experience as a youth in the Church. I told them that I never really understood the Gospel as a youth, but that when I went to activities in the Ward and camps, the leaders would always share their testimonies and we would always have little firesides that was strengthening my testimony without me really knowing about it. All my leaders were always very good examples and that was one of the reasons why I'm on a mission. Then the girl, 17 years old, said that she has always liked those activities and that she felt the Spirit when going to them. I saw that Brother Munoz got a little excited and happy about that. I then asked Brother Munoz if he felt desires now. He said yes. Amazing lesson! Pray that they'll come to church! They're a really good family and they need to be more involved in the Gospel.
Love you mom! Miss you a lot!
-Justin
1. Do you think Scouts and going to camps prepared you to be a great missionary?
Maybe a little bit. I'm sure that it had some influence, but I can't really think of anything specifically with which it has helped me.
2. What apostle do you think would be the best for you to meet in person?
I don't really know. I really want to meet them all. I think that it would be a fun opportunity to meet Elder Bednar.
3. If you could ask one question for our Prophet, what would it be?
What has been the most spiritual experience that you have ever had?
I was thinking the same thing. I think that every member should know about what they talked about in that training. It definitely makes me want to work harder!
The All-Mission Conference was great! We were told to wear t-shirts and jeans. No shorts. They warned us that if we brought shorts we would be sent back to the apartment to change into jeans. I don't know exactly the reason behind that, but I think it was that they didn't want anyone to get ticks. We weren't anywhere much more than just grass though.. But, everyone obeyed. It was really hot though. We went to a park in Morristown and played some sports. The park that we went to had stuff permanently set up for sports. They had a street hockey rink that we used for dodgeball, then we had a small soccer field that we used to play beach soccer. We just used a giant beach ball for the soccer ball. We also had kickball and volleyball. It was pretty fun. It was so just hot in those jeans! After that we all went over to the Morristown chapel where we had skits. Each zone the previous week made up a skit that had to do with the mission. Ours was about zombies and sister missionaries taking over the mission field. It was pretty funny, but I didn't record it. The other skits were pretty funny as well. Then we got to hear from the Temple President from the Manhattan Temple. He taught us a little bit about the temples. One thing that he said that stuck out to me was that the biggest difference between a temple and a chapel is that a chapel is where we go to worship and learn together. The temple is where we go to worship and learn individually. Pretty cool. I love the temple! After that we went home. No Apostles. And the mission t-shirts this year aren't nearly as cool as the ones last year. Sadly, I don't think there were very many people that were impressed with them this year.
That's kind of understandable that Kelsie wasn't able to attend church in Greece. I looked on LDS.org and there are only three Greek Branches and one English Branch in the whole country. There isn't even a stake in Greece. Kelsie's trip may have largely increased the total number of members of the Church in Greece, haha! I can't wait to see some pictures of Greece!
That's pretty gross to hear about the E.coli problem. I'm glad it didn't last very long. Do you know if anyone was affected by it? Here in New Jersey, I don't think that there are very many people that drink the tap water. It tastes kind of funky. I usually brush my teeth with it and everything but to drink it usually everyone has a filter, or they buy those large 10 gallon things of water, or just bottled water. Could you not even shower during that time?
Sounds good about the NYC trip. I'm down!
This last Saturday, we had a meeting with the other leaders of our zone. It was the zone leaders and the other two district leaders. Like I've told you before, every month we have a certain focus to help us improve our missionary work. The zone leaders all meet up with President Jeppson on Friday, and then on Saturday, the zone leaders meet with the district leaders to discuss how we're going to apply the monthly focus to all the missionaries in the zone. So this month the focus is on the Book of Mormon. President Jeppson challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon in three months, by the end of September with a certain focus. We just recently did this same focus back in November/December, but since then we have received over 100 new missionaries in our mission, so President Jeppson wanted to do another focus on it. I'm excited for the challenge! I don't know what I want to do it on yet. We were also talking about one of the more important purposes of the Book of Mormon is in the gathering of scattered Israel. As missionaries we are fulfilling ancient Old Testament prophesies in the gathering the lost tribes and many other prophesies. It's cool, the Book of Mormon is so important in these last days. The Book of Mormon is actually full of stuff pertaining to the gathering of Israel.
Yesterday, we had a pretty cool lesson with a very less-active family. It's the Munoz family. They haven't been to church in a long time, but they always tell us how they love when we come over because we bring a good spirit with us. This less-active family is a little different than many other less-active members. Usually other less-active members call us 'the brothers'. It's really weird sounding in English, but in Spanish 'los hermanos' sounds very, very normal. Usually the members that have been in the Church for a while and understand the doctrine better will call us by our proper titles, 'elders'. Like the Bishop and many other ward leaders will call us 'elders'. Well, the Munoz family is different because they call us 'elders'. When we visited with them yesterday, we followed up on the commitment we had left them the previous lesson which was to say a kneeling prayer everyday as a family. They didn't do it, at all. Brother Munoz said that he just hasn't had the desire to get the family together for a prayer. He also said that he simply just didn't have the desire to come to church on Sunday. It's kind of hard to help people that don't have a desire. We ended up reading Mosiah 4 with them as a family. Sister Munoz was a little sick so she didn't come out. After we read we talked a little bit about the chapter we read. We asked the two kids to share the scripture that they liked the most out of that chapter and then we asked what Brother Munoz had liked from that chapter. They all gave very good answers. Our team up, Javier (who is 27 years old and is a convert), shared his testimony. After that, I felt impressed to share with them a little bit about my experience as a youth in the Church. I told them that I never really understood the Gospel as a youth, but that when I went to activities in the Ward and camps, the leaders would always share their testimonies and we would always have little firesides that was strengthening my testimony without me really knowing about it. All my leaders were always very good examples and that was one of the reasons why I'm on a mission. Then the girl, 17 years old, said that she has always liked those activities and that she felt the Spirit when going to them. I saw that Brother Munoz got a little excited and happy about that. I then asked Brother Munoz if he felt desires now. He said yes. Amazing lesson! Pray that they'll come to church! They're a really good family and they need to be more involved in the Gospel.
Love you mom! Miss you a lot!
-Justin
1. Do you think Scouts and going to camps prepared you to be a great missionary?
Maybe a little bit. I'm sure that it had some influence, but I can't really think of anything specifically with which it has helped me.
2. What apostle do you think would be the best for you to meet in person?
I don't really know. I really want to meet them all. I think that it would be a fun opportunity to meet Elder Bednar.
3. If you could ask one question for our Prophet, what would it be?
What has been the most spiritual experience that you have ever had?
Monday, June 24, 2013
Dear Mom,
I did watch that world wide training. And yes, I did recognize Jessie Beck. I thought that was pretty cool. I wonder if Josh would recognize any of those members maybe from one of his areas he served in.. I absolutely loved that whole broadcast!! I loved how Elder Nelson said that we should not have time to knock on doors. Knocking on doors is about the least effective thing that we can do, besides just sitting at home. That makes missionary work so much better if have that much member involvement. We have so many members out here now that they should be so involved in missionary work all the time. I really liked that video of that missionary family. Does Dad still know where his missionary tags are? I'm going to do what the dad did in that video. I'm going to put my tag on my scriptures after my mission. I really want to be able to watch that whole broadcast over again. Unfortunately, I don't know how many of our members saw the broadcast. Another thing a lot of members say out here is that their family and friends aren't ready. That they've already tried and they just need more time. I can't remember exactly who said in in that conference, but somebody said that we can't say if they're ready or not. I loved that broadcast because it felt like a mini-general conference with the focus of missionary work; missionary work for members and full-time missionaries. I'm really worried about missionary work back at home. I don't know how much I can really do. I'm sure I'll figure out something.
That's awesome that Kelsie is in Greece now. I didn't even realize that was coming up so soon! I hope she sends me some cool pictures of Greece! Do you know if she's going to church there? That would be awesome to spend three hours of church all in Greek. I think that there would be some an authentic feel to it. To be able to be over there where the ancient Apostles preached the Gospel in the Meridian of Time.
Good to hear that Nicole went on her mission. Cool to hear about Kendra! Do you know that Mason guy at all?
So, I forgot to mention that we were going to go to the temple last week. We went on Tuesday! Way cool experience. I know I've only been to Manhattan a few times, but now it feels like I've spent so much time there. I only took a few pictures this time. The temple was amazing! After our session, I was able to talk to one of the counselors in the temple presidency to ask a few questions. I didn't really know that you could ask them just about anything in the temple. He answered a few questions, but before he had to get going to something else he had to do, he left me with a few questions as well!! Aaaahhhh!! Now I have to wait until December to ask those ones! I hope that I can stay actively participating in the temple when I get back. Also, New York City was way cool as always. This time, we took the New Jersey Transit train from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Penn Station. If we go to NYC, we have to visit Penn Station; it's crazy there! It's like a mall mixed with a giant train station. It's huge! There are so many things to do in NYC. Times Square was way cool as always. There are a few really cool stores that would be amazing to go into. Mission first!
Then on Wednesday, we visited with a part-member family. They have two kids who are 18 and 17 that speak only Spanish that aren't members. They don't really have much interest in religion at all, but we asked them if we could share with them why we do what we do. They had a LOT of questions. Some good questions. Some bad. The girl asked why we can't dance. We gave her a weird look, then she answered for us. She said that we (referring to everyone) shouldn't dance because when we do so, we are dancing for Satan. Then she asked us if our church prohibits dancing. It was a really weird question, and I'm sure she was just trying to prove to us that our church wasn't true. His big question was why we have the Book of Mormon. There seems to be a lot of people in this area that know us as having the "Mormon Bible". It's super annoying because they think that we don't use nor believe in the Bible. We wouldn't have our Church if it weren't for the Bible! Of course it's important. This guy in particular was trying to accuse us of never using the Bible in church services. He said that he's been to our Church before and we didn't ever use the Bible and that the Book of Mormon is way different than the Bible. I get so tired of people like that. We finished up the whole Restoration lesson, but then we figured out that he isn't willing to work for an answer. We made sure to tell him that he will never receive an answer if he isn't willing to work towards it. Most of the questions that these two kids had were all formed in a way that they were just questioning the church. We were talking about the lesson after we had left the home and it came to me that there is a difference between questioning and asking questions. They were questioning, not asking questions. Important difference, even for us as members.
Good week! This week should be pretty fun as well! This coming Wednesday, we have an All-Mission Conference. We're going to get new mission t-shirts!
Q of the W:
1. Has anybody asked you 'why they changed the missionary age?' If so, what do you tell them?
Actually, no one has asked me that.. If somebody did ask me that, I would just say that God is hastening his work by making it possible for more missionaries to go out
2. What is the hardest thing for you about a transfer?
If I'm leaving, I don't like saying goodbye to people, and I don't like packing. If I'm staying and my companion is leaving, I don't like to be the only one that knows the area and the people. Usually it takes about 3-4 weeks for the new missionary in the area to start to get the area down. I'm still learning New Brunswick.
3. Aren't you supposed to go to NYC this month?
Yes, I went last week :)
Love you mom! Miss you lots!
-Justin
I did watch that world wide training. And yes, I did recognize Jessie Beck. I thought that was pretty cool. I wonder if Josh would recognize any of those members maybe from one of his areas he served in.. I absolutely loved that whole broadcast!! I loved how Elder Nelson said that we should not have time to knock on doors. Knocking on doors is about the least effective thing that we can do, besides just sitting at home. That makes missionary work so much better if have that much member involvement. We have so many members out here now that they should be so involved in missionary work all the time. I really liked that video of that missionary family. Does Dad still know where his missionary tags are? I'm going to do what the dad did in that video. I'm going to put my tag on my scriptures after my mission. I really want to be able to watch that whole broadcast over again. Unfortunately, I don't know how many of our members saw the broadcast. Another thing a lot of members say out here is that their family and friends aren't ready. That they've already tried and they just need more time. I can't remember exactly who said in in that conference, but somebody said that we can't say if they're ready or not. I loved that broadcast because it felt like a mini-general conference with the focus of missionary work; missionary work for members and full-time missionaries. I'm really worried about missionary work back at home. I don't know how much I can really do. I'm sure I'll figure out something.
That's awesome that Kelsie is in Greece now. I didn't even realize that was coming up so soon! I hope she sends me some cool pictures of Greece! Do you know if she's going to church there? That would be awesome to spend three hours of church all in Greek. I think that there would be some an authentic feel to it. To be able to be over there where the ancient Apostles preached the Gospel in the Meridian of Time.
Good to hear that Nicole went on her mission. Cool to hear about Kendra! Do you know that Mason guy at all?
So, I forgot to mention that we were going to go to the temple last week. We went on Tuesday! Way cool experience. I know I've only been to Manhattan a few times, but now it feels like I've spent so much time there. I only took a few pictures this time. The temple was amazing! After our session, I was able to talk to one of the counselors in the temple presidency to ask a few questions. I didn't really know that you could ask them just about anything in the temple. He answered a few questions, but before he had to get going to something else he had to do, he left me with a few questions as well!! Aaaahhhh!! Now I have to wait until December to ask those ones! I hope that I can stay actively participating in the temple when I get back. Also, New York City was way cool as always. This time, we took the New Jersey Transit train from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Penn Station. If we go to NYC, we have to visit Penn Station; it's crazy there! It's like a mall mixed with a giant train station. It's huge! There are so many things to do in NYC. Times Square was way cool as always. There are a few really cool stores that would be amazing to go into. Mission first!
Then on Wednesday, we visited with a part-member family. They have two kids who are 18 and 17 that speak only Spanish that aren't members. They don't really have much interest in religion at all, but we asked them if we could share with them why we do what we do. They had a LOT of questions. Some good questions. Some bad. The girl asked why we can't dance. We gave her a weird look, then she answered for us. She said that we (referring to everyone) shouldn't dance because when we do so, we are dancing for Satan. Then she asked us if our church prohibits dancing. It was a really weird question, and I'm sure she was just trying to prove to us that our church wasn't true. His big question was why we have the Book of Mormon. There seems to be a lot of people in this area that know us as having the "Mormon Bible". It's super annoying because they think that we don't use nor believe in the Bible. We wouldn't have our Church if it weren't for the Bible! Of course it's important. This guy in particular was trying to accuse us of never using the Bible in church services. He said that he's been to our Church before and we didn't ever use the Bible and that the Book of Mormon is way different than the Bible. I get so tired of people like that. We finished up the whole Restoration lesson, but then we figured out that he isn't willing to work for an answer. We made sure to tell him that he will never receive an answer if he isn't willing to work towards it. Most of the questions that these two kids had were all formed in a way that they were just questioning the church. We were talking about the lesson after we had left the home and it came to me that there is a difference between questioning and asking questions. They were questioning, not asking questions. Important difference, even for us as members.
Good week! This week should be pretty fun as well! This coming Wednesday, we have an All-Mission Conference. We're going to get new mission t-shirts!
Q of the W:
1. Has anybody asked you 'why they changed the missionary age?' If so, what do you tell them?
Actually, no one has asked me that.. If somebody did ask me that, I would just say that God is hastening his work by making it possible for more missionaries to go out
2. What is the hardest thing for you about a transfer?
If I'm leaving, I don't like saying goodbye to people, and I don't like packing. If I'm staying and my companion is leaving, I don't like to be the only one that knows the area and the people. Usually it takes about 3-4 weeks for the new missionary in the area to start to get the area down. I'm still learning New Brunswick.
3. Aren't you supposed to go to NYC this month?
Yes, I went last week :)
Love you mom! Miss you lots!
-Justin
Monday, June 17, 2013
Mom,
10 Commercial Ave. Apt.# ULC
New Brunswick, NJ (I don't know the ZIP code)
It was a sad goodbye from Union City. I really started to love that place a lot. I miss it. We had some great members there. My area was really doing good as well. The area I'm in right now in New Brunswick is still a walking area! Except it's like three times as big as my area in Union City. Unfortunately, I think I might be getting shin splints... We'll see. New Brunswick is a pretty good area. It's a lot different than Union City. In Union City, the chapel was five blocks away from our apartment. Here in New Brunswick, the chapel is a 15 minute drive away in the next town over called East Brunswick. Since it's a walking area, we don't have a car. We had to call a member to pick us up on Sunday morning. I think that there are actually quite a few of members that have to call and ask for rides from other people to get to church every Sunday. Pretty crazy. I guess there are some members every week that don't go to church because they can't find a ride.
So the goodbye from Union City, we had a family home evening in the chapel on Monday night and we invited a lot of the members to come and say goodbye to us. I had made some pretty good friends in Union City. It kind of feels like my home in New Jersey. I'm definitely going to have to visit there after my mission. Many of the members told us that we're more than welcome to come back and visit. The Bishop told us that we always have a friend at his house and that we can come back and visit any time we want. Great ward!
This last week just consisted of walking around the New Brunswick area and trying to get to know the area. My companion is Elder Drewes. His family is living in Provo, but he has moved around a lot because his dad worked in the Air Force. He's an OBGYN now. I think he might know Brother Allen! My comp has only been in the mission for four months. So he's still trying to get a hold on the area. We're trying to figure out the best way to work in this area right now. It's fun, but it's a lot of walking.
There's some pretty cool members in this ward. There's a family by the name of Allongo. The dad just finished serving in our mission presidency. Just as he was finishing his service in the mission presidency, he got called to serve in the East Brunswick stake presidency. He's a pretty good guy. He does something with banks and his wife is a nationally certified Spanish-English translator. She translates things in courts. She knows English better than I do! They have two sons. One of them is named Michael. He served his mission in Germany. He is a prosecutor. He went to BYU law school. I asked him if he knew Wesley Harward. He said the name sounds familiar, so he looked up the name on Facebook. Turns out he's Facebook friends with him! He still didn't know him. But I guess they were in the law program at the same time. Also, Michael serves as the Elders Quorum President in our ward. He helps us out a lot in our missionary work. The Bishop is supportive of missionary work, but he doesn't go out of his way to help us out. So Brother Michael Allongo goes out of his way to help us out the best possible. It's pretty nice. He expects a lot from us, but that's good, because he's going to be helping us out a lot. He really has a determination to make sure this work goes as well as possible.
This family invited us over to dinner yesterday for Father's Day. They have nice house. It reminded me of home! She cooked very well and it didn't really seem like a very Hispanic dish. It was delicious!
It's going to take some getting used to here, but I think I'll be able to do it! It sounds like a fun ward!
Q of the W:
1. What is your opinion on what is the great and abominable church? Just wondering if anybody questions that scripture and what you tell them?
Well, Bruce R. McConkie said that the great and abominable church was the Catholic Church, but I don't think that that was ever accepted as doctrine. I think that he has a good point. I think that that it is very possible. I don't know if Nehpi was trying to describe one particular church group or many churches in one group under the category of destroying the ''plain and precious'' truths. I don't think that he specifies on that. Nehpi describes the great and abominable church as a church taking the ''plain and precious things'' away from the Church of the Lamb of God. So that includes pretty much every other church besides our church. I think that it's safe to say that any church that takes away the ''plain and precious'' truths from the Gospel would be included in the great and abominable church. I would think that it's safe to say that the Catholic Church was one of the very first churches to do exactly that. So that is my opinion.
2. Do you know how many missionaries are in your mission?
I can't remember exactly how many there are. President Jeppson told us that it is now up to over 200.
3. When you teach the less- actives or in-actives and they have already been baptized....what is their goal? Just to go back to church and read the scriptures?
It depends on what they feel is important. A goal that I always tell them would be for them to get to the temple. President Jeppson told us that recent converts that go to the temple within six weeks of their baptism to do proxy baptisms have a 98% chance of staying active. Pretty high!
I liked the number 1 question of the Q of the W! Ask another good one like that!
Love you mom!
-Justin
10 Commercial Ave. Apt.# ULC
New Brunswick, NJ (I don't know the ZIP code)
It was a sad goodbye from Union City. I really started to love that place a lot. I miss it. We had some great members there. My area was really doing good as well. The area I'm in right now in New Brunswick is still a walking area! Except it's like three times as big as my area in Union City. Unfortunately, I think I might be getting shin splints... We'll see. New Brunswick is a pretty good area. It's a lot different than Union City. In Union City, the chapel was five blocks away from our apartment. Here in New Brunswick, the chapel is a 15 minute drive away in the next town over called East Brunswick. Since it's a walking area, we don't have a car. We had to call a member to pick us up on Sunday morning. I think that there are actually quite a few of members that have to call and ask for rides from other people to get to church every Sunday. Pretty crazy. I guess there are some members every week that don't go to church because they can't find a ride.
So the goodbye from Union City, we had a family home evening in the chapel on Monday night and we invited a lot of the members to come and say goodbye to us. I had made some pretty good friends in Union City. It kind of feels like my home in New Jersey. I'm definitely going to have to visit there after my mission. Many of the members told us that we're more than welcome to come back and visit. The Bishop told us that we always have a friend at his house and that we can come back and visit any time we want. Great ward!
This last week just consisted of walking around the New Brunswick area and trying to get to know the area. My companion is Elder Drewes. His family is living in Provo, but he has moved around a lot because his dad worked in the Air Force. He's an OBGYN now. I think he might know Brother Allen! My comp has only been in the mission for four months. So he's still trying to get a hold on the area. We're trying to figure out the best way to work in this area right now. It's fun, but it's a lot of walking.
There's some pretty cool members in this ward. There's a family by the name of Allongo. The dad just finished serving in our mission presidency. Just as he was finishing his service in the mission presidency, he got called to serve in the East Brunswick stake presidency. He's a pretty good guy. He does something with banks and his wife is a nationally certified Spanish-English translator. She translates things in courts. She knows English better than I do! They have two sons. One of them is named Michael. He served his mission in Germany. He is a prosecutor. He went to BYU law school. I asked him if he knew Wesley Harward. He said the name sounds familiar, so he looked up the name on Facebook. Turns out he's Facebook friends with him! He still didn't know him. But I guess they were in the law program at the same time. Also, Michael serves as the Elders Quorum President in our ward. He helps us out a lot in our missionary work. The Bishop is supportive of missionary work, but he doesn't go out of his way to help us out. So Brother Michael Allongo goes out of his way to help us out the best possible. It's pretty nice. He expects a lot from us, but that's good, because he's going to be helping us out a lot. He really has a determination to make sure this work goes as well as possible.
This family invited us over to dinner yesterday for Father's Day. They have nice house. It reminded me of home! She cooked very well and it didn't really seem like a very Hispanic dish. It was delicious!
It's going to take some getting used to here, but I think I'll be able to do it! It sounds like a fun ward!
Q of the W:
1. What is your opinion on what is the great and abominable church? Just wondering if anybody questions that scripture and what you tell them?
Well, Bruce R. McConkie said that the great and abominable church was the Catholic Church, but I don't think that that was ever accepted as doctrine. I think that he has a good point. I think that that it is very possible. I don't know if Nehpi was trying to describe one particular church group or many churches in one group under the category of destroying the ''plain and precious'' truths. I don't think that he specifies on that. Nehpi describes the great and abominable church as a church taking the ''plain and precious things'' away from the Church of the Lamb of God. So that includes pretty much every other church besides our church. I think that it's safe to say that any church that takes away the ''plain and precious'' truths from the Gospel would be included in the great and abominable church. I would think that it's safe to say that the Catholic Church was one of the very first churches to do exactly that. So that is my opinion.
2. Do you know how many missionaries are in your mission?
I can't remember exactly how many there are. President Jeppson told us that it is now up to over 200.
3. When you teach the less- actives or in-actives and they have already been baptized....what is their goal? Just to go back to church and read the scriptures?
It depends on what they feel is important. A goal that I always tell them would be for them to get to the temple. President Jeppson told us that recent converts that go to the temple within six weeks of their baptism to do proxy baptisms have a 98% chance of staying active. Pretty high!
I liked the number 1 question of the Q of the W! Ask another good one like that!
Love you mom!
-Justin
Monday, June 10, 2013
Dear Mom,
I have been transferred. I don't know where I'm going or who I'm going to be with, but I just know that I'm leaving Union City. I'm kind of sad about that. I'm going to miss Union City a lot. I kind of hope that I'm in a driving area for the rest of the hot summer. I guess we'll see. I've been District Leader now for two transfers. I thought for sure that I wasn't going to be a District Leader anymore. I'm still a District Leader. I'm happy about that. I love helping out the other missionaries. However, since I was so sure about me not being District Leader anymore, I haven't prepared a District Meeting at all. So I'm going to have to quickly come up with something for Wednesday. At the same time, I'm going to have to pack up and unpack in my new area. STRESS.. I'm excited though.
Last Monday, one of the members, Brother De Leon, in our area went to the hospital for a surgery to take out his tonsils. Apparently, he hadn't told the doctors at the hospital that he had taken Motrin before he went in. He started to hemorrhage during the surgery and came close to death. But they fixed him up and put all sorts of tubes and things down his throat to keep him from swallowing any more blood. We were told that when he woke up he felt like he was choking or suffocating. They had to keep him asleep. On Wednesday, we took Bishop Chavez to the hospital in Paterson to go visit Brother De Leon. It was pretty crazy to see him hooked up to so many machines. He had already received a Priesthood Blessing, so we just wanted to see him and maybe share a spiritual message with him to make him feel a little better. He was sleeping when we got there. Then his wife woke him up, but he could barely wake up. He was really weak, so he just moved his hand to show us that he wanted us to shake his hand. It was sad to see him in that condition. His wife, who isn't a member because of some legal stuff and can't get baptized, asked us to give her a blessing. So Bishop Chavez gave a pretty cool blessing. I think we helped her a lot. We talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Later that day, we visited with a member named Sister Galicia. She's been in and out of activity. It's because of her relationship with the members in Union City though. I haven't been here for a while, but apparently, something was happening with her husband and a lot of the members starting talking bad about her and were saying things that really offended her. Sister Galicia has a super strong testimony and hasn't stopped reading or praying. She goes to church in Union City about once a month, but she travels to other wards to go to church weekly. When we visited with her on Wednesday, we read out of 3 Nephi 11, the chapter in which Jesus Christ descends from heaven to the Nephites. Later during that chapter, Jesus Christ teaches that contention is of the devil. She started crying and telling us how she doesn't have anything against any member, but she just doesn't like going to the Union City ward because of what was happening with her husband a few years ago. We helped her feel better and told her to talk to the Stake President about trying to get her records moved to another ward. She said that she would want to do that and told us that she will talk to the Stake President soon. Another reason why she had wanted us to come over that day was to bless her house. She said that for years now, she has been seeing and hearing abnormal things for years. She said that they had started out with things that weren't so scary. Then they started turning into things a little more scary. She said that one scary thing happened when she woke up in the middle of the night and saw a dark man standing over her husband. She told the man that she wasn't scared because they had the authority of Jesus Christ. She said that when she mentioned 'Jesus Christ' the man flinched back. She said that when those things happened she has never been scared of those things happening, but she wants them to stop. So I blessed the house by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. We told her that it's by her faith in Jesus Christ and His Priesthood authority that those things would stop. I've always wanted to bless a haunted house!!
So this last week, we've been finding a couple new investigators, and less-actives. We've also been able get a couple more investigators going really strongly towards baptism. It's been a good week and those lessons have been fun. Well, time to move on. That's what I don't like about transfers; many times you leave when your area is doing really good and starting to see a bunch of fruits of your labor.
There is that Ikea here in New Jersey that I haven't been to in a while. Maybe I can go sometime again soon. That Brother De Leon that I was talking about earlier, he actually works at Ikea! He doesn't do anything on the main floor. He doesn't hardly speak any English, so he can't really do anything with costumers. Pretty cool though.
Awesome story from Spencer! Thanks for sharing.
Q of the W:
1. Currently, how many ties do you own?
That's a great question, and I honestly don't know. There are many though. I'll have to count.
2. Have you ever had a confrontation with another person about their church?
Several times. Usually people don't really fight in behalf of their church, but they fight that their church is sufficient for them and that no one can say which is a true church or not. There are also many Jehovah Witnesses that tell everyone why everyone else's church is wrong. They think that Jehovah is God the Father and that everyone worships Jesus Christ too much. They've changed the Bible and thus cannot call it the Bible, but call it the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. They also think that the Book of Mormon comes from the devil. Boy are they wrong. I've had a couple of them tell me that we focus on the Son too much and not enough on the Father. They're just weird. It actually proves them wrong in the Bible. If you look closely, it refers to Lord Jehovah in the Old Testament as the Judge, Savior, and Mediator. It also refers to Jesus Christ as those things. They believe that God the Father is those three. They contradict themselves, that's why this long explanation was confusing. Sorry...
3. What is the first thing you challenge people to do if they are interested in the Church? Do you have them pray or read the Book of Mormon first? Do you tell them about the Holy Ghost right away?
Read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. In Preach My Gospel, President Kimball teaches that the Book of Mormon is the key of our religion. That if anyone has any problem with something in the church, they should refer back to the Book of Mormon, to know of its truthfulness.
Love you mom! Miss you lots!
-Justin
I have been transferred. I don't know where I'm going or who I'm going to be with, but I just know that I'm leaving Union City. I'm kind of sad about that. I'm going to miss Union City a lot. I kind of hope that I'm in a driving area for the rest of the hot summer. I guess we'll see. I've been District Leader now for two transfers. I thought for sure that I wasn't going to be a District Leader anymore. I'm still a District Leader. I'm happy about that. I love helping out the other missionaries. However, since I was so sure about me not being District Leader anymore, I haven't prepared a District Meeting at all. So I'm going to have to quickly come up with something for Wednesday. At the same time, I'm going to have to pack up and unpack in my new area. STRESS.. I'm excited though.
Last Monday, one of the members, Brother De Leon, in our area went to the hospital for a surgery to take out his tonsils. Apparently, he hadn't told the doctors at the hospital that he had taken Motrin before he went in. He started to hemorrhage during the surgery and came close to death. But they fixed him up and put all sorts of tubes and things down his throat to keep him from swallowing any more blood. We were told that when he woke up he felt like he was choking or suffocating. They had to keep him asleep. On Wednesday, we took Bishop Chavez to the hospital in Paterson to go visit Brother De Leon. It was pretty crazy to see him hooked up to so many machines. He had already received a Priesthood Blessing, so we just wanted to see him and maybe share a spiritual message with him to make him feel a little better. He was sleeping when we got there. Then his wife woke him up, but he could barely wake up. He was really weak, so he just moved his hand to show us that he wanted us to shake his hand. It was sad to see him in that condition. His wife, who isn't a member because of some legal stuff and can't get baptized, asked us to give her a blessing. So Bishop Chavez gave a pretty cool blessing. I think we helped her a lot. We talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Later that day, we visited with a member named Sister Galicia. She's been in and out of activity. It's because of her relationship with the members in Union City though. I haven't been here for a while, but apparently, something was happening with her husband and a lot of the members starting talking bad about her and were saying things that really offended her. Sister Galicia has a super strong testimony and hasn't stopped reading or praying. She goes to church in Union City about once a month, but she travels to other wards to go to church weekly. When we visited with her on Wednesday, we read out of 3 Nephi 11, the chapter in which Jesus Christ descends from heaven to the Nephites. Later during that chapter, Jesus Christ teaches that contention is of the devil. She started crying and telling us how she doesn't have anything against any member, but she just doesn't like going to the Union City ward because of what was happening with her husband a few years ago. We helped her feel better and told her to talk to the Stake President about trying to get her records moved to another ward. She said that she would want to do that and told us that she will talk to the Stake President soon. Another reason why she had wanted us to come over that day was to bless her house. She said that for years now, she has been seeing and hearing abnormal things for years. She said that they had started out with things that weren't so scary. Then they started turning into things a little more scary. She said that one scary thing happened when she woke up in the middle of the night and saw a dark man standing over her husband. She told the man that she wasn't scared because they had the authority of Jesus Christ. She said that when she mentioned 'Jesus Christ' the man flinched back. She said that when those things happened she has never been scared of those things happening, but she wants them to stop. So I blessed the house by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. We told her that it's by her faith in Jesus Christ and His Priesthood authority that those things would stop. I've always wanted to bless a haunted house!!
So this last week, we've been finding a couple new investigators, and less-actives. We've also been able get a couple more investigators going really strongly towards baptism. It's been a good week and those lessons have been fun. Well, time to move on. That's what I don't like about transfers; many times you leave when your area is doing really good and starting to see a bunch of fruits of your labor.
There is that Ikea here in New Jersey that I haven't been to in a while. Maybe I can go sometime again soon. That Brother De Leon that I was talking about earlier, he actually works at Ikea! He doesn't do anything on the main floor. He doesn't hardly speak any English, so he can't really do anything with costumers. Pretty cool though.
Awesome story from Spencer! Thanks for sharing.
Q of the W:
1. Currently, how many ties do you own?
That's a great question, and I honestly don't know. There are many though. I'll have to count.
2. Have you ever had a confrontation with another person about their church?
Several times. Usually people don't really fight in behalf of their church, but they fight that their church is sufficient for them and that no one can say which is a true church or not. There are also many Jehovah Witnesses that tell everyone why everyone else's church is wrong. They think that Jehovah is God the Father and that everyone worships Jesus Christ too much. They've changed the Bible and thus cannot call it the Bible, but call it the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. They also think that the Book of Mormon comes from the devil. Boy are they wrong. I've had a couple of them tell me that we focus on the Son too much and not enough on the Father. They're just weird. It actually proves them wrong in the Bible. If you look closely, it refers to Lord Jehovah in the Old Testament as the Judge, Savior, and Mediator. It also refers to Jesus Christ as those things. They believe that God the Father is those three. They contradict themselves, that's why this long explanation was confusing. Sorry...
3. What is the first thing you challenge people to do if they are interested in the Church? Do you have them pray or read the Book of Mormon first? Do you tell them about the Holy Ghost right away?
Read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. In Preach My Gospel, President Kimball teaches that the Book of Mormon is the key of our religion. That if anyone has any problem with something in the church, they should refer back to the Book of Mormon, to know of its truthfulness.
Love you mom! Miss you lots!
-Justin
Monday, June 3, 2013
Dear Mom,
I was hoping they were free! Haha! I was getting pretty tired of those Rockports. I'm going to try and walk better and hopefully these pair of shoes will last longer! Thank you so much mom! Those shoes feel a lot better. I still feel a little ankle pain when I step on something wrong, but I do feel it a lot less with good shoes. That's cool that they had my information on what I bought. Hopefully I won't have to replace any more missionary shoes. However, I have had a problem with running shoes for a while. Remember those puma shoes I came out with on my mission. Well, last fall they became pretty worn. Well, I found some other shoes in the apartment that some other missionary had left a while ago. So I've been using those shoes I found for a while, and I threw away those pumas a while back. I'm getting tired of these shoes, because they just aren't very good quality. I'm going to start looking for new running/athletic shoes soon. I might be able to buy some today. Just so you know that I'll be using some personal money pretty soon. Thanks for all the other goodies in the package too!
We'll definitely have to visit here someday. I just don't think that it would be a very good vacation for the two little girls. I don't think that they would enjoy it.
Just let me know as soon as you can about my credit card. I'll remember to run it as credit.
Update on Antonio, he left the hospital yesterday. Aparently the doctors told him to take it easy and he can't work for a month, at least. Sad, but he wasn't enjoying the hospital at all. So I'm sure he's glad to be home.
We've been visiting with a lot more very less-active families this past week. We found a less-active member that hasn't been to church for many years. He said something like 10 years, so I don't know. His name is Giovanny. He's from Ecuador. He's pretty receptive to us. I think I talked a little about him last week. We saw him again on Saturday. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He liked it. He said that he for sure was going to come to church the next day. He never showed up. Sometimes, I just don't know how to get people to come to church.
On Tuesday, we saw two more less-active families. One of them is the Galicia family. Sister Galicia has a very strong testimony. She comes to church every once in a while, but she mainly goes to the ward down in Jersey City. Something happened to her and brother Galicia a few years back, and now they don't want anything to do with the members here in Union City. I don't really know what's going on with them, but she asked us to tell the Bishop that she doesn't want any member from Union City to even try to visit her. Kind of weird, but when I asked her if we can still come by, she said, "of course, we really want you two to come by." Interesting situation. I have no idea what to do with them. They've been to the temple and everything. Brother Galicia has a testimony too, but he hasn't acted upon it for the past couple years. He told us that it's been years since he's even prayed. When Elder Koellicker was here a couple weeks back, he promised us that if we read the Book of Mormon for at least 30 minutes every day, we will never go less-active. I'm taking that promise! Becoming less-active is very sad. I always feel bad for those members we meet that have gone less-active. They lose so many blessings and comfort from the Holy Ghost.
We also met with a very less-active member on Wednesday named Mario. I honestly think that he never really even had a testimony in the first place. It doesn't really feel like he has lost anything. He enjoys it when we come over. We started showing him those Mormon Messages on LDS.org in Spanish. He really likes those. We keep inviting him to church, but he has work at 11. But he could still make it to 30 minutes of Sacrament Meeting. He takes very small baby steps. Right now, we're just trying to get him praying and watching more Mormon Messages on his own. He's progressing, but very, very slowly. He's a nice guy and fun to work with.
On Sunday, we finally had the baptism of Brian Montes. We've been working with him for about two months. Brian is 15 years old. He's been a pretty good investigator. He was always reading. He's really good at doing his homework, so naturally he starting reading the Book of Mormon and kept reading it. He said that he believes that the Book of Mormon is true and he wanted to be baptized. It was a great baptism. We had it right after church. All the missionaries in Union City (six of us) sang Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy in Spanish with two of the missionaries playing guitar. It all went pretty well!
After the baptism, we drove two other elders back to their apartment, because they live a little further away. After we dropped them off, we drove by a small little Islam booth by the side of the road. My companion and I wanted to get a Qu-ran, but I won't ever buy one. They had a banner that said 'free books'. So we stopped by and I got out to quickly go see if I could get a free Qu'ran. They were pretty nice! They shared with me a little bit about their beliefs. They said that they believe in one God; that Adam and Eve were the first people on earth; that God has sent prophets or messengers to tell us God's will; and that Jesus Christ was a good person who stood for righteousness; and that this earth is just a temporal state. They didn't even budge the foundation of my testimony of the Church. They didn't speak any Spanish, so they asked me what my tag was. I told them that I'm a Spanish missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then I told them that we believe that God has sent a prophet to us in these days to continue to lead us and guide us. It was a pretty interesting encounter. Men don't touch women in their culture. But hey, I got a free Qu-ran to read after my mission! I felt bad afterward because I didn't invite them to read the Book of Mormon. FAIL! I'll know better next time. You live, you learn. Now I know better when I meet another Muslim; I'm going to invite them to read the Book of Mormon!
So that's about it for this week! Remember that next week is transfers. It's very likely that I'll be transferred from Union City. SAD! I'll let you know for sure next week, and the following week I'll tell you where I've been transferred to if I end up being transferred.
Love you lots mom!
1. (question from Kelsie) How many companions have you had so far, not including the MTC? Make sure you keep the numbers to the cute ones for Kelsie.
I've had six companions on my mission so far. Haha! I actually had a missionary from California ask if he could write to Kelsie. His name is Elder House. He's black.
2. (question from Julia) How many baptisms have you been a part of?
I've been part of seven baptisms now.
3. (question from Kelsie..again) What is your response to people when they ask "how do you know the church is true?"
It really depends on the situation. Usually I'll tell them that I just know. My Heavenly Father has helped me understand and I've felt the Holy Ghost tell me that it's true.
-Justin
I was hoping they were free! Haha! I was getting pretty tired of those Rockports. I'm going to try and walk better and hopefully these pair of shoes will last longer! Thank you so much mom! Those shoes feel a lot better. I still feel a little ankle pain when I step on something wrong, but I do feel it a lot less with good shoes. That's cool that they had my information on what I bought. Hopefully I won't have to replace any more missionary shoes. However, I have had a problem with running shoes for a while. Remember those puma shoes I came out with on my mission. Well, last fall they became pretty worn. Well, I found some other shoes in the apartment that some other missionary had left a while ago. So I've been using those shoes I found for a while, and I threw away those pumas a while back. I'm getting tired of these shoes, because they just aren't very good quality. I'm going to start looking for new running/athletic shoes soon. I might be able to buy some today. Just so you know that I'll be using some personal money pretty soon. Thanks for all the other goodies in the package too!
We'll definitely have to visit here someday. I just don't think that it would be a very good vacation for the two little girls. I don't think that they would enjoy it.
Just let me know as soon as you can about my credit card. I'll remember to run it as credit.
Update on Antonio, he left the hospital yesterday. Aparently the doctors told him to take it easy and he can't work for a month, at least. Sad, but he wasn't enjoying the hospital at all. So I'm sure he's glad to be home.
We've been visiting with a lot more very less-active families this past week. We found a less-active member that hasn't been to church for many years. He said something like 10 years, so I don't know. His name is Giovanny. He's from Ecuador. He's pretty receptive to us. I think I talked a little about him last week. We saw him again on Saturday. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He liked it. He said that he for sure was going to come to church the next day. He never showed up. Sometimes, I just don't know how to get people to come to church.
On Tuesday, we saw two more less-active families. One of them is the Galicia family. Sister Galicia has a very strong testimony. She comes to church every once in a while, but she mainly goes to the ward down in Jersey City. Something happened to her and brother Galicia a few years back, and now they don't want anything to do with the members here in Union City. I don't really know what's going on with them, but she asked us to tell the Bishop that she doesn't want any member from Union City to even try to visit her. Kind of weird, but when I asked her if we can still come by, she said, "of course, we really want you two to come by." Interesting situation. I have no idea what to do with them. They've been to the temple and everything. Brother Galicia has a testimony too, but he hasn't acted upon it for the past couple years. He told us that it's been years since he's even prayed. When Elder Koellicker was here a couple weeks back, he promised us that if we read the Book of Mormon for at least 30 minutes every day, we will never go less-active. I'm taking that promise! Becoming less-active is very sad. I always feel bad for those members we meet that have gone less-active. They lose so many blessings and comfort from the Holy Ghost.
We also met with a very less-active member on Wednesday named Mario. I honestly think that he never really even had a testimony in the first place. It doesn't really feel like he has lost anything. He enjoys it when we come over. We started showing him those Mormon Messages on LDS.org in Spanish. He really likes those. We keep inviting him to church, but he has work at 11. But he could still make it to 30 minutes of Sacrament Meeting. He takes very small baby steps. Right now, we're just trying to get him praying and watching more Mormon Messages on his own. He's progressing, but very, very slowly. He's a nice guy and fun to work with.
On Sunday, we finally had the baptism of Brian Montes. We've been working with him for about two months. Brian is 15 years old. He's been a pretty good investigator. He was always reading. He's really good at doing his homework, so naturally he starting reading the Book of Mormon and kept reading it. He said that he believes that the Book of Mormon is true and he wanted to be baptized. It was a great baptism. We had it right after church. All the missionaries in Union City (six of us) sang Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy in Spanish with two of the missionaries playing guitar. It all went pretty well!
After the baptism, we drove two other elders back to their apartment, because they live a little further away. After we dropped them off, we drove by a small little Islam booth by the side of the road. My companion and I wanted to get a Qu-ran, but I won't ever buy one. They had a banner that said 'free books'. So we stopped by and I got out to quickly go see if I could get a free Qu'ran. They were pretty nice! They shared with me a little bit about their beliefs. They said that they believe in one God; that Adam and Eve were the first people on earth; that God has sent prophets or messengers to tell us God's will; and that Jesus Christ was a good person who stood for righteousness; and that this earth is just a temporal state. They didn't even budge the foundation of my testimony of the Church. They didn't speak any Spanish, so they asked me what my tag was. I told them that I'm a Spanish missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then I told them that we believe that God has sent a prophet to us in these days to continue to lead us and guide us. It was a pretty interesting encounter. Men don't touch women in their culture. But hey, I got a free Qu-ran to read after my mission! I felt bad afterward because I didn't invite them to read the Book of Mormon. FAIL! I'll know better next time. You live, you learn. Now I know better when I meet another Muslim; I'm going to invite them to read the Book of Mormon!
So that's about it for this week! Remember that next week is transfers. It's very likely that I'll be transferred from Union City. SAD! I'll let you know for sure next week, and the following week I'll tell you where I've been transferred to if I end up being transferred.
Love you lots mom!
1. (question from Kelsie) How many companions have you had so far, not including the MTC? Make sure you keep the numbers to the cute ones for Kelsie.
I've had six companions on my mission so far. Haha! I actually had a missionary from California ask if he could write to Kelsie. His name is Elder House. He's black.
2. (question from Julia) How many baptisms have you been a part of?
I've been part of seven baptisms now.
3. (question from Kelsie..again) What is your response to people when they ask "how do you know the church is true?"
It really depends on the situation. Usually I'll tell them that I just know. My Heavenly Father has helped me understand and I've felt the Holy Ghost tell me that it's true.
-Justin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)